Song of the chapter: Everybody by Backstreet Boys ... you'll get it eventually ;)

I find myself frozen on the spot once I realise what I'm about to do. I know I was walking around like I was on top of the world and some sort of wild child but that doesn't mean I'm ready to actually drive the car myself. I would've been perfectly happy sticking to the passenger seat.

It takes a second for Theo to notice that I was no longer walking by his side and when he does he quickly walks back to me, putting his hand on my shoulder as he checks on me.

"You okay?" he asks, eyebrows furrowed with concern.

"You know, we don't have to go back and do that all again. I'm okay with just having had you drive us around."

"If you're worried about wasting time or something then you don't have to worry. We were always booked in for a double session. I just figured you would have assumed you'd get a go. If you don't feel comfortable with having a go then that's a different story, but it's okay either way." he assures me. "Look, you were a bit nervous about the first go but you saw how great that turned out. I'm sure you'll feel the same this time around."

I take a second to think over what he is saying and what my options are. I could back out of this and we could call it a day. Maybe Theo could even just have another go so the session doesn't go to waste. But then I really haven't quite stepped out of my comfort zone like today was meant to be all about. I was just a passenger on a rather adventurous ride but not someone who could exactly tick off another box on her whole "live life to the fullest" checklist.

"It's just driving like you do all the time.... just a whole lot quicker." Theo adds, making me laugh at his miserable attempt at making me feel any better about this.

"Very reassuring. Did anyone ever tell you that you'd be a great motivational coach or therapist?" I comment, attempting to mask my nerves with sarcasm.

"All the time Ella. All the time."

I slap his arm. Smart-ass.

"So, are you gonna give it a go?"

I assess my options one last time but it's pretty clear what I should do.

"Fuck it, why not?" I tell him.

Theo's face erupts with visible excitement upon hearing that I'm giving in.

"That's what I like to hear."

With a bounce in his step as he tries to describe the upcoming experience to me, he leads me back to where the car and supervisor awaited us last time and the same Ford is waiting for us. He's already getting the supervisor to get us ready for my go when I realise an issue, besides the obvious problem of me shitting myself right now.

"Um... so slight problem. I only know how to drive automatic. I never learnt manual." I reveal once he walks back over to me.

"Oh ... uh ... not a problem. I'm sure they have a car you can drive. Let me check." he tells me.

Theo walks back over to the supervisor and I see them talk things over before the supervisor disappears for a bit and returns. He tells Theo something and Theo begins nodding vigorously before he jogs over to where I have now seated myself on a bench seat to wait.

"Okay, so they happened to have one automatic car available and you kind of lucked out. You're getting the Ferrari." he reveals as a car pulls up beside us.

"A Ferrari? I'm going to drive a Ferrari? This Ferrari?" I ask, pointing to the iconic red Ferrari we all have seen at one point in a movie or something which is now parked next to us.

"Looks like."

"How much are you internally fuming that you didn't get to drive the Ferrari?" I ask him.

Theo chuckles and admits, "A lot but I'm going to pretend to be a grown up and good host and say nothing while I watch you drive that beauty."

I'm temporarily distracted from my nerves as we rush to go to our respective seats and the excitement of actually seeing a Ferrari in person peaks in me.

"But they surely didn't just offer us up a Ferrari for us to drive. There's gotta be some sort of additional cost or something. Tell me what it is so I can pay you back." I point out, sceptical about this all.

"It's fine. There were no other bookings for it and it was all just a misunderstanding. There's nothing to pay back. Just go ahead and drive this car for the both of us." he tries to convince me.

I look at him with scepticism, not truly believing him but also not really wanting to question this opportunity further. I then shift that scepticism to all the different gadgets that sit before me and I'm immediately reminded that I'm way out of my limit. This is so nothing like my car.

"Don't overthink it. It's just like any other car that you know how to use. Just an accelerator, brake and steering wheel- but a bit more fancy looking. You can do it." Theo assures me from the passenger seat, having noticed my lack of action.

"Except any other car I've driven hasn't cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. I drive a Corolla, Theo." I remind him.

"Okay then. Just think of it as a more expensive and little bit quicker Corolla." he suggests.

I laugh at the sheer craziness of that suggestion.

Looking over what's before me one last time, recognising the accelerator and brake like he had said, I take a deep breath in.

"If you say so." I say as I turn the car on and move one hand down to shift gears.

I hesitate for a second and Theo once again notices because his hand is soon after resting on mine and squeezing it with reassurance. I respond to the gesture with a weak smile, too nervous already to be having Theo doing things like this that make me even more of a mess.

All too soon his hand is back on his lap once I have shifted the car from park to drive. Like he did, I try ease off the brake as slow as possible now knowing how fast cars like these seem to like lurching forward like no tomorrow. However, I apparently still underestimated how fast it would go and end up slamming on the brakes two seconds later when I freak out, the screech of the car braking scratching at my ears.

I look to Theo out of a need for guidance or something but only find him biting down on his bottom lip as he struggles to stifle a laugh. I'm tempted to give him a death stare but I know that I probably would want to laugh at me too if I wasn't so embarrassed.

"It's okay. Just go for it when you feel ready. Don't worry about holding back." he tells me as I focus my eyes back in front of me and ready myself.

So I try again.

I softly ease my foot off of the brake and shift it onto the accelerator again until I'm placing enough pressure on it that we're soon reaching around fifty miles per hour- a speed I'm used to. But now it's time to pick up the pace.

