“Take her apartment keys, Flowers. We’ll need to lock this place from the outside. You can return them tomorrow.”
Anna nodded, and with that, we left the drunk and now sleeping Claire, who thankfully, had not puked in my car.
When we got back down to the parking lot, I once again let Derek take the wheel.
“Where to next?”
“Your home,” I said.
“Don’t we have to drop her off?” he asked, pointing a thumb over his shoulder.
“I’ll drop her off.”
Derek shook his head. “I don’t get it. You couldn’t drive the two of them, but you can drive her?”
“I needed help with Claire. I don’t need help with Flowers,” I lied. “What’s confusing to you?”
“Whatever, dude.”
“I am not,” I said slowly. “Adude.”
Derek drove us to his home. A small house in the sprawling Houston suburbs he shared with his parents, he admitted. When he got out of the car, the sound of a dog barking in excitement from inside the house could be heard.
The alleged Weiner.
“Oh, good. He wasn’t lying about the dog,” Flowers said, as we moved around the car. Her getting into the passenger seat, me behind the wheel.
Derek gave us a casual wave before letting himself inside.
I sat there for a second, before starting the car. I could do this. This was all in my head. I’d had plenty of therapists walk me through it. There was no reason not to overcome my anxiety with logic and reason.
The only reason I hadn’t pushed myself already was because I had the luxury of a full-time driver.
I just needed a minute. To get my shit together and will my brain to stop overthinking it. For nearly sixteen years, driving had been as easy as breathing.
“We could call an Uber,” Flowers said quietly.
“We could,” I admitted. “Or you could let me…try.”
She nodded without looking at me. “I’m a big fan of trying. Especially when you’re with someone safe.”
“You’re not going to judge me.” It was more of a statement than a question.
“Considering I don’t even know how to drive, that’s an excellent assumption.”
I took another breath and looked up. “What the fuck am I doing here?”
“Well,” Flowers supplied. “Claire got drunk and I wasn’t sure what to do-”
“I know how I got here,” I cut her off. “I don’t need a recap of the night. It was more of a metaphorical question.”
“I’m not sure what that means, but I think you’re stepping in to do the hero thing again. Which, since I sent up the bat signal, I must have known you had in you. But you could have dropped me off, then Derek last.”
I could feel my lips twitch. “Maybe I was afraid he’d make a pass at me.”
She turned her whole body toward me, then eyed me up and down. “With that hair? Unlikely.”
I chuckled. Then ran my hand through my mess of hair.
