Page 4 of Drive Me Wild
He leans into my personal space.
“What the hell, Caleb?”
He’s whisper-shouting to try and avoid our parents overhearing our age-old battles.
“You’ve been pissy at me for months but haven’t said one word about why.”
“I realize that you’ve been busy here.” I nod toward Renée. “I get it. But if you paid attention, you’d know what this is about.”
“So you’re not going to tell me?”
I let out an exhausted sigh, even though I just arrived.
“I’m tired of you not seeing me.”
“What are you talking about? You’re standing right in front of me. I can see you.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
I yank my arm away and look back toward where Zoe is sitting, but she’s no longer with Avery near the fire pit. I turn to reach into the cooler to grab a beer and smack my head—hard—against Zoe’s head.
She was reaching for a beer, too, and now we’re staring at each other with hands on our foreheads and tears in our eyes.
“Uh. Hi. You okay, Zoe?”
I can’t help but search her face, hoping for the same look she gave me in the spring.
The look that woke me up.
But with tears threatening, she places a beer against the spot where we collided, and scrapes her bottom lip with her teeth. My eyes drop to her pouty mouth, and for a second, the asshole in me wants to say something about biting her there.
“Hey, Caleb. Nice to run into you.”
I cough out a laugh.
“Maybe we should get some ice packs?”
Zoe turns and heads inside the house, and like a puppy dog, I follow. She’s wearing a loose, cropped t-shirt with the neck cut wide. It’s slipped over one shoulder, and I notice a constellation of freckles peeking out.
She starts rifling through the cupboards, looking for some kitchen towels. Then she puts some ice cubes from the freezer in them, wets them down, and hands me one with the cubes bunched inside.
“When did you get back to Owl Creek?”
“Just now. I just drove up. You parked right next to me.”
“That’s your Volvo?”
“Mhm.”
“Those are good cars. Solid. I rarely get a chance to work on them.”
I noticed when I parked it was packed to the roof, and the back of my neck heats up as a thought takes form.
“Do you always carry that much stuff in your car?”
“Ah…nope.” She looks through the window at her car as if trying to find the words in the bags and boxes she brought. “I moved. Out. I moved out of my house in Downsville.”
“Oh.” Now it’s my turn to search for words because all I can think is that if she says she’s moving to Owl Creek, I am going to have a hard time staying away from my brother’s house even though I’m still pissed at him.
