Page 89 of Collided

“Are you okay?” Heath asks with his cold face.

I clench my fingers, but I can’t seem to stop them from shaking.

He releases my wrist and instead takes my hands in his. The warmth and size of them engulf my coldness and anxiety.

“It’s okay. You’re safe with me,” he says.

“Are you sure?” I whisper.

“Yeah.”

We stay like this for a few minutes until I’m feeling better.

I half expect him to walk away; he doesn’t. He waits for me to calm down.

“You good?” His thumb draws circles on my wrist.

I give him a shaky nod—it’s all that I can manage.

“Come with me.” He opens the car door for me. “Do you want to go somewhere else?”

I slowly nod. There’s no way I’d be able to concentrate in school. With how fuzzy and unsettled I am, I’ll only be experiencing breakdowns with an audience that would make fun of me. Becoming the headline news isn’t on my to-do list today.

Heath drives in the opposite direction of the school. The speedometer increases with every passing second, but the car is under his control as he maneuvers the turns. I’m impressed by how great of a driver he is.

I lean back and let tears fall down my cheeks in an endless river.

My head is turned toward the window, but with the way Heath keeps glancing at me, I know he knows I’m crying. There's no point in hiding, still I can’t bring myself to be vulnerable around him.

It’s your second time already.

I feel embarrassed. Whenever he’s near me all my walls start crumbling down. Whatever armor I wear to keep everything inside of me breaks.

He takes the route that leads to the forest. A strip of long road leads up to the hills with acres of tall trees on both sides. Branches create a canopy over us, shielding the sky andthe sunlight that seeps in and out through the openings. No buildings or people are in sight, and I love it—being away from everything.

Fifteen minutes later, we’re parked near a rocky hill cliff. The town lies beneath us with life and noise spilling out of it at eight in the morning.

I lean on the hood of his car as I observe everything. It’s so beautiful up here. I’ve always wondered how it’d look to be on one of these hills and watch the town.

Drawing in a deep breath, the brisk forest air clears some of the haze in my head.

The silence stretches between us. He’s beside me and looking ahead. It’s comfortable to be here with him. So far he hasn’t bombarded me with questions, he’s giving me time to collect myself which is thoughtful of him.

When I look over, he’s fumbling with an unlit cigarette. His fingers tip the stick up and down in a rhythm only he knows.

“You smoke?” I haven’t seen him smoke. There was one time when his car reeked of the scent, but I wasn’t sure that it was because of him.

“Sometimes,” he says lowly.

“Why?” For all I know it’s dangerous for health and tastes like trash—I read that online.

He glances at me. “It helps to clear my mind.”

“It does?”

The side of his lips quirks up as if he finds my question comical. “You have no idea.”

A cold breeze of air sweeps past us, cutting the tension. I wrap my arms around myself to gain some heat. “I’ve never skipped school before,” I say to distract my body from feeling cold.

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