Page 101 of The Star

My mouth drops open as I stare at it, blood rushing in my ears as I try to find words, but my tongue feels heavy and thick.

“Do you like it?!” Sara asks, stepping closer to me with her face spread into a giant smile.

“Sara…” I start, my eyes wide. “What the fuck?”

Carson laughs, rubbing a hand on my lower back. “Mom, you do know it’smybirthday that’s next week, right?”

I spin to look at him. “Your birthday is next week?”

“Ye–” he starts, but Sara grabs my shoulders and shakes me from behind.

“Logan! Car! I got you a car!” She laughs.

I turn back to her, looking over her shoulder at the BMW. “It’s beautiful Sara, really, but I don’t really nee–”

She cuts me off as well. “Stop, youdoneed a car. What about getting home from school when Carson has practice, and if you want to go see your friends?”

I press my lips together as a smile starts to form, narrowing my eyes at her playfully. “Show me the inside.”

She smiles bigger, even as it seems impossible, and pulls a pair of keys from her pocket before leading me to the driver’s side. Opening the door and motioning for me to sit down inside, her eyebrows pull down a little. “You have a driver’s license, right?”

I slide onto the butter smooth leather, my eyes rolling back at the pleasure the smell of a new car brings. “Yes.” I rub my hands up the sides of the steering wheel as I get comfortable, letting my eyes run over every inch of the dash. Sara hands me the keys, and I slip them into the ignition without a word, cranking the engine and listening to my new baby purr.

The car rumbles with the power under the hood, the stereo starting up and playing some random pop song on the radio. Moisture fills my eyes, but I blink it back. I’ve never gotten a present like this before, especially for no reason. Throughout the years, my parents and I always did the same thing for birthdays and Christmases. A small gift and dinner at the diner down the street from the house. It was tradition, and it was enough. But this? This is so much more, and I’m not used to it.

Looking at Sara, I shake my head as I chuckle a little. “I can’t believe you got this for me.”

She leans into the car, wrapping her arms around my neck the best she can. “You’re family, Logan. I want you to have everything that Carson has.”

“I don’t have a sports car,” I hear Carson mutter from outside the door, making both me and Sara laugh. Sara pulls back, standing up straight to look at her son.

“You wanted a Jeep, you got a Jeep.” She clicks her tongue.

The sun has long set, the sky a vast darkness with stars sparkling between the trees. The only things lighting up the driveway are the house lights and now the headlights from my car. I breathe in the fresh air mixed with the smell of new car, feeling content and full of bliss for one of the very first moments of my life. Not because of the extravagance of the gift, but because of what it says. Sara loves me; she’s radiating joy from the sheer act of giving me a present, and that’s something I’ve never experienced.

It could have been a Hot Wheels car for all I care, but the fact she went out of her way to surprise me with something feels really, really good. It makes me feel like I really am a part of her family, like she really does see me as someone important.

I turn the car off, pulling the keys out before I get out to stand next to Sara. “Thank you.” I catch her eye, trying to show her without words how truly grateful I am.

She puts a hand on mine. “You’re welcome, Logan.”

“We’re taking your car to school tomorrow,” Carson adds, grinning from ear to ear.

“Yeah, we are.” I spin the keys around my finger, feeling a lot cooler than I probably look. Then I close the car door, pressing the button on the electronic key to lock it, and we all go back inside.

“Let’s go to bed,” Carson says as we’re shutting the front door again.

“Separately,” Sara adds quickly, giving us a disapproving look. “And please do not think just because I gave you a car, that I’m not still angry that you skipped school today.”

“Of course,” I respond to both points. “We’re really sorry, Sara. It won’t happen again.”

She hums between her lips when Carson smirks, turning around to go back to the living room. “Goodnight.”

We both say goodnight, and once she’s out of earshot, Carson slides his hands into the back of my sweatpants and grabs my bare ass. “We’re not actually sleeping in separate beds, right?”

“Are you going to talk shit about The Hunger Games again?” I shuffle away from him, making his hands slip from my pants as I head for the stairs.

“I wasn’t talking shit about the whole movie,” he points out, chasing after me. “Only Gale’s pussy ass.”

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