Common Sense • drivers license

12 ~ I don't

She looks at him, and her gaze makes him freeze.

Shit, maybe not? He just stares back at her, not knowing what to do. "I- If that's too weird, then-"

"No no, i- it's fine," she answers quickly. "I'm just a little... surprised."

He furrows his brows. "What? Why?"

Oh, nothing. Just the fact that we haven't really spoken a proper word to each other in many, many months. You know, the simple things. They've had the occasional conversation, but it was usually with the whole group, not much one-on-one time. "It's nothing," she says, looking at the ground. "Let's just go." She begins speed walking to the parking lot. This is obviously the safer option, and it isn't that far of a drive.

Joshua thinks her behavior is weird, but it's not like he could blame her. He's kinda hoping this will chip away at the strange barrier between them... but it's not like he's 100% comfortable alone with her either.

Olivia reaches the car first, almost not believing that it was the same old white Honda. He always talked about how much trouble this car was for him, given its age and the occasional hit curb, but he could never get rid of it until it literally blows up; it was too sentimental. They had so many memories in this car: blasting Taylor Swift songs at nearly full volume; late-night dates to In N Out after filming; sitting in the back of his trunk under the stars. She couldn't believe how happy they were then versus now.

He goes around to the driver's side and unlocks the car. They get in at the same time and say nothing. Well, this is going great. He backs out of the parking lot, trying to think of a way to fill the silence.

Olivia thinks it would be slightly rude to sit on her phone the whole time, but it's not like they have anything to talk about like before. She fiddles with her rings as a distraction as she thinks of a better way to ease the awkwardness.

Joshua sees this and begins scrambling to think of a way to reduce some of the tension. "L- Let's listen to the radio," he resorts to, quickly reaching over to turn on the audio.

I guess he doesn't want to talk. She kinda wants to talk about their relationship and what went wrong, especially since they broke up and didn't truly address anything. It is a solution for now.

A commercial plays over the speakers as the uncomfortable ride continues. They both think it's so stupid that they went from scream-singing together in the car to absolute silence.

As if things couldn't become worse, Olivia can feel her whole face turn red when she hears the first note of her song. She prays that it is not hers, hoping it was just her own hearing messing with her from how many times she had listened to it. But the radio announcer says her name, and she knows she's screwed.

Joshua tenses a little when he realizes what song is playing. He immediately misses the awkward silence; the air was now uncomfortable with an even more suffocating blanket over everything else.

"W- We can just turn it off," Olivia suggests, hoping he'll agree.

"I- I don't care," he mumbles. What the fuck is wrong with you!?

Does that mean he wants to listen to this? 'Cause I certainly don't. Olivia doesn't turn it off, despite desperately wanting to. Her brain is fighting with itself on what to do now; she isn't sure how this can go further downhill.

The song plays with both of them not making a single comment. Joshua wonders if he could slyly mute the volume or change the station without her noticing. It isn't that he necessarily hates the song; more so that he understands every single lyric, and it kills him to know the pain she endured. He listened to this song dozens of times when it came out, which was a strange choice on his part. It wasn't like he experienced the most joyous aftermath in comparison though.