Page 31 of Shut Up and Drive
“Seriously, Thane? Are you just going to leave me hanging?!”
Chapter 11
NOT FOR A SECOND
Sera
Istare at Thane’s profile with laser focus, trying to intimidate him into submission. I am the bad cop in this scenario, and I will do whatever it takes to get him to confess to whatever is bothering him. It’s written all over his face, tucked in his furrowed brow and in every fake smile. It has been five years since I spent time with Thane, but the forced proximity of yesterday and last night re-tuned my antenna to his frequency. Something is wrong, and I am going to figure out what it is. Even if it means I have to play my “Spill It Card.”
“So?” I ask impatiently, when he doesn’t budge.
“’So,’ what?” he repeats, keeping his eyes ridiculously pinned on the road.
“So, you’re not going to tell me what’s going on?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Fina.”
“Sure you do. You got all weird this morning, andyou’re trying to skirt around the truth. But I know you, and something isn’t right. You might as well spill.”
“Maybe I’m not who you used to know. Maybe I changed on my walkabout,” he insists, still avoiding eye contact.
“Your…what?”
“My walkabout. You know, a time of reflection of the soul, a returning to find yourself and reconnect with your roots. The Aborigines in Australia did walkabouts all the time after they left their jobs in society for the rainy season. They’d go back to their tribes and reconnect with their old ways of life.”
“You’re neither Aborigine nor Australian. And getting better at pretending nothing is wrong during a soul search seems counterintuitive.”
“Minor detail.” He waves his hand, dismissing my facts.
“Well, did you?”
“Did I what?”
“Find yourself? Reconnect with your roots? Reflect on your soul?”
He laughs and shifts in his seat. “I learned a lot. Does that count?”
“Depends. What did you learn besides the societal norms of Aboriginal people?”
“That’s a loaded question and a really long story,” he replies.
“I’ve got…” I check my watch, “three and a half hours, plus nine days on top of that.”
“It’ll bore you.”
“Regardless, I’m a captive audience.”
“Your vote of confidence is reassuring,” he jokes.
“Come on, Thane. If you don’t stop acting weird and start talking, I’m going to think I did something wrong to upset you last night.” My stomach drops. “Wait,didI upset you?” I never even entertained the thought that me being vulnerable last night made him uncomfortable. My mind races back through the events of yesterday, analyzing every move I made and every word I said. “Are you going to be in trouble with a girlfriend because we slept in the same bed? Because I will vouch for you that nothing happened.”
Thane scoffs. “No. But that’s a good question to turn on you. Willyoube in trouble if Brad finds out?”
“As of my birthday last week, Bradley is no longer my boyfriend,” I say, hating the sting that comes from admitting it to Thane.
“Was he upset because you were going to the lake house with yourex?”
The humiliation of being cheated on flushes my cheeks hot. After all these years apart, I still have nothing to show for myself besides broken relationships and failure in love. Something is wrong with me, and if I admit to Thane that Bradley cheated on me, he will definitely see it, if he doesn’t already.
