Alone together ✕ Wayhaught

five

In fifty meters, turn left

Lights skip by and shine down on the car one by one. I stare blankly at the road ahead of me and see me hands on the steering wheel get and orange glow followed by darkness with every passing lamp. Quickly, I glance at the clock on Nicole's radio, in red numbers it says: 03:24. That explains my heavy eyelids a lot. In fear of falling asleep right here, right now, I turn the air-conditioning a setting heavier. I shiver in reaction to the feeling of cold air hitting my bare arms (my jacket lays on the backseat) and to my right I hear a low groan, most likely due to the increase of blowing wind hitting her drunk body. I glance at Nicole from the corner of my eye and see her wrapped up in a ball on the carseat. Her head's leaning against the side window and her light orange hair loosely falls over her face. I know she must be as tired as I am, because I notice she's struggling to keep her sleepy eyes, that are fixed on the passing houses, open.

Turn left

It's quiet on the streets. The only sounds filling up the car are the running engine of Nicole's truck, her breathing next to me and the occasional commands the GPS gives me in order to arrive at Nicole's house. I find it too quiet, I decide. So I press the power button on the radio and, on a low volume, music escapes the car's speakers within seconds. It's barely noticeable but for some reason it seems to disturb Nicole's peaceful staring. I sense her gaze landing on me and I turn my head towards her, quick enough not to lose control over the truck. It's merely a second, but it's long enough for me to spot her eyes looking at me in shock, as if I had done something terrible. They were also very sad. The image of her eyes and how they had looked at me burns in my mind for the rest of the ride, which was only a few streets more. In the meantime, Nicole got tired of sitting up and looking at me, so she got back into her original position and started scanning the buildings and objects flashing by us again. Suddenly, I hear her voice. It's a murmur and it cracks in the middle of her first word. Her voice must be just as tired as the both of us. She clears her throat and tries again, this time it works.
"We're almost there."

You've arrived at your destination

"Yeah, duh, that's what I just said."
Even after all that's happened, her silliness still cracks me up. She asks me why I'm laughing and I tell her nothing.

"Come on, let's get you inside."
She struggles with getting out of the car and walking without tripping over her own feet before being able to arrive at her front door, so I grab her hand to steady her. It tingles when she accepts it. I can faintly hear her say something along the lines of: 'I don't need your help, I am grown woman', but she makes no move to get rid of my hand, so I pretend I didn't hear her.

"Keys."
"Nicole, this is your house."
"Ah... right." She turns back to her door and stares at the lock. It looks like she's trying to remember how to open it, and I know I shouldn't but I can't help but laugh at how stupid she can be when she has drunk. After a few seconds, she slowly turns her body towards me again and looks at me guiltily.
"I lost my keys."
Oh, man. Please, no. I give her a disapproving look and make her check all of her pockets, but the only results are fifty cents, a business card for a vintage shop in New York (why did she have that she 1. doesn't look like the person to go to New York and 2. not at all to shop at a vintage clothing store) and an old wrapper for chewing gum. I sigh in defeat as to what I'm supposed to do with her now. It's not like I don't enjoy taking care of her, because I do enjoy it. People have to do this for me - or actually, used to do this for me - all the time, so it is nice to be on the other side for once, especially with Nicole. But this is not the ideal situation to be in at this moment. It would be best if I took her to my apartment with me and let her crash there for the night. That wouldn't be weird, would it. She's drunk and I can't just let her sit out here.
"We'll deal with the key-situation tomorrow, let's go", I announce.
"To where?"
"My place"
"I'll be okay, Waves. See I'll just sleep here." She pets the stone ground on which she's sat down on. The nickname she calls me makes my heart speed up and I feel like my chest is going to burst open to let all of the locked up butterflies escape. But then I think about what she actually said.
"Nicole..."
Even when she's wasted, she knows better than to go with me. I deserve that, I guess. But I won't let her out here all alone.
"You can't sleep on the ground, come."