“Jasmin…about what happened—”
“Don’t worry about it. Water under the bridge.”
“I didn’t mean it.”
She stopped walking and there it was again. That twitch, that brain-drain twitch accompanied by the same perky smile. “Sure, you did.”
He shrugged almost helplessly. “All right, I meant it…but not in the way you took it.”
Her eyebrows creased a little and she finally lifted her eyes to meet his. She didn’t even look like the same person. She masked herself behind a hard exterior, but her eyes told him she was crumbling beneath it. “And what way is that?” she asked softly.
“In that soul-destroying, issue-causing kind of way—that’s not how I meant it. You’re annoying…God, you’re annoying…and you should have talked to me before changing the plans we made…but what I said was uncalled for.”
Dan:What the fuck is going on here?
Bob:I’m not…I’m not entirely sure. I think he’s trying to apologize. I don’t recognize this kind of sincerity. Is he sick or something?
“It’s fine,” she whispered. “Really. You’re not wrong. No one wants to be around me. My dad’s always too busy…and my mom…I don’t even know if she wanted me. The way a parent loves a child…that kind of love is supposed be unconditional…and…and neither of them feel that for me. No one does. I’m completely disposable.”
Dan:Jesus (laughing hysterically)! We were so caught up in her need for social acceptance, we completely forgot about her abandonment issues. He somehow managed to kill two birds with one stone. If that’s not enough to take him to the quarter finals, then I don’t know what is.
Bob:No wonder she was crying. A girl like her has probably never had the privilege of meeting an asshole like him.
Dan:She wants to talk about chemical reactions? What a joke! It’s not that she knows how to control her emotions. It’s just been easy up until now because no one has made her feel this shitty before (wheezing from laughter). This kid is such a dick! Bob, take the mic. I can’t even…
Kevin took a second and shut off all the noise in his head. He needed to make this right. He didn’t want her to leave feeling the way she did. “Jasmin, that’s not how I meant it. You’re not easy to deal with…but neither am I. Our personalities just don’t gel. You’re crazy on another level of what the fuck, and I’m an asshole, truly a cosmic force to be reckoned with. We’re never gonna get along. When you leave here, that’s all you should take away from this.”
She said nothing and he took that as his cue to leave. He gathered his bags and started heading back to the pumps. He only made it ten feet when he heard her soft voice behind him.
“I’ll still take you to Georgia.”
This was the type of craziness his brain couldn’t even fathom. He turned and walked back to her. “Why…why would you do that? You don’t owe me anything and I’m the last person you should be nice to.”
“I’m the reason you’re in this mess,” she replied with a small shrug. “You’re miles away from home and you’re completely off course because of me. I can’t just leave you stranded here. So…ifyouwant to…I’ll take you to Georgia.”
She couldn’t possibly be that kind, could she? Not after everything he said. “I don’t…I don’t understand why you would do that for me?”
“I don’t know a lot of people, but the few people I do know confuse me. I don’t know if my nannies genuinely cared about me or if they were just doing their jobs. They wouldn’t have left after just a few months if they really cared. My cousins look out for me, but I don’t know if they would even give me the time of day if I weren’t family. I don’t know if Rachel is really my friend, or if she just tolerates me because of my cousins. But you…you don’t like me…and I’m okay with that, because it’s so refreshing to not have to wonder for a change. I’m doing it because you’re always honest with me…and I think I need that.” She paused fora bit and took a step towards him. “From now on, I’ll talk to you and I won’t make any rash decisions on my own. I’m still going to Vegas. Not today, though. Today I just need some time to myself.”
“Jasmin—”
“And before you start complaining about money, take a look around you. There are things so much bigger than money. It’s just waiting for you to take the time to see it. You’re right. We’re never gonna get along…and the longer I’m around you, the more I dislike you. But whatever. I’m willing to take anything life throws at me, including an asshole like you. I want to experience everything, good and bad, and the opportunity to do it is right here. You can do the same, or walk away. That’s up to you.”
He didn’t even see it coming. It was like he’d been slapped upside the head. This girl who knew nothing about life had just taught him a life lesson. He had two choices then: get on a bus and find his own way to Florida, or take the next step of his journeywith heron a path of complete uncertainty. He didn’t know where he was going to end up.
It should have been easy to say no, but this path of unknown possibility was begging him to explore it. It didn’t make any sense. He was going to put his trust in someone he barely knew. They didn’t like each other and, if anything, their argument today made their already rocky relationship more unstable. But there was an uncontrollable pull towards her, like two polar opposites of a magnet; he couldn’t seem to get away from her.
She opened the car door and glanced back to look at him. “Are you coming or not?”
“Quit nagging. I’m coming.”
He tossed his bags back into the trunk and got into the passenger seat. It was unnervingly quiet and a little tense. She didn’t say anything and he gave her the space she needed. He needed some time to think as well, because both of them didn’tfully understand what just happened. It should have been the end of the road for them, but with a new understanding, it seemed like it was just the beginning.
Bob:Well, would you look at that. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say our boy is developing a little soft spot for this girl.
Dan:It’s guilt, Bob. It’s the only reason he jumped back into that car. He feels guilty about what he said.
Bob:Of course, you’d say that. You know what it sounds like to me? It sounds like an excuse…like adefense mechanism(snorts).So typically you, Dan.
