“I got chains we can put on it if it gets stuck.” He steals a marshmallow out of an open bag on the counter. “Besides I need a few dents in that tainted car to make it whole again.” He tosses a marshmallow at me and I open my mouth to catch it, but it pegs me in the forehead.
“But I love your car.” I pick up the marshmallow and toss it into the trash. “I don’t want to see it ruined.”
“I loathe it now,” he annunciates. “My father has officially tainted it.”
“If you want to ruin it,” Dean chimes in, “there’s a sledge hammer in the garage.”
“That’s okay,” Micha replies in a clipped tone as he snatches the bag of marshmallows and tugs me toward the door. Micha has never liked Dean very much. “I got another idea.”
I grab my jacket off the door hanger and giggle as he hauls me toward the fence. He hops over it effortlessly, and then he picks me up by the waist and lifts me over easily.
“What’s your big idea?” I say breathlessly as he leads us toward the garage and snow fills my shoes. “Running it into a wall, racing it until the engine explodes?”
He lets out his evil villain laugh as he opens the garage door. “We’re going to spin doughnuts dangerous style.”
I shake my head quickly. “No way. Last time, I almost got a concussion when you rammed the snowbank.”
“Well, you better man up.” He opens up the passenger door for me. “Because it’s gonna get intense.”
I duck my head into the cab and drop into the seat. “I don’t man up. I’m a dainty little girl.”
He snorts a sharp laugh. “Okay, if you say so.”
He slams the door and circles the front of the car. His gaze fleetingly lands on the twelve pack nestled on the shelf between the toolbox and oil. When he spots me looking at him, he grins and gets in the car, pushing the garage door opener latched onto the visor. Punching the gas, he peels out down the driveway, skidding from left to right and fishtailing it when we hit the icy road.
“Can you do me a favor?” I ask as he cranks the wheel.
“I’ll do anything you want,” he answers straitening out the car.
“Can you try not to kill us?” I say, cranking up the heat. “Now that we’ve started planning a future, I kind of want to have one.”
Ethan and Lila follow us up to Back Road in Ethan’s truck. The sky is cloudy but silent from the snow drifting to the ground. About halfway up to the old racing spot. Micha has to get out and put the chains on the tires. Watching him bend over and get them on is very entertaining because his pants keep slipping down on his hips. When he catches me checking him out, he winks at me and waggles his eyebrows suggestively. I turn in my seat, smiling to myself.
After we make it to the end of the road, Micha gets out and takes the chains back off so we can “spin doughnuts dangerous style,” as he put it. Ethan parks his truck near a snowbank and Lila and he climb into the car with us. The area in front of us is open and packed with snow. Icicles hang from the branches of the trees that border around us and the roof of The Hitch, a rundown brick building that was once a restaurant, has caved in.
With his hand on the steering wheel and his eyes locked ahead, Micha pumps the gas and a cloud of smoke puffs out the exhaust. The tires spin and I cover my eyes with my hands.
“What’s wrong?” he wonders with humor. “Where’s my dangerous girl tonight?”
“I’m having a hard time with the fact that you’re going to destroy the car.” I peek between my fingers. “It’s just too tragic.”
“I’m not going to destroy it.” He picks up his iPod and hands it to me. “You want to do the honors?”
I take it and scroll through the selection, finally clicking on “Face to the Floor” by Chevelle.
Micha grins. “Excellent choice.”
My hand instantly shoots for the side of the seat and I prop my foot up on the dash as I slouch down.
“El, what are you doing?” Lila peers around the seat at me. “And what the hell is this music?”
“It’s Chevelle,” Ethan says like she should know.
She arches her eyebrows as she sinks back in the seat. “Okay…”
“Just put your seatbelt on,” I instruct as Micha laughs, revving the engine.
She obeys, quickly clicking it on and Ethan leans forward, resting his elbows on the console. “Don’t hit the f**king snowbank like last time. I don’t want a concussion again.”
Ethan and I trade looks because the concussion involved him and me smacking heads upon impact.
“I got this,” Micha assures us confidently, shifting into drive. “At least I think… if anyone wants to bail out, now is the time.”
We target an assumption at Lila.
“Hey, I’m not a wimp.” She places her hand over her heart, offended. “And I’m staying in.”
Micha pushes the gas pedal and the tires spin. We lunge forward, slowly speeding up and swerving all over the place as the car battles against the deep snow. Frost flurries around the car as he shifts into a higher gear and accelerates, heading for the end of a road that’s blocked off by a massive snow hill. Shutting my eyes, I wait for it because I know it’s coming. It happens every single time.
“Everybody hang on,” Micha instructs, before he jerks on the e-brake.
