He shook his head. “I had nothing to do with any of her pranks on you.”
“Guilt by association,” she replied. “You’ve all made someone feel stupid and small. And you’ve pulled your share of pranks on people without any thought for the person you hurt. I know you have.”
“We’re just goofing around.”
“I’m sure the person you’re laughing at doesn’t see it that way.”
“It’s harmless pranks. Stupid little stuff. Not pissing in someone’s locker.”
“You know bullying is one of the top reasons kids commit suicide, right?” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. Her hand came up to cover her mouth, regret overcoming her.
The color drained from his face.
Think before you speak. Her father’s words echoed in her mind.
“Colton, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean …” She wished she could snatch her words back and swallow them down, because the look on his face shattered her heart, and she had put it there.
He stared at the road ahead, jaw tight, muscles in his arms twitching as he gripped the steering wheel.
She really wished she had followed her dad’s advice this time.
16
Looking Up
The mood in the car was heavy after that. Off the beaten path they went, through the mountains of Maryland. For a while, they didn’t say much. Natalie thought about their conversation over the past hour and she figured that’s what Colton was doing too, because he hadn’t really spoken either. Maybe he was just trying to pay attention to the wet, winding roads they were traveling on.
They passed through several small towns. Some appeared to be abandoned industrial towns in the middle of the mountains or along rivers. The buildings were old and run down, houses dilapidated, cars beat up. It reminded her of her grandparents’—mom’s parents—small town in West Virginia, a mountain town like these with the same rundown buildings and homes. The thought of her mother growing up in that poor little town had always made her sad. She couldn’t imagine finding much happiness there. Could that have contributed to her mom’s depression? Had either of her grandparents struggled with a mood disorder? If so, could that have something to do with her mom’s condition? She knew her mother’s depression had to do with messed up serotonin levels in her brain, but the hows and whys remained.
She hadn’t let herself think about Mom’s absence from her life in a while. But driving through these towns brought her to the forefront of Natalie’s mind. She missed her mom. And that little corner of her heart where she had tucked away the memories began to ache.
“I need to pee,” Colton announced as he pulled into a tiny gas station on the outskirts of another small town.
“Not in a locker, I hope.” She thought maybe it would lighten the mood.
He didn’t laugh. “Do you have to go?”
“I’m good for now.” She was thankful for the reprieve from her thoughts. If she dwelled on Mom for too long, she might sink into the overwhelming sadness she had felt in the early days without her.
Colton returned with a bottled water and a Brisk Raspberry Tea. “It’s not Arizona Tea, but it’s all they had.”
“That’s fine. Thanks.” She smiled, touched that he remembered what she drank the day before.
“You’re welcome.”
“I’m sorry, Colton.”
He nodded and gave her a weak smile. “I know you didn’t mean anything by it.”
“I didn’t. At all. I would never hurt you on purpose.”
He laid his hand over hers. “Forget about it.”
On they drove, and with each town they passed, Virginia Beach grew closer and closer. With every mile, reality loomed, and Natalie wished their time together would stretch on and on like the road before them. It was hard for her to believe that they had only been together for a day, that the moment he pulled out in front of her had happened yesterday. Things felt different, like he had said in the tent. It was as if they had stepped into an alternate timeline—away from friends, away from teachers, away from their families, their pasts, their futures. It was just them—driving, talking, moving forward toward something, but what? A destination, yes. Virginia Beach, yes. But it felt like more, like there was something more happening, something important that would change them both forever. Or was that wishful thinking? Was that just her twelve-year crush talking?
Around a bend, the road gave way to a beautiful view of mountains along the river.
“Whoa!” Natalie took out her phone and opened the window to get some pictures of the scene. “That’s beautiful.”
“Nice,” Colton responded. He pointed to a house perched on top of the tallest hill. “Build me a house right up there.”
Natalie thought about that for a minute. “I think I’d rather live at the base and be able to look up at the mountain every day.”
“You seemed to like looking down from the mountaintop this morning.”
“I can’t really identify with the guy living up there, though. I’d rather live in a rickety old shack along the river and know who I was and what I believe than live in a mansion up there with no clue, looking down my nose at everyone.”
“Wow! That seemed very pointed.”
“Just my opinion. I’m allowed to have one of those, right?”
He stared straight ahead. “I could turn that around on you and ask why in the world you would want to live in a house like that …” He pointed to one of the rundown homes. “… when you could live up there in a nice house with a killer view. Why would you settle for the bottom when you could live on top?”
“Some people aren’t settling. It’s the hand they’re dealt in life. Not everyone can afford the killer view.”
“I get that.”
Did he? Colton’s viewpoint was so different from hers. He wanted to see the world from above—she would never say it, but she was thinking like a king—while she wanted to look up at the beauty, look to what was above. And maybe she didn’t want the kind of attention Colton was used to, the kind that came from living life like you’re above everyone else.
