Just Drive [old version]

[ chapter twelve ]

Chapter Twelve - One and a Quarter

            I couldn’t sleep.

            Blinking my eyes, I found myself staring back at the car ceiling again, not that there was much else to stare at. Other than the occasional drunkard stumbling out from the bar around the corner, the city, for now, was fairly dead. We were tucked away on a small side street near the heart of Pittsburgh’s downtown area. We had no luck whatsoever in getting a hotel, so the car was the next best thing we could come up with.

            I guess it’s better than sleeping outside and getting raped in my sleep, except I wasn’t sleeping, so only a dumb rapist would bother trying to attack.

            Sighing, I tried turning my entire body over. It didn’t help much, and now my back was cold, but at least now I could stare at Austin. He was a lot more interesting than the ceiling.

            He spread his body out over the entire passenger’s seat and part of the backseat. In some way, he looked uncomfortable, but his face was so relaxed that it was hard to think that he was anything but comfortable. Comfortable and happy. Actually, just looking at him made me feel better, like it always did.

            The streetlight bounced off the creases near his eye and made the bronze highlights in his hair shine and I could only think of how lucky Kellie was to call him hers. He was pretty as fuck, and she didn’t deserve him at all.

            I felt my lips start to twist into a frown, the way they always did when I started to think of Kellie. I’ve never heard her express any care or interest in him. He was the one who was doing all the wanting, and that bothered me to no extent.

            I remember Kellie constantly saying how much she wished Austin was more muscular. That was a while ago when they first started dating, but she never stopped hinting. For his birthday, one year, she got him a set of weights and a subscription to Sports Illustrated. “So you can better your track running at home,” she explained sweetly.

            Yeah right.

            She never appreciated Austin’s love of fried vanilla things, nor did she ever bother to learn his usual Tim Horton’s order. The more I thought about it, the less Kellie ever did for him because in reality, Kellie was hardly anything more than the pretty, blond, unattainable bitch.

            Of course, Austin was always too love-struck to see any of that. He saw the pretty cascade of sunny curls and the sparkling iridescent eyes. He saw the needy girl that could make even Timmy Turner feel like a man. I guess that’s all he ever wanted.

            Sitting up, I pulled down the mirror flap and looked at myself under the streetlight reflection. I was almost nobody compared to Kellie Ashburgers. Maybe my nose was a bit crooked, and my eyes a bit narrow. I would never have the perfectly airbrushed skin that Kellie has; I had too many freckles to even bother. And, of course, Kellie made it into my dream college while I’m stuck in this situation.

            Feeling the sudden urge to smack something, I slammed my hand down on the steering wheel, but being the idiot that I am, I forgot there was a horn there. Somehow, Austin manages to sleep through it.

            I decided to get up and walk off my anger, simply to avoid waking up the entire neighborhood. I’ve heard drunks make awful company when they get annoyed.

            Quickly scribbling down some messy words on an old Post-it, I blundered my way out of the car and onto the Pittsburgh sidewalks, this time without Austin by my side.