Or maybe it was all in my imagination. Hell, I wasn’t even sure anymore.
“Jasmine,” I began, half-turning in my seat in order to look straight into her eyes. “There’s something I want to get off my chest before we get to your mom’s place.”
Axel shot me a surprised look, but he shouldn’t have been too shocked. He understood how I felt about Jasmine and how long I’d been holding those feelings in.
Just like he knew I’d always sucked at keeping my feelings to myself.
“Okay...” She sounded guarded, and I couldn’t even blame her. After the way Axel and I had both spilled our guts at that diner, I was honestly a little surprised she’d ever agreed to go anywhere else with us.
Then again, the fact that she’d been walking in the pouring rain and the outside world had a look of devastation about it probably helped sway her decision to get into the truck with us.
But now she was waiting for me to say something that I hadn’t planned on saying at all. I still wasn’t even sure what had come over me, except for the fact that I couldn’t hold it inside any longer.
“I didn’t just have a crush on you back then,” I continued. “Back in high school, I mean. I... I think I started to fall in love with you back then too, as crazy as that probably sounds.”
She blinked.
Then blinked again.
“In love? How could you have been in love with me when you were so mean to me? That isn’t how love works, Micah.”
“You’re right,” I nodded. “And I know that now. I was stupid and immature, but I’m not that guy anymore. I’m a changed man now.”
She didn’t say anything.
Nobody said anything. The tension that had already been in the air ratcheted up to a thousand within seconds—and all because I couldn’t keep my damn mouth shut.
“Shit!” Axel’s voice broke the silence and also scared the hell out of me as I felt the truck start to slide sideways. “Hydroplaning... hold on, y’all.”
It seemed like everything happened in slow motion. We were sliding right off the narrow road toward what used to be a ditch but had become a full-fledged river after all the rain and flooding.
“Oh my God,” Jasmine’s voice rang out at the same time as the truck tipped sideways into the ditch.
Foolishly I reached back for her—like what good did I think that would do?—but my seatbelt had another plan for me as it pinned me in place. And the whole world tipped over by ninety degrees.
“Hold on!” Axel called out again, turning the wheel in vain as his side of the truck dipped under the water.
I was holding on as tight as I possibly could, but we needed to do more than that—we needed to get out and to do it quickly.
“Axel, we’ve gotta get out of here, man.” I tried to push my door open, but gravity worked against me.
“The window,” he called up to me as he struggled to release his own seatbelt. “Roll down your window, Micah. We’re gonna have to climb out.”
I pushed the button, and the electric window rolled almost all the way down just before the truck engine sputtered and died. Rain poured in on me, making everything more difficult and slippery as I braced myself against the dashboard and prepared to climb up on top of the tipped-over truck.
“Jasmine, can you climb up here?” I called down into the back seat. “Can you reach my hand?”
She looked scared but determined—which was the same way I felt. She maneuvered herself into the front seat. With a boost from Axel, she took my hand, and I hauled her up through the window.
Her body pressed against mine as she clung to me for a too-brief moment, but I was too focused on making sure she was safe to enjoy the feeling.
Axel attempted to climb out next, and it took all three of us working together to get him pulled up next to me and Jasmine.
“Fuck,” he cursed, barely making the jump from the side of the truck back up onto the road. “Can’t believe this fucking happened.”
I looked over to Jasmine. “Do you think you can make the jump?”
Instead of answering, she leaped across like a fucking acrobat, leaving me balancing on top of the door by myself.
“Okay, then,” I said under my breath as I followed her over.
“I’m sorry, y’all,” Axel scrubbed a hand down his face once we were all safely standing together on the road. “There was a puddle. And it just looked like a puddle. I didn’t think it was that deep, but...”
He looked down at his overturned truck. The water was moving so quickly around it that I knew it was only a matter of time before it was either submerged or completely swept away.