Chapter 23: Chapter 23

It was hard to sit still, and my stomach hurt. On long trips, I usually get car sick, but not on short ones like this one. But I know that staring out the window and eating nothing will not help.

I swallow a few times, but then I need to get some air because I can't take it anymore. I push the back window's button to open it and let air into the car.

"Fuck." Kent grunts and puts his hand over his ear. "Turn that off, it's buzzing too loudly and hurting my ears:" I knew what he meant, but I had to write it down to be sure.

"Could we open all of them or do something else to make it all right?" I ask.

"Why would I do that when it's hot outside and cool inside my car?" He asks, but I don't look at him. "Do you know anything? I don't need to prove my point, my car, or my rules." He says, "Like a dick," in a final tone, and then presses the button on the driver's door. As the window goes up, I watch.

"Kent!" I huff and hold the button down so the window can't move anymore. It won't go all the way up or all the way down.

"Julianna! Just stop it! I've had enough fights today, so please don't start any more." I throw up when he screams. I stop being nice, and the thought of throwing up in the car makes me feel even worse.

"Kent, the car is making me sick! If you don't leave it alone, I'll steal your nice leather seats." I shout back, and he licks the back of his tooth. He moves back and opens all the windows so that the negative pressure doesn't hurt his ears.

Even though the mood in the car is bad, I don't care. I just put my head on the edge of the open window and try to get as much fresh air as I can. Kyle and Mark don't seem to know what to do about their short fight, and I sigh because I know that this tension has once again made things worse.

Kyle and Mark get out of the car first when Kent finally pulls into a McDonald's parking lot. They want to get away from the tension, which is clear. I'm not sure if I'll throw up or not. Probably both.

I sigh and get out of the car, feeling embarrassed. Then I hear footsteps on the sidewalk. "Why didn't you just say in the car that you were sick?" He puts his hand on my shoulder and asks. I blink. He seems worried, and it looks like Kent's mood swings are back.

"I didn't think I would because the ride was so short." I mumble. "Because I haven't eaten yet, I don't think it was that bad."

"You could have just said you weren't feeling well, and I would have put you in the front seat." When he tells me, I sigh.

"I didn't know until we were already driving." I admit. You seemed angry, so I didn't want to stop the car:

As we walk up the sidewalk together to the front door, he sighs. "You know, if you got a paper cut, you'd let it bleed out instead of asking for a Band-Aid," he says as he opens the door to the building. I smile a little when people say things about me that aren't too far-fetched.

"I'm sorry it hurt your ears, but that wasn't what I was most worried about." He gives me a small smile when I talk in a low voice.

"No problem." He sighs and points at Mark and Kyle, telling me to go ahead and join them.

"Thanks for putting the windows down. It was a close call for a few seconds." He gives me a smirk when I tell him.

"Well, I'm glad you didn't puke in my car." He says it in a sarcastic way, and I walk up to Mark, who is at one of the kiosks ordering breakfast.

"Wow, you did that fast, huh?" When he laughs, I do too.

"I guess he's weird, but I'm learning how to talk to him better." When I whisper, he laughs. "It's silly that it takes time to get used to, but hey, small wins."

"What would you like?" He asks, so I tap out my order, which is a McMuffin with bacon, a hashbrown, and a black iced coffee.

"I'll give you money when we get back." When I tell him, he shakes his head.

"No, remember it's on me?" When he asks, I laugh.

"Okay, but the next one will be on me." I keep trying, and he just shrugs and nods. He chooses "to go," and I watch him pay for it. He rips off the receipt that the machine gives him.

"Can you go get something to eat? When he tells me, "I have to go to the bathroom," I laugh.

"Fine." I just shrug and walk back to Kent, who is already there with two receipts.

"You also have to pay for food?" I ask, and he smiles a little.

"Yeah, it looks like you weren't the only one who had to go to the bathroom." I give him a little push when he tells me. He stiffens up, and we look at each other like, "Did that really just fucking happen?"

Kent has never been pushed by me in a friendly way. I don't think we've even touched each other more than once. We shook hands when we met for the first time.

"Did you make me fall?" He asks with a raised eyebrow.

"It wasn't on the agenda." I mumble and sigh because that wasn't a good answer. "You told me to get rid of fluids from my body."

"That's something I won't forget:" He tells me something bad might happen, and I worry until I can almost see his smile again.

"How are you going to get even with them?" I ask. "Get away from me?"

He said, "No, I wouldn't push you." What he says isn't true. That seemed true, and it made me feel differently about him. Even though the bad things were still there, I was slowly learning more about Kent. Keeping one eye open:

"Don't make me afraid." I said it. Are you going to push me again?" He asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Thinking about it." I shrug. "If you want to get even with me, you might as well get what you want.

"Today, you have a lot to say." He says this to me with his eyebrows up.

"I'm always up for a chat." I tell him again. I thought that it was the most important thing about me.

"But not when I'm around." When he tells me, I clear my throat. I didn't talk to him much because I didn't want to say the wrong thing, so I avoided him most of the time.

"You might get tired of me if I talked to you as much as I do with other people." I sigh and cross my arms.

"Well, we're going to have to spend the day together. I guess I'll see how much I can handle. He shrugs, and then my name is called at the front desk.

As I walk over to the food, I clear my throat and feel the tension leave my body. Kyle's food tastes a lot like Kent's. We all walk back to the car after the guys come out of the bathroom.

"What's up?" Kent calls as we walk to the car. "Switch seats with me, Julianna! I don't want someone to puke in the car!"

I roll my eyes and move to the front seat, which puts me next to Kent again. He puts on his sunglasses, and I can see his arms move back up to put his hands back on the wheel.

His shirt is cut out on the sides, so I can see his chest when I turn my head. I clear my throat when my mouth starts to feel a little dry. I really hope this is the last fight of the day. Why can't I just figure out what I mean and tell him? I don't know why I keep trying to do the right thing and be nice to him even though he hasn't been nice to me.

I can't be mean, though, because that's not who I am. I can only keep trying over and over.