Chapter 19 #2
I gaped at her. “Like this? Like what’s happening right now?”
“No, silly.” She put her seatbelt on. “Where are we going?”
I don’t think I’ve ever been speechless before. “Is this happening?” I asked her, not sure what the answer was.
She smiled at me. “We’re friends—”
“I don’t think we are.”
She ignored me. “And friends do things together.”
“I think they get invited first.”
“Formalities.” She looked at me and the stick. “You sure you know how to drive?”
I put the car in drive. “You may be more annoying than me,” I muttered. She laughed with delight. “I need to apologize to every teacher I ever had.”
I drove us away from campus and headed north on I-65.
“What’s in Nashville?” She glanced at me. “Or who?” She turned in her seat toward me. “Did you find her?”
“No.” She looked disappointed with my answer. “How do you know I’m going to Nashville?”
“You don’t have any snacks or water. Figured it was a short-ish drive.”
“It’s two hours.”
She shrugged. “Yeah, short.” She leaned forward and fiddled with the radio station. “What do you want to listen to?”
“I don’t like music when I’m driving.”
She turned it off without question. “So, conversation starter, tell me about you.”
“No.”
She nodded. “Okay. I’ll start. Only child. Mom and Dad are . . . complicated.” She smiled briefly. “I was very much following in my dad’s footsteps, and then I met Dante.”
I frowned. “Aren’t you guys . . . new?”
She smiled. “Yes. But it’s been intense. He’s . . .” She sighed like a lovesick idiot. “He’s the best.”
“He threw my cat at me.”
A burst of laughter escaped before she slapped her hand over her mouth. “He told me you thought that. He didn’t, he’s just very fast.”
I gave her a flat look. “He tossed my three-legged cat at me like he was throwing a curveball.”
“A curveball? He doesn’t play baseball.” Savannah’s fingers were pressed across her lips. “Did you actually see him throw it? Her.”
I hadn’t. I know she was on the floor streaking for the door like a bolt of lightning, and then she was in my arms. “He threw her.”
Once you commit to the story, you commit to the story.
“Okay.”
“Wow. That was pure condescension.”
“I wasn’t there,” she said diplomatically. “I can’t comment objectively.”
“Your dad ever tell you that you’d be fabulous in politics?”
“A few times.”
Imagine that. We drove for another five minutes in silence.
“Dustin and Noah have been really welcoming,” she started again, and I didn’t hide the groan. Savannah ignored me. “Which is really cool, I don’t . . . I don’t have many friends.”
Well, now I felt like a dick.
“I don’t either,” I conceded. “By choice. I don’t really like people.”
Savannah looked at me with amusement. “You picked a people-heavy role.”
“People are dicks,” I explained. “People run over cats and leave them to die. Or throw them at their owners,” I added with a sharp look at her. “Or they hide things so they benefit. People are . . . shit.”
“They can be.” She nodded. “They can also hug you in the middle of the day when you just learned a horrible secret, even though they barely know you. They can also stand up for you and put themselves out there so you can breathe. They can shut down nasty comments with a look. They can stand up for you when no one else will.”
“I can stand up for myself.”
“I don’t doubt it.” She looked out the window.
The silence grew tense. I kept driving and eventually let out a big sigh.
“I’m also an only child.” I pretended I didn’t notice her look of relief.
“My parents are both schoolteachers. They’re both bright .
. . and bubbly.” My nose wrinkled in distaste.
“They’re practically hippies without the pot brownies.
But put Fleetwood Mac on and you won’t get a coherent sentence out of them for the rest of the day.
Mom burns sage for no reason and every reason.
Dad realigns his chakra. It’s . . . hideous. ”
Savannah was grinning again. “They sound awesome.”
“Come for dinner, then tell me what an awesome time you had after they apologize to the root vegetables for their untimely murder.”
She laughed, and I grinned. “Is that true?”
“If I never move from this spot. I asked for chicken when I was fourteen, I thought we’d have to sedate my mom, she was so hysterical.”
“So you’re a vegan?”
I scoffed. “God no. The first thing I did when I got to high school was eat a burger and fries in the cafeteria. It was really bad, but no, I like meat.”
“Like Dustin’s meat.”
The car swerved a little as I jerked in surprise. “Ick.”
“Bad comparison,” she admitted. “I’ll apologize to him later.” She toyed with the hem of her sweater. “But . . . you do like him?”
“He’s an acquired taste.”
“Do you like it? The taste?”
“This is not how you ask if I like a guy.” I looked at her in exasperation.
“He’s a lot, okay? I don’t have any other thoughts about him.
” I knew that was the most dishonest thing I’d said all day.
I’d been lying to myself since last night, but she didn’t need to know that.
“Plus, your boyfriend told him I’m only using him for my story. ”
“Are you?”
“Is this why you’re here?” I demanded.
Savannah shook her head. “No. I wanted to know where you were going. You have a really bad poker face, so I knew you were up to something. Now we’re in the car, and we still have about ninety minutes left, and you don’t like music. So . . . all that’s left is talking.”
“Joy.”
“You’re funny, Hadley,” she said, settling back in her seat. “I think we’re going to be good friends.”
“Well, don’t get too comfortable. The person we’re going to see also thought we were good friends. It didn’t end well.”
She didn’t react like I thought she would. She simply shrugged. “Well, she wasn’t who you thought she was, then.”
“You assume she fucked it up?”
Savannah nodded with a confidence I envied. “Absolutely.” She gave me a warm smile. “I’m an excellent judge of character, trust me.”
“You hooked up with Dante Spence.”
She grinned. “Exactly.”
And somehow, despite that, I found myself thinking I could trust her. What weird witchery was this?
I looked over at her suspiciously. “I think you’re full of it.”
She burst out laughing, and I eventually joined in. I was stuck in the car with her, so I did what I did best. I embraced the situation and waited to see how it played out.
“You want to be my feature review for my class?” I asked her, surprising myself more than her.
“Tell me more.”
“I shadow you, see your day-to-day, find out the person behind the persona of the dean’s daughter.”
Savannah pursed her lips. “I get to see it first?”
“If you want.”
She nodded. “Sounds fun.”
It did. I looked at her, and she looked back, not bothering to hide her amusement. “Is this a test?” I asked her suspiciously.
“Nope. It’s the start of a beautiful friendship.
” She looked hesitant once more. “I was so lost until I met Dante. Honestly, I feel like I’ve become the person I was meant to be, and that person makes friends and tells those friends they’ll be their feature for an assignment.
” She flushed a little, and it was easy to see her sincerity.
“QB10 had this effect on you?” I asked her doubtfully. “Mr. Grumpy and Judgmental?”
Savannah laughed loudly. “He can be, but yes, he did. He’s amazing.” She rolled her eyes slightly at my disbelieving look. “And a control freak, but you know, I never said he was perfect.”
“Pretty sure you were trying to persuade me he was.” I thought about it. “It’s good you see he has flaws.”
She didn’t argue, just turned to look out the window.
Her phone rang, and she looked down at it, her frown instant. “Shit. I forgot to tell Dante that I kidnapped you.” She gave me a bright smile. “Well, here goes nothing.” She answered the phone. “Hey, how was training?”
Savannah Cole may be as fearless as I was.
Interesting.