Your Love Will Be Safe With Me

From the time I laid down on my bed when I got into my room after I confronted the boys ‘til the time my cell phone rang in my ear, I was asleep.

The number on the screen was unfamiliar to me, but I answered anyways. “Hello?”

“Miss Thomas?”

“Yeah?”

“This is Sam at Mr. Kim’s Body Shop. I’m calling to talk to you about your Ford Focus.”

I was awake now. “Okay.”

“I’m sorry to say this, but there really isn’t anything we can do to help your car. There are too many things that need to be fixed. Honestly, it would be cheaper to just buy a new car.”

Really? Could today get any worse?

“All right.” I sighed as I rubbed my temples.

“What would you like us to do with your car?”

“What are my options?” I sat up in my bed and looked at my walls.

“You can either get a tow truck to pick it up and take it to your house or we can just tow it over to the impound lot.”

“Just tow it to the impound lot.”

“Okay, will do.”

“Thank you.” I clicked the end button and tossed the phone onto my mattress.

This was just great. Just wonderful. How was I supposed to get to work? Or school on Wednesday?

Sighing, I got up and exited my room. The boys were still lounging around, except now they were in the living room. Justin now had actual clothes on, though. I thought to earlier when I met them. I was a bitch. I cringed at the memory.

As I walked passed them, into the kitchen, three sets of eyes were watching my every move. Opening the fridge, I pulled out a bottle of water. My mind drifted back to my car. I was going to need to call my parents. I sighed again as I made my way to the living room. They were still watching me, but I didn’t acknowledge it. As I sat down on the bigger couch of the two, I sighed again. I was in between Justin and the guy with the scarf.

“What are we watching?” I asked.

“U-uhm Hot Rod.” The scarf guy said and I nodded.

“Are you okay with us staying here?” Justin asked.

I shrugged, “It’s not like I’m just going to kick you out.” I paused as silence washed over us. “I’m sorry I was such a bitch earlier. I’m just having a bad day.” I leaned back against the cushions.

They were all still quiet. I turned to my left, where scarf guy and ginger kid were sitting.

“So what are your guys’ names?” I asked.

Scarf guy spoke first. “My name is Eric, but you can call me Halvo.”

I raised an eyebrow at him, “Halvo?”

“My last name is Halvorsen.”

I mimed and “oh” then turned to Ginger Kid.

“I’m Nick.” I nodded.

“So why are you guys in LA?”

“We’re recording an album. We’re just waiting for the apartment our label set us up with to be ready.” Nick answered.

“Oh! You guys are in a band?” I asked, intrigued and they all nodded.

“It’s called A Rocket to the Moon.” Justin said and I just looked at them and shook my head slowly while I raised my shoulders.

“I didn’t expect you to know.” Nick chuckled.

“So how old are you?” Justin asked.

“Seventeen.” I answered and all three pairs of eyes widened at me.

“Seventeen?!” Halvo exclaimed and I nodded.

“Are you... in school?” Nick asked as if he didn’t know how to say it.

“Yeah.”

“But you don’t like with your parents.” Halvo stated. Thank you, Captain Obvious.

“They’re in the “outback” of Arizona.” I said using air quotes.

Halvo’s eyebrows furrowed. “Outback? I live in Arizona.”

I sighed, “Parker. About an hour outside of Quartsite.”

“oh.” He nodded.

“So why don’t you live with them?” Justin asked.

“They just moved there two years ago and didn’t want to mess up my schooling, so they let me live out here." They all nodded in understanding. “It doesn’t matter anyways because I’ll be eighteen on Friday. I would have just moved out here anyways.”

It was quiet for a couple of seconds. “So what are you doing for your birthday?” Nick asked, truly interested.

I shrugged, “I was supposed to spend it driving home from Arizona, but my parents decided to take a trip to Utah to visit my relatives.”

“That’s not fair.” Nick said.

I shrugged again, “They said they’d come visit in a week or two. I have more family out here, so it’d be easier.” All the talk about me was making me feel conceited, so I sighed chaning the subject, “So what’s for dinner?” I asked.

They all shrugged. “You live here, you tell us.” Justin said.

I sat and thought about it for a couple of minutes while they stared at me, waiting for an answer. “This is totally cliché of me, but In-n-Out sounds really good.” I confessed.
---
We took their van down the street to the nearest In-n-Out. Honestly, it’s not that easy trying to maneuver a sixteen passenger van through LA traffic. It would have been much easier to just drive my Focus, but y’know, it died. Thinking about this made me upset. I sighed exasperatedly. Nick, who was sitting next to me in the back while Justin drove and Halvo rode shotgun, looked over at me.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

I shrugged, “I’m just frustrated.” I said.

“Anything you're willing to share?”

“My car died on me earlier. The mechanic called and said they can’t do anything about it, so now I’m stuck with no car and no ride to work or school.” I leaned my forehead against my hand and massaged it. “Top all that off with college plans and money and you have one frustrated seventeen year old.” I muttered loud enough for him to hear.

“Man that really sucks, Sawyer. I’m sorry.”

