Annabel Taylor
"Are there any libraries nearby?"
"Yep." I didn't look up from the design that I was drawing. Sticking my tongue out a bit, I traced another curve in the fire. Noah fiddled with the hem of his shirt.
It was a few hours after Macey had come over. My mom was still working at the garage. This was pretty normal. She became absorbed in her cars the way someone might get absorbed in a book.
"Can you tell me where it is?" Noah asked. "You won't have to drive me."
"Oh? So the little-kid-following-his-mommy-around phase is over?" West's thumbs hit buttons on the controller furiously as he never turned his eyes away. Chance was practically pressed up against the screen, furiously trying to run away from his character.
"I have never acted like an adolescent child." I could hear the steel in Noah's voice.
West snorted, focusing on the game again.
"Leave him alone, West. When I beat the snot out of you, I want don't want you to have any excuses."
West snorted. "Like that'll happen. I'm the best there is."
A few minutes later Chance was throwing down his remote and West was leaping up, whooping. "In your face!" he cackled. "I am the undefeatable, the great, the incredibly awesome West Taylor!"
"Weston is not an incredibly awesome name," Kolbie pointed out.
"Neither is Kolbie," West shot back.
"Whatever."
"I want to go again," Chance said firmly. He looked at West, close to a pout.
I raised an eyebrow at my twin. "You want to get your butt kicked again?"
"I'm going to win this time. I know it."
"You said that last time," Kolbie said.
"It's...appalling how unsupportive you two are of your brother."
"I'm sorry, Noah, exactly when did you become my mother?" Kolbie tilted her head, brown eyes wide and sarcastically innocent.
"Lay off, Kolbie," I shot her a look and glanced at Noah. "Are you sure that going out in public would be the best idea? You still look like the Bamencian prince."
"You took me out," he argued.
"Yeah, but no one would be looking for you at an Italian Ice shop," I pointed out. "Seriously, Noah, I'm not in the mood to get chewed out by Harrison again. It's not going to happen."
"But--"
"The closest library is about ten miles away from here, you should see the sign near the shopping plaza that I'm assuming Anna took you to. You can take my car, keys are in the bowl." Chance stretched and flopped down onto the couch, scooping the controller off the floor.
"Thanks, Chance."
"Chance! What is wrong with you?!" I exclaimed.
"That's for being unsupportive." He flashed me an apologetic grin. "Sorry, sis."
"Which set are they?" Noah called from the doorway.
"What's going on?" Macey came back from the bathroom, a puzzled expression on her face.
"Aha!" I jumped up and pointed at Noah just as he picked up a set of keys with a football keychain on them.
Startled, Kolbie jumped. "What?"
"This is the perfect opportunity for another lesson."
Noah looked scared. I grinned.
*
"Speed up! What are you, eighty?"
"It's called being a cautious driver," Noah snarled back. "Just because I'm not driving like a bat out of hell, it doesn't not mean that I am at all."
Apparently, our little 'moment' from before was gone. It didn't matter. I wasn't sure what I would do even if these feeling were real.
"You're doing forty on a country road," I pointed out.
"And your point is?"
I sighed and tossed my leg over his. His mouth opened, floundering around while he turned the brightest shade of red I've ever seen. While he was distracted, I gently pressed my foot onto the gas. The car purred, the scenery passing us even faster.
"Anna! Get your foot off--"
"Hold the wheel," I ordered sternly.
Fifty....sixty....seventy...eighty...
"Watch this," I grinned. Noah looked at me like i was crazy, his eyes wide behind the glasses. I pressed a litte harder until we were doing ninety.
"Don't turn the wheel and don't panic."
"Don't what?!"
PHROOM!
The car surged into the air. I threw my hands into the air, grinning as Noah screamed explicitives in French and English. The trees and dirt roads looked so small from this height...
Alabama hills. Gotta love them.
We hit the ground. Hard. My seatbelt was strained with the effort of keeping me in place. I pressed back against the seat until Noah pulled the car to a stop.
I couldn't wipe the stupid grin off of my face. Laughter bubbled through my lps and I leaned over, laughing my head off. I could feel the are-you-crazy stare but I could care less.
"That was...that was...what were you...oh my goodness." He rested his head against the wheel, thumping his head.
I patted his back as he took a few deep breaths. He was pale, even with his coloring."If you're going to throw up, I suggest that you get out of my mother's car," I told him kindly.
He turned his head and stared at me for a few moments. The coloring in his face was slowly coming back. "I'm not going to throw--"
He shot his door open, leaned over, and threw up. I sighed, rubbing his back again. The first time was always the hardest.
When he was finished, I handed him a few napkins from the glove compartment. He wiped out his mouth.
"I could have died."
"Don't be ridiculous," I said, rolling my eyes. "I've done that a thousand times."
"Why?" He sounded incredulous.
It was my turn to look at him, shocked. "Why not?"
"It's dangerous and scary, not to mention dangerous--"
"Do you think that we should go? Because I really think that we should go again. You didn't get the point of the lesson--"
"Oh I got the point of the lesson," he said quickly, shutting his door and starting the car again. He adjusted his glasses and looked at me. "Where to?"
I let him off, just this time. I sighed. "Straight ahead."A thought occured to me and I looked at him. "You know a lot of French?"
"My Gran was a swearer," he shrugged. A hint of sadness colored his face, then disappeared in a tight line around his eyes.
I shouldn't have pried, I know, but I realized that I knew almost absolutely nothing about Noah. Yes, I knew that he was a prince, and he was kind of a nerd (who am I kidding) and he had a surprisingly toned stomach. But that was about it.
"You lived with your Gran?" I asked.
"My mother's mother," he replied, still following the road.
"Oh." I didn't know what else to say, so I looked ahead and put my hands in my lap. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him blow out a puff of breath.
For a few moments, there was no noise but the hum of the air conditioner.
"My father, King Malick, met my mother at a party. He was visiting America on business with his grandfather, the king at the time," he began to explain. I looked at him. He stared straight ahead, continuing the story. "My mother was young and beautiful. They hit it off well and for weeks, carried on a secret affair. Dad was already engaged to be married. Everything was okay, and no one found out...until she became pregnant."
He didn't say anything else.
I was shocked into silence. I knew that every family had their scandals. Heck, my family was just one big ball of mess. But the king having an affair? Noah being a secret love child?
Did I apologize for asking? Try and show him a little sympathy? Chance and I were born in totally abnormal circumstances, but we'd had our entire lives to get over that.
"Wow." I summed what I was feeling into one big word.
Noah shrugged. "It's okay."
We sat in a sort of an awkward silence. As we pulled up to my mom's garage, I looked at him again. "Do you think that you can teach me some of those curse words?"
He finally smiled. I grinned at what I'd accomplished as he nodded. "Sure. But what are we doing here?"
"Simple," I said, unbuckling my seat belt and opening the door. "You, my friend, are going to learn about cars."