Page 36 of Love at First Ride
He waits for me while I pull on my shoes.
I follow him down the stairs toward Missy’s. I won’t mention to AJ that the walls in this motel are paper thin. That even without pressing my ear against the (locked) interconnecting door between our two rooms, I could hear AJ and Noah’s entire conversation last night, and thatactuallypressing my ear against said door only further amplified what I was listening to.
I also won’t mention that I overheard AJ say he had no plans to sleep with me, because I hadactualconfirmation that he’d have no reason to, that I wasn’t his type. This morning, his words still sting, despite every rational voice telling me that this is all stuff I knew already, and that my high school crush should be left firmly where I left it: in the past.Of coursea man like AJ Callahan would have no cause to ask me out.
I am a means to an end. I’m only here to help get Noah to Santa Fe. That is all. My frivolous,reading-too-many-romantic-novels-to-Mrs-Huxleyaddled brain needs to get the message and stop drooling over a boy, just because he wears shredded Levi’s and rides a motorcycle. Because even the idea of anything coming of this little road trip –ugh, Hollie, stop it. Just. Stop. It– isthemost ridiculous notion.
The inside of the diner smells of sugary pastries and coffee. I’m surprised that, at this early hour, a few of the tables are taken. We take a booth beside the window.
‘I’m buying,’ AJ says, swiping up the menu. ‘We should aim to get outta here before the sun’s fully up,’ he says. ‘It’s a ten-hour drive ahead.’
Ten hours. It’s more than driving from London to Edinburgh. I open my own menu but his presence distracts me enough that I can’t even decide what to eat.
Eventually, a waitress comes over and takes our order. AJ orders eggs benedict with a black coffee, and I opt for two slices of buttered toast with a freshly-squeezed orange juice.
If I’m going to rid myself of these feelings, I’m better off making the least amount of conversation possible. Though this morning, AJ appears to have other ideas.
‘So, Noah told me last night that he wishes he could stay with you instead of Aunt Rita.’
I don’t tell him that I knew that already, after listening to the entirety of last night’s conversation in the room next door. ‘He’s sweet.’
‘Thanks for being so nice to him. I mean, I guess I always knew that you were a nice person. I just hadn’t figured how nice, exactly.’
I thin my lips. ‘I was nice in high school.’
Watching him, it’s like his entire body tenses up. ‘Yeah. I knew that.’
‘Did you though? Because you, Balthazar, Nicole and Mo Mariano pretty much stood by and let Chase Brennan do whatever he wanted to me. Didn’t seem to matter that I wasniceback then.’
Maybe it’s my tone of voice. Maybe he’s realized I’m a little pissed off by my past treatment, but suddenly he’s paled. He looks away and it takes me a moment to realize he’s reeling at something.
‘Are you all right?’ I ask, when it becomes apparent that something is wrong.
He shakes his head. ‘I’m fine, I… I’m sorry about high school.’
I narrow my eyes at him. ‘What is it?’ I ask, because I know there’s something he’s not telling me.
‘Nothing, you said…’ He flinches. ‘You said Mo’s name just now and it… it threw me.’
‘Mo Mariano?’
He sobers and lets out a shaky breath. ‘You don’t know. Why would you?’
‘Know what?’
He rubs his forehead. ‘Mo died last year.’
I blink. Something hits me square in the chest. A memory of them both on their motorcycles, riding side by side. ‘What?’
AJ twirls the saltshaker in his fingers, unable to look me in the eye. ‘Car accident. Mo had a collision with a high school kid. It was dark out; rain was coming down hard. The other driver ended up in a wheelchair. Cops didn’t apportion blame… said he was just unlucky. Mo died at the scene, and I never got to say goodbye.’
It takes me a moment to digest what I’ve just been told. ‘I’m so sorry.’
He looks away. ‘Don’t be. Nothing anybody could do.’
I have questions, but I don’t get the impression he wants to talk about it. ‘Was there a funeral, or…?’
‘Yeah,’ he says stoically. ‘Yeah, there was.’