The hum of the tires on the road was the only sound in the car.
“Just out of curiosity, if you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live?” he asked.
Natalie was thankful for the change of subject, and she didn’t have to think about her answer. “Italy.”
“Why Italy? For the chicken parmesan?”
She smiled and shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. I’ve never actually been there, but it looks amazing.”
“It is.”
Her mouth fell open a little. “You’ve been to Italy?”
He nodded. “You should go sometime.”
“Oh, I could never afford it.”
“I’ll take you someday.” He said it nonchalantly, like they could hop on a plane and go right now if they wanted to.
“No, you won’t.”
“Sure, I will. Don’t you want to go?”
“With you?” She raised an eyebrow at him.
“Of course with me.”
“Italy is a major trip, Colton.”
He nodded. “We would have so much fun in Italy. We could go to Rome and see the ruins and eat so much spaghetti our stomachs hurt …” His eyes fixed on her stomach. “Well, maybe not you. Your stomach is a bottomless pit.”
She laughed at that.
“We could have pizza in Naples and gelato in Florence, then we’d sail to Capri and eat pasta, swim in the Mediterranean, ride a gondola in Venice and—”
“Eat more pasta.” Natalie completed his sentence, giddy at the idea of it.
They laughed.
“Oh my gosh. It all sounds so amazing.” She couldn’t believe they were talking about Italy or that he was perfectly describing the vacation of her dreams.
“Let’s do it.” He nodded once as if this was a real trip they were discussing, as if they had actually decided to go.
She took a deep
breath in and sighed. “It’s nice to dream.”
“It doesn’t have to be just a dream.” He reached over and squeezed her hand.
She wanted to believe that one day it could happen, that they might travel to a place as romantic as Italy. Together. That he would be hers and she would be his. But their time was limited, and once their feet hit that Virginia Beach sand, their little bubble would burst.
17
A Truth Revealed
Natalie stood in front of the mirror at a McDonald’s in Fredericksburg, Virginia washing her hands. She looked up at herself and tilted her head from side to side. Her dark hair was wavy from air drying all morning, and she frowned. She twisted it up in a messy bun on top of her head and smiled knowing Colton thought she was cute when she wore it that way.
When she emerged, Colton was seated in a booth waiting for her with their drinks, typing on his phone, looking annoyed.
“Everything OK?” she asked as she took a sip of her strawberry banana smoothie.
He tapped a few more times, then clicked the screen off. “Fine.”
“Really?”
“I’m beginning to think we’d have more fun if we didn’t make it to Virginia Beach.”
Natalie gave him a look. “Right.”
“I’m almost serious.”
“I couldn’t do that. My parents expect me to go there.”
“I know.” He nodded.
Natalie’s phone sounded then with a text. “It’s like he knew I was talking about him.” She held up the phone and showed Colton a text from her dad asking how she was and how the trip was going.
“Are you going to tell him about us driving down here?” he asked.
“I’ll tell him when we get there.”
“He’ll be mad, won’t he?”
“Probably.” She opened her phone and stared at the text from her dad then typed a message telling him the trip was going fine and that they would be arriving in a few hours. She laid her phone on the table. “I’m such a liar.”
Colton leaned closer and read her text. “What do you mean? That’s not a lie.”
“It’s a lie by omission. If he knew I was here with you instead of on that bus, he would probably call the cops on us.”
His brow furrowed. “Why? You’re an adult. You can go anywhere you want without his permission.”
She chewed on the inside of her lip. Keeping the truth about the trip from her parents wasn’t her only lie of the weekend. “Actually … I don’t turn eighteen until Friday.”
“What? Natalie!” Colton had every right to be ticked off, and he was. “I could get into a lot of trouble for bringing a minor across state lines without permission.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I should’ve told you sooner.”
He pressed his lips together and shook his head. “You shouldn’t have come at all.” Colton stood and tossed his empty cup in the trash, leaving her sitting alone.
Natalie didn’t know what to say. She hesitantly stood and followed him outside to the car. The rain had slowed to a light sprinkle.
He slammed his car door hard as he got in, and she winced.
She climbed into the silent vehicle and pulled her door closed. “If you want me to call my parents, I will. I don’t want to get you into any kind of trouble. I don’t know why I lied. I wasn’t thinking, and part of me really wanted to go on this trip with you.”
He looked over at her. “I don’t want you to call them.”
“OK.” Natalie pursed her lips to fight back tears.
“We’re close. Let’s just get you there. You can ride home on the bus, and they never have to know.”
“I’m still going to tell them.” She wanted to be completely honest with him from here on out.
“When you get home?” he asked.
“Probably. I don’t know. If Dad calls and asks me a question I have to lie to answer, I’m going to have to come clean.”
He nodded. “I get it.”
The car remained silent with the engine off.
“Aren’t you going to start the car?”
