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It’s not like anything will ever happen there anyway though, so it can just be a secret I keep to myself.
20
BRYNN
By the time we get back to the car, the clouds are heavy with snow again. It feels like we’re never going to get away from the weather, and it means our drive will keep being slow since the roads are still bad.
“I can drive for a while,” Ares offers when Tate goes to get behind the wheel again.
“Sure,” Tate says easily. He tosses Ares the keys and then goes around to the passenger side.
That leaves me in the back with Callan. I try to keep my distance from him, making myself as small as possible in my seat. He takes up a lot of space, but he stays on his own side at least.
He doesn’t look at me or talk to me while Ares pulls into the gas station across the street to top up the tank because, “The last thing we fucking need is to end up in traffic or something and run out of gas.”
Tate gives him shit about how we’ve barely passed any other cars this whole drive, so he’s not sure where this ‘traffic’ is going to come from, but no one really objects to the idea because it is smart.
Callan just looks out the window the whole time, hardly acknowledging that I’m in the car at all.
And that’s okay. That’s fine. Maybe it’s for the best.
Once we get back on the road, I pull out my phone and realize I have a text from Marnie from about an hour ago.
MARNIE: Girl, where are you?
MARNIE: You were supposed to be here days ago, and I haven’t even gotten so much as a text to let me know you made it.
MARNIE: This is not how we do things!
ME: I know, I’m sorry!!
ME: This whole trip has been a nightmare.
MARNIE: ????????
MARNIE: Elaborate.
ME: So first our plane had to divert to another airport because of an issue. So I got stuck in the middle of nowhere Ohio in a snowstorm…
ME: Then I tried to leave on a bus, but it broke down on the side of the road.
MARNIE: Omg??
ME: Yeah. I’m still on the way, but I’m delayed now.
ME: I’ll let you know when I get there.
MARNIE: This sounds like one of those holiday movies where everything that can go wrong does go wrong.
MARNIE: You’re going to have quite the story when I see you.
She doesn’t know the half of it. I don’t know how much I should tell her. Especially over text. If there’s one person I’d want to be up front with, it’s Marnie, but I just don’t know.
ME: I sure will.
Up in the front of the car, Tate and Ares keep giving each other looks. When I put my phone back in my bag, I realize they’re having a quiet conversation, and the tension from the parking lot is still there between them.
The last thing I need right now is to get wrapped up in whatever they’re saying because I think it’s probably about me, and I don’t want to know if I’m right or not.
