Drive

Kellin doesn’t mean to get involved in a protest. Really, he doesn’t. It just kind of…happens.

It’s a pretty average summer afternoon, and Kellin is sitting in his car, which is parked on the side of the road downtown. His friend, Justin, said that he needed to pick something up from a nearby store and to stay there while he went to get it. It’s been about two minutes, and, really, this whole scenario should not be of any significance at all. But it is, because this is around the time that some punk dude named Vic comes in.

Kellin is not a punk person. He wears pink sweaters and floral skirts. He wears pastel Converse and glittery eyeshadow. He listens to Taylor Swift and Ariana Grande. He is in no way a badass, and he in no way ever expected to get into some sort of high-speed chase. But then Vic Fuentes happens.

At this point in time, though, Kellin doesn’t know that the guy’s name is Vic Fuentes. He just knows that there’s some pierced, tattooed punk running towards his car. Kellin notices him in the rearview mirror as he rounds a corner and sprints down the sidewalk like the devil is on his heels. There are a few other people behind him, scattering but with a similar look and stride. The guy seems to stop for a split second, as if to figure out where he’s going, before his gaze lands on Kellin’s car, and then he sprints even faster than before.

Kellin doesn’t think he’s actually going to come for the car. But he does. He barely even stops moving as he grabs the handle of the passenger side door and yanks it open, swinging himself into the seat. “Drive!” he yells, slamming the door shut.

Kellin doesn’t even have time to think; he just does as this guy says, doing his best to swerve out of the parking space, which is kind of hard to do when it’s on the side of the road. “Drive where?” he asks once he’s on the road, his foot pressing down hard on the pedal. He’s not sure what the speed limit is down here, exactly, but he’s pretty sure he’s exceeding it.

“I don’t care,” the dude gasps, waving his hand vaguely. “Just—anywhere that isn’t here.”

Kellin doesn’t know where else to go, so he suggests, “My place?”

The guy nods. “Yeah, yeah, sure. You look unsuspecting.” His gaze never leaves the rearview mirror, as if he’s just waiting for a cop car or something to appear at any moment.

“Okay,” Kellin says, speeding down the road and making a series of turns, going a more roundabout way to deter whoever the fuck is chasing them. “Now may I ask who you are and why the hell you’re in my car?”

“I’m Vic,” the guy pants, pushing some of his long, messy hair out of his face. “Fuentes. And I’m in your car because the police stopped a local protest that I was a part of. Me and a couple of other people agreed before that if that would happen, we’d make a run for it. I don’t know if the cops are chasing me or if they’re focusing on the people that are still at the protest and didn’t escape, but no matter what, I’m getting as far away from here as possible. I’m not white, so if I get caught, I’m probably gonna get my ass beat.”

Kellin can’t exactly disagree with that.

His heart is pounding fast in his chest even as he’s talking. “So, like, what was the whole protest about?” He wasn’t even aware that there was a protest going on, let alone that he happened to be parked only a couple blocks away from it.

“The LGBT community, basically,” Vic explains, now sounding strangely nonchalant for someone who’s pretty much running from the cops. “I’m pansexual. And my sister’s trans and a lesbian.” At that, he runs his fingers through his hair, biting his lip in a stressed expression. “God, I hope she’s okay. I know she said she’d hitch a ride with someone else, but…”

At this point, Kellin’s heart rate has slowed down very slightly as he makes his way down the familiar roads that lead to his apartment building. “I’m sure she’s fine,” he says reassuringly. “Why didn’t you go with her, though?”

“I lost her in the crowd,” he sighs. “And I was afraid of what would happen if I went back. So I just looked for the nearest getaway, and, well, you appeared.” He laughs a little. “Sorry. I know you probably aren’t the protesting type.”

“Not really,” Kellin admits. “I’m bi, though, and I like the idea of what you’re doing.”

Vic smiles at that in what looks sort of like relief, pulling his phone out of his pocket. “I’ve got a text from her,” he says. “Asking me where I am.” He glances out the window. “Where are we, exactly?”

“In about five minutes, we’ll be at my apartment building,” Kellin says, giving him the name and the address. “Your sister can pick you up from my place later.”

“Thanks,” Vic says. “God. You’re a lifesaver, kid. And that’s not even an exaggeration. What’s your name, anyway?”

“Uh, I’m Kellin,” Kellin says.

“Kellin,” Vic repeats, nodding and smiling a little. In the back of his panic-filled mind, Kellin thinks that this punk dude is kind of attractive. He doesn’t focus on that too much, though. He’s still driving.

When they get to the apartment building, Kellin makes sure to waste no time in getting Vic up to his place on the sixth floor. The police probably aren’t chasing them at this point, but neither of them feel completely safe until they’re both inside the apartment with the front door shut and locked behind them.

“Well,” Kellin says, kicking his shoes off by the door and flopping down on his couch. “That was…exciting.”

Vic blushes, biting at his lip ring. “Sorry,” he says again, sitting down next to Kellin on the couch. “Thanks, though. Damn. Part of me didn’t even expect you to do anything, but you just fucking took off.” He laughs. Kellin has decided that Vic has a really nice laugh.

“I didn’t know what else to do,” Kellin replies, and now he’s kind of smiling, too, though he still sort of feels like someone just threatened to throw him off the edge of a hundred-foot cliff. “I didn’t even have time to process it. It was just like, all of a sudden you were just there. You should’ve seen yourself.”

At that point, Kellin checks his phone, laughing a little when he sees the text he has from Justin, whom he promptly abandoned in his hurry to get Vic away from the scene. He’s going to have a lot of explaining to do.

The last thing Kellin expects is to bond with this dude, but in the hour or so that he’s there before his sister picks him up, the two actually hit it off quite well. They discuss issues in the LGBT community and the political world, and Vic rants about Donald "Did you notice that baby was crying through half of the speech and I didn’t get angry?" Trump for fifteen minutes straight (not that Kellin minds), and then they discuss other things like TV shows and music (Vic’s sister walks in on an intense conversation about how important Nicki Minaj is, and Vic makes her promise not to tell anyone, lest it ruin his punk cred). Kellin promises to keep in touch with them both, though—and keep in touch with them he does.

Fast-forward a few months. Vic and his sister, along with a couple of other friends, are about to participate in another public protest. Kellin doesn’t join in, but he does drive the group to the protest, parking on the side of the road a few blocks away. “I’ll see you later,” Vic says as he’s sitting in the passenger seat, briefly grabbing Kellin’s hand and squeezing it lightly.

“Stay safe,” Kellin tells him, squeezing back.

Vic nods. “We will. Don’t worry.” And then he leans forward and kisses his tiny pastel boyfriend on the lips.