“Nah, I’ll enjoy the walk. Plus, it wouldn’t be safe for you guys. Make sure you stay off the freeways and main highways.”
“We will,” Aiden says with a nod.
And with that, Jo heads back up the embankment and disappears out of sight.
*
AIDEN
As expected, the car battery is dead. But we hook up the jump starter to the battery terminals, and immediately, the dashboard in the car comes to life with LED lights and little electronic dings. I press the starter, and the motor turns over. But it doesn’t start.
“Give it a moment to juice up,” Zach says.
I wait for about a minute and try again. I press the ignition button, and this time, the little engine comes to life, purring like a kitten.
We both cheer and exchange a hug, grinning.
The car has around three-quarters of a tank of gas left. These Corollas sip gas, too, so it’s entirely possible this could get us all the way to Seattle.
But the best feature of the car by far? The tape player in the dash. I’ve held on to my mixtape this whole time. I pop it in, and the base starts pumping.
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger…
Zach looks at me with a broad grin. “Nice. I love Daft Punk.”
Of course, he does. Zach is awesome.
“This is my own mix. I made it,” I say.
“Really.” Zach’s eyes are wide.
“Yeah, I used to be a DJ.”
“DJs are so sexy.”
“Stop it. Now you’re just teasing.” I wave off Zach’s comment.
“No really. I always loved seeing them up in their booth, so completely into what they were doing. All mysterious and aloof. And super sexy.”
“Yeah, yeah. Let’s get going.”
I carefully drive the car along the creek bed until we reach a dirt road. That quickly meets up with the paved road, and we’re on our way.
Consulting the map, we take a lot of roundabout ways to avoid the main highways, heeding Jo’s advice. Despite that, we’re making great time.
We don’t speak a lot as we cruise along. And the farther we get from Cedar Grove, the more the real world weighs on me. We still haven’t talked about that kiss, and I’m regretting it more and more as the pressing need to set off on my own dominates my mind. It seems Zach can sense that something is up. He keeps sending pensive glances my way.
Abandoned cars are showing up along the side of the road again. Now that we have the battery jumper, little is stopping me from finding my own car and turning Zach lose. But how am I going to break it to him? The second he sees me messing with another car, he’ll be on to me. Then we’ll be in a huge discussion about it. He’s got to understand why I have to do this, and if he can’t, then so be it. My mission is that important. But I ache from the worry. I’ll wait a bit longer.
Soon, the outskirts of Spokane spread out to the south. We steer well clear of the city, but we still pass by a few buildings. Once we get past Spokane, the going is even faster. Soon the trees disappear, and the land flattens out. Eastern Washington has miles of farmland. The highways go in straight lines for fifty miles at a time because there’s no reason they need to turn.
The silence is thick, and Zach looks gloomier by the minute.
“Hey, let’s play a driving game,” I say.
“Okay, like what?”
“It’s called ‘how far away is that?’”
