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Chapter 77

It was Friday, and Robbie was back. I got ready quickly and grabbed the scones I made him. He was leaning on his car door, looking at his phone when I stepped out of my building. He looked up when I stepped out and smile, and my heart burst. When I go to him, I threw my arms around his neck and pressed my lips to his. It started out as soft kisses, and then he grabbed my neck and deepened it.

"Ahem," A voice in the backseat said.

I broke the kiss.

"Maria?"

"The one and only," She smiled.

"What are you doing here?"

"Hitching a ride with my brother and my best friend," She said innocently.

Robbie grabbed my bags to put them in the back seat next to her.

Maria gave me a look trying to tell me something, "the car," She whispered.

Oh. I fought the urge to roll my eyes.

Robbie straightened up after placing my bags and went to go around to open the passenger door for me. I grabbed his wrist.

"Hey," I said smiling up at him.

"Hi," He said, confused.

"I was wondering, you know how you said you would do anything for me?"

"Ahuh,"

"And that you love me and that what is yours is mine?"

"Yeah," He said slowly growing suspicious.

"Does that include letting me drive your car?"

"What?"

"Yeah, like, can I drive to school today?" I asked, grabbing the keys from his pant pocket.

He frowned and turned to his sister.

"Did you put her up to this?"

Maria burst out laughing,

I put my hand on his cheek to make him look at me, "it's a yes or no question, Robbie," I said, nodding and holding up his keys. He went to snatch them, but I held on tight.

"Do you even know how to drive?"

"Yes. I have my license," I said, "I took driver's ed at my school in Miami."

He narrowed his eyes at me, and I batted my lashes at him, and slowly he loosened his grip on the keys.

"Fine." He said, clenching his jaw.

Maria and I both squealed simultaneously, and I gave him a kiss on the cheek. He opened the driver's door for me and went around to sit in the passenger seat.

I adjusted my seat and mirrors from giant mode to fit my height and put the keys in the ignition.

I looked down at shifter and paused, "Oh," I said and then looked up at Robbie. He was looking at me intently, trying to fight a smile. He expected this to happen, "What's wrong, love?"

"I didn't realize this car had a stick shift."

"Well, we tried," he said, unbuckling his seatbelt.

"Wait!" I said, clicking it back into place, "I've driven manual before, I just don't remember everything, just help me out, give me a refresher."

He looked at his watch, "Now?"

I nodded.

"We technically have time," Maria said, resting her chin on my seat.

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "Okay."

I went to turn the key in the ignition, and he put his hand over mine.

"Step on the clutch and put in neutral."

I looked down at the floor, "This one?"

"Mhm," he said, looking at me nervously.

"I knew that was the clutch I was just—anyway, what now?" I said quickly changing the subject.

"Now turn it on," he said, leaning back in his seat.

"Okay, and I press on the break?"

"That would be a good idea," he said both patronizingly and amused. 

I shot him a glare and pressed on the break while switching the car to first gear. I turned the wheel and slid out of the parking spot.

"See, this is okay," I said before making the car lurch back, throwing us forward as I switched gears. Robbie put his hand on the dashboard to brace himself, and Maria let out a "Jesus Christ."

"Sorry," I said, wincing, both my hands gripping the steering wheel.

"It's okay, it's fine, just shift a little faster and ease off the clutch a lot slower," Robbie said with a surprising amount of patience.

I nodded, still, the entire ride was filled with lurches, and at one point, Maria complained she was going to hurl.

Robbie was actually enjoying this. I wasn't sure if it was because his sister was obviously regretting her choice to put me up to this or if he just found my driving generally amusing, but his mood had done a complete 180, and he was almost chipper.

"Alright, don't park in my parking spot. Just go to the student lot that way you don't have to parallel—" he started saying before I slipped smoothly in a parking space on the side of the curb.

"Are you serious, you can't go forward without almost flinging us out of the car, but this you can do?" Maria asked, looking around as if she couldn't believe what just happened.

Robbie looked at me with his mouth hanging open and let out a shocked laugh. "Okay then," he said.

I shrugged, "When I was learning to drive, I was terrible at parallel parking, so it was what I practiced the most. I even did an entire class just to practice."

