I snuggled deeper into his jacket, guilt gnawing at my gut. “Do you want this back?”
“No, it’s fine. The heat will be on in a second.” He turned the ignition, and the radio burst to life with an intense guitar riff.
I giggled and twisted onto my side. “Same car, same music.”
He frowned and adjusted the volume. “Did I ever drive you somewhere?”
“No. But you and your buddies… You were hard to miss.” I did a brief, bad rendition of one of his favorite songs from back then.
His side-eye couldn’t stop me from dancing and acting out the lyrics. His lip even twitched up like maybe he wanted to laugh at me. About five seconds into the chorus, I ran out of energy and slumped against the seat.
I waved at the radio. “Always with the old music. Vintage band tees. You were so into nostalgia.”
“Apparently, I’m not the only one.” His pointed glance had me reeling in my seat. What did he mean? I was in the present, baby: the latest fashions and technology, Top 40 music. Trendsetting, eventually. That was thefuture.
I tugged his hoodie farther down my legs. “Don’t pretend like you know me.”
He shrugged. “We did go to high school together, apparently.”
I squinted at him and plucked the hoodie zipper. “Yeah, like you ever noticed the quiet girl in hand-me-down clothes.”
He frowned at the road, all efficiency as he drove. “Who cares about that stuff?”
Me, obviously. His laissez-faire attitude was yet another dodgeball sting to the chest.
He flicked the merge signal and twisted to look over his shoulder. “My family does clothing drive stuff all the time. Swap-meets. Half my wardrobe belonged to somebody else at some point. That hoodie you’re wearing is second-hand, and it’s one of my favorites.”
I clutched the soft fabric. It was nice, actually. His favorite? And he leant it to me?
Zack furrowed his brow. “You were quiet, so we didn’t talk much. It’s not that surprising.”
I tugged on the hem of the hoodie, willing my cheeks not to heat. It wasn’tmyfault he breezed by me all the time. Sure, I was more confident now, but he…
His voice cut through my memories. “Now, we know each other through Shelby.”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention, wiggling with electricity. “Is that why you’re helping me?” Pity for his cousin’s friend?
He sighed. “I already gave you my reasoning.”
I crossed my arms and glared out the window. “Fine.” He didn’t have to tell me. I wasn’t sure what I wanted his reasoning to be, anyway.
We sat in relative silence besides the blaring guitar for the next few minutes. I took a selfie in the car. Might as well get some cute photos of this night so it wasn’t totally wasted.
He rested one hand atop the wheel and glanced at me. “You’re different now.”
“Thankfully,” I said.
“No, you–Ithinkyou were in my science class. Is that right?” He scratched his ear and glanced over. “Mrs. McDeeds?”
“Yeah.” I stared at him, my phone hot in my hand. The world outside was slow motion–windshield wipers squeaking, cars blurring. But Zack, here, was talking normally as if he really did know me.
He drummed his fingers on the dash. “You used to be too timid to ask someone to take their foot off your chair. I didn’t picture you as the type to rip out a girl’s hair.”
“Oh, god.” I rolled away from him to press my burning forehead against the cool glass. Was that all he was going to associate with me now? A neon green T-shirt and a messy bar fight? “Was it that bad?”
“You threw a lemon wedge,” he said.
“Yeah, well, I was trying to make lemonade out of a bad situation.”
