Beaumont, Texas on Saturday, September 14th, 2030 at 10:00 am

Rachel

We decided to take my car since the drive is about an hour and a half and Lucas' truck doesn't get great gas mileage. He mainly uses it for work and home projects. As I'm about to open the passenger side door, I glance over at Lucas to double check. I always prefer it when he drives. He smiles at me and nods.

"I'll drive, beautiful," he opens his car door and hops in. His response is so simple yet so sweet. Whenever he says things like that to me my heart fills with joy as I remember why I fell in love with him in the first place. He always looks out for me. I hop in the car and we head towards Beaumont.

It's quiet for a while, soft pop music is playing on the radio. Lucas doesn't really listen to music in the car, it's usually a podcast of some sort. He likes those scary murder mystery stories, but I can't stand them, so if we are in the car together he just plays music for me.

I see a coffee shop out the window.

The Nested Bean.

The sign is a rectangle and has a giant coffee bean protruding from it.

"Would you like to grab a coffee?" Lucas asks me from my left. I can't contain my joy at his question, and he quickly turns into the drive thru. I might be obsessed with coffee a little bit. I always like to have a drink when I'm in the car or when I'm teaching. My anxiety kicks up when I get bored, so having a drink to sip on helps keep my mind relaxed and focused. We order our drinks and continue our long drive.

"Do you think we can win?" I ask Lucas as we sip peacefully on our iced mochas. His cup has a giant mound of whipped cream on top. I am not a fan of whipped cream on drinks because it mixes too much with the coffee at the end and doesn't taste as good.

"I think we won't come in last," Lucas chuckles. The sunshine coming in through the windshield rests softly on his face. His cheeks are slightly rounded but his jaw is defined. He has broad shoulders and takes up most of the space in the driver's side. He barely fits in my car. I laugh at him in agreement. We're about fifteen minutes from Beaumont when we pass a new bar and grill that opened up over the summer.

"That place is amazing, we have to go sometime," I say as we drive by the single story brick building. It has just as many tables outside on the deck as it does inside the restaurant. Lucas is quiet for a moment before he responds.

"Who did you go there with?" his voice has changed from a light hearted tone to a more hesitant one. What does he mean by that?

"I went with all of my girlfriends and friends from work on opening night," I replied. There's also a mechanical bull inside, which I totally dominated when Anne, Nicole, Sophie and I went for my birthday. "Why?" My tone is a little defensive now. He looks over at me, his face is very serious.

"You usually don't like to go to places like that, and it's kind of far from home," he turns his attention back to the road. "So I thought maybe you went there with a new friend," he adds. My heart starts to pound and I can feel my palms begin to sweat. He seems a little angry. I'm not really sure how I should respond because I don't know what he's getting at.

"Yeah, but it's not often that there's a brand new place to eat," my voice is quieter than I wanted it to be. "Plus, it was my birthday and you know how Nicole likes to go out when she visits," now I definitely sound like I'm hiding something. Lucas picks up on my hesitation and continues.

"Did you make any new friends while I was gone?" he's definitely pushing for something. I can feel my own temper rising as he questions me.

"Yeah, I met some people at a conference in Seattle. Some new teacher friends," my answer is blunt and vague. I don't really know why I'm so irritated all of a sudden. Lucas nods slowly and keeps driving.

"Did you hangout with any of those new teacher friends after the conference was over?" he has to know something if he's asking me these kinds of questions.

"What do you mean?" I know what he means, I just want him to stop beating around the bush and ask me what he wants to ask me. Lucas lets out a quick exhale before turning into a parking lot.

A big, bold sign comes into view.

XTREME SPORTING CENTER

It sits on top of a very tall, white building with some sort of fenced field on the right. Lucas parks the car and turns to me. His face is gentle, and not really what I expected to see.

"Did you hangout with anyone you met at the conference after it was over?" he asks again. I stare at him. I can feel my heart beating in my ears. I fiddle with the rings on my fingers before answering him.

"Yes," that's all that I manage to say. His eyes flicker and I see him swallow a few times before he looks away from me. He leans back in his seat and closes his eyes.

"LAST CALL FOR CHECK IN FOR THE PAINTBALL COMPETITION!" a voice comes blaring through a speaker on the outside of the building. Lucas rubs his face a few times before unbuckling his seatbelt. He turns towards me again and props his right arm up on the center console. His gaze is intense, and his eyes look so sad.

"Rach," he says softly. "I know that you were with someone while I was gone," the words fall out of his mouth in slow motion. I can't feel my heartbeat in my ears anymore, I think it has stopped beating completely. How could he possibly know?

"You know?" I ask him. "You know what, exactly?" my tone is harsher than I intended it to be. I can see that I just hurt him even more. His eyes shift from sad to confused. Why did I just say it like that to him?

"I just know that there was someone. I don't know anything else," his voice is even quieter than before. I know that I didn't respond well and hurt his feelings, but I'm feeling interrogated.

The loudspeaker blares through the car again.

"We have to go and do this competition for Dr. Wilson, but this conversation is not over," Lucas says sternly as he turns away from me and gets out of the car. I follow him towards the paintball arena, trying to figure out what I'm going to say to him.