Oliver Ausman Lives Again

seven

this chapter is dedicated to arcane_amanda !
Thank you so much for supporting my stories :')

I can't help but feel a surge of pride when Kat's gaze trails to the Firebird as soon as we walk out of the restaurant. Her eyebrows raise as I lead her over to it and stop at the driver's side, fishing around in my pocket for my key.

"This is yours?" she asks, looking between me and Charlie, who's grinning up at her.

I just nod, trying to play it cool. "Where's yours? You need to drive it back home first?"

"Don't have one. Would you mind making a pit stop at my house so I can grab a few things?"

"Sure." I shrug a shoulder, hoping it doesn't show that at this point, this girl could ask me to drive her all the way to Quebec and I'd probably say yes.

She turns to Charlie. "You want shotgun?"

He smiles even wider, but pulls open the door and moves the seat forward, hopping in the back. "I like the backseat," he says, and I'm not sure if he's being honest or just trying to continue his self-proclaimed wingman duty. 

Either way, I'm simultaneously grateful and frustrated-- the car seems smaller when Kat sits in the passenger's seat, somehow both closer and farther than I want her to be. 

The ride is quiet as she focuses on giving me directions, leading us to a trailer park about five minutes from the restaurant. The small homes are spread almost sporadically looking among the tattered grass, but it's hard to see much-- it's dark apart from a few dim porch lights and one or two windows with light leaking from behind their curtains.

"This one's mine," Kat says, unbuckling her seat-belt before I've even put the car in park. The trailer is a pale beige and totally dark inside and out, apart from the headlights I have trained on the front door. The whole place looks a bit unkempt, with overgrown weeds in the yard and three steps that look like they could collapse at any second. "I'd invite you in, but my parents won't be too happy if they wake up."

"It's okay-- we can wait," I assure her.

She gives me a smile and a thanks, promising she'll only be a second before stepping out and closing the door. I watch as she jogs up to the trailer, pulling a key from her pocket and tugging at the handle for a second before the door shoves open.

"You're welcome," Charlie says, leaning forward and folding his arms on top of the center console. He rests his head on his hands, looking up at me with that same smug expression.

I try to glare at him, but the expression melts into a smile. I roll my eyes, shaking my head. "You're unbelievable."

"You're lucky she asked to come along. Now you've got like, three hours to make her fall in love with you."

"I-- Charlie!" I look at him like he's crazy, but his grin is as persistent as ever. "That's-- I mean... If that's what you're expecting, you're going to be disappointed. People don't fall in love in three hours."

"Why not? That's what happens in all the movies."

"Yeah, and they also make movies about people who can fly, or see the future, or turn into a giant green monster when they're angry. It's all fiction, it doesn't happen in real life."

"But you already like her," he reasons. "And it's only been, like, forty minutes."

"I don't even know her," I correct him. "Look, it's crazy that we're even taking a stranger with us just based on the fact that I think she's-- you know, that I'm attracted to her." I keep going, ignoring Charlie's quiet snickering. "But it'd be even crazier if I deluded myself into thinking this will be anything more than her hitching a ride. I mean, that's all this is, really. Us picking up a hitchhiker."

"But she's a pretty hitchhiker. And nice."

"Yeah, and in a few hours we're dropping her off in Brooklyn and I'll probably never see her again for the rest of my life."

Kat appears at her front door again, now with a full-looking backpack on her shoulders. She turns to lock the knob, giving Charlie a chance to get his last words in. 

"Maybe," he leans back, "But maybe not. A lot can happen in three hours."

I sigh, knowing he's right but happy that I don't have to admit it now that Kat is opening the door and sliding into the passenger's seat. Besides, I shouldn't be focusing on this anyway, even as impossible as that seems now that she's back in the car and sending me a smile that makes my stomach flip. This trip is about finding my dad, not trying to romance a stranger.

"I'm all set," she announces, closing the door and placing her bag at her feet. 

"Great," I say, starting the engine and trying to shake the conversation with Charlie from my mind. "Let's go to New York."