I make sure I'm up to a part of the track where there aren't too many turns in the road before I finally apply even more pressure to the accelerator. Whilst Theo had been driving I had persisted with an approach of blissful ignorance, not trying to look at the odometer even if I could. But now, with the odometer right in front of me, I can no longer deny its existence. I watch the dial move more and more to the right as I watch our surroundings flash past us outside of the windows in a blur of colours.

The adrenaline rush truly is to another degree as the driver, just like Theo had said it would be, and I'm relapsing deep into the depths of it. I'm forcing myself to focus on this feeling and what I'm doing so that I don't think about what would happen if I did one thing wrong. I know there are safety precautions in place but it doesn't mean I'm not still worried about the whole driving us around in an incredibly fast moving combination of steel and plastic.

So far I'm actually doing okay as there are no adjustments in speed or difficult navigations to be made. However, I can see that there is a bend in the road coming up— one that Theo had mastered but I know I won't. Or at least I know that those kinds of bends are the ones that send cars flipping across the race track.

But I am so not letting that happen. I'm way too young to die. Also, I haven't gotten up to date on The Crown yet so I'd kind of like to do that.

So I take Theo's advice and act like I'm just driving my little Corolla, whilst still combining it with a bit of my own safe approach. I balance the speed carefully and make a wider turn and sure enough we make it past the bend.

"Go Ella!" Theo cheers as I find a wide grin stretching across my face. "I knew you could do it!"

There's something really nice about hearing him confessing his belief in me as I literally grip our safety and lives in my grasp in the form of a steering wheel. But more importantly, I like the feeling of not just his belief in me but mine in myself. It gives me faith in this quest to explore my own freedom and life more.

Before I know it, my turn at driving is finished all too soon just as I had felt not too long ago when I was just a passenger. I find myself jumping around like I'm a kid high on sugar once again as I walk out of the car and join Theo's side.

"So, are you happy you had a go?" he asks me as we walk side by side to his car for real this time.

"I am. I'm so happy you convinced me to do it and that you brought me along today. So, thank you." I tell him.

"Well, it was my pleasure. I'd be a crappy friend if I didn't try help you out with that adventure list or whatever of yours."

Huh. There goes that friend word again. Can't say I usually kiss or imagine doing more with my other friends, but then again they also don't look like Theo nor have they dated my sister thus preventing me from considering pursuing anything else.

I can't say anything to him about just how much that one word is confusing me right now- how I know it realistically won't go further than that but am still wondering if he feels the same way because of the same reason- so I just laugh it off and tell him that a box has definitely been ticked off of my little list.

We get back into Theo's car and spend the trip home riding out the rest of our adrenaline highs with the radio blasting and embarrassingly singing along. The highlight of the trip, if not the whole day, to me at least comes around when a certain Backsteet Boys song circa 1997 plays on the radio.

"Come on, you have to join in on this one. It's a crime if you don't." I pester him, only once I've announced that "Backstreet's back alright!" and have begun my head bopping.

He shakes his head with a grin, having resisted joining me with the last song or two despite blaring the music. I'm just about to give up when Theo says the six words that couldn't make me any happier right now: "Oh my god, we're back again."

He uses an attempt at an AJ voice and I'm officially howling with laughter. I recover just in time to answer his questions of "Am I original?" and "Am I the only one" with a very loud and extended "Yeah!". I guess I can tick off another, yet unexpected, box off of my list of once in a life time experiences.

I've hardly recovered from the laughter when I am surprised with the fact that we have pulled up in front of my apartment building.

"So, I guess this is my stop." I say as I look from the window to him.

"I guess so." he replies, as he nods his head sheepishly.

"Thanks again for today. I had a lot of fun." I tell him.

"Anytime Ella. It was my pleasure."

Remembering his jacket which I still wear, I awkwardly shrug out of it from the car seat and pass it over to him. "And thanks for the jacket too."

He does one of his sheepish nods again and I'm left with silence and nothing to do but leave. So I open my door and begin my exit out of the car. But just as I'm about to say goodbye and close the door our day together, I decide to take a shot in the dark and have a go at something.

"Any plans for today?" I ask him.

"Uh no, not really. Just catching up on chores and relaxing. You?"

"No, nothing really other than that laundry that's been waiting for me." I respond. I'm not exactly looking forward to doing it, made only worse by the fact that I'm not ready to end our day together. "If you're not busy, did you want to come up for something to eat? You must be starving and I feel bad that you organised everything today and I couldn't do anything in return."

The seconds to follow after I extend the invitation to him creep by eerily slow as I watch the gears turn behind those eyes of his. I wouldn't even have extended the offer if I didn't already know that Jess would have already left for her long shift at the hospital so we'll have the apartment to ourselves. I'm not thinking about that because I'm hoping for something to happen- I just don't need there to be an awkward third wheel or to listen to any commentary from her.

Theo finally puts an end to the waiting game when his boyish grin returns as he timidly nods his head and tells me "Yeah, sure. That sounds good" as he turns his car off and exits the car as well.

And so I find myself walking side by side with Theo to my apartment, not knowing what will happen next in apartment 3C.

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Hope you enjoy this little glimpse of fun between Ella and Theo. Who knows what will happen this time in a certain Brooklyn apartment. Thank you for all the continued support and I hope you enjoy

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