Page 128 of Rock Me

"Deal."

I walk over to the driver’s side of the car, just as Paige runs down the steps.

"Noémie! Stop! You… your driver’s license is suspended, remember? And you shouldn't drive, anyway. You’re not ready."

"Ignore her, Noémie. We’ll just go a little way up the street. They’ll be able to see us the whole time," Jez says, nodding to me over the top of the car, and gesturing his head to Paige and his three bandmates standing in front of the house, watching everything.

I turn off my brain and slide into the driver's seat. I can feel the skin over every inch of my body become slick with perspiration as I run my fingers over the steering wheel, acquainting myself with the strange car.

"Hey." His voice is soft, deep, low. Intimate. "It's just the two of us in here. It's just you and me. You can do this."

"Jez, why in the world are you in a car with me? I don’t understand what’s going on!"

My frustration doesn’t faze him and he just says, calmly, "The deal was, you take me for a drive, and I'll tell you why I'm here. So, drive." He turns and stares straight ahead.

I exhale, hard, and it sounds like a gust of blustery wind in the small car.

My hand grips around the hand brake and I release it, my feet finding their way on the pedals. I press down on the gas, too soft at first, tentative, and then too hard and the car engine revs. Loud. Shaking the little sports car and the two inhabitants in it. I imagine the neighbors have their noses up hard against the windows. I wish I could tell them that there's nothing to see, but I have no idea what's about to happen.

My hand curls around the gear stick and then my mind goes completely blank.

What do I do?

My hand twitches on the gear stick, trying to rely on muscle memory, but there's nothing there.

Shit.

No.

I can't have forgotten how to drive.

I squeeze my eyes closed tight.

"Come on, come on," I mutter to myself, turning over every nook and cranny in my brain trying to remember how to do this.

It should be second nature. Done without thought.

But nothing comes.

"Shit!" I bang on the steering wheel, and then the side of my head.

"Get out of there!" I yell, urging the memory to dislodge from its hiding spot.

Jez doesn't say anything, just keeps staring straight ahead. He has a strange look on his face, like the sides of his mouth are twitching.

He's laughing at me. He's enjoying this.

So, I was wrong.

He is a cruel and twisted bastard.

He came all this way, just to watch me fall apart.

Fuck him.

I'll show him!!

I push down on the gear stick and press down hard on the gas pedal. There's nothing but the sound of the engine turning over again, shaking my bones.