Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind - Treebros

Chapter 40: "I'm Burned Out, I Smell of Smoke"

Wednesday, June 26th

It's here. It's today. Today is the day. The day that I've been waiting for. It's today. The day is today. I don't think I've comprehended it yet.

"You excited?" Connor asks, finger rhythmically tapping the steering wheel. My leg won't stop bouncing up and down.

"No. Yes. Maybe. I don't know," I say. I'm both excited and nervous and upset and everything at once. I feel like I've drank every single Monster flavor and then washed it down with margarita mix.

"Why not? I couldn't be more excited to get away from this hell hole," he laughs, fiddling with the cuffs of his graduation gown. I get fidgeting and all that but he's literally driving and could very much kill us right now.

"Yeah. It wasn't all that bad," I argue. There were some moments where I genuinely enjoyed school.

"No? Tell me, what good memory do you have of this place?" Connor scoffs.

"Well there was this one day," I sigh wistfully, making him chuckle.

"One day?" he prompts.

"Yeah. This one day in World Lit," I say.

"Go on." At the time this wasn't a good day. At all. I thought this would be the worst day of my life.

"Mr. Abdul moved my seat to sit next to this guy," I continue. Connor doesn't look at me what with the whole driving thing, but his eyes crinkle in that way they do right before he smiles.

"Was he at least cute?" he asks.

"Eh."

"Hey!" He yelps. And there it is. His smile is so pretty. I don't know how I'd never noticed it before we met. Maybe because I'd never seen him smile before that.

"I'm kidding. He was... beautiful. That was one of the best days of my life. Butterfly effect, y'know. If my seat had never been moved, I wouldn't be sitting here with you now," I say. It's weird how if he hadn't been staring at me that day, I wouldn't have known how happy I could be.

"Oh yeah? So you're glad you met him?" Connor asks. He sounds mostly teasing, but there's a rumbling thoughtful undertone that sounds genuine.

"Yeah. I am," I grin.

"I bet he's glad too."

"I hope so," I sigh. Some days it doesn't feel like it. Some days I think both of us would have been saved a lot of trouble if he had stopped his eyes from wandering.

"How's he doing these days?" Connor asks, smirking.

"He's actually kind of really annoying," I say, laughing. To let him know that I'm joking and also because that was kind of funny.

"I could easily crash the car right now and take out both of us," he says cheerfully, glancing over at me.

"You wouldn't kill me," I scoff. He would definitely crash the car if it was just him, but not if I was there too. If nothing than for the fact that I could survive and sue him.