Knowing she will be gone if I spend too long trying to figure out if I want to go or not, I get up as quickly as I can, making sure to be careful over the threshold at the front porch. I pull the door closed, pressing the automatic button to lock it before risking my life on the front fucking steps.
The car is idling as I approach. She looks over at me from the driver’s seat when I attempt to open the door, only to find it locked.
We lock eyes for a second and I quickly realize how irritating a little attitude can be.
“Please?” I ask loud enough for her to hear me.
The door clicks, signaling the lock is open, but it clicks back closed before I can lift the handle.
My lip twitches when she laughs. I wish she wasn’t locked up in the damn car because it would go a lot further if I could hear it fully.
“Would you grow up?” I ask, trying for a serious tone, but I can’t keep the smile off my face.
She doesn’t do it to me twice, and I’m able to open the door the second time she unlocks it.
“So immature,” I mutter, but she only laughs again.
I realize we’re both fucking stuck here in Albuquerque, and she can’t be exactly happy about it either.
True to her word, Slick drives around town for a while. At first it seems fairly aimless until we’re heading out of the city.
I don’t speak. Honestly, I don’t give a shit where we go or where we end up. Being out of the house for more than PT is amazing.
I roll down the window, letting the cool spring air fill the inside of the car. I enjoy the chill in it, the freshness cleansing parts of me I didn’t know were still covered in darkness.
My eyes flutter closed as I breathe deeply.
“Aro?”
I jolt when she shoves my shoulder.
We’re stopped, and I inhale, scrunching my nose at the smell of wildlife. I scream at the top of my lungs, struggling to roll up my window, when a goddamned monster tries to stick its head inside.
The thing backs away as the window rolls up much too slowly for my liking.
“What the actual fuck, Slick?”
She can’t answer me though because she’s too busy fucking laughing so hard, tears are rolling down her pretty face.
“Jesus, fuck, we’re going to die,” I scream as another damn creature walks up to her side of the car.
I scramble to get to her window controls, but she bats her hand at me before rolling up her own window.
She’s still fucking laughing, it taking over so much of her, I start to worry that she’ll stop breathing.
She snorts a few times, her cheeks growing red with embarrassment as she attempts to settle by fanning at her face with her hand.
“Wanna snack?” she manages, holding a bucket of some grain-like substance close to my face.
Now that I feel like we’re safe, I take the opportunity to look around, gasping at the sight of all the fucking animals around the damn car.
“Did you wreck into a fucking zoo?”
“Drive-thru safari,” she says, laughing once again when I squeal like a child when my window starts to roll down.
I make sure it goes all the way up before turning to glare at her.
“You wrecked into a safari?”
“I paid to drive us through a safari. I thought it would be fun.”
“You were wrong,” I deadpan.
She shakes her head. “You screaming like a little girl watching a bug fly close to her head was well worth the cost of admission.”
I can’t help the smile that crosses my face. “I was startled.”
“You were terrified,” she clarifies. “Of an ostrich.”
I glance back out the window, pointing at the fucking devil bird.
“Do you see his eyes?” I tap the window in an effort to scare him away. “They’re fucking soulless creatures.”
She laughs a little more as she places the bucket in my lap. I know she didn’t mean to brush my dick by putting it there, but she might as well have grabbed the damn deprived thing.
“Roll your window down and feed them. Face your fears, Josh Aroco.”
My eyes find hers, and more than anything right now, I want to be Josh and Brynn rather than Aro and Slick, but at the same time, I don’t want to get naked in front of a feathered audience either.
There’s challenge in her eyes, and I can read that she’s asking me to do more than feed a couple of animals. The words sting as they settle inside of me.
I roll my window down enough for me to drop a couple of pieces of food to the ground but not so wide those beady-eyed motherfuckers can stick their heads inside and peck me to death.
My pulse is racing and I can’t separate whether it’s her laughter or my own childhood fear that’s causing the reaction.