The First Flight ❀ COLIFER

Chapter 10 ❀ Memories he never made

*** HAWAII, PRESENT DAY ***

Jen's POV

"Let me take you somewhere."

I looked around his shoulder, almost expecting Sean to show up any second, and that made me realize he was probably right. We should talk about this somewhere private, where it was just the two of us.

"Okay," I said.

He put down the Dr. Pepper he was still holding and I held my breath when he slipped past me. As he closed the door of the bungalow behind him, I thought for a split second he was going to grab my hand.

I was relieved when he didn't.

I followed him to the vans, and he got in at the driver's side. I wasn't sure where he was going to take me, but anywhere would do.

The first part of the trip, neither of us said anything. I think we both weren't sure where to start, and part of me was afraid of where this would end. Because it would.

"Why did you tell her?" I asked when we'd been driving in complete silence for about ten minutes.

He kept clenching his jaw. "I told you in Atlanta."

"What did you tell me in Atlanta?"

"I told you then, and I'm telling you the same now. I can't stop thinking about it."

I clenched my teeth, debating with myself whether this was what I wanted to hear or not. I didn't know.

"When I didn't show up at your room that night, I didn't do that for no reason," I said. "We got on the plane the next day and you promised me. You promised me it wouldn't happen again."

"I know that." He was frowning and avoiding eye contact, but I knew the memories of that night and the following day came back just as vividly as they did for me.

I didn't know why, but for some reason I knew he was going to follow me when I got up from my seat to go to the bathroom. My hand was already on the door when the touch of his fingertips in my neck instantly made me freeze.

"Jen."

I released my breath, looking down at my feet. "Promise me."

"Promise you what?"

His voice came from right next to my ear. I was fighting back the tears when I answered,   "Promise me that whatever happened last night will not happen again."

His hand dropped. His voice wasn't as close anymore, but he waited too long to say it.

"I promise."

I couldn't look away now. "So I'm asking you again: why did you tell her? There was no reason to do that. It was just a one-time th—"

"Please don't do that," he interrupted me.

"Don't do what?" I could feel that I was getting frustrated, but so was he. He looked at me for a split second and then he turned away again, causing me to fall back against the passenger's seat.

"This isn't talking about it, you know," I said. "This is just ignoring the big ass elephant in the room and hoping for it to storm out of here, which clearly isn't going to happen."

He wasn't answering; instead, he was looking around the very empty and very dark road, and I realized we'd been driving somewhere we hadn't been before.