Just Drive [old version]

[ chapter twenty ]

Dedicated to ohlittlebird for the perfect cast suggestion for Jason <3

I'm sorry for not being as active as I should be on Wattpad. I do take time to read each and every comment. All 57 on the last chapter <3 You guys are so awesome. I hope you enjoy this chapter c:

Chapter Twenty

            As if the world itself hated me, the morning sun decided to greet us with sweltering heat. It’s not like I don’t like warm, sunny days; I just hate driving on warm, sunny days.

             Austin, on the other hand, is seemingly fine with everything that is going on. With a large coffee in one hand and a frosted donut in the other, he acts in the way that suggests nothing could possibly go wrong in his life.

             Of course, he could be dying inside. The boy I knew was so quiet and secluded. He never let anyone in on how he was feeling. At times, he almost seemed one-dimensional. He was never angry, sad, upset, or confused. At his worst points, he was placid and maybe absentminded. There were always days when I felt too serious for him. Whereas he’s all sunshine and happiness, to the point of falseness, I’m gloom, doom, and a spark of mad lightning. Of course, scientific opposites attract—the world must be kept in balance—and I’m hoping we can be that way too.

            “Where are we going today?” he asks as he puts his coffee down in the cup-holder.

            I shrug. I still have a few printed maps from the library shoved in my back pocket, but I’m not exactly in any mood to pull them out. “I was just planning on driving around today.”

            Austin smiles and nods. “Sounds like fun.”

            Despite his smile, I can tell that he’s lying through gritted teeth. By now, I know very well that his agenda is to get to California ASAP, and I have a feeling that he hasn’t had a miraculous change of heart in the past thirty minutes. Nonetheless, I accept it for what it is. There probably won’t ever be another day when I’ll get explicit permission to derp around.

            We stay quite for a half-hour or so. The only sound in the car is the sound of the wind rushing by and the faint strains of the radio. Occasionally, Austin starts humming along, but other than that, he might as well be lifeless.

            “Sam?”

            The question startles me, but I manage to reply. “Yeah?”

            “I have a question.”

            I take a deep breath. Other than being told “we need to talk,” there is nothing I loathe more in conversation than being confronted with questions. I hate being backed into a corner. I am a control freak. I am a control freak to the point where I start making up scenarios in my head to explain my erratic behavior, and this is not a situation I enjoy.

            “Sure.”

            “Are you happy with your life right now?”

            I crack my neck. At this point, do I want to tell the truth, or do I want to make him happy? In the past, I could make him happy by telling him the truth, because that’s just who we were, but by now, the truth has gotten me into more emotional turmoil than it has gotten me out of. And somewhere in my mind, I start to factor in the fact that this entire road trip is all because I insisted on appeasing others.

            “Sam?”

             “Yeah?”

            “Didn’t you say you’ve always wanted to do a pie eating contest?”