I sighed, “I’ll deal.” I looked out the windshield to give Justin the last few directions. “You’re going to want to get over to the left turn lane and it’ll be right there on the corner.” I directed.

It was busy inside. We all stood in line waiting for a register to be open. I was the last of the four of us. Nick stood in front of me while Justin was in front of him and Halvo in front of him.

“What are you getting?” Nick asked as he turned and looked at me.

“Number two, no onion with animal fries, no onions.” I said then moved up as Halvo and Justin walked up to the two open registers. He just nodded.

“What about you?” I asked just to make small talk.

“Probably the same thing except I like onions.” He smirked at me.

I felt my knees start to go somewhat weak. I hadn’t felt that in a while.

Halvo walked away and Nick took his spot. Justin’s cashier was having difficulties with her register and hadn’t even paid yet. Nick was handing the guy behind the register he stood at money for his food. That was fast. The guy handed him back his change and two cups which confused me.

Justin finally handed the girl money for his food as Nick turned and walked over to me, extending a cup out for me to take. “Number two no onion with an animal fry no onions.” He smirked at me again.

“Wha-what?” I asked confused as I slowly took the cup. “How much do I owe you?” I asked.

He shook his head, “It’s on me.”

Before I could say anything he walked over to the soda fountain. I quickly followed, pulling seven dollars out of my wallet.

“Here this should cover it.” I said, handing him the money.

He looked over at me with an amused look on his face after he filled his cup with ice. “Sawyer, I don’t want your money.” He said then put his cup under the Tropicana Pink Lemonade nozzle and pressed on where it said ‘push.’

I rolled my eyes, “I don’t care if you don’t want it. You’re going to take it.” He chuckled then walked away, totally ignoring what I said. I scoffed then filled my cup with ice and raspberry iced tea.

When I got to the booth the boys were sitting at the only seat available was next to Nick. I slammed the money down in front of him, making the three of them jump, startled. I was too irritated to apologize, though. “Take the damn money, Nick.”

He smirked again. He just loved messing with me already.“Just think of it as a "thank you" for not kicking us out.”

I rolled my eyes at him then sat down. Halvo and Justin were looking at us with highly amused expressions on their faces. “Is he always like this?” I asked them.

They chuckled. “Sometimes.” Justin answered.
---
On the way home, my cell phone started ringing. All three of the boys raised an eyebrow at me for my choices of ring tone (“Babygirl” by Sugarland, which meant it was either one of my parents or my grandmother). Looking at the screen, I saw that it was my dad.

“Sup?” I answered.

He snorted then began talking, but I couldn’t hear over the boys’ loud chatter and loud radio playing an annoying Taylor Swift song. “Hold on, Dad.” I said then directed my attention to the guys up front. “Guys, can you keep it down, my dad is on the phone.”

They immediately shut up and Halvo turned down the radio (thank God).

“Okay, what was that?” I asked my dad.

“Who was that?” He asked.

I looked at the boys nervously. “It’s just some of Hanley’s friends. They’re staying at the apartment.” I explained. “We’re on our way back from dinner.”

“Isn’t Hanley at a family reunion in Missouri?” Missouri? I thought it started with an “I” What the hell?

“She is. It was last minute. They needed somewhere to stay and I wasn’t even supposed to be home.” I said jokingly.

“Oh I see how it is.” He said joking right back.

“mmhmm, just thought I’d bring up the fact that you guys are neglecting your daughter.” I said with a laugh.

“Oh whatever!” He laughed. “We’ll be out there next weekend, so don’t be giving me shit.”

“But you’ll still be missing my eighteenth birthday. That’s low, Man, real low.” I said in a fake ghetto accent. It sometimes came out and I couldn’t control it. Nick snorted from beside me and I shot him a look.

“Yeah, yeah.” My dad said in my ear. “Anyways, I wanted to see how your car is.”

I sighed dramatically. “It’s gone to car heaven, so now I do not have a vehicle.”

“That’s not good. What are you going to do about it?”

I shrugged even though he couldn’t see me. “I have no clue. I thought you could just skip out on Utah and just come buy me a new car for my birthday.” I said, half kidding-half serious.

He let out a loud laugh, “Yeah okay!” I smiled a little; I missed my parents. “Can you use Hanley’s car?”

“It’s at the airport and she has the keys.”

“Hmm well maybe one of your co-workers can pick you up?”

I sighed, “Dad, you know I don’t get along with my co-workers.”

“Well then I don’t know what to tell you.”

I groaned, “I’m just going to quit because I hate it there.”

He laughed, “Good luck with that.” He said.

“Oh thanks.” I said sarcastically.

Justin pulled into the parking garage and I took that as my cue to get off the phone.

“Hey, listen, I’m going to go.”

“Okay, Sweetie.” He said, with love filling his voice.

“I’ll call you guys tomorrow.”

“Okay, bye.”

“Goodnight.” I clicked end and looked around the van. “Sorry about that.” I apologized.

“It’s fine. Now we know more about you.” Halvo said as he turned and looked at us in the back seat.

I chuckled at him as Justin pulled into a spot near the elevator.