We finished eating without much hurry while Christina finished her shift. By the time she came back with her backpack, we were all ready to leave.
"Finally," she said with a relieved sigh. "I'm officially free."
"Let's get out of here before they make you do something else," Luz commented.
We left the cafeteria chatting among ourselves and headed toward the university parking lot. The afternoon sun was still beating down, although a light breeze made the heat a little more bearable.
"Alright," Lalo said, spinning his car keys around one finger. "How are we splitting up?"
"I'll drive," Luz replied, raising her hand. "But my truck only has four seats."
"So does my car," I added.
Oriol crossed his arms for a few seconds before making the decision for everyone. "Easy. Ren takes Hannah. Daniel goes with Lalo. Christina, Luz, and I are taking the truck."
Nobody had the chance to answer.
"I'd rather go with Ren," Christina said naturally as she stepped over to my side. "We still have a conversation to finish from this morning."
Luz looked at her for a second, blew a huge bubble with her gum, and when it popped with a small pop, she raised her middle finger with a teasing grin. "Bye, bestie. Have fun." Christina stuck her tongue out at her without the slightest bit of guilt.
Daniel immediately pointed at me. "Then I'll go with Luz."
"No," Lalo replied so quickly it almost sounded like he'd been waiting for that.
"Huh? Why?" Daniel practically shouted.
"Because you're coming with me." Daniel frowned. "That didn't answer my question."
Lalo simply opened his car door and tossed his backpack onto the passenger seat.
"That still doesn't answer my question," Daniel repeated.
"And it never will," Oriol answered with a grin.
We all burst out laughing.
"Well, that's settled," Hannah said, adjusting her backpack over one shoulder. "Before someone starts a civil war over the seats." She casually walked toward the passenger side door of my car.
"Too late," Daniel muttered as he reluctantly walked toward Lalo's car.
I pulled my keys out of my pocket and pressed the unlock button. "Ready?"
The moment the locks clicked open, Hannah opened the passenger door as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "Ready," she replied with a smile as she buckled her seatbelt.
Christina froze with her mouth slightly open for a second before finally reacting.
"Hey! That was my seat!"
Hannah blinked innocently. "Huh?... I thought it didn't matter."
I couldn't help chuckling under my breath as Christina let out a small huff and walked around the car to climb into the back seat.
"Alright," Lalo said, clapping his hands once. "See you guys at the arcade. Last one there pays for the game tokens."
"I never agreed to that!" Oriol protested as he jogged toward Luz's truck.
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The drive downtown took a little over twenty minutes. By then, Friday afternoon traffic was in full...
Hannah sat beside me, gazing out the window with genuine curiosity. Every now and then she'd point out a new shop or a place she didn't remember seeing before. Christina, sitting in the back seat, kept alternating her attention between the scenery and the car radio until she finally changed the station.
After flipping through a couple of stations, she found one playing classic rock and stopped searching.
"Do you mind?" she asked as she lowered the volume a little.
I shook my head without taking my eyes off the road. "Not at all."
The music kept playing as the car crawled forward. Without realizing it, I started tapping my fingers against the steering wheel, following the song's drumbeat.
A few seconds passed.
"You're doing it again," Christina commented with a smile.
"Doing what?" I asked, not knowing what she meant.
"That." She pointed at my hand. "You're following the rhythm without even noticing."
I glanced down at the steering wheel. My fingers were still moving out of pure habit.
"...I didn't even realize."
"You've been doing it since this morning," she continued. "At the traffic lights... even while you were driving earlier."
I shrugged. "I guess it's become a habit."
"Isn't that what musicians do? I'd say it's already part of who you are," Hannah added with a small smile as she continued looking out the window. "It doesn't even look like you're thinking about it."
I let out a quiet laugh.
"So..." Christina leaned forward slightly from the back seat. "Have you made any progress on that mysterious song?"
"A little." I avoided looking at either of them.
"Well, at least you're making progress." Christina replied as she switched the station again.
"What song are you talking about?" Hannah suddenly asked.
Christina's face lit up. "Oh! You don't know? Ren told me this morning that he's writing his own song."
"Does it have a title yet?" Hannah asked, leaning closer with her emerald green eyes fixed on me.
I swallowed, looked away, and answered firmly. "No."
Hannah narrowed her eyes. "I don't believe you! It definitely has a title, you just don't want to tell me. But that's fine. You know, you should let Christy look at what you've written. She's really good at writing songs. She's helped Luz finish several songs for her band."
Christina looked at Hannah with a hint of disbelief. She hadn't expected her to be helping her get closer to Ren so openly.
Hannah looked back at her and gave her a quick wink. "Hey, Ren, when your lyrics are ready, let me read them. Maybe I can help with the rhythm and the arrangement. I play several instruments, and we could practice together... at your house or mine."
I felt my shoulders tense up a little. "Umm... sure. Why not?"
Hannah smiled immediately.
Christina added. "Perfect. I'm not going to write it for you, but I can definitely tell you which parts work and which ones still feel... incomplete."
"Wouldn't that be cheating?"
"Of course not." She crossed her arms with a confident smile. "Asking for feedback doesn't stop it from being your song."
Hannah nodded in agreement.
"Besides, Christy does that all the time. Luz brings her ideas, and she helps organize them. She doesn't write everything herself, she just finds ways to make the songs sound better."
I thought about it for a few seconds. "...I guess that makes sense."
Christina smiled, satisfied. "Then it's a deal."
I nodded. "Yeah."
A brief silence settled over the car before I let out a sigh. "Why can't Oriol be more like you two? All he ever does is scold me and hit me."
"No." Christina shook her head, barely holding back her laughter. "Oriol hits you because he enjoys it."
The three of us burst into laughter just as the traffic light turned green and the line of cars finally began moving again.
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Author Notes.
Well a comment would be nice. Also I saw two collections gone by, I guess I'm sorry?