Page 46 of Fireworks

I hated when my mother gave me ultimatums like I was still a child. I was perfectly capable of driving myself down to see my brother. When was everyone going to realize that I was eighteen now and I wasn’t a child?

Storming off to my room, I was more pissed that he still tried to interject himself in my life after all the shit he had put me through. I was over his inability to realize I was done with him. No matter what he ever did or said to me, it wouldn’t make a difference. He was an ass to me one too many times. I shoved a few more pieces of clothing in my bag, knowing we needed to head out soon. I shoved an extra hoodie in and zipped the bag up. A gentle knock on my door didn’t even make me turn.

“What?”

My voice was sharp and short despite not knowing who was on the other side.

“You ready?”

Nate pushed the door open just enough to see me grabbing my bag. Crossing the room, I pushed past him, ignoring his question. I wasn’t sure which was worse; being on a plane or stuck with him for hours in a confined space.

Walking down the stairs, I wished I could have been born into a different family that didn’t involve Nate being such a thorn in my side.

“Mom, text me when your plane lands.”

I yelled towards the kitchen before turning around and walking to the front door. This was going to be the longest and most grueling road trip of my life.

We spent the first few hours in silence. I had thrown my earbuds in my bag, along with a few books. Knowing Nate, I’m sure he would interrupt my life at some point. The music cut short in my ear. Pulling one from my ear, I look down at my phone. Clicking through the menu, I attempted to reconnect, but the low battery light was flashing, causing me to curse under my breath. Stupid things never held a charge anymore. I debated keeping them in my ears just so he thought I was still listening to something but knew he could tell there wasn’t noise blaring from them.

Shoving them in my bag, I saw his eyes drifting from the road over to me. My eyes focused back down on my book. It was too early into this trip to deal with whatever bullshit excuse he was going to feed me to smooth everything over and try to talk to me.

“How’s school been?”

I rolled my eyes, knowing this was coming.

“It’s fine.”

His fingers tapped on the steering wheel as he checked over his shoulder before changing lanes. The rain had picked up since we left, and the visibility was slowly diminishing.

“Have any favorite classes?”

Snapping my book shut, I threw it down onto my lap.

“Can we not? I have no interest in talking to you, much less being stuck with you for how many hours still? Just drive and don’t get us killed, okay? Do you think you can manage that?”

My voice was flat, and I could only hope that he got the point. I did not want to be here with him, much less have a fake conversation where we pretended everything was fine and he hadn’t destroyed my life. I was tense enough letting him drive, but he refused to let me drive his truck, claiming I wouldn’t be able to handle it. His fingers gripped onto the steering wheel tighter as I saw his jaw tense.

“You have a lot of fucking nerve, you know that, Katie?”

His voice sliced the tension between us with its vile anger.

I sat silently, too afraid to speak, watching the rain pour down over the windshield, the wipers barely able to keep up with the battering it was taking. The blinker flipped on as the truck exited at the next ramp.

“It’s too dangerous to keep driving in this. We’re going to need to stop somewhere for the night.”

His voice was still vile as it added to the building tension in the cab. Pulling into the first rest stop motel he saw, he parked and reached for the door handle.

“Stay here. No use of the both of us getting drenched.”

I wasn’t sure if he was looking out for me or just wanted to get away. What the hell had he even meant that I had the nerve to say anything? As if I was the one who was at fault for everything that had happened between us.

Yes, maybe I was at fault for telling his secret. I couldn’t lie to his mother like he seemed to do with such ease. Everything else before that wasn’t my fault, or at least it wasn’t completely my fault. When he ran back to the truck, his shirt matted to his body. Despite my loathing him, my eyes still glued themselves to his torso as his white t-shirt hugged his abs like it was painted onto him.

“They only had one room left. They said it has a couch. You can take the bed.”

He put the truck into reverse and pulled around to the other side of the building, tossing the room key at me. Holding it between my fingers, the giant number seven labeled on the key ring. Just great, this trip kept getting better.

Entering the dimly lit room, I threw my bag down at the door. The room smelt as old and run down as it looked. The couch looked tiny and as much as I hated him right now; I didn’t think it was fair to subject him to crunching himself onto it for the night.