“Hey, you’re the one who forced me to drive you. It’s not like I wanted to.”
“I didn’t want to, either. I just didn’t want you—” She stops herself.
“Didn’t want me to what?”
“I didn’t want you around Mallory,” she says.
There she goes on about Mallory again like she did when she attacked me. “Not this again. I’m not going to do anything to Mallory.”
“I don’t believe you.” She says it so fast I don’t think she’s even acknowledging what I’m saying. She’s already made up her mind and there’s no changing it.
“You said you can tell when I’m lying. I won’t hurt Mallory. Now look at me. Am I lying?”
Her eyes search me and her jaw clenches.
“I’m not lying, am I?” Sure, Mallory isn’t my favorite person right now, but I’d never hurt her.
“But you do,” she mumbles.
She is beyond frustrating. “How could you possibly know that?”
“I saw you.”
“When?”
Her mouth hangs open but nothing comes out. She gestures as she thinks of a response. “It doesn’t matter. You wouldn’t believe me anyway.”
“Why? You aren’t going to tell me you’re from the future or something?”
Her mouth slams shut and she crosses her arms.
“You can’t be serious? It’s finally happened. You’ve officially lost it.”
“You don’t know anything,” she whispers, looking out her window again.
“I know that much. I’m about two thousand percent sure you aren’t from the future.”
She stays quiet, not replying.
I laugh because it’s ridiculous. She’s always had a vivid imagination, but this is too much. “Do I need to drive you to a doctor? Do we need to see if you have a tumor or something that’s affecting your brain—”
There’s a notification on the car’s dash that steals my attention. “Great, I’m almost out of gas.”
“What do you mean? There’s nothing around here.”
“I thought I could make it.”
Her glare intensifies, aimed at me like a dagger. “You have got to be kidding me. You thought you could make it? We’re in the middle of nowhere.”
“We’re almost to Lancaster.”
“How close?”
“Like five miles,” I say.
“Will we make it five miles?”
“We’re about to find out.”
