Page 116 of Run
“You love me.” She bats her eyes at me.
I kiss her cheek. “I love my Jeep more.”
“I’m not going to crash it, Ethan. I’m a great driver, I just haven’t been able to do it since the accident, and now that I’m walking, DeShawn said there really is no reason why I can’t do it.”
“Mmmm, unfortunately the Jeep’s got a manual transmission.” I feign sympathy.
She blinks. “I can drive a stick shift.”
“You can?”
Ari rolls her eyes. “You know, it is so offensive that you think just because I’m a girl I can’t drive a stick shift.”
“It’s not that,” I backpedal, shaking my head. “It’s just … who taught you how to drive manual?”
Ari frowns. “Axel did.”
My eyebrows shoot up and I run my hand down my face. “Of course he did.”
She looks almost offended, but then offers up more. “He liked when I started working at the bar with Lena because I brought home money. You know, for the ‘household.’” She makes air quotes. “So, once I got my driver’s license he got the Accord up and running for me to take to work—”
“You drove the Accord? The one we used to hang out in?”
Ari smiles. “Yeah, I did.”
I shake my head, and she continues. “Anyway, sometimes he would need to work on it, so on the weekends I would take his car, which was a manual. So, he taught me how to drive it.”
We are quiet for a moment, but then she goes on talking. “I remember when we headed out to the car the day he gave me the lesson, Axel swooped up the newspaper the paperboy had thrown in the driveway, so he had it in his hands in the passenger seat. He was actually pretty patient …” Ari looks off at nothing as she is lost in memory. “That may have been the most patient day he ever had.”
She shakes her head. “So, he gave me a few minutes to get used to the clutch and shifting gears and to get the feel of the car, and then he told me that was it—no more learning curve. He rolled up the newspaper and …” Ari pauses and puts a hand over her mouth and giggles.
She giggles over a memory with that piece of shit.
“He told me that every time I made the transmission grind he was going to swat me. And he did! He slapped me right on the thigh with that newspaper, and I squealed every time.”
She’s smiling so big now, and I feel like I’m in an alternate universe. “He laughed, too. And so, I was driving down all those back roads with big ol’ Axel swatting me with a rolled up newspaper, like a dog. Then …”Ari spreads her wide hands in front of her as she gets excited, “he told me that for every time I stalled the car, he would belt me when we got home.”
I stiffen with her still on my lap.
She continues smiling, and laughing. “I remember being scared for just a moment, but then I got my ass in gear—pun intended—and I freaking learned how to drive an automatic car.” She sighs as she settles back into me, as if she didn’t just tell me the most screwed-up story I’ve ever heard. “It may have been an unconventional way to teach me, but it worked. Now I’m a pro!”
Ari turns and drops a kiss on my cheek. “I’m gonna take a quick shower and then we can get going, OK?”
I nod, unable to speak.
She hops up and stumbles slightly, and I shoot up off my stool to steady her. “Crap.” She takes my hand, then quickly releases me. “I’m good.”
“I’ll help you into the shower.”
“Ethaaaan,” she draws out my name, as if annoyed.
“Fine.” I put my hands up. “Go.”
She strolls away, saying something about only being a minute, but as her voice gets farther away, I swivel around. “Ari?”
She stops, resting one hand on the threshold of the dining room, and turns to look at me. “Yeah?”
I swallow. “How many times did you stall out?”
