Take Me Home | ✔

Chapter Twenty-Five (revised)

[ important author's note -- PLEASE READ THIS! So I know I originally had a whole revenge scene planned out with Vienna's new friend Marie, and in the last chapters, Vienna and Eli meet her while being stuck in the supermarket. I really really really wanted to write that scene, until I realized, I couldn't really make it as good as I pictured it in my head (ugh, the writer's struggle is too real) and there were some plot holes with the whole thing and it would just waste a bunch of time in the story that wouldn't really help progress anything. So, I decided to do away with the whole thing and maybe write the revenge scene in an extra chapter. So sorry for those who were looking forward to it :( but it wouldn't have been great anyway. Nevertheless, I hope you guys enjoy this UNEDITED chap :)  ]

chapter recap: 

- vienna, eli, and elliot have just left marie and the safeway mart in texas and are heading to albuquerque, new mexico to drop off eli. (chapter 24 will be edited bc of this plot change)

    

  I watched with fanatic interest as Eli’s fingers twitched every few seconds or so on the steering wheel. He hadn’t pulled out of the parking lot yet and he was already sweating. Or maybe it was just the rain. No, it was definitely sweat on his brow. He breathed deeply, exhaling loudly before turning the key in the ignition and looking absolutely terrified.

Eli had mentioned something about not driving before, so I was clueless as to how he volunteered to drive now. Between the two of us, I wanted to tell him that I was the better choice, but he was adamant about stepping in where Elliot couldn’t, since Elliot had already driven half the way to Albuquerque.

I sat beside him, with Elliot flanking my right. Elliot was already passed out, drooling on the windows and snoring softly. He was curled up into a ball, eyes firmly closed and sleeping like a baby.

“You know,” I softly said, breaking the silence, “If you don’t want to, I could always drive.”

He turned his head and scoffed, just like I knew he would. “Elliot would kill me if I let you drive.”

“I honestly don’t see why not, I mean I drove from Arkansas to Texas, practically, and he’s still defensive about my driving when it’s really not all that bad, I mean—“

“Does anyone ever tell you you talk too much?” Eli interjected.

“Yeah.”

I was surprised to hear him chuckle. Sure it sounded forced and albeit nervous as hell, but getting a positive reaction from Eli was pretty rare. I learned to enjoy these moments, because in a few hours, Eli would be going home soon in Albuquerque and it would just be Eli and me again.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

Eli took a deep breath in and a deep breath out. He turned the keys and pressed the gas pedal forward, the lurching pick-up truck symbolizing the uneasy feeling residing deep in my stomach. The truck surged forward so fast, Elliot’s head almost fell forward into the dashboard if I hadn’t caught him. He cursed vividly before trying again, this time softly pressing the gas, before he cursed infinitely.

“I-I don’t think I can do this,” he said shakily.

“Why not?”

“I don’t drive.”

“Why not?”

He avoided the topic by ruffling through his hair agitatedly. “God, you’re so annoying.”