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When George Shaw tries to find a plan for the last fifteen days to spend with his best friend, who he's had a crush on for as long as he can remember, all he needs is a map to plot out a road trip and his daily h...
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On our way to the car, I didn't make a sound. The sound of music slowly fading off from my ears, I tucked my hands into my pockets and picked up Abby's pace. She avoided my gaze, knowingly or not, but I was dying to know what was running in her mind. She is far out of your league.
Once I shut the driver's door, the noise was zoned out, leaving me occupied with Abby's loud breathing and my anxiety. This silence wasn't good. As if I could defeat it, I suddenly started speaking. "Did you like the girls?"
"They are not bad." I turned the key to turn on the car.
"I wasn't going to leave you but—"
"It's okay, George. I wanted you to spend time with your friends...and they weren't bad, as I said." Her replies were firm, her tone so cold like an ice queen. I hadn't really noticed her being so cold towards people until Brandon pointed it out today but why did I notice this kind of thing now? Especially when she should have been the warmest toward me.
However, I pretended the tension between us didn't exist, driving slowly and with my eyes fixated on the road. I threw out a breathy laugh, as if something was funny, and said the first thing on the top of my head. "Brandon will throw a huge party for his eighteenth in November, and he invited us." I stole a glance from her, but she was looking out of the window. "You can come at the weekend, maybe."
She hadn't answered that.
I squeezed the steering wheel to collect my patience. I wasn't going to ask her what was wrong. She'd tell me in the end. Maybe she was upset over her father or anything else. Not everything was about me. I didn't need to make a fuss.
"Or screw it," I said at last. "It's not that important."
She let out a sigh. I didn't understand whether she was done with my blabbering or she sensed my anxiety. Another silence followed since I gave up on trying to keep the cheer in the atmosphere when we were both so tense. I was tense because she was tense.
The silence becomes deafening when something crucial is about to come. In movies, the background music thickens and gets muted by the time the words are about to come out. I was looking straight on the road when that happened. I wasn't looking at Abby nor had I noticed that she was watching me intently as she spoke. "I can't do this," she whispered, but that was the only sound that I could hear. I can't do this.
I suddenly stepped on the brake, pulling the car to an abrupt halt. Not to cause any accidents, I decided to use the last bit of my energy to pull the car over. Her words ruined me in a heartbeat, sooner than I expected. I finally met her gaze and her eyes were full of tears. "I can't do long distance, George."
Despair clogged up my throat, blocking my voice for a while. If I were to say something, it would come off incoherent. She is far out of your league. Maybe that was true; maybe she was. I shook my head. We loved each other—wasn't it all that mattered?
