Chapter 13
Alayah
“Baby, you have to press the gas,” Londyn said, laughing.
“Iampressing the gas.”
“You’re going five miles an hour, Alayah. Put some power in it.”
“I don’t wanna crash.”
“You’re barely moving, and we’re in an empty parking lot. You’re fine.”
I sighed as I pressed the gas a little harder. True to her word, Londyn was teaching me to drive. She wasn’t a bad teacher, but I wasn’t trying to wreck her car. Uncle Clive taught me a little back in the day since Kennedy refused to. She didn’t want me getting any ideas about driving her car. If she ever sent me to run errands, I always had to take the bus. Even then, I had to take my sisters with me. It was her way of ensuring that I wasn’t off doing anything I wasn’t supposed to do.
“That’s it. You’re doing great,” Londyn encouraged. “In a few months, you’ll be driving like me.”
“No offense, Londyn, but your driving scares me a little.”
She scoffed. “I’m not even that bad.”
“It’s the road rage.”
She laughed. “Listen, these people will have you seeing red. Everybody shouldn’t own a car.”
I shook my head. We’d been out here for an hour. I appreciated her teaching me, but I was okay with my bus pass for now. Even if I learned to drive, I didn’t have a reason to have a car anyway. I rode with my uncle to work, and if I left the house without him or my aunt, it was on the bus. I was cool with that.
My lesson went on for another hour before we decided to go get something to eat. It was Saturday, and unlike many mechanic shops, Uncle Clive didn’t work weekends. He said he wasn’t going to slave six days a week, and he wouldn’t make his staff do it either. This was the first Saturday since I’d been home that I’d actually left the house.
After the fiasco at lunch the other week, I was a little nervous to go out with Londyn again for fear of further embarrassment. However, she’d come over to the house when I tried to get out of it and talked me into coming with her. I found she could be a little pushy, but I got the feeling that was just her personality. It wasn’t a bad type of pushy, more like an I’m-not-gonna-let-you-wallow-in-your-feelings kind of pushy.
We walked into Burger Bliss, a new-to-me fast food place in River Point. It was already busy, but Londyn insisted we stay because the food was good. We waited in line for at least ten minutes before we got to the front. When my eyes landed on the cashier, my heart skipped a beat. Adrienne looked at me with a blank expression. There was a momentary stare off before she finally spoke.
“Welcome to Burger Bliss. What can I get started for you today?”
“I’ll take a number three with extra pickles, a sweet tea, and a side of ranch,” Londyn answered.
“Is that for here or to go?”
“Here. You can put hers on my order, too,” she added, motioning to me.
Adrienne looked to me. “What can I get you?”
I was hurt that she was acting like she didn’t know who I was. I understood she could hold up the line being friendly, but she was looking right through me.
“I’ll have the same,” I whispered.
“That will be seventeen forty-three.”
Londyn swiped her card. Adrienne handed her the cups and her receipt.
“I’m gonna go to the bathroom,” I said to her.
“Okay. I’ve got your drink.”
“Thanks.”
I headed around the corner to the bathroom. Once inside, I locked myself in a stall. I practiced deep breathing, attempting to calm my nerves. As together as I tried to keep it, my sisters were the one thing that could always trigger me. A week had passed since I’d shown up at the house. I hadn’t had the nerve to text Amiyah because I didn’t know if Kennedy was checking their phones after seeing me. The last thing I wanted was to get either of them in trouble with her.
