Heartbreaker

F I V E

"Jake's anger's bad too," I tell her. "It's like a switch flips. I get it."

"Yeah," She says with a nod. "It's not, like, Paul Lahote bad, but it seems to be getting there."

"Speaking of Paul Lahote," Jaeda says, sitting up in her seat. "Wait, sorry, are you done talking about your fight? I didn't mean for that to sound insensitive."

"Yeah, I'm good. I need a distraction anyway," Eden says.

"You're sure?" Jaeda asks.

"Positive."

"Okay, speaking of Paul. We moved past how he knew Josie's name very quickly the other day. He did say your name, right? Or did I hear that part of the story wrong."

"No he said her name, he was like 'Josie, right?' or something like that," Eden says. "It was almost like he asked around about her or something."

"Yeah, it does sound like that."

"Who cares about if he knew my name or not?" I say while taking one of the corners slow.

"Hello!  He's Paul Lahote," Jaeda says. "Most popular guy in school, easily the hottest guy as well, and he knew your name." Should I tell them that we talked Saturday at the beach?

"You're so dramatic," I tell her. "But can I just have silence for like two seconds? And then we can go back to talking about him?"

No one says anything as we drive around the sharp corners. I keep my foot on the break, just in case anything were to happen. It wasn't snowing, but it's just so hard to see around these dark corners. Anything could come flying around it and you would never know.

My pulse was racing, I could feel my palms grow sweaty from gripping the wheel hard. I was not meant for driving, and that's why I normally didn't. But I knew I had to get over my fear of driving around these corners eventually.

"Do you want me to drive?" Jaeda asks quietly. "I didn't even think about these turns, Josie, I'm—"

"—It's okay," I tell her. "I'm fine. Really."

We eventually get around the corners safely, and I let out a small sigh of relief. My anxiety while driving eats me up if I let it. Even while I'm not driving it gets to me. I glance over at Jaeda as she gives a small reassuring smile back.

"Sorry," I say, "I'm usually really good about driving around there." That wasn't true. But I felt like a bother.

"It's getting dark, it's, completely normal to get anxious," Eden says from the backseat. "One of us can drive on the way home, if you want. It'll be pitch black by then."

"Or we can take a different way home."

I had this control thing when it came to driving. I had to drive if it wasn't Jake, I really only trusted him at times because I knew he would be careful. I love my friends, and I would trust them any time over anything. Well anything besides driving. And it's nothing against them I'm sure they're great drivers, but I can't risk it.

"It's okay," I say, "I should be okay. I just like to take those turns slow when it starts to get cold."

"Completely understandable," Jaeda reassures me. "We're almost there anyway."

I start to feel like I ruined the mood. My anxiety starts to eat away at any rational thought that entered my head about the situation. I push my lips out as I keep my eyes on the road.

I eventually pull into the parking lot and turn off the car. I stare at the steering wheel for a couple of seconds before I see Jaeda look over at me in confusion.