Page 61 of The Wrong Drive-
“Yep.” She gives me a look and then slips past. “Best of luck to you.”
“Right back at you.” I shut the door behind me, chuckling. The nineteen-year-old has way more fire than most, and it makes sense. After all, she’s the product of Bradford. I can’t imagine him having a kid that acts any other way.
I fish out the key fob for my truck and start the engine before I ever sling the door open. Part of me expects Bradford to come running out of the house to try and stop me, but he never shows.
He knows he couldn’t stop me if he wanted to.
I pull out my phone and flip through the social media updates that Em posted. Right there on her best friend’s page is a picture, tagging her at some sort of music festival fifty miles south of me. I can’t imagine Emevergoing to a music festival.
But then again, heartbreak does weird things to people.
“That’s assuming she’s heartbroken still,” I reason with myself. Bradford thinks I’m being cocky, but I prefer to call it hopeful. Even if it’s a stretch of reality.
My hands start to sweat as I start down the highway, Gunner riding shotgun. He whines off and on, and I’m not sure if that’s a reflection of me or him.
“We might see Em today,” I say to him, and he tilts his head at me. “You think she’ll freak out if she sees us?”
Gunner lays down across the black leather seat, his big body hanging over the console. He starts to pant as the miles pass, and I turn up the radio, it tuned into some new song that I recognize.
Look at me, Em. Being fucking normal.
But with every passing marker, I twist my hands around the leather of the steering wheel. I can’t even imagine what she’ll think after all this time. Maybe she won’t even recognize me anymore. Or worse…
Maybe shewon’tcare.
Maybe after all this time of me trying to get better for her, she’ll have moved on. I can’t even blame her for that. But it doesn’t stop my head from starting the spiral downward anyway.
If she’s moved on, what am I even doing this for?
My heart rate throbs in my temple, and I can barely breathe as I pull into the massive venue, people and vehicles everywhere.
The shopping mall hasnothingon this.
I got it. I can do it.I turn to Gunner. “Let’s go, Service Dog.” I reach for his harness in the backseat, slip it on him, and then slide out of the truck, clinging to the leash.
Loud music booms somewhere in the distance from one of the stages, and I start slipping through the crowd of people. I adjust my ball cap, and smooth out my shirt.This was so fucking impulsive.
But that doesn’t stop me.
I pull out my phone once more, and check Catie’s social media page. She’s the type who literally posts her every movement—which is really fucking stupid. You should never do that.
Well, unless you want everyone to know where you are.
I check her story with my anonymous burner profile, and I’m able to see immediately that Catie is at the farthest east stage, about to see some indie artist I’ve never heard of, and probably don’t care to.
Thank God this event is free.
I make it through security without an issue and keep my breathing even as I follow signs to the stage that’s listed. As I get closer, my boots crunch the grass, and a bass drum thumps for a sound test.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
My head starts to buzz, and Gunner spins, pawing at my leg. “I’m fine, buddy,” I tell him, grounding myself in reality with steady breaths and acknowledging where I am.I’m at a free music festival. I’m here to find Em. I want to see her.
And I can do this.
I swallow the knot in my throat, as I approach the crowd gathered. It’s one of the furthest out, and obviously the least popular, as the crowd is less than twenty…
And I seeherimmediately.
