He shrugged. “Can you drive a stick shift?”
I snorted. “I was hot-wiring cars and pushing them down hills to pop the clutch before I was twelve. Of course I know how to drive one.”
He nodded before throwing his car door open and slowly climbing out of the truck.
He was almost to the passenger side when I asked, “Why’d you run this, anyway? I thought you hated running.”
“Cutter blackmailed me,” he grumbled.
I waited until he was all the way inside before I took my empty cup back into the store to fill it up with water and ice.
When I got back to his truck I handed it over and said, “Drink this.”
He took it and swallowed down a hefty amount before he said, “Thanks.”
I got in and started it up, then took way too long to adjust the seat and mirrors before I expertly backed up.
The only issue I had as I made it out onto the highway was a little stutter as I was pulling out.
“When’s the last time you drove a stick?” he asked.
I thought back to that answer before saying, “High school. I had a guy friend that I met at the coffee shop. He took me home a lot, and eventually I asked him to teach me how to drive. I wasn’t actually hot-wiring cars at twelve.”
“That’s a bummer,” he muttered as he leaned his head back against the seat and closed his eyes. “I was really over here thinking that you were a hellion.”
“Well…”
His lips twitched, and I had to force myself to look back at the road.
“I’m going to take a nap, okay, Calamity Jane?”
Calamity Jane.
What the fuck ever.
I drove home on autopilot, not using the GPS thanks to my photographic memory from my earlier rush to get here. I was halfway home when he started snoring lightly.
We were all the way home when he finally woke up as I pulled into my driveway.
“You parked in the wrong driveway,” he grumbled.
“Did I?” I asked innocently.
He sighed and got out, his muscles stiff and his limping much more pronounced.
“You need to go take some ibuprofen.”
“I don’t have any,” he grumbled as he started to make his way up my front walk.
“Where are you going?” I asked worriedly.
“Your house is closer, and I don’t think I have it in me to get over there.”
I thought about arguing, but instead just let him into my place.
I didn’t laugh as he limped up the stairs, but it was a close thing.
“Come on, Sir Limps A Lot. You can crash on my…”
