Bending Under Pressure (15 page)

“Now, you don’t have to, of course, but when you were talking to Rita about your dad texting you, you said you didn’t feel right about talking to her about it. I get that. It’s why I want to let you know you can talk to me. It would probably be weird, I know, but it’s better than no one, and I wouldn’t tell Rita unless you let me know it’s okay. That’s all I wanted to tell you.”

I dip my fry into ketchup, mulling over what he said. I guess it’s nice of him to make the offer, but I don’t know if I would be comfortable talking to him about it either. Who would be the best of the worse? Walter or Mom? “Thanks,” I tell him with a small smile.

“Your mom can handle it, by the way.”

“I know, but I still feel bad about how things have been lately.”

He doesn’t get a chance to reply before we hear Mom’s voice.

“Oh, if it isn’t two of my favorite people.” She kisses Walter and then takes the empty seat next to me. She frowns when she sees Walter’s plate.

“I was starving,” he answers before she can ask.

The waitress comes by and Mom orders a burger as well. She goes on and on about her cart rage at the grocery store, how little kids were running rampant, and how she is tempted never to go grocery shopping on a Saturday again. Her trip was worth it though because before the disaster trip, she found a cute new blouse that was “absolutely perfect.” Conversation isn’t so bad, but I worry about not being about to go to Seth’s party when she brings up her plans for us.

“Haley, I was thinking we could go into town for dinner tomorrow.” There’s a hopeful look on her face, as if she’s slightly worried I’ll throw a tantrum and refuse to go.

“I was invited to a birthday party, and I’d really like to go to that.”

“Whose party?”

“His name is Seth. A lot of my friends will be there,” I add. “It’s at his house, so his parents will be there too.” Having his parents in attendance has to give me some leeway. There’s no reason for her to say no, except she wants this dinner.

“Okay. We’ll just do lunch then,” she replies decisively.

I’m not sure if I was hoping to get out of it or not, but it doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.

“What are you doing today?” she adds.

“
Keelan
,” Walter sings his name, “is teaching her how to drive a stick shift.”

Again, I groan. “Stop it, Walter. I told you we’re just friends.”

He laughs and Mom seems perplexed by our behavior. I’m kind of perplexed myself. Walter has surprised me. He seems pretty easy to get along with, like a generally nice guy. I definitely feel like he’s in my corner because he keeps pointing out how he’s here for me. My obvious next step is to get my relationship with Mom back to normal.

It’s hard though.

We were never really that close. I was closer to Dad than her. Mom was always the one who would discipline me while Dad would sometimes try to get me out of her punishment. Mom always had to know every little detail when I left the house, which is why I’m surprised she hasn’t asked a bazillion questions about Seth’s party. Maybe Walter is making her more laid back somehow. Either way, it felt like Mom was always the parent. Dad was my best friend.

“I think he’s cute,” Mom says, bringing me back to the conversation.

“Keelan?” She nods. “Oh, yeah. He’s cute,” I agree, although cute seems inadequate.

“What’s his family like?” And there’s the start of her questions.

Instead of getting annoyed, I take a deep breath and start talking about my new favorite subject: Keelan and his family.

I
knock on the front door of Haley’s house, hoping she answers instead of her mom or stepdad. But of course, her stepdad answers. His lips are set in a flat line, his eyes are narrowed, and for a moment, I wonder what I did already.

“Um, is Haley here, sir?” I ask when he doesn’t speak.

Mr. Walter cracks a grin. “Had you worried for a moment there, didn’t I?”

I laugh and nod.

“Good. I’m testing out my ability to be stern. Come on in. I think Haley is still getting ready.” He steps aside so I can walk in. “What made you decide to teach her a stick?” he asks.

I follow him into the living room where Mrs. Rita is sitting in a recliner and take a seat on the couch while Walter sits in the other recliner. I can’t tell them the real reason—it came up when I was racing—so I lie. “She really likes my car, but she doesn’t know how to drive it. I offered to teach her.”

“Where are y’all going?” Mrs. Rita asks, her steely eyes focused intently on me.

“Where my dad taught me. He owns a piece of land, not too far from here. It’ll be the perfect place.” It’s secluded, has no traffic, and plenty of space for her to learn.

“How long do you think y’all will be gone?”

“Until she gets the hang of it, I guess. We might go for ice cream afterward.”

Mrs. Rita nods. “She needs to be home no later than eleven.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I’m almost thankful the interrogation seems to be over, but the silence seems worse. What is Haley doing? I told her when I would be here. Why hasn’t she saved me from them yet? Usually, other people’s parents don’t make me nervous, but something about her mom has me on edge. She ain’t no joke.

Finally, I hear footsteps.

“Is Keelan—” she begins, but stops when she sees me. “Oh, hey.” She smiles and I stand, staring at her. How does she manage to get prettier every time I see her? She’s wearing a pair of shorts, showing off her long tan legs, as if I could forget them, and a fitted plain black t-shirt. “Ready?”

“Yep.” I hold out my hand. She walks over and takes it.

“See y’all later. Don’t wait up,” she jokes.

“Eleven o’clock, Haley,” her mom firmly replies.

“Have fun,” Mr. Walter calls.

I lead her away from them and outside to my car. We don’t say anything until we’re inside and I’m taking us away.

“I’m sorry about my mom and stepdad.” There’s a momentary faltering as she says stepdad. She’s still not quite used to it.

“They’re being your parents.” I shrug. “Are you excited?” I glance over at her in time to see her grin.

“Yep. Once I master it, does this mean I get to race at least once?” Her voice is lit with pure excitement and adrenaline. If I were to glance at her, I know I would see it reflected in her face as well. Her giddiness and eagerness makes me laugh.

“Maybe.”

“Maybe? Keelan, that’s the whole point of this, isn’t it? So I can experience it, too?” There’s a hint of desperation in her voice, which confuses me a little. It’s like this is very important, more important that I thought it would be.

“I was kidding, Hales. Once you master it,” I say, using the word she chose, “then we’ll set you up a race.”

From the corner of my eye, I see her relax in her seat. “Is there one tonight?”

My lips spring into a grin. “Yeah, I was going to see if you wanted to ride with me.”

“Of course I do!” She looks out the window. “Where are we anyway?” she asks as I turn into a gravel drive with cornfields on either side for as far as the eye can see.

“My dad’s land. He taught me here, so it’s where I’m going to teach you.” I stop the car and put it in park, turning off the engine. The gravel drive goes on for a few miles, usually straight, but with curves here and there around the land. “Let’s switch.”

Haley wastes no time getting out and jogging around to the driver’s side, a large smile on her face. I love her excitement. We slide into our seats, put on our seatbelt, and Haley turns toward me, waiting for instructions.

I laugh. “Adjust the seat, Hales.” My legs are longer than hers, so I know the seat won’t be in the proper place for her.

She giggles before doing so. “Okay. What now?”

Leaning toward her a bit, I point down to where the clutch is. “That’s the clutch. You need to put one foot there and the other on the brake.” I wait until she does. “Now, turn the key to start the car.” She does. “Put one hand on the gear shift.” When she does, I cover her hand with mine. Not necessary, but I want to touch her. “We’re going to move into first.” Our hands move the stick into first.

“Okay, here is the tricky part. At the same rate, you need to let up off the clutch while pushing down on the gas.” Haley does it, but kills the engine. “Try again.” We start all over, and it takes four times before she gets it. Already, I’m amazed. She has not once huffed in annoyance that she couldn’t get it like I did when I learned. She didn’t do anything except try again after her failed attempts, a set look of determination in her fierce brows, her focused eyes, and her firm set lips.

“Good job, Hales,” I say as we begin to move.

“That’s not all, is it?”

“No,” I chuckle. “Go a little faster.” The speedometer climbs until we’ve reached the top of the gear, the engine making a revving noise. “Let off the gas, push in the clutch, and shift down into second,” I instruct. She does so seamlessly, an even bigger grin widening on her face. “Once you hear that noise, feel the engine behaving like that, you shift. The more you do it, the easier it is to know the signs because it might not be exactly the same with other cars. Now, to slow down, you’ll press the clutch in, shift into neutral, and then hit the brakes like you normally would in a car. You’ll put it back into first after you’ve stopped and start moving again.”

We slow to a stop where she turns the car off, restarts it, and begins the process all over again. We continue along the gravel until it turns to dirt as Haley gets a feel for how to drive a stick. She’s a fast learner. Once we reach a place to turn around, I ask, “Ready to test out your skills on the road with traffic?”

The first flutter of anxiety crosses her features as her hands tighten on the steering wheel. “Already?”

I laugh. “Yeah, already. You have the hang of it. I think you’re ready. Just turn around up here and head back to the road.”

“Okay.” She nods to herself and then we’re on our way. “Where are we going?” she asks once we’re at the road.

“Turn left. We’re going to Elsie’s for a banana split.”

It’s not until we’re behind a car at the first stop sign where she had to downshift, that she speaks again. “I can’t believe I’ve done it. I was kind of worried it would be difficult because you made it look so easy I didn’t think it actually was.” She pulls into Elsie’s, parks, and angles toward me. “Thanks, Keelan.” Haley leans over and kisses me quickly on the lips, a faint blush lighting her cheeks.

“You’re welcome.”

She turns to get out, so I do the same. Mrs. Elsie greets us two seconds after we walk through the door with a hug.

“Oh, if it isn’t my two favorite customers. Come sit.” She leads us to a booth.

“You say that to all your customers,” I tease her.

“Only to the ones who are cute and sweet,” she replies with a wink. “What can I get for you, dear?”

“We’d like a banana split,” I reply.

“One to share,” Haley adds to my surprise.

“Y’all are just like your parents,” she tells me. “So adorable. One banana split coming right up.”

When she walks away, I tilt my head at Haley and she explains. “I was here for lunch not too long ago. I’m not sure I could finish one all by myself.”

I nod in understanding. “So, tonight, I’ll pick you up around midnight, okay? Will that work?”

“Yep. What are we going to do after this? We still have three hours before I have to be home.”

“We can go to my house, watch a movie or something.”

“That sounds like fun,” she agrees.

Mrs. Elsie drops off our banana split and we both lean forward to dig in; I aim for the strawberry smothered side first and Haley the pineapple side. Banana splits are the best creation on earth. It’s just perfect all the time. We’re quiet for a bit before I think about tomorrow and Seth’s party. I’m still a bit surprised that Seth invited her, not so much that he did, but because it was after she turned him down in front of all of us. He has guts to invite her after that.

“We’re riding together to Seth’s tomorrow if you want us to pick you up on the way.”

“I would like that, thanks. Does he have a big party like this every year?”

I nod. “He invites most of the people in our class, which isn’t hard to do because it’s not like it’s a huge school. When’s your birthday?”

“May 11
th
. When’s yours?”

“January 24
th
.”

“Sorry,” she mumbles, pulling out her phone, which seems to be vibrating as it rings with an incoming call. Haley swipes her finger to ignore it. Her mouth opens to speak, but it rings again. She squeezes her eyes closed, some of her strength seems to leave her, and she answers. “What do you want?” her voice asks softly. She holds up a finger to me and slides out of the booth to walk outside.

I watch her go, wondering who called her and why her demeanor changed so suddenly. Then it hits me as clear as day. Her dad. I watch her pace in front of the windows of the diner, her back rigid. She pulls the phone away like she’s about to hang up, but then presses it to her ear again. She stands still, turned to the side, so I know she’s listening to whatever he’s saying.

The ice cream begins to melt as I mindlessly eat spoonful after spoonful while I watch her. She nods and then speaks. I’ve finished and paid for our banana split by the time she finishes. She stands there staring at her phone, so I make my way outside.