Page 74 of Run
I do as he says then look over at Ethan who has two hands on the wheel. He glances over at me, then back at the road. Then he does it again. “What?” he asks. “What’s that grin for?”
I cover my mouth with my hand, conscious of the fact that my broken tooth is on full display. “This just feels so exciting!”
“Yeah, well, it’s going to be a lot less exciting when Axel finds out and beats your ass for it.”
“Shhhh,” I admonish him. “Don’t ruin this for me. Just keep driving. Can we open the windows?”
Ethan hits the buttons on the door and our windows go all the way down. I immediately stick my arm out, and face, and close my eyes as the warm air swirls red locks all around, tickling me.
“You’re like a dog,” Ethan jokes, stretching an arm out his window.
We drive for only a mile or so before he speaks again. “So?” He glances over at me, and then back at the road.
“So?”
“Remember, I told you when I got my driver’s license I would take you to the hospital to see if you can find your birth records?” He glances at me again. “You still want to go?”
I freeze. The truth is, I don’t want to find my mom. Not right now. Not when I have a chipped tooth, a fading bruise on my cheekbone, and secondhand, mismatched clothing.
“Why don’t we wait a bit? Besides, you would have to take the highways and the Inner Loop, and isn’t that a lot for someone who just got their driver’s license?”
“Please,” he says confidently. “I could drive to California, that’s how good I am behind the wheel.” He smooths his hand over the steering wheel for emphasis.
I try to let the issue drop, but Ethan pushes. “She’ll love you just the way you are, Ari. She’s your mom.” I keep looking out the window. “Come on, Red. What’s the point of writing all those letters if you’re never going to give them to her?”
“I don’t write them for her,” I spit out. “I write them for me. And I don’t want to go. Can we just drop it?”
Startled, Ethan stammers, “Yeah. Sure.”
He turns the radio up as “We Are Tonight” blasts from the speakers.
Ethan hits the open road where there's nothing but corn fields and tall grass on either side of us, and I’ve never felt so free. I take in the sight of Ethan’s strong jaw, hair that’s in need of a trim blowing around, his shirt pressed against his torso from the wind. The warm, sweet-smelling summer air blows in as Billy Currington goes on about a bunch of rock stars on a riverbank singing.
Ethan glances quickly at me, then frowns as he looks back at the road.
“What?” I ask.
“I really hope Axel doesn’t find out. You could be in serious trouble if he does, Ari.”
I cover my ears. “La la la la,” I chant, drowning out his voice. “I don’t want to think about it. I just want to enjoy this.”
“I’m serious, Ari. He’ll flip his shit if he finds out.”
I shrug and put my arm back out the window. “Totally worth it.”
Ethan just shakes his head. “What am I going to do with you, Red?”
The song changes, I turn the radio up, and we both sing along as Jason Aldean starts chanting about a dirt road.
We aren’t out that long, and when he turns onto our road, I crouch back down on the floor as Ethan pulls back into thegarage and parks the car. I start to get up, but Ethan pushes me back down. “Dad!” I hear him say.
Crap!
“Hey, son. How was your first joy ride? You kept it under the speed limit, right?”
“Yeah.” He unbuckles his seatbelt and opens his door, quickly sliding out and slamming it shut. “But, I’m starving now. What’s Mom making for dinner?”
I hear the door to the house open and close, and wait a second before peeking my head up to look out the window and see they are gone. But then I hear the motor of the garage door and see it coming down.
