Counterpoint (Hystoria #3)

8. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

“I’ll start driving, and you can take over after lunch, alright?” Simon offers and holds out his hand for the key.

“Sure.” I shrug and hand it to him. As if you’d ever catch me complaining about not having to drive, or rather, not having a panicked passenger. I stretch my back and arms one last time before slipping into the passenger seat, and I swear I see him watching me as I raise my arms over my back and extend my spine. That feels good. Something in my body cracks, and I get into the car to Si’s low chuckle.

“Yes, I’m getting old,” I say and roll my eyes, but with a smile playing at my lips. “I’ve heard the jokes.”

We’re pretty late today, but I figured that letting Si have a good sleep is more important than starting early in the day. After all, we have no deadline to get to Windmeadow. If we want to make up the time, we can just change driving duty more often and cover more miles of the route that way.

I watch the scenery as Si navigates the car back to the freeway. This morning, the sun was shining so beautifully and melted the dust of snow on the ground, but now a thick wall of clouds is hiding it. It’s so dark you would think the sun is already about to set.

“I really hope there isn’t going to be a snowstorm,” Si mumbles and I nod. Reaching for my phone, I check the weather forecast for areas in the direction we’re going and shake my head.

“Right now, it doesn’t look like there will be a storm, but we should keep an eye on it.” He nods in agreement, and I close my eyes and let my thoughts wander as Si starts his playlist and hums along to the melodies.

“Let’s check the weather again,” Si suggests anxiously as he slides into the restaurant booth. I’m not even sure which franchise we’re sitting in, but we’ve settled on burgers for lunch.

“You can check yourself,” I say pointedly and pout, picking up a menu. He might be used to people doing shit for him, but I’m not his maid. When he’s not driving, he can check an app himself. “The website I’ve checked isn’t forecasting a storm. Snow, yes; storm, no.” I browse the card and quickly settle on what I’ll have. Not that I vary my orders much, but a girl’s gotta decide whether she wants bacon or not. Today, she wants .

“Mine doesn’t forecast a storm either, but I have a bad feeling about this,” he admits, his jaw tense, and picks up a menu too, showing me the drink he’ll have so I can order for the both of us. Once the waiter comes over, Si turns around and strictly faces the window. This is taking some getting used to.

Whenever I’m out with Jake, he wears a hat and sometimes fake glasses or regular sunglasses, but other than that, he doesn’t really try to hide who he is. When fans come up to him and ask for a picture, he’s always happy to pose with them and have me snap their pics. I understand that constantly having to deal with people is exhausting, though, so I don’t blame Simon for taking the extra precaution as long as he isn’t rude, like he was to that girl at our first lunch stop.

The waiter is young. If I had to guess, I’d say that he’s slightly younger than me or the same age. An easy, confident smile plays on his lips as he approaches our table, and I notice that his eyes linger on me, not paying any attention to Si on the other side of the table. I return the smile politely and give him our drink orders, which earns me a flirty smile in response before he walks off.

Once he’s gone, Si points at the menu to show me which burger he’ll have.

“That guy was staring at you,” he mumbles. I look up at him, caught off guard. I mean, I know he was staring at me, but I didn’t expect him to have paid any attention to it.

“It happens. Hospitality workers will look at you and be friendly,” I reply with a shrug. “So what?”

He leans over the table and softens his voice to a whisper. “That wasn’t just to be friendly,” he points out as though he’s telling me an Area 51 secret, and I roll my eyes. Even if it was, what does he expect me to do with that information? I prop my head on my hand, sighing when I realise that makeup is going to transfer on my sleeve. I lift my head again and try to wipe it off with a paper towel.

When I look up again, I find Si staring at me, and I return his gaze, confused. “What? Do I have something on my face?”

“You’re wearing makeup,” he observes.

“No shit, Sherlock,” I answer him sarcastically and reach for another paper towel.

“Are you trying to impress?” I narrow my eyes at him, wanting to wipe that smug grin right off his face.

“Sure. If there’s one thing I have on my mind while traveling in a car all day, it’s impressing waiters who work at random service station fast food joints,” I say ironically.

