Never Alone

8 : 2 1 | A M

Elliot = Bold

Isabella = Italics

"LEFT, ISABELLA, WE DRIVE ON THE LEFT!" Elliot screamed at the top of his lungs, throat dry both at the sight of traffic heading straight towards them, the prospect of impending death, and the amount of panic that he had injected into his voice. Knuckles turning white due to how his fists were tightly curled around the dashboard, he let out a colourful string of curse words as Isabella suddenly veered the car off onto the left side of the road, tyres letting out an awful screech of protest at the sudden change of direction. Narrowly missing an oncoming pickup truck, the car threw the two teenagers to the side in one precarious motion, causing Elliot to hit his head on the low roof of the car as it did so.

Continuing to curse the world and everything in it, Elliot risked a glance at Isabella, who had almost killed them both, and gave her an incredulous look. He had assumed, when taking up the offer of a ride to his father's prison, that she could actually drive. It had, however, become blindingly apparent the moment that she pulled out onto the main street, that she did, in fact, have a complete disregard for the road laws of Britain. Like driving on the left side of the road. 

Elliot was still having trouble calming his heartbeat after the I-almost-died-but-I-am-somehow-okay moment that he had just experienced. Unwillingly.

"What the hell?" He asked, voice rising unevenly as the panic raging through his body took a second to dim down and drain out of his system. "Do you even have a drivers license?"

Isabella, since the near-death encounter, had proceeded to slowly fade to a dark shade of crimson, cheeks easily betraying her embarrassment as she fought the urge to repeatedly bang her head against the steering wheel. However, deciding that it would probably be better to avoid further head injuries, she turned to Elliot. Pulling to a stop at the traffic lights first, of course. "I...I'm sorry." She felt her cheeks heating up even more at the stricken look on Elliot's face. His eyebrows were raised at full capacity, mouth hanging slightly open as he stared at her in the kind of shock Isabella used to have at the thought of an upcoming math test. "I...I didn't think. In America we...we drive on the right and I...I haven't had the opportunity to drive around England much yet...I usually just take the bus and...I...I...it slipped my mind."

"But you do have a license, right?"

"Yeah...yeah. It was carried over when I moved to England."

"Okay...okay. Right. Do you think you could...you know, drive on the correct side of the road?"

"I...I'll try."

"Well, damn, that's really reassuring...what is this pathetic little excuse for a car anyway?"

"It is not pathetic!"

"Then why is my head a millimetre away from touching the roof?"

"It's not my fault that you're tall!"

"Please, I'm a perfectly average height. Your car's roof is just too low to fit a human being in it."

"I happen to think that my car is cute."

"Yeah, cute as in a cute little five-year-old should be driving it."

"It is cute. It has character."

"Character? Please. The only character this car has is the ability to have the world's smallest engine. How do you even fit an engine into that pathetic excuse for a bonnet?"

"I still think it's cute."

"Isabella, your car is yellow for Christ's sakes."

"And?"

"Mustard yellow."

"It suits the design of the car."

"What is this, the first Mini ever made?"

"It's a Mini Clubman, actually. And I'll have you know that it's retro, for your information."

"Retro like my grandpa."

"If you continue to insult my car I'll start driving on the wrong side of the road again."

"You wouldn't."

"Oh but I would."

"Your car is beautiful."

"I know."

"Can I put the radio on?"

"Depends. Are you going to insult my music taste too?"

"I don't know, what kind of stuff do you listen to?"

"A range of stuff."

"Like?"

"Depends what kind of mood I'm in. Shawn Mendes sometimes. Maybe a bit of Twenty One Pilots if I'm in that kind of mood. I'm a massive fan of Shane Caliente, so I listen to his stuff a lot. And...occasionally a bit of Justin...Bieber...if I feel like it."

"I'm sorry, girl, but did you just mention Justin Bieber?"

"...yeah."

"Goddamn girl. I didn't take you for a belieber."

"I'm not! It's just...not all of his songs are bad, you know?"

"..."

"Elliot?"

"BABY, BABY, BABY, OH!"

"Elliot."

"BABY, BABY, BABY, OH!"

"...this is going to be a long journey."