September 17th
Do it up right.
Ainsley
Nebraska won their game in Michigan last week. It was a high-scoring game, full of offense. The reporters are now predicting Damon will shatter all reception records as a true freshman.
And I hope he does.
The game, however, was STRESSFUL!
A nail-biter, coming down to a Hail Mary throw and catch in the end zone by Treyvon as time expired.
Sammy and I skipped class today so we could get to Lincoln well before Daine Kirkwood’s concert tonight.
One thing I like about Sammy is that while he could talk for the entire journey, never once running out of something to say, he prefers to listen to music and eat snacks during road trips.
But since he’s working out hard and being careful about what he eats, our snacks aren’t the usual chips and candy, but rather dark chocolate-covered date balls.
Which I am obsessed with, by the way. And surprised at how healthy they are for something so sweet.
Our trip is going well when, all of a sudden, there’s a loud bang, and my car immediately lurches to the right.
Which is not a good thing because there is a big truck coming up alongside me.
It’s extremely hard to steer the car, and there’s a really bad vibration, making the whole car feel like it’s shuddering over whatever just happened.
My heart beats wildly.
“Whoa!” Sammy yells out, bracing his hand on the dash.
“I think it’s my tire!” I yell back, struggling to maintain control of the car.
Although I’ve never had something like this happen before, I somehow instinctively know that I shouldn’t hit the brakes or make any sudden movements.
“I think so too! Slowly take your foot off the gas,” Sammy instructs.
I do, which makes it a little less bumpy, and grip the steering wheel firmly while trying to breathe.
But that’s difficult because my body is on high alert, adrenaline coursing through me.
The car rattles and thuds as I fight to get it onto the shoulder.
When we finally roll to a stop, I let out a sigh of relief.
Sammy turns around. “I can see a bunch of shredded rubber behind us. Definitely a blowout. Although, at first, I thought the car’s whole transmission just fell out.”
He reaches over and turns on my hazard lights.
“What are we going to do?” I ask. Even though it’s a stupid question.
Sammy runs his hand down my arm. “It’s okay. We’re safe. You did a great job maintaining control of the car. We’re lucky it happened when we were in a fifty-five speed zone instead of seventy-five,” he says. “The car could have flipped.”
I swallow hard. My mind immediately goes to the baby in my belly. The thought that we both could’ve been hurt brings tears to my eyes. And I start crying.
Sammy says, “Do you have a spare?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Then it’s not the end of the world,” he says flippantly, which makes me sob.
He pulls me into a hug. “Seriously, Ains, we’re all right. Everything is all right. We’ll change the tire and be back on the road. And if you want, I’ll drive.”
“Okay,” I say shakily.
“Come on. Let’s go check out the damage and find the spare. Worst case, we call a tow truck or something. We won’t miss tomorrow’s game. I’ll rent a car if need be, and we’ll keep going.”
“That’s true,” I say even though I wasn’t even thinking about getting to the game.
I’m thinking about the fact that I could have just died. And they would’ve told Damon I was pregnant. He would have found out from someone else.
I run my hand across my belly and take another deep breath.
Because I’m okay.
We’re okay.
I follow Sammy out of the car, just as there’s a clap of thunder and rain starts pouring down.
I look up at the sky, wondering what I did to deserve this.
Sammy shrugs his shoulders. Like, what can we do?
I guess at least there isn’t any lightning in the vicinity.
Thankfully, a state trooper pulls over behind us and helps Sammy change my tire. The good news is that my dad insisted that there be an actual tire in my trunk and not one of those little doughnut spares that you can only drive fifty miles on. And that means we can get to Lincoln without a problem.
Sammy takes the wheel, and after a few minutes, we’ve left the rain behind us, and the sun is shining brightly.
“I want to stop at the next gas station. I think we deserve more than date balls after all that. I must have burned a few thousand calories in seconds.”
“What do you want?” I ask him.
“Hmm. If I’m going to cheat, I might as well do it up right. King-size Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Cheetos, and a full-sugar Coke. What about you?”
“Peanut butter M Eddie and Lauren, who have finally decided to date and are quite lovey-dovey at the moment; as well as Treyvon and a bunch of other guys from the team.
I was introduced to them all, but I can’t remember their names.
Sammy will though. He’s excitedly chatting about their upcoming game, and he doesn’t seem to be suffering any aftereffects from our scare today.
I’m exhausted, if I’m being honest. The music is great and all that, and Daine is quite talented.
It’s super cute when he plays a new song, one dedicated to a special girl who happens to be here tonight.
I can see Haley just on the edge of the stage, her arms crossed, hands held against her chest. The song is a sweet ballad about the power of friendship.
But yet there’s a lot of love in there. And I think it’s pretty clear what page Daine is on regarding Haley even though she still insists they are just friends.
And they should probably be. He’s older and traveling.
She’s still in high school. I remember at the Ozarks this summer, he told her she had been the constant in his life.
Once the song is over, Daine says, “All right, Lincoln, it’s time to kick it up a notch. Get this party started. Rumor has it, you’ve got a pretty good football team this year!”
Of course, the crowd goes crazy over that.
“And I heard a few of those boys in red are in the house tonight! Chase, Damon, Treyvon, give us a wave!”
The guys do as the band starts a rowdy song about Friday night lights in the country.
Everyone is dancing, but I’m sort of just standing motionless. I swear, I think I could fall asleep, standing here.
Damon pulls me into his arms. “You doing okay?” he says into my ear.
“I’m quite tired. Today was … a lot.”
“Sammy said you were pretty shook up.”
“It was scary,” I say, looking into the eyes of the boy I love and feeling happy that I’m here to do so.
“The car, like, lurched, and I felt like I didn’t have control.
And it just happened so suddenly. Like there was an explosion sort of sound, and then—boom—the steering wheel didn’t want to cooperate. ”
“I’m very glad you are okay,” he tells me, then gives me a kiss.
“Me, too, because I’m here with you.”
“I know the concert isn’t over yet, but let’s go home. Get you to bed.”
And all I really remember after getting in bed is him giving me a kiss.