25.

THE NEXT DAY, Jace showed up again, waiting outside my front door perfectly on time.

I shut the door behind me, stepping off the porch and raising a brow at him when he lifted his head to meet my eyes. Unlike usual, today he stood in front of his car, arms crossed as he leaned back against it.

"Not driving today?" I asked.

He laughed, pushing off the car to meet me on the sidewalk. "I'm not the one driving today. What did your mom say about skipping school yesterday?"

I blinked. "She was fine, I told her I was on my period. Can we go back to that first point? What do you mean you're not the one driving?"

"I mean –" he tossed the keys to me which I caught in my hands with a resounding clap – "you're driving today."

I glanced at the keys in my hands – cold metal which I hadn't held in over a year. It felt foreign in my hands. I shook my head, holding them back out to him.

"No way. I can barely survive sitting in that death trap for two minutes. There's no way I'll be able to drive it."

"You can, Jas," he said, stepping forward to grab my arms. He smiled, sliding his hands down to hold mine, the keys clasped between our palms. "I know you can."

I hesitated. He paused, watching me with hopeful eyes. I didn't want to let him down but looking at that car, imagining the wheel in my hands and the gas pedal under my foot – I wasn't sure I could do it.

One wrong move and we'd crash.

It wasn't even that I didn't trust my own driving so much. I had been a pretty good driver before the accident. It was more to do with the other drivers on the road. How could I trust them to follow the rules? To drive safely?

I released a breath, my shoulders sagging.

"I haven't driven since the accident," I said finally.

Jace squeezed my fingers, the smile never fading from his lips. "So? It's like riding a bike, you never forget."

"Yeah, except you're going fifty miles an hour and one wrong move means you're swerving into oncoming traffic."

"Except you'll be in control," he said. I met his eyes and he nodded slowly. "You'll be in control. You can stop whenever you want, go the speed you want. You'll have full control over the car."

I released his hand, stepping back to look at the car. It was big. Metal on metal, rubber wheels on asphalt. It was a machine – a dangerous one.

I shot him a teasing smile. "You know, it's your car that'll need repairing if I crash it."

"You won't crash it," he replied, laughing. I lifted a brow at him and he paused, his eyes narrowing. "Right?"

I shrugged. "No promises."

"Well," he hummed, tilting his head conspiratorially towards me. "I never really liked that ugly minivan anyway."

I snorted, nudging his shoulder and he smiled at me, that cute smile, his golden eyes glowing under the faded morning light. I turned the keys over in my fingers, wavering. "I don't know, Jace. It's not that I don't want to. It's just – I'm not sure if I can do it..."

"You don't have to," he replied. He stepped beside me, resting a hand on the small of my back. I turned to look up at him and he offered me a gentle smile. "But I know you can."

My heart melted. How did I get so lucky? He believed in me when I couldn't even believe in myself. He supported me through everything. He was always there to hold me when I cried or tease me until I laughed.

I found myself reflecting his smile and despite my blood rushing in my ears, I nodded, clutching the keys firmly.

"You're right," I said. "I can do it. I mean, if you can drive, so can I. Right?"

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?"

I ignored him, pulling the car door open and slipping into the driver's seat. "Although, that can hardly count as driving."

Jace pouted, sliding into the passenger's, and buckling his belt. "You know, I'm really not appreciating this subtle roast of my driving skills. I'm a great driver, thank you very much."

I lifted a brow at him. "Jace, you've hit the curb, like, five times now. And how many times have I seen you drive? That's like majority."

"I have a bad right leg," he cried, waving his arms around.

I snorted, turning to the steering wheel. "Right. That's the reason."

"Don't get arrogant, Ali. I'd like to see you do better."

I grinned, inserting the car key into the car. "Trust me, I will."

I glanced at him, expecting him to be in a huff, only to find him smiling at me, proud. I warmed, spinning back to the windshield.

"I've never driven a minivan before," I sputtered suddenly.

He shrugged. "It's not that different. Just a bit bigger."

"That's easy for you to say. You're used to driving around in this massive hunk of metal." I paused, glancing over my shoulder at the back seat – at all the space, all for one teenager and his mom. "Actually," I started. "I've been wondering, why do you guys have a minivan? Seems a bit like overkill for a family of two."

I turned back to Jace, curious, but he avoided my eyes. Instead, he turned to the windshield, tracing a finger over the dashboard.

