Page 13 of Shut Up and Drive

I set the sandwiches down near the pickup window and grab both men by the hair. I pull them off the car and shove them toward the dining tables, but just as Standing Guy goes past me, his elbow lands on the bridge of my nose. My eyes burn and tear up as I furiously blink to clear my vision. A fist flies at my face, which I’m able to dodge, but at theexpense of an innocent napkin holder. Napkins sail through the air, blood runs from my nose, and the commotion and chaos disorient me. I’m not sure which way is up through my watery eyes, making my escape almost impossible. When Sera grabs me by the arm, I startle and cock back my fist.

“Thane! It’s me!” she shouts, pulling my body away from the brawl and toward the street.

“Wait!” I yell as we reach the open passenger door. “The cheesesteaks!”

Sera rolls her eyes, pushes me into the car, and makes a beeline for our lunch. The chaos quiets when she dips into the car and slams the door. She checks her blind spot, pulls out into traffic, and speeds away.

“Dammit, Thane!” she chastises. “You justhadto have a Philly cheesesteak, didn’t you?” I reach for my sandwich, and she tosses it onto the dashboard in front of the steering wheel, just out of my reach.

“Come on, Fina! I almost got killed for that!”

She shoves a handful of napkins at me. “Clean up your face first. You’re bleeding everywhere.”

“Boy, you’re a tough crowd. I got this protecting you, you know.” I point at my bloody nose. “The least you could do is give me some sympathy, or doctor me up,” I say, dabbing at my face and inspecting the amount of blood on the napkin. “You didn’t even ask if I was okay.”

Sera jerks the car over to the side of the road and whips her body toward me.

“Seriously, Thane?! You’re more concerned about cheesesteaks and being doctored up than you are about the fact that we were in serious danger back there. Not tomention the windshield is cracked! We’re way behind schedule now!”

She buries her face in her hands and starts to bawl—which hurts me more than the sucker punch to the face. I rub her back, tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear, and soften my approach.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for that to happen,” I say softly.

Her muffled voice comes through her hands. “This is the worst start to a road trip ever,” she replies between sniffs. “And to top it all off, you forgot my Cherry Pepsi. How am I supposed to cope now?”

I direct my eyes to the cracked windshield. “I’ve had better luck, that’s for sure. I just hope our parents got the insurance,” I joke, making her laugh.

“I hope so too,” she says, wiping her tears with her palms. “Although they’re the whole reason we’re in this mess, so I won’t feel bad at all that they’ll have to pay to fix it. Maybe we should ding the doors and dent the hood to go along with it. That’ll show ‘em.”

I start to laugh. “I’ll drop The People’s Elbow on the hood, and you can take the taillights out with a bat.”

Sera joins in, and the sound of her laughter lifts the stormy gray clouds that follow us. “I guess that’s what I get for calling you The Master of Disaster. I tempted Fate.”

“Well, hopefully we’ve gotten all our bad luck out of our systems. We’ll get you a soda before we get back on the freeway, okay?”

“Promise?” she asks, wiping her tears.

“Promise.”

“’Cause I’m gonna need some more caffeine to get me through this dumpster fire of a road trip.”

“I hear ya. Let’s get out of the city and we’ll stop.”

“There’s still one problem, Thane.”

“And what’s that?”

“I can’t see around that crack. You’ll have to drive.”

I fight the grin from spreading across my face.

“Don’t get all smug on me now. I’m still the better driver, I can’t help that I’m shorter than you,” Sera says, reaching for my cheesesteak and shoving it at my chest. “That better have been worth it,” she says with a lighthearted threat.

I take a big, delicious bite.

“Oh, it definitely is!”

Chapter 5