Colton was deep in thought. “What if your parents hate me when they find out the truth?”
“I’m sure they won’t hate either of us, but they probably won’t be too happy about it. Especially since you’re the reason I wrecked my car.”
“I mean, what if this affects things.” He picked at nothing on his steering wheel.
“What’re you talking about?”
“Us.” His eyes met hers.
The butterflies went wild in her stomach. “There isn’t an us, Colton.”
“You never know what might happen in the future.”
“What exactly are you saying?” She was anxious to know what he was thinking.
“What if I want to take you out? If they find out we went on this trip together, they might not let me anywhere near you.”
Natalie’s lips turned up despite her best efforts to keep a straight face. He seemed incredibly insecure at the moment, and she found him adorable.
He shook away his thoughts and turned the key, and the car came to life.
“In three hours, you won’t even remember my name,” Natalie replied.
“You’re funny.” Amusement replaced the uncertainty in his eyes.
“It’s probably true.”
“You should take that sense of humor and do something with it.” His eyes lit up. “Ventriloquism, perhaps.”
Natalie burst out laughing. “Oh, I miss little Davey.”
“I’m sure he misses you too.” The mood lightened as he shifted the car into reverse and headed out on the last stretch of their journey.
As they moved closer to their destination, the skies grew dark and stormy, which put Natalie on edge. “Do you think we’ll get stuck driving in that? Maybe it will pass us by.”
He shook his head. “The clouds pretty much wrap around us. I don’t think we can avoid it.” He laid his hand on her knee and squeezed. “We’ll be fine.”
A jolt of electricity shot up her leg.
She was about to respond when Colton suddenly swerved the car.
“Whoa!” he cried.
Whatever he had tried to avoid, went under his right front tire causing them to bounce roughly over it.
“What was that?” she asked.
“Something metal. I’m not sure. It better not have put a hole in my—” The sudden thump, thump, thump of the tire stopped Colton mid-sentence. “Crap!”
He maneuvered the vehicle carefully to the shoulder and smacked his palm against the steering wheel. “I just put new tires on this a month ago.”
“Do you have a spare?”
“Yeah, there’s a full-size spare back there.” He grumbled as he turned off the ignition and looked back over his shoulder toward the highway before opening his door.
Natalie joined him next to the front tire. “It’s flat.”
That got a chuckle out of Colton. “Thanks. I didn’t know.” He stood staring at it.
“Shouldn’t you get out your jack?” She nodded toward the rear of his car.
“Yeah.” He moved toward the trunk and removed the jack.
Natalie watched as he set it under the car and fiddled with the bar that attached to it, then started turning it.
“You have to loosen the lug nuts before you raise the car,” she told him.
“Right.” He used the lug wrench to loosen them, then returned to raising the car.
His technique was slow and awkward.
“You have changed a tire before, right?” she asked.
He shrugged his shoulders in reply.
“You haven’t? Oh my gosh. I’ve finally found something that Colton Daynes can’t do.”
“I can do it,” he snapped.
“So can I.”
Colton’s eyebrow raised. “Really?”
She bumped his hip with hers. “Let me show you how it’s done.” And she took over removing the damaged tire and replacing it with the spare, lowerin
g the vehicle, and tightening the lug nuts. “Ta da!”
He sidled up next to her. “That was kind of hot.”
She smacked his arm. “How have you never changed a tire?”
“When would I ever have a reason to? I’ve never had a flat before.”
“I haven’t either, but my dad taught me how so I would know in case of a situation like this.” And, boy, was she thankful for that at this moment.
“Your dad sounds like a really great guy.”
“He is. He’s the best.”
“I doubt my dad even knows how to change a tire. And if he had a flat, he’d pay someone to change it for him.”
It saddened Natalie that he didn’t have a good relationship with his father and that nobody had taught him skills like this, skills every driver should know.
“What else can you do?” Colton asked.
“I can change the oil, replace all the fluids, change the air filter, change my wipers. Simple stuff, really.”
“Mhmm. Real simple.”
“Most of it is. And my Honda is an older year, so it’s good for me to know this stuff.” She screwed up her face. “I wonder if I’ll be able to get it fixed or if it’s totaled. I need that car to get me to college.”
“If it’s totaled, I’ll help you buy a new one.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Col—”
“Don’t even try to stop me. I owe you after you changed my tire.”
A little snort escaped her. “Because twenty minutes spent changing a tire is worth the cost of a car.”
He dangled his keys in front of her. “I think you’ve also earned the right to drive the rest of the way.”
“Really?” His car really did drive like a dream.
“Absolutely.”
She reached for the keys, and he held them above her head.
“Hey!”
He laughed aloud, and handed them over.
The sound of a car pulling up behind them grabbed their attention. They both froze like deer in headlights as a Virginia state trooper stepped from his car and approached them.
“Everything OK here?” the officer asked.
18 Hours To Us Page 11