"Well, it paid off that's impressive," he said, laughing and turning off the car and taking the keys out of the ignition.

He got out of the car and walked around to open my door and his sister's.

"I so regret eating those deviled eggs with caviar before we left," Maria whined as she climbed out her face was pinched as if she was going to barf or belch.

He let out a laugh and held out his hand to help me climb out. Everything after that was a blur. I heard a loud noise like a car horn in the distance and Maria yelled out "LIA!"

Robbie's face twisted into complete horror; he grabbed my hand so tight it was almost painful. With his other hand, he fisted the lapel of my uniform jacket, hauling me out of the car. He practically threw me onto the sidewalk. We stumbled back a few steps before losing our footing and falling on the asphalt.

I felt a sharp pain shoot up my arm as his body landed on mine. There was a deafening crash, and I saw his car tip on its side the curb stopping it from being slammed into us.

We stayed on the floor for a second in a complete daze. When I looked up, Maria still had her hands over her mouth in shock. Robbie groaned and got off me, pulling me up from the floor as he did. His hand was still gripping mine. I could see his knuckles scraped up from when we fell, and it looked like his elbow was bleeding. Maria helped him pull me up. We looked at the car; the passenger side was no longer there, and the driver's side was a mess. 

When I looked up at Robbie. His jaw was clenched, and his eyes were staring intensely at the mess that was left of his car. The car that slammed into his was making a quick reverse, trying to get away. Its tires screeching on the road as it peeled out. He looked at his sister for a brief second, giving her a small nod in my direction, and then bolted in a sprint towards where the truck sped off.

"You're never going to catch him! I already saw his plate!" She yelled after him.

"What was that? What just happened?" I asked, rubbing the back of my head. I realized then that my left hand felt awful with any slight movement.

"I don't know, one minute I was watching you getting out the car, and the next this...this hummer just comes careening towards the car." She said, shaking her head in disbelief.

A woman that had a small convenience store across the street came running towards us. I had spoken to her a few times when I bought milk and a sandwich on my way home from school.

"Mama, are you okay?" She asked, her dark hand rubbing my back. She had moved from the Dominican Republic a few years ago and had a thick accent. She held out a cone cup filled with water.

"Was that man drunk or what? These people are getting crazier every day," She said as I took the cup and had a sip of water.

"Yeah," I said, exhaling a breath, and then quickly finished the rest of the water. "gracias," I said when I was done and wiped my lip with my wrist.

"My coworker called the police," She said "they should be on the way,"  she added, pointing to a man at the front counter.

"Did they run a stop sign?" I asked, trying to make sense of what just happened, I held my wrist gingerly with my right arm. 

"No, I don't think so. I think he just lost control. Though, I swore I saw him parked over there when we got here. Usually, only Trinity kids own these spots. I wondered who that car belonged to." Maria said, frowning.

Robbie ran back towards us. His hair sticking to his forehead, and his cheeks red from exertion.

"Are you okay?" Robbie asked, running his hand through my hair.

"I think my wrist is sprained," I said, holding up my very swollen arm.

"Sweetheart, I think it's broken," He said, gently holding my elbow.

"I called a cab on my run back; It'll be faster than an ambulance. I don't know if your head hit the floor when we fell. I figure we should check everything out; they should be here any second,"

"Were you able to find them?" Maria asked.

He shook his head, "No, lost them on a turn."

By now, there were groups of Trinity students staring at us. I saw an administrator power walking towards us. It was the assistant dean. She was a portly woman with crazy eyes who liked everything to be in order. She was prone to panic attacks if things did not exactly as she planned.

"Are you kids alright?" She asked as she got closer to us.

"Morning, Dean Griffiths, Cecilia's arm is a bit hurt, but there's a cab on the way to get her checked out," Robbie said pulling mine and Maria's bag out of the wreckage. 

"We should call an ambulance, Mr. Bennett." She said, looking at the car and then at my arm.

"We just fell, Ms. Griffith; no one was hit by the car." He gave a charming smile, and I could see her fluster a little before giving in and agreeing with him.

