A Few Wrong Turns

1

Will checked his smartwatch for the tenth time since his plane landed. His cousin, Drake, was late as usual, picking him up. He was supposed to be at the house an hour ago. Will stood outside at the pickup spot of the airport, hoping Drake or someone would show up soon.

  Then his cell rang. "Hello?"

  "Hi, honey. Where are you?"

  "I'm still at the airport!" he shouted in frustration. "Mom, didn't you tell Drake to pick me up?"

  "I did and I'm sure your Aunt Karen reminded him, too. He should be there by now. He left hours ago."

  "He's not, and I've been waiting for over an hour."

  "Hold on, son. I'll see if your aunt knows where he is." Barbara kept him on the line as she went into the other room to find her sister. It was minutes before she came back to the phone. "She doesn't know where he is."

 "That doesn't help me, mom!" He shouted, not realizing how loud he was until he noticed people staring at him. Calming himself, he continued. "Isn't anyone else there who can bring me to the house?"

  "Sorry, sweetie. Everyone here is helping with the wedding. Just take a cab."

  "That's a waste of sixty bucks for a ride that I could've gotten for free!"

  "I don't know what else to tell you, Will. Just get here. You know you Tiffany will get if everyone doesn't show up."

  "You said the same thing five days ago." He snapped while scratching his thick dark brown hair, angry at himself for agreeing to attend. "I'll try to be there in a few hours."

  Barbara squealed happily. "Thanks, honey. Oh, and don't forget your tux."

  "I'll pick it up on my way." He hung up and groaned again. This was so typical of his family. Just as he put miles of distance between them, he got sucked back into their clutches. Now that he had no ride, he had no choice but to spend money on a cab or rideshare for two places. Will raised his arm. He knew all about hailing cabs. He had grown up in New York, after all. But this was a rural area and very few cabs were around. Turning back to his phone, he opened an app for rideshare, but most of the cars were at least a 15-minute wait or longer. Will was getting increasingly annoyed. "Is anything going to cooperate today?" he shouted aloud. Then Will heard a voice he'd never thought he hear again.

  "Hey, buddy, watch it! That was an expensive gift and if you break it, I'm gonna break you!"

  Will slowly turned around to see his ex-girlfriend, Tory. Her wavy, raven hair was longer than he remembered. She had gotten taller, which could also be from her wedges. But her face was the same; the same dimples, the same light green eyes, the same frown line on her forehead that she made whenever she was angry.

  Will quickly tried to cover his face as he turned back around. "Please. Please. If there's one good thing that's going to happen to me today, please don't let her see me." He prayed.

  Tory rolled her eyes. "You never could hide from me, Will!" She walked over and waited for him to put his hands down.

  Will forced a smile as he dropped his hands. "Tory. I didn't know you were here."

  "Liar." She grinned and crossed her arms.

  Will rolled his hazel eyes. "Well... good seeing you. Bye."