“You got me a car?” There was even a little tiny bow on the roof.
“Well, technically it’s yours, but I reserve the right to drive it on every other date. Deal?”
I crossed my arms. “You did not get me a car.”
He came forward and put his arms around me. “Stryker helped. And Katie and Trish and Will and Simon. So you can pretty much blame all of them, if you want to blame anyone. Except I made sure it was red. It had to be red.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but he did that thing where he kissed me to shut me up.
“You have to stop doing that.”
He put his hands on both sides of my face and I stared into his deep dark eyes. “Has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?”
I smiled and bit his bottom lip. “No, never.”
He laughed and broke the kiss.
“You can come out now,” he called over his shoulder before grinning at me.
“What—” I started to say, but my question was answered when Audrey, Will, Trish, Stryker, Simon and Katie popped up from behind some of the other cars.
“Surprise!” They yelled, not quite in unison.
“I told you, we should have practiced more,” Simon said as he came to sweep me up into a hug. “They never listen to me. At least Brady lets me wear the pants.”
“I should be mad at all of you,” I said, pointing at each and every one of them.
“She’s not mad,” Will said, his arm slung around Audrey. “I can tell.”
“Twindar,” they all said, which made everyone laugh.
“Now why couldn’t we coordinate the surprise?” Simon grumbled.
“You guys didn’t have to get me a car,” I said, moving toward the driver’s side door. Zan stepped forward and held the keys up.
“But we did,” he said, taking my hand and putting the keys in my palm. “You deserve it, pretty girl. You deserve the moon.”
“Yeah, yeah, we get it,” Trish said, rolling her eyes. “Look, if you don’t want it, I’ll take it.” She dived for the keys, but I dodged her and hid behind Zan.
“No fair, hiding behind the boyfriend,” she said, trying to get around Zan, who shadowed her every move.
“You’re just jealous,” Stryker said, glancing at Katie. I’d never seen Katie smile or laugh as much as she had since they’d started hanging out. And given the circumstances, that was huge.
“Whatever,” Trish mumbled.
“So,” I said to lessen the tension, “who wants to take the first ride?”
Trish raised her hand, but Will grabbed her arm and shoved it down.
“I think the lovebirds should take the first spin,” he said. “Don’t you? I mean, it’s what would happen in a Nicholas Sparks book, right?”
Trish’s eyes went wide and we all laughed.
“Who told you?” she said.
“On that note,” I said, going for the door of the car as Trish glared at Audrey in accusation. “Zan?”
He opened the door for me and handed me in before going and getting in himself. I waved, but everyone was busy teasing Trish. Poor thing.
“You ready to go?”
“Ready when you are,” he said, kissing the back of my hand before reaching for something in the backseat. “Oh, look at that. It’s a banjo.”
I laughed as I put the car in first gear and pulled away from my weird, loud, silly adoptive family. I had a little trouble finding the right spot with the clutch, but I didn’t stall it as I drove away from campus and headed for the highway.
Zan started strumming the banjo and I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel. He’d finally learned how to play ‘I Will Wait’ by Mumford and Sons and he was very pleased with himself. I hummed along.
“Where are we going?” he said, as if just noticing that we were on the highway.
“That is for me to know and you to find out. Tit for tat, sir.” It was only fair that I got to take him on a random road trip. The last one had turned out pretty well.
“I had a feeling you’d say that,” he said, putting the banjo aside and reaching into the back again and coming up with a paper bag.
“Your Pop Tart, my lady.”
“You brought emergency Pop Tarts and an emergency banjo? You knew I was going to do this, didn’t you?”
“Maybe. Maybe I just hoped you would.” He pulled out one of the Pop Tarts and handed it to me. It was still warm.
“You hoped right. I thought we should get away, even if it’s for a few hours. Give me your phone,” I said, holding my hand out after shoving the Pop Tart in my mouth. I took the phone and turned it off before shoving it into the glove box. I took mine and did the same.
“There. Now it’s just the two of us. No brothers or intrusions. Just us.” He grabbed my Pop Tart and broke a piece off for himself.
“You know that is not going to last. They will find a way to find us. At least my brother is in jail right now.”
“So Steve’s not going to bail him out?”
“Not this time. He said Zack has made his bed so he’s going to have to lie in it.”
“It’s a miracle!” I said, moving so he couldn’t go for another bite of Pop Tart. “Stop stealing my Pop Tart. Get back to your banjo.”
“Tell me where we’re going,” he said, picking up his banjo again.
I shook my head. “Not a chance. I’m in charge of this trip.”