Page 54 of The Summer List

We reach the turn-off for the exit in a couple minutes. We’re winding down the wide curve when a bang loud enough to make us all scream explodes underneath the van.

“What the hell was that?” Priya screeches, her hands clutching the edge of her seat.

Shal jabs at the stereo to turn the music off. “I don’t know. There’s no light on in the dashboard. Do you hear anything?”

For a moment, I can’t hear anything except our rapid breathing as Shal continues to steer the van down the exit ramp.

Then a heavy thunk-thunk from under the front end of the car starts to sound out again and again, the noise grating enough to make my jaw clench.

“That’s a flat tire,” Andrea says from behind me. “A very flat tire.”

Shal swears. “Ma is going to kill me.”

“Pull over,” Priya orders, tugging on Shal’s arm until she swats her away.

“I can’t pull over in the middle of a ramp. I have to get to the road at the bottom.”

The thunking sound gets louder and crunchier as we go. We’re all wincing by the time we get to the end of the ramp. Shal pulls off to the side of a road lined with corn fields full of stalks almost as tall as the van.

She shuts the engine off and twists in her seat. “So, who knows how to change a tire?”

We all glance at each other.

“I mean, in theory I do,” Andrea says, “but I’ve never done it all by myself, and I don’t really remember all the details.”

“Do you think we could manage it with a YouTube video?” Priya asks.

She’s already pulling her phone out, but after a couple seconds, her face falls.

“Oh no. Do any of you have service out here?”

My stomach drops as I hunt around for my purse on the floor. By the time I’ve gotten my phone out, everyone else has confirmed they’re out of service range too.

“We could walk to the rest stop?” I say. “I’m sure there’s someone there who could help, or at least enough service to call somebody.”

Shal glances at our very rural surroundings. “We might have to, but the sign said it’s five kilometers away from the exit. That’s…a very long walk in the sun. Somebody else is bound to come down this exit, right?”

She undoes her seat belt and says she’s going to check on the tire. As soon as she shuts the door behind her, the tension in the car seems to get a thousand times thicker. My throat feels like it’s being crushed by the weight of all the words I wish I could say to Priya and Andrea.

Priya turns back around and lets out a heavy breath before opening her door and stepping outside. I hear the muffled sounds of her and Shal arguing, but I don’t focus on their voices. All my senses are tuned into Andrea.

I listen to her breathing. I listen to the creak of the seat as she shifts her weight. I listen to her seatbelt buckle click.

“Naomi, about last night—”

“I’m sorry.”

My whole body has tensed up. Even the muscles in my face are so tight my cheeks are twitching.

She shifts forward, leaning her head out between the seats. I think she’s trying to catch my eye, but I stare down at my sandals instead.

“You don’t have to be sorry,” she says.

I try to swallow, but I can’t.

I don’t want to hear this. I don’t want her to let me down easy. I don’t want to her to pity me.

“I…I’m gonna go see if they need help.”

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