He opens his mouth to continue our banter, but the waiter comes back with our drinks and takes our order. Again, most of his attention is on me, and I shift in my seat uncomfortably as I engage in his small talk.

“You have a beautiful smile,” the waiter whose nametag says ‘Jared’ mentions, and my muscles tense. It’s a harmless compliment, really, but I wasn’t expecting it. Si shoots me an amused glance that screams, ‘I told you so’, and I fight the urge to subtly raise my middle finger and pretend to scratch my face. The urge wins.

“Thank you,” I say politely, hoping he’ll notice the distant tone of my voice. He doesn’t. Or he does and ignores it, trying to delve into small talk.

“Do you like the area?”

“We’re just passing through,” I reply casually, making sure to emphasize the ‘we.’ “On a road trip. I’ll have the bacon whopper, please, and he’ll have a cheeseburger.” The smile on my face grows tight, and this time, Jared seems to have gotten the hint and walks off.

“Told you,” Si mutters, and I kick his shin under the table. Then I need to do it once more a bit later when the waiter drops off our food with a sheet of paper with his number tucked between my fries and sauces.

“You don’t need that,” Si says softly and confiscates it, crumpling it up and flicking it away from the table before I can stop him.

“Stop that,” I hiss at him, but he only gives me a smug smile in return.

“Why, you wanted that guy’s number after all?” he asks with a raised eyebrow, and I shake my head.

“No, thank you, but don’t litter in a damn restaurant!” I scold him and pop a fry into my mouth. “Rockstars today, no manners, the whole lot.”

“Uhh, I’m telling Jake.” He fakes giddiness, and I shake my head.

“He knows I think he’s a brute.” I grin and shrug. “You have no blackmail material there.”

His eyes rest on me, challenge flaring in his eyes. “I’m sure I’ll find something. We still have a few more days to go.” He winks at me before diving into his burger. Meanwhile, I stare at him dumbfounded.

Was that a promise? A threat?

“See, I told you there was going to be a storm! My gut has never been wrong!” Simon curses in the passenger seat, making wild gestures at the window.

“Well, your gut is going to hurt if you keep riding the ‘I told you so’ train,” I promise him and shift closer to the windshield, hoping I’ll be able to see better. Snow is coming down heavily, covering the windshield and making it hard to see further than ten metres. Even though my wipers are doing their very best, they are almost powerless. “Please check your phone and see if you can find a hotel close by. We need to get off the freeway.” I don’t want to admit it out loud, but these conditions scare me. Anything could happen. Another car could start sliding on the icy ground and crash into us, the car behind us could not be able to see Lola’s rear fog lights and crash into us, a truck’s brakes could fail and cause it to crash into us, Lola could lose her grip on the ground and we crash into another car. There is an endless list of things that could go wrong here, and around half of the possibilities would probably end with us dead.

Simon scrolls through his phone, suddenly starting to curse. “There’s no reception.”

“Okay, then keep an eye on it from now on. Maybe it will come back soon. I’ll get off at the next exit.” Thankfully, we seem to have experienced and good drivers around us because everybody has slowed down to almost only pedestrian speed. Si nods, his eyes fixed on his phone as he refreshes the app or website over and over again.

The snow lets up the tiniest bit. At least, enough that I’m able to see a bit farther than Lola’s hood. Maybe it’s not a storm, and it will pass. That’s what I’m hoping for, anyway. As much as I love snow, I can’t quite appreciate it as much when I have to drive through it, coming down like a wall of cotton. From inside a warm house, though? Anytime.

“Here!” he suddenly exclaims. “I found one.” He’s silent as he books the room and then switches to his maps app. “Alright, it’s fifteen minutes from here. Take the next exit.”

I turn on my indicator and merge into the exit lane. Immediately, Si’s hand flies to the handle, and he grips it tightly. For once, I don’t comment on it. I don’t even roll my eyes because my grip on the wheel is just as tight, and if I were in his shoes, with him driving in this storm, I would likely feel uneasy as well.

Slowing down even further as we approach the turn, I’m glad when Lola does exactly what I want her to do. An icy road is one of my personal nightmares when it comes to driving, just like aquaplaning.

We make it to a traffic light, where I wait for Si to give me further directions.

“Wait, my reception is gone again.” He curses under his breath. “I think we have to go right.”

I’d give him a sarcastic reply, but the light turns green, and I need to focus all of my attention on the road and Lola.

“Oh God, we’re gonna die today,” Si mumbles over and over again as I creep down the road. I am so incredibly close to shouting at him to shut the fuck up so I can focus and we won’t die. So damn close. But I bite my tongue. For now. Such a shame I was raised with manners. But he’s really testing my patience. “What the fuck are you doing? That light was red!”

“The light was yellow. If I’d slammed the brakes, the truck behind us would have rear-ended me. You need to calm down and stop acting like I’m a shit driver, Simon. ”

“I don’t need to do shit!”

I exhale sharply, keeping my eyes on the road and deciding that I’ll be the bigger person and ignore his last outburst—only this one time.

“Simon,” I say calmly. “Tell me where I need to go.”

“We went the wrong way. Turn around at that gas station.” He points to our right.

I could scream. Seriously. As soon as we get out of this car and into a hotel room, I will scream into a pillow so damn loudly. And then I’ll get hot cocoa at the hotel and snuggle into the duvet and watch the snow dance outside from the comfort of my hopefully cozy hotel room, far away from the grumpy rockstar on my right. It’s going to be so calm and fun.

But we’re not there yet. So, for now, I do as he says and drive into the gas station to turn around and go the whole way back. Whereas the snow seemingly let up before, it is now coming down with a vengeance. Holy shit, I really hope the hotel is not far anymore.

“Fuck, my reception is gone again,” he curses, and I exhale sharply.

“Are you for real, Si?” My voice is loud, and I sound exasperated because I am.

“Relax, I made a screenshot,” he says, annoyance lacing his voice, but at this point, I don’t give a fuck. “We’re taking the next right and then the second left. Then we should be there.”

“Okay,” I say and take a deep breath that I’m hoping will calm my heart rate down.

It doesn’t. Mainly because Si continues to mutter curses under his breath and complain about my way of driving. I’m apparently braking too late, going into curves too quickly, and braking too quickly as well. All within one minute. It’s a wild mix .

Finally, I find that ‘second left’ he talked about and turn into a driveway. At least, that’s what I’m assuming it is because, by now, there is so much snow on the ground I can barely see where the street goes.

“According to the map, there will be one slight left curve, then it’s straightforward for a bit, and then another hard left.” I nod and adjust myself behind the wheel. That’s not incredibly much detail, but I think I can handle that without driving Lola into a ditch unless the ditch is completely concealed by snow.

I’m almost tempted to pop my head out of the window to see if it will allow me to see more. Then again, I doubt it, and I would probably get frostburn on my ears or something.

Just like Si said, the driveway turns to the left slightly. I drive at a walking pace so I don’t miss the other hard left he mentioned, but still, I almost don’t see it. I sigh in relief when I turn into it. God, I hope we’re there soon.

“Now it’s going straight forward for a while, and then we should be driving right at the hotel,” he instructs.

I nod again and roll my shoulders. I’ve been tense ever since the snow started to come down this heavily, and they’re starting to hurt, along with my neck. God, I need a warm bath or a massage. Maybe both.

We’re inching forward until finally the shadow of a big building with some lit-up windows comes into sight.

“Hallelujah,” I sigh, relieved, still struggling to make out any details on the road. We’re driving closer and closer, and now we’re entering what I’m assuming is the parking lot.

“STOP!” Si suddenly shouts, and I jam on the brakes instinctively.

Which is a mistake.

I scream as the wheels lose their grip on the ground, causing the car to slither a good few metres. Simon is shouting something incomprehensible next to me, and I grip the wheel tight and fight the urge to close my eyes. Instead, I attempt to turn against the slithering like they’ve taught me in driving school, but to no avail. The car only comes to a stop when it hits something. At least, I hope it’s a something and not a someone.

“See what you did?” Simon asks angrily and points to the road. “I knew you’d hit something, goddamnit.”

I flinch at his voice, still clutching the wheel, adrenaline and shock pulsating through my veins. Cