Page 18 of The Right Time

The pair had disappeared inside the Legendary Hall for about twenty minutes while Jasmine and I danced by ourselves. When they returned, Adrienne avoided eye contact and barely spoke a word on the drive to Jasmine’s house. But she didn’t need words to get her message across. She sat nearly on Trent’s lap in the backseat, his hand on her shoulder the entire time.

“Are you going to tell her how you feel about her?” Jasmine asks, pulling me from my dark thoughts.

I speak without thinking. “I always thought she knew.”

“Even if that were true, she still needs to hear it. It makes a difference.” Jasmine adjusts her glasses, and for the first time, I notice that the rose that had been in her hair all night is missing.

“I may be too late,” I scoff in defeat. I’ve waited for years for the only girl who matters, and I’ve lost her in two days.

“I doubt anything that happened in one night can outweigh the years the two of you have had together. Tell her tonight, or I will tomorrow. You don’t know this about me, but I suck at keeping secrets.” Jasmine presses her hand to her face but can’t hold back the laugh.

Her reaction causes me to snicker for the first time since Adrienne kissed Trent.

“There’s that swoony smile. She doesn’t stand a chance,” Jasmine says, stepping to me. “Despite how things turned out, I enjoyed our date slash non-date. I wish I had met you when I was eight years old.”

“You’re sweet.” I pull her into a hug. “Thanks for understanding.”

“I have no choice. I’m going to be Adrienne’s maid of honor.” She laughs again and then presses a soft kiss to my cheek. “Good night, Lucas.”

I step down the porch steps with heavy feet and a weight on my shoulder that I’m not sure how to unload. As I step to the car, I glance through the rear window of the passenger side of the car. Adrienne’s wide eyes stare back at me with a mixture of longing and hurt, something she’s only shown to me once before.

My feet lead me to the rear door. My instinct is to pull her out of the car and march her someplace private to talk, but before I reach the door, I spot Trent’s hand wrapping around her shoulder, pulling her toward him. She disappears from my view, and I march around to the driver’s side of the car, hop in, and start the car.

I don’t turn as I back out of the driveway. I don’t dare look in the rearview mirror, the thought of seeing Adrienne kissing Trent enough to make me risk backing out blindly into traffic. The pain of a crash is less likely to hit me as hard as the image of them kissing has done to me.

Safely on the road, I shift gears and press on the gas as hard as I can. I need this night to be over in the worst possible of ways.

Chapter Thirteen

Adrienne

The car rolls in silence to the curb outside of my parents’ house. A deadly quiet has echoed through the cabin of the car during the five-minute drive from Jasmine’s house. Lucas bypasses his parents’ driveway a few feet away, revealing another clue. He’s dropping me off as if he’s a rideshare driver, and I’m just another passenger. I reach for the door handle to escape, and Trent taps my arm.

“I’ll walk you to the door,” he says and hops out the opposite door. As he makes his way around the car, I turn to face Lucas.

His gaze is laser focused ahead, both hands tight on the steering wheel. For over a dozen years, I’ve prided myself on knowing his every thought. Right here in this moment, I can’t reach him. “Thanks for doing the driving,” I offer, my voice tentative and weak.

The only acknowledgment I receive is a slight nod of his head. I offer him the only words I know that may reach him, the same words he offered to me at the airport five years ago when he left. “Our future is ours.”

The air in the car crackles, and his death grip eases. The muscles on the back of his hand relax, loosening and dropping away. My pulse quickens, and I lean forward as he lowers his chin and turns in my direction. I don’t dare miss a syllable.

“I…” His raspy voice hitches, and I press hard on the tips of my toes, straining to hear.

The creak of the passenger-side rear door opening halts his words. It forces me to release a breath I hadn’t realized I had been holding.

“BRB, bro,” Trent interrupts, his hand shooting forward to take mine.

I freeze in place, one leg outside the car, one inside, and give Lucas a second chance. “Night, BND,” I whisper.

His hands shoot up to the steering wheel, the death grip back. His nod is toward the front dashboard, a grunt replacing a proper response. He taps a button and flips to a sports talk radio station—one that he knows I hate, and I get the message. Get out of my car.

I escape, the door barely having time to close behind me before the car lurches forward. The tires screech, leaving an unnecessary skid mark as the car spins in a U-turn, my eyes glued to the movement. I watch to see if Lucas looks in my direction. He doesn’t. His focus is on the road and the fifty-foot drive to the driveway next door.

“Let’s go.” Trent’s hands land on the top of my shoulders and give a gentle squeeze.

I turn, my eyes quickly returning to the car as Trent leads me to my porch. “What have I done?”

Trent doesn’t respond. I didn’t expect him to. We walk in silence and step up onto the porch. I pull the daisy from my hair and stick it into the planter that sits on the porch. The harsh morning sun will destroy the beauty of the flower. It’s just as well—I don’t need any reminders of this night.

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