The End Of The F***ing World (TEOTFW Novel Adaptation)

Episode Two- Part One.

Things didn't always go entirely to plan with Alyssa.

As I drove, she stood with her head out of the open-top car roof. She waved her arms around and shouted to the other cars. I kept wondering what sort of sound she'd make when I killed her.

I needed to find somewhere quiet.

She sat back down with me in the car. "Guess what freedom smells like?"

"What?" I didn't take my eyes off the road.

"Cow shit." She smiled.

I noticed she wasn't wearing a seatbelt. "Seatbelt?"

She giggled. "Fuck seatbelts. So... What you wanna do?"

"Dunno." I shook my head.

"Because we can literally do anything, James. Anything we want." Alyssa looked at me.

I ended up driving her to Laser Tag. It seemed best to do as she wanted for now.

She was wildly enthusiastic, zapping everyone in the room until she got to me. Ironically, I was not in my element.

I stood there and let her shoot me. "Come on!" Alyssa stopped and frowned. "This is shit!"

She put her laser gun into its holster and looked at me for a moment before approaching.

Sometimes I look at him and I think 'Are you a bit dead?'

She backed me into a corner. "Put your tongue in my ear."

"What?" I hesitated.

"I like it." She said, tucking her hair behind her ear.

Slowly, I reached forward and put my tongue in her ear. She giggled. The overhead voice in charge of laser tag rang out. "Right, stop that now."

Alyssa laughed.

As we left the Laser Tag, she threw her laser equipment on the floor instead of hanging it up. After I had put mine away, I stared at her mess for a moment. A staff member stood near me, crossly.

"Sorry." I said quickly as I left.

Alyssa was really good at annoying people.

She took me to a cafe. As she sat and ate her hot dog, I watched her. My meal had hardly been touched.

"Thank god I smashed my phone." She said. "I bet my mum's been calling non-stop. Stupid bitch. How long 'til your dad calls police?"

"What?" I asked.

"About the car?" She said.

"He won't." I was sure of it.

"Really?" Alyssa said.

"Yeah." I said. "He'll think I'm coming home soon. Well, he's a prick and everything, but he's pretty optimistic."

I thought about him sitting at home tending to his black eye. My heart sank.

"What?" Alyssa asked.

"What?" I repeated.

She shrugged. "Alright food." There was a pause.

"Okay." I said.

My mum said that if food were her boyfriend, she'd be in an abusive relationship. She said it like it was a joke. But it's not.

A waitress put the bill on our table. I looked at James. "Did you bring money with you?"

"Didn't you?" He asked.