"Well," he said. "We're not a family of two. At least, we weren't always."

I stiffened. Then, I reached my hand towards him, resting it on his arm. He turned, finally facing me, and I frowned, my heart pinching at that sad look in his eyes.

"I'm sorry," I said slowly.

Jace blinked at me. Then, gradually, he began to laugh.

"What?" I sputtered.

"They're not dead, Jasmine," he replied, still laughing.

I warmed, crossing my arms and narrowing my eyes into a glare. "Well, how was I supposed to know?"

Jace's laughter faded and he took my hand into his. My lips pursed as I continued glowering.

"They're back in California," he said finally. "My dad and my sisters."

"Your sisters?" I echoed. I shook my head, trying to wrap my head around it all. "You have sisters? As in, plural?"

"Yes," he chuckled. "Haley and Aurora."

"Why aren't they here? Why didn't they come with you?" I had turned completely in my seat to face him now. It had hit me then – that there was still so much I didn't know about Jace. He had lived an entire life in California before I'd met him.

And I wanted to know.

I wanted to know everything about him. I wanted to know who he was in California. I wanted to know what his favourite colour was, what school he'd gone to, what sport he'd done growing up. I wanted to know about his family. His sisters.

"Haley's two years older than me," he began. "She goes to Berkeley, her dream school. I couldn't make her move all the way across the country for me. And Aurora – she's just starting high school this year. It's her freshman year. It'd be so scary for her to move in the middle of that, you know? I just – I couldn't do it to them. So, we separated."

"So... they're there with your dad?"

He nodded. "My parents are still together. This move, it's supposed to be temporary. Just until I get better."

My lips pulled into a frown.

Temporary. Meaning, he'd be leaving me.

"When's that supposed to be?" I asked.

"Ah, you know my mother." He laughed, shrugging, and running his fingers through his hair. "She probably expected me to be better by now, but I still limp. I still have my bad days. My therapist says another move would be bad for me, especially if I go back to my old neighbourhood – my old life. You can't really put a time limit on healing but try and tell my mother that."

"Wait," I said, blinking slowly. "Why did you move here? West Mormet is more of a pit stop than anything. Why here of all places?"

"My dad grew up here," Jace replied. "It's a quiet town. A good place for a new start. My therapist is actually one of his old childhood friends. Maybe you know her. Doctor Lindsay Wang?"

I shook my head. I had been to a lot of therapists in this town, some just beyond the border, but never a Lindsay Wang.

"She's great," he continued. "She studied in New York and worked there for a while before moving back here. Maybe that's why you haven't heard of her."

"I guess so," I said, shrugging.

I tugged at a loose strand that hung from the seam of my jeans. I hadn't been to a therapist in a while.

The first one I'd seen was the one assigned to me in the hospital after the accident. He was a trauma therapist for adults. And since I was sixteen, I counted as an adult – at least to them.

He'd been blunt. The patients he'd seen in the past were war veterans, people who had seen terrible things. What was a petty little car accident in comparison? I talked to him. He gave me advice. Then, I left the hospital and never saw him again.

The second therapist I saw was a month later, when my mother realised that I still wasn't back to normal. She was slightly alternative and used art as a mode of therapy. The only problem was that I wasn't a very artistic person.

I learned the right answers, the right things to draw, and I stopped seeing her.

The last therapist I saw was two months later, when my mother found me with a bleeding wrist in the middle of the night. She had been nice. She gave me the usual advice. But I'd already given up by then.

I gave her the right answers, and I stopped visiting after five sessions.

I hesitated, my fingers tightening around the steering wheel as I relived those therapy sessions, remembered the advice they'd all given me. Grounding techniques. Joining a peer support group. Meditation.

I'd done a few of them for a while, but it never helped. It felt pointless and I gave up. Always gave up. There was no point. I would never be normal again. Red would never be red again. My mother, my friends, they'd never see me as anything other than that crying girl with matted hair in a hospital bed.

"I'm going to miss first period at this rate, Ali."

I turned to see Jace smirking at me, a brow lifted teasingly.

I rolled my eyes, reaching for my seatbelt. "Alright, alright. Don't rush me. I have all the power here, remember?"

I grabbed it, buckling myself in. The view was different from the driver's seat. With the wheel under my fingers and the pedal beneath my foot, I felt a surge of adrenaline drown out my nerves.

