Going 78 Miles Per Hour | ✓

19 | Tire Allignment

I heaved a sigh, clenching down my jaw, drawing out my next statement. "So, how's the weather?"

The entire table stops, and focuses on me. Everyone suddenly quiets and stares at me, trying to read my intentions. I can see Presley from the corner of my vision, trying hard not to spit laughter all over his dinner. In my head, I'm swearing at him—and probably throwing a punch or two—but sitting here, all I'm feeling is just embarrassment.

Fuck this shit.

"The weather? The weather for what? The cabin?" Sebastian prompts, causing Nini to hit him in the shoulder. This made my embarrassment tenfold.

"Never mind, forget it," I declare, waving out a dismissive hand. I wanted to kill the conversation before it even starts—this is stupid. I fucking hate small talk.

"No, no, wait!" Nini holds out a hand, stopping me from retracting my offer. I turn to her, gritting down my teeth. "Um," she shares a look with the rest of the family, waiting for someone to contribute. None did, and my embarrassment flames.

I fucking hate everything.

"Harlow,"

"What?"

"The weather..." She brings the conversation back to my embarrassing attempt to make small talk. Just shut up, already. "It's nice."

"Yeah," Sebastian nods, agreeing alongside his wife. He looks to me, gesturing out a hand. "The weather is—it's a clear blue sky today with a couple of clouds."

"And there's not a lot of pollution," Claudia adds, joining in. She doesn't meet my eyes. "Some factories are receiving their final notices to close down fossil fuels and this lowers the pollution rate for the city."

"And I built a birdhouse outside!" Ariah contributes, causing eyes to turn to her. She smiles proudly, showing off her toothy smile with a chipped front tooth. "I put it in the backyard next to the garden."

"That's great, Ariah," Claudia grins, "you have to show it to me."

"Yeah!" Ariah nods her head frantically, her glasses bobbling with her, "we could go outside tomorrow and I'll show the whole family. Maybe they'll be a bird or two!"

The entire family hums in agreement, and the conversation begins to course naturally between the five of them. The topic moves around from person to person, and Presley attempts to draw out the tension with a joke played in Claudia's direction.

We stray far from my attempt at small talk, and, slowly—but surely—the embarrassment building in my chest fades.

━━━━━

SÁBADO
5:14PM

Reid Harlow

"You play football on a fucking Saturday?" I ask, turning to Presley. We're exiting from the backdoor, following Claudia towards the open space. The garden extends to the side, far from the field and our approaching game—and with Nini, she covered the majority with a large tarp.

"Anything wrong with that?" Presley rebuttals, shoving his hands into the pocket of his grey sweatpants. He looks at me. "Don't tell me you don't know how to teamwork too."

I sent him a look, which gave him all the answers he needed. He audibly gasps, covering his mouth with his hand and widening his eyes at this shocking reveal. I wanted to shove him back at his theatrics.

"Harlow," he whispers lowly, dropping his hand. "You don't know anything about the treasures of American football? The most scarce sport in the country—oh, who am I kidding, I don't know it well either." He throws out his hand, dropping his act. I almost smile.