Accidentally on Purpose

Chapter Forty-One

"Did you have another nightmare last night?" Jonah asked as he picked me up for school, kissing the side of my head right before opening the passenger door for me.

I smiled at the gesture that had started to become a habit of his whenever he saw me. "Yeah. It's nothing as bad, though. Managed a couple hours of sleep."

He frowned as he started driving, keeping his eyes at the road ahead. "Did you always have those nightmares every night?"

"No," I said. "I don't have those as often anymore. But it always gets bad during this time of year."

"This time of year?" he asked curiously.

I bit my lip as he sent me a quick glance. "Yeah." I paused. "The accident happened around this time four years ago."

Jonah didn't say anything, but when I looked at him, he was looking at the road in front of him intensely, with his eyebrows drawn tightly together as if he was deep in thought. The frown on his face only got deeper as he reached out to take my hand in his. I squeezed back, silently telling him that I was okay. "Tell me if there's anything I can do to make it better, alright?"

I smiled and nodded at him. "Of course, Jonah."

He smiled back at me, but there was something off with the smile on his face. He dropped it a few seconds after to say, "I'm guessing this has something to do with the fact that you don't drive?"

"Mm-hm." I nodded. "I mean, I can drive—I've taken lessons and I do have my drivers license but I just don't drive." I shrugged, trying to loosen the tightness that had wrapped around my throat. "I don't think I can afford to put someone's life in my hands when I drive. If something happens again, it'll be my responsibility."

Jonah was silent as he took in my words, but before he could reply, I cut in with a chuckle.

"I hate talking about things like this. Why don't we just go back to being the weird and fun couple we had been before I told you my sob story?" I asked lightly as I turned on the radio.

"Sorry," he said, cracking a smile. "You're right. Let's talk about something else."

"Like what?" I prompted, my lips pulling up into a grin.

"Like, I don't know, the fact that we're gonna be free of fake babies in less than two weeks?" he said, clearly overjoyed by it.

I laughed. "Don't say that. I bet you're gonna miss her once she's gone,"

He scoffed, "Believe me, I won't."

"Don't say I didn't tell you!"

"At least she won't be there to interrupt us," he said with a slight scowl, probably remembering our numerous almost-kisses that Lily intervened with her fake tears. "It's almost as if she knows exactly when to start crying."

"She probably does," I mused, and then let out a dramatic gasp. "Wait. What if Mr. Herberg has a secret camera installed on her and he actually controls when she cries?"

Jonah made a displeased face. "God, I hope he doesn't. What a creep."

"Well, he seems to like us, though," I told him.

"He probably ships us," he agreed, making me turn to him in surprise.

"You actually know what a ship is?" I asked in disbelief, trying not to laugh at the same time.

He glowered at me. "You seem to always forget that I live with a thirteen year-old fangirl in the house."

I finally let out the laugh I'd been holding. It sounded pretty entertaining knowing that Jonah actually was educated in the whole current teenage trends right now. "Right. Of course, how could I forget?" I said. "What do you think our ship name would be?"