The car spins out of control, like a carnival ride. With my eyes closed it feels like I’m flying. I want to stick my hands out and bask in the freeness. Moments later, the car smacks into the bank and the abrupt impact sends me flying for real. I land on top of Micha, banging my head on his as the car jerks to a stop.
“Oh, motherfucker,” Ethan moans. “Fuck. Lila, are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” she assures him with terror in her voice. “But why didn’t anyone warn me?”
I open my eyes and look into Micha’s aqua blue eyes. “Hi.”
“Are you okay?” He delicately touches my head with his fingertips. “We hit heads pretty hard.”
I press the heel of my hand to my head. “I think you did that on purpose, so I would end up in your lap.”
“Maybe just a little.” He leans down and kisses me passionately, sucking on my bottom lip before pulling away, leaving my body suffocated in warmth. “Actually I was aiming for a nice slide in, but I choked at the last second and didn’t pull the brake quick enough.”
I start to sit up, but he holds me down by placing a hand on my chest. “I think you should just stay there for a while. It’s a good place for you.”
My head is resting in his lap and I can feel the bulge through his pants. “Really? Even in this situation.”
His eyes sparkle with delight. “Again, your face is, like, inches away from it.”
“You two better shut the hell up with that,” Ethan warns sharply from the backseat. “It’s seriously getting annoying and I don’t have the stomach for it.”
Micha kisses me again, making an overexaggerated moan to irritate Ethan more. The car door slams as Ethan removes himself from the car and Micha helps me sit up.
“I’ll be back in a second,” he says. “I’m going to get the tow strap out of the trunk.”
As soon as he’s out of the car, Lila dives over the console and into the passenger seat. “So let me get this straight. He got his car stuck only so they could tow it out?”
I waver, cranking up the heat to full blast. “He got his car stuck to make a statement to his father about fixing his car.”
“But his father’s not here.”
“Yeah, it’s more for himself.”
She doesn’t get it and I don’t try to explain it to her. If this makes Micha feel better, then I’m glad. It’s what he deserves.
About an hour later, the car is unstuck. Micha got the tires wedged in really deep and we finally had to bring out the snow shovels Ethan had in back of his truck.
It’s not the only time we’ve been stuck out here and we learned our lesson the first time we got stranded to always be prepared with a snow shovel, tow strap, and chains. Otherwise, it’s a long walk home in below-freezing weather.
After the car is back in the shallow end of the snow, Micha takes the tow strap off and winds it around his hand as he proudly takes in the scratches and dents on the front fender.
“I’m going to ride home with Ethan,” Lila tells me, reaching for the handle of the door.
“Wait, I have to ask you something.” I hesitate and rotate in the seat to face her. “Are you sleeping with Ethan?”
Her blue eyes round as she ties the scarf around her neck. “No, we’re just friends. God, Ella, I don’t sleep with everyone.”
“It’s not that,” I tell her. “It’s just that you two seem close… and I mean, what do you guys do when you’re alone?”
She pushes the door open and steps out, her feet sinking into the snow. “We talk.”
I lean over, wondering what the two of them could possibly have in common. “About what?”
“Life.” She shuts the door, tramples to the back of the car where Ethan’s truck is running, and climbs inside.
One day, I’ll get her to confess to me what is they do. I turn up the music and sing along as I wait for Micha to get in. When he opens the door, a gust of wind blows in and chills the cab.
He pokes his head in, his cheeks pink from the cold and snowflakes speckling his hair. “What? Are you driving?”
I run my hand along the top of the steering wheel. “I was thinking about it. Why? Are you not going to let me?”
“I will totally let you.” He laughs. “But there’s something I need to do first.”
With my shoulders slumped, I swing my leg over the console and sit down in the passenger seat. “What do you need to do?”
He shuts the door, pausing as he nibbles at his lip ring and stares pensively out the windshield at the sky, which is getting darker. “I’m still deciding.”
“We really should be getting back,” I say, checking my messages. “Dean texted me, like, five minutes ago and said dinner is in an hour. I guess my dad is there now and your mom and her boyfriend are going to be over soon.”
“You seem sad that your dad’s there,” he states, looking at me intently.
I stare up at the cloudy sky and the snowflakes falling from the sky. “I’m not sad, just nervous.”
“But I thought the letter made it better,” he says. “That he let you know it wasn’t your fault.”
My breath puffs out unevenly. “Micha, I’ll always carry that night with me, whether my dad says it’s my fault or not.”
“Ella, it wasn’t your fault.” Panic flares in his eyes; he’s worried I’m reverting. “You have to start believing that.”
“Micha, I’m okay.” I place a hand on his as a comforting gesture. “It’s when I don’t say these things aloud that there’s a problem.”