In my peripheral, I could see Jace waiting, his belt already strapped across his chest. Jace, not Amber.

Jace was surprisingly taller than me, so I adjusted the seat and checked the mirrors. Finally, there was no more stalling. I released a tight breath, trying to relax into the seat.

I could do this.

I stepped onto the brakes and turned the key, feeling the cool metal under my fingertips. The engine roared to life. The car hummed beneath us and I felt my stomach jump.

"You've got this," Jace muttered from beside me.

I nodded. I could do this. My fingers tightened around the steering wheel. I sucked in a deep breath. My chest felt tight and the brake pedal felt foreign beneath my shoe.

I grabbed the gearstick, shifting the car into drive, before checking my mirrors. My foot lifted from the brake pedal and the car jerked forward. I gasped, immediately slamming my foot back down.

Jace slammed forward, his seatbelt holding him back, and I remembered the whiplash I'd gotten the day of the accident – when I'd been thrown forward so forcefully into the airbag, then whipped back against the seat, my head smashing painfully with the headrest. My neck and head hurt for weeks after.

"Sorry!" I breathed, my eyes widening.

Jace stared at me, his jaw slack. Then, he began to laugh. Laughter rolled from his tongue and he shook his head, clawing at the belt that had tightened around his chest.

"It's fine, Jasmine. Better to stop than to go, right? Just... lighten up on the brakes a bit."

I chuckled, turning back to the road. "Got it, Instructor Jace."

"I'd be a great instructor, wouldn't I?"

"If you say so."

This time, I was prepared when I lifted my foot from the brake. The car rolled forward, and I checked my mirrors and blind spot, slowly pulling onto the road. My fingers trembled on the steering wheel and I tightened them, keeping my eyes on the road.

"You okay?" Jace murmured.

I nodded frantically. "Great. Just great."

"You know the speed limit is twenty-five?"

"Yes."

He leaned over, glancing at my dashboard. "You're going six miles, Jasmine."

"It's a good speed, isn't it?"

"Yeah, if you want to get to school in the middle of fourth period."

I huffed but sped up anyway. He was right. If I continued at this speed, we'd never get to school on time, and two missed days in a row would definitely alarm my mother.

I stepped on the gas pedal, feeling the car move beneath me, feeling the tires on the road and steering it in the right direction. I flicked the indicator on, turning right and continuing towards school. At each speed hump, I slowed down. At each cross walk I stopped and gave way. I fell into an easy routine, like I'd never stopped driving.

It was easier this way. When I was the one driving, I could stop the car when I wanted. I could slow down. And most importantly, I could focus on driving.

I wasn't thinking about the flowers on the road when we passed Simon Street. I didn't think about the windshield shattering each time I looked at it, or the dashboard bending. I could barely feel the seatbelt strapped around me.

All I thought about was speed up, slow down, turn here, red light.

It was easy.

And before I knew it, I was parking outside the school.

I put the car into park, pulling up the emergency brake and pulling the key out to hand to Jace. When I turned to him, he was grinning widely at me, those honey brown eyes completely lit up.

"What?" I asked, sheepishly.

"Jasmine!" he exclaimed, grabbing my shoulders. "You did it! You drove all the way to school!"

"I did, didn't I?" I found myself reflecting his grin. In my peripheral, I could see the school. I could see students hanging around the main entrance in the distance. I'd done it. Excitement flourished across my chest and I leaned forward, tugging Jace into a hug with a squeal. "I did it!"

"You did!" he laughed, hugging me tightly. He buried his face into my neck, his breath tickling my skin. "I knew you could do it, Jas. I'm so proud of you."

"I couldn't have done it without you," I replied, pulling back to grin at him. In a moment of boldness, I pressed my lips to his, pulling him into a hurried kiss.

Jace leaned into it, kissing me back, his hands tightening around my arms as we kissed in the school parking lot. In the distance the school bell rang and reluctantly, Jace pulled back.

"Made it for first period," he said, lifting a brow.

"Impressed?"

A smile pulled at the corner of his mouth and his touch softened. He looked at me with gentle eyes that seemed to drift between my own and my lips.

"Always." 

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AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hey! So, Jasmine's making a bit of progress! Let me know what you thought of this chapter and your predictions for next time!

Also, I was thinking of changing the title of this story so don't be surprised if the name is different next week hehe I already have one in mind but if you have any better suggestions let me know!