Page 39 of Love at First Ride
Noah blows out his cheeks. ‘I mean, I don’t know all the details, only that he would turn up at our house real late at night and my mom would sit with him. I’d hear him crying. He’d go out on these long rides and not come back for days. Then Echo got involved. He had AJ move into the room above Scotch & Smoke so he could keep an eye on him. Said if he didn’t get his act together, he would end up in an early grave, just like Mo.’
In a matter of seconds, my heart is back in control of my head. Listening to Noah talk about AJ like that gives AJ a vulnerability I didn’t know he had, and the knowledge changes my view of him, yet again.
I look up ahead at AJ on his bike. It just goes to show that you can never really know a person. Even if he is your long-standing high school crush.
I shake my head. I need a break from driving.
‘I’m sorry they weren’t so nice to you,’ Noah says.
‘It’s fine. I’m over it. Guess I was an easy target.’
I try to be over it. For the most part, I believe in forgiveness, and there’s no point dwelling on the past, but ugly memories have always muddied the waters for me, meaning some things are harder to move on from.
Up ahead, on the highway, AJ holds out his arm and points to a sign.
‘Truck stop, hell yeah, baby!’ Noah crows.
A few minutes later, I park up outside a modern, glass-fronted building. To Noah’s delight, there’s a McDonald’s.
His desire for chicken nuggets is soon scuppered by AJ.
‘You can take a leak, that’s it,’ he says, just as Noah exits the back of the car. ‘Put your hat on, keep your eyes down.’
‘I’m starving, man! I want chicken!’
‘I’ll get you something to eat, all right,’ AJ reassures him.
Once they’ve used the restrooms, AJ makes Noah wait in the back of the car. When AJ turns his back, Noah presses his hands together in prayer and gives me a pleading look. I give him a wink in return.
I walk behind AJ as we weave our way through the other parked cars, back toward the building.
‘Noah been chewing your ear off the whole way?’ he asks me as we enter, holding the door open for me.
‘He’s been asleep for most of it,’ I say, and I’m suddenly conscious that it’s just the two of us, walking side by side.
‘Oh. Least you ain’t had to listen to him yabberin’ on about one thing or another,’ AJ says.
My skin prickles, because talking about my past has brought it all back. The unkind tricks and pranks played on me, that AJ was – directly or indirectly – witness to. I’m reminded that he’s done nothing to earn my help today. Or my trust.
We come to a halt.
‘I appreciate you riding out all this way,’ AJ says when I say nothing.
I want to tell him what I told Noah in the car, almost to see his reaction. To see what he would admit to, if anything.
I think better of it, and instead I say, ‘It’s all right. I’m going to use the bathroom. Will you get Noah something to eat?’
‘Sure. You want anything?’
‘I can get it myself. See you by the car?’
‘Uh. Sure.’
I turn my back on him. Seek out the restroom. Afterward, I linger beside the mirror for a moment, giving AJ time to get out of the way.
On the one hand, I get a buzz from being in his presence. The boy who barely said a word to me in high school, but who I worshipped from afar. Along with every other girl.
On the other hand, Noah is right. Theywereunkind. In high school, I never knew when the next prank would crop up, and though I’ve never believed he was the mastermind, there is no doubt in my mind that AJ was guilty by association.