"Alright, then I'll wait with Ms. Gomez, and you and your sister can get to class," She said.

"Actually, I'm a little scraped up as well; I was hoping I could go with Cecilia?" He asked.

"I'm waiting for the police. I wrote the plate number on my phone," Maria chimed in, holding up her cellphone.

She looked back and forth between Robbie and Maria, "Well, alright," She said, "I'll wait here with you guys. I have a secretary calling your parents." Her hand went to her forehead in despair, "Sweet, sassy molasses, that car is a mess," She said, taking a good look at the wreck. I saw Robbie wince as she said it.

When we were in the cab on the way to the nearby hospital, I could tell Robbie's mood had gotten worse.

By the time we were in the waiting room, he was almost fuming. One of the nurses put my arm in splinters as I waited to see the doctor. They had given me a ct scan to see if my fall had done any damage to my head, and everything came out fine. I made a joke about being hardheaded, and he gave me a weak smile.

I pouted as I sat next to him. The room was cold and pretty empty, considering it was a Monday. My dad always told me Mondays were the busiest day in the ER. I looked over a Robbie; he looked anxious; he was on his phone, his leg crossed over his lap and his foot shaking. They had bandaged his hand and elbow where he got some road rash from the fall. Other than that, he was fine. Even with the harsh hospital lights and the dirt on his nose, he looked so handsome.

I put my head on his shoulder and tipped my head up with my eyes closed and lips puckered for a kiss. I opened my eyes after a few moments of looking like an idiot. He wasn't even paying attention; he was flicking through the news on his phone and back to texting his sister.

I cleared my throat, and he slightly turned to look at me.

"What?"

"I wanted a kiss," I said, my voice a little whiney, but I believe given the circumstances of almost becoming a pancake, and having my wrist snap like a twig, I was allowed.

"I'm sorry, love," He said and leaned over to give me a quick peck.

That was a sorry ass kiss. I sighed.

"Robbie, are you really upset about the car? I know you really liked it. I should have parked in the student lot as you wanted." I said, shaking my head.

He turned to look at me as if I were crazy.

"Lia, I'm not upset I lost the car. I could care less about the car. I'm upset that animal could have killed you. If I had been driving, I would have parked in the same spot. You would have been in the passenger seat waiting for me to come around and help you with your bag. I just keep thinking that, and I'm a little in shock right now," He said pinching his nose. 

"I'm fine, though," I said, grabbing his hand and lacing my fingers with his.

"I know," He said, rubbing his eye with his palm. He looked exhausted.

I stood up and moved to sit on his lap, my forehead pressed to his neck. His arms came around me to hold me in place.

"It was a freak accident, but we're fine."

"I guess for once I'm grateful Maria is annoyingly pushy. I know it was her idea for you to drive."

I let out a laugh.

"I don't think she'll ever suggest that again if it makes you feel better."

He looked down at me and kissed my forehead.

"Lia, I love you so much." he sighed, "If something would have happened to you, I don't think I could bear it."

I hugged him tight with my good arm, "I'm fine," I said.

About two hours later, I was called in to get my arm put in a cast; when the doctor finished, we walked outside to wait for Maria to pick us up.

We sat in the backseat of Maria's Mercedes with Lana and Maria in the front seat. Lana had grabbed a permanent marker from her backpack and was drawing on my cast.

"You know what sucks the most out of all of this?" She said as she finished a flower, "they couldn't match the plates with anyone. Like how you are going to sue their insurance?" Lana said, scrunching her nose. 

After her exams, she had spent the day waiting around the police station with Maria. They told them they were unable to match the plates to any registered driver in NY. They were both frustrated that it wasn't going to be looked into further. 

"By now, that car is painted a different color," the cop overseeing the accident told them.

Maria looked into the backseat through the review mirror. Robbie sat awkwardly, his legs crammed in weird angles, much too tall for the small seats. He had his head leaning back and was pinching his nose with his fingers trying to relieve his headache. I saw her shoot me a sympathetic look.

"Can you sleepover? Or I can go over in a little bit. Just, let's stay together tonight." He murmured, startling me.

I nodded, and he kissed my hand and went back to resting his head on the seat.