Just Drive [old version]

[ chapter ten ]

Chapter Ten

                By the end of the day, Austin was in good spirits. Somehow, we managed to figure out left from right and made it down to Pittsburgh. It wasn’t much; we took two days to make a three-hour drive, but at least we were going west.

                “I think we should stop for the night,” I suggested as we approached the highway exit. The sun was just about to dip below the horizon, and the sky was ribboned with the darkening clouds of a storm.

                “We could go a bit further,” Austin urged.

                I shook my head. “I don’t trust myself driving in a storm, or at night for that matter.” Without spending any more time on the matter, I twisted the wheel towards the exit to Downtown Pittsburgh.

                Finding dinner wasn’t hard¾we quickly settled on getting something quick from Chipotle¾but within five minutes of getting into Pittsburgh, we realized the near-impossibility of finding a parking spot.

                “Someone stab me,” I muttered as I made yet another right.

                “Can’t you park there?” Austin asked, pointing to a teensy spot between a Jeep and a Ford truck.

                “If I drove the Knight Bus, sure,” I deadpanned.

                Austin frowned. “What about there?”

                I followed his finger to a large strip of sidewalk reserved for a fancy hotel-parking valet. “Can’t.”

                He kept hopelessly suggesting parking spots, but none of them would work. Eventually, he just gave up and sat silently in the passenger’s seat.

                By the time we secured a parking spot far outside of the downtown circle of influence, it was close to eight. The Chipotle we found nearly half an hour ago seemed to be infinitely far away, but neither of us was in the mood to search out another cheap place to eat.

                As I closed the door, I couldn’t help but laugh at Austin. He was stumbling out of the car like a drunk, except he wasn’t drunk. He was only besieged with a bad case of jelly-legs. He saw me laughing and made his best attempt at crossing his arms and looking sternly at me, but he utterly failed. He was never much of an intimidating figure.

                “Keep trying, Austin. Maybe someday you’ll weigh more than me,” I teased. Reaching out, I helped pull his noodle-like figure to an upright position.

                He didn’t say anything. Instead, he gripped my hand tightly, but before I could take notice of his motions, he hoisted me up over his shoulder. “Thanks, darling.”

                A moment later, I watched the sidewalk blocks move out from under his feet. “Holy shit! Austin, stop walking and put me down!”

                He chuckled; I felt his shoulders rise and fall with amusement. “Admit it,” he demanded.

                “Admit what?”

                “That I’m manlier than you thought I was.”

                I rolled my eyes, not that he could see my facial expression. “You do realize that took away what little ‘manliness’ you had beforehand.”

                Jerking his body forward, he pretended to go over a crack in the pavement. “Oof! What was that?”

                “I know you’re not that clumsy, and I don’t see any cracks in the sidewalk.”

                “For my self-esteem?” he pleaded. When I didn’t respond, he bounced me up and down on his bony shoulder.

                “Fine! Austin is so super-duper manly! I can’t take it!” I squealed. As soon as the last words left my mouth, I immediately felt the need to gag myself with a smelly gym sock.

                Maybe my teenage-life-long notions about romance have always been wrong, but being lowered from a position on a boy’s shoulder was anything but sweet and loving. Quite frankly, if it weren’t for Austin’s death grip on my waist, I would’ve thought I was being dropped. Immediately after he heard my feet thump the ground, he shook out his arms.

                “Piece of cake,” he boasted over the flapping of his t-shirt sleeves.

                I rolled my eyes again, but I didn’t say anything. I think his “manly pride” has been injured enough for now. “Come on. I want my Mexican dinner.” Impulsively, I reached out for his still-wobbling hand and pulled him along with me. It wasn’t until a few moments later I realized what I was doing, but it was too late to take back my actions. I guess it’s just something that happens with Austin.

                Biting my tongue, I did my best to fight back my second thoughts, but second thoughts were only second nature with Austin. For everything that felt right with Austin, there were seventy-one and a half things that felt wrong, but that one thing that felt right made it all worth it. At least, for me it was worth it. I couldn’t really say the same for Austin. The last time I impulsively acted with Austin, I nearly scared him off. It wasn’t until a few weeks ago I thought I lost him forever.

                Swallowing my bitterness, I plastered a smile back onto my face and did my best to act like we never had a past.

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I'm so sorry for the wait! D: And I'm sorry that it's really short, but I have a pretty big idea planned out for the next chapter, so bear with me!

And thank you for all the support you've given this story so far. It means a lot :]

- Taylor