Resisting Temptation

Chapter 14

The lights continued to fly by, becoming a blur as it seemed we were travelling in a worm hole. It was like the car was slowing down while the rest of the world was speeding up! It just seemed so...surreal. Like magic.

The worries encircling my brain like a cyclone soon disappeared as the still air became a rushing wind, travelling over my body and entwining itself through the locks of my hair. I let my eyes close as my heart started beating, faster and faster every minute. Have you ever felt like you were flying? This was that feeling, the world zooming away by the second. It didn't even hit me that Zac was going over the speed limit.

 Zac made a turn into a tunnel, fluorescent lights illuminating the walls. The fresh air turned to a hint of exhaust and smoke, makes sense...since it's a tunnel.

"Dani, stand up!" I heard him shout. I was pulled out of my dream-like thoughts to turn my attention to the boy, who in no doubt had to be more than just a tad tipsy to tell me stand up in a moving car.

"Excuse me?" I asked over the loud motor.

"It's fun! I promise you!" he replied. I was resiliant as first, knowing what could happen if we crashed. I would fly head first out of the car and probably kill myself. But then I stopped thinking, remembering what my mother said: I want you to have a life. And that's what I shall do. I mean, why not? If I die, I'll die happy at least.

So on shakey legs, I slowly stood up. The wind blew back my hair, making my pale cheeks flush with color. The rushing chill left goosebumps on my skin, my heart was beating rapidly. I let out a squeak when I felt Zac speed up, and I felt myself starting to smile.

My worry vanished as I started giggling, letting go of the windshield and letting my arms spread like a bird. I really felt like I was flying. The best thing I could do was throw my head back and scream into the night sky. "Woo Hoo!"

Zac slowed down a bit so I could take my seat again. We were going at the normal speed limit again, passing out of the tunnel and making a right towards a Brownstone neighborhood. My insides were still blowing up from the adrenaline, it was the first time ever that I actually believed in magic. Not magic wand magic of course; but there can be such thing as giving a young girl the realistic charm of some type of whimsical rush.

"See, would a battered up drunk be able to let you do that?" Zac asked after a couple minutes.

"Alright Trenway, I'll give you props. That was amazing." I replied. We just continued to stare at each other, it was then I realised how much fun Zac could really be. You just had to dig a little deeper, along with patience, patience is always crucial.

However, our moment was cut short when a loud horn sounded. Zac realised he was swerved into the next lane and a car was barreling towards us. He made a sharp turn, pulling us away from the car. We didn't crash into each other, however, the car jerked and the we ended up crashing into a fire hydrant. That's when everything came to a halt.

We were left gasping and panting, maybe it was the grill that had been smashed again the fire hydrant, maybe it was the smoke that was coming out of the hood of the car? Whatever it was, one thing stuck in my mind.

We just crashed Howard Trenway's expensive Maserati.

"Oh my God. We are so dead, aren't we?" I said to Zac.

"No, more like I'm dead. You're just the person who doesn't say anything and watched while I have my ass handed to me...again."

-

"I can't believe you would do something so irresponsible Zac! You're eighteen years old! You should know better than this!" the police and ambulance, along with a pick-up truck came to our aid while we were stranded in that neighborhood; the paramedics checked us over, the police had us both take a breathalizer test, and the pick-up truck took the maserati to the repair shop. One of the officers were nice enough take us home (by nice I mean made us get in her car). Afterwords, she explained to our parents what exactly happened. Let's just say, Howard wasn't too pleased.

"Dad I'm sorry, but we were just having some fun!" he replied. His father was giving him a lecture in the living room, while I watched from behind the door. I had changed out of my costume and put on a t-shirt and cotton shorts.

"Fun? You call me peeing over eight hundred dollars on car repair fun? Why didn't you take your own car Zac? It's a perfectly good car too!" he shouted. My mom was watching from the island stool, tapping her fingers against the cool marble, waiting patiently for the arguement to end.

"It was an accident! We're fine thanks for asking!" Zac snapped.

"You had an alcohol level of 1.3! You're eighteen years old! Your license could've been yanked! You understand how reckless this was?" he asked him.

"Dad, I said I'm sorry, I never meant to hit the fire hydrant! We were trying not to crash!" he exclaimed.

"Well that goal obviously failed. What if you had gotten hurt? Or God forbid you and Dani were killed? Did you think about that while you were downing a vodka shot?" he asked him.

"I wasn't drinking while driving! I only had a can of beer!"

"A can of beer doesn't get you an alcohol level of 1.3!" I can't take this anymore.

"It was my fault!" I blurted. Three pairs of eyeballs turned their gaze and fixed it on me.

"Sweetie, you crashed the car?" mom asked.

"Yes." this better work. "It was an accident. I wasn't looking where I was going and...it just happened. I'm really sorry Howard." I replied. Howard squeezed his temples, thinking of something to do.

"I understand Dani. That's alright." then he turned to his son. "Zac I'm sorry for shouting at you like that." he said.

"Don't worry about it." he muttered.

"Well, you two should head to bed. It's late." Howard said.

"In fact, we should all be in bed." mom said. Frankly, I couldn't agree more.

-

Moments passed until I felt safe enough to crawl out of my room and make my way down to Zac. To my very surprise, he was still awake, light on and everything.

"Hey, couldn't sleep?" I asked him, leaning against the doorframe. He was laying on his bed with his hands resting under his head.

"Nah, thanks by the way." he said.

"For what?"

"For covering for me. Why did you do that?" he asked. My feet left the spot by the door frame and carried me over to the bed.

"Well...you gave me a good time tonight, and I figured you shouldn't have to be punished for that. Plus, you'd do the same for me." I replied.

"Thanks. No one's ever done anything like that for me." he said.

"Maybe it's time somebody started. Next time, just let me drive us home." I said.

"No problem. Totally not worth getting on my dad's bad side." he chuckled.

"Well, I should go to bed." I said.

"Yeah me too. What is it, quarter after one?" he asked.

"Maybe, I don't know. You were right about that party by the way. Besides the end, I had fun." I replied.

"You enjoyed having that cheerleader kiss you?" he asked.

"Yes I did. You don't understand but...I'm not going to argue about it anymore. We should really go to sleep." I said.

"Alright, get your butt back upstairs. You can take the ladder." he replied. I nodded, then leaned down and kissed his cheek. I then went over to the string and pulled down the ladder.

"Night Zac."

"Night Dani."