The Forever of Ella and Micha

shocked.
    He shrugs, scuffing his shoes against the sidewalk. “Because I know how hard it is to be away from the person you love.”
    “Are you for real?” I ask, and he nods. “Let me get this straight. You’re going to let me borrow your car and drive it out of the state, so I can see my boyfriend for, like, a night?”
    “Actually I was going to take you,” he clarifies. “My girlfriend lives in Riverside and you could drop me off and pick me up.”
    “Girlfriend?” I sputter out a laugh. “Oh my God, you have a girlfriend?”
    He tilts his head to the side with a mystified expression. “Am I that repulsive?”
    I shake my head swiftly. “No, I’m sorry. It’s just that… Well, Lila thought you had a thing for me and that’s why you talk to me all the time.”
    He tugs his beanie onto his head, pressing his lips together to suppress a laugh. “Oh, I see. Your friend’s… interesting.”
    “She’s nice, though,” I tell him, glancing over at Lila, who’s running her fingers up and down Parker’s arm. “I love Lila to death.”
    “I know that,” he replies. “And for the record, I talk to you because you’re an interesting person. You remind me a lot of my friends back home.”
    I’m curious what his friends are like back home. “Are you sure you want to take me? Because you don’t have to.”
    “I’m sure.” He tucks the car keys into the back pocket of his jeans. “It’s worth it just to keep that happy look on your face. You don’t smile very much.”
    I can’t stop smiling. “Well, thank you. It means a lot to me.”
    “Why don’t you go grab your stuff and we can meet back here in, like, an hour.” He backs down the sidewalk as I hike across the grass toward Lila.
    “Sounds good,” I call over my shoulder. “And thanks again.”
    By the time I reach Lila, she’s writing her phone number on Parker’s hand with a red pen.
    “We’re going on a road trip,” I announce, interrupting the conversation.
    Parker gives me a once-over and then dismisses me with his eyes. “So I’ll call you later then?” he asks Lila.
    “Yeah, sure.” She waves at him and he struts toward the main entrance of the campus, high-fiving another guy standing beneath the canopy in front of the doors.
    “Where and why are we going on a road trip?” Lila clicks the cap back on the pen and drops it into her bag.
    My stomach flips, thinking about how I’m going to see Micha in just hours. “To LA. Blake is giving us a ride. And before you say anything, he has a girlfriend.”
    “Sure he does,” Lila says cynically. “And he also really loves her and would never do anything to hurt her. Typical guy cop-out.”
    “What… Are you okay?” I’ve never heard her say anything like this before.
    “I’m fine,” she swears, shrugging it off. “Let’s go.”

    Blake’s a slow driver and when I ask him what he has under the hood, he has no idea. I try not to give him too much crap about it, but a few sarcastic remarks slip out.
    “Aw, you like cars.” He merges the car back into the slower traffic lane.
    From the backseat, Lila snort-laughs. “Likes them. The girl’s insane about them. It’s actually kind of annoying.” She shoots me a grin and I flip her the middle finger.
    “Is it just old cars?” He makes a careful turn down the off-ramp. “Or is it cars in general?”
    “Fast cars.” Like Micha’s poor Chevelle lying in pieces in his garage back home. May it rest in peace. “One’s that will kick ass in a race.”
    He cuts me a sideways glance. “Now I’m starting to get concerned about letting you borrow my car.”
    “I won’t race it.” I cross my heart with my finger. “I swear I’ll be easy on it.”
    He winks at me. “Don’t worry, I trust you.”
    The way he says it makes me uncomfortable and Lila gives me a knowing look in the rearview mirror.
    We keep quiet for most of the drive. Blake doesn’t have the air on and the black leather seats get hot and stick to the back of my legs. When we pull up to his girlfriend’s house, which is in the suburbs where every house and yard looks similar, I’m sweating.
    His girlfriend runs out of the house and throws her arms around him, nearly knocking him to the ground. She’s petite with red streaks in her hair and a piercing through her nose. She waves at us and then Blake backtracks to the trunk. Maneuvering over the console and into the driver’s seat, I pop the handle and he gets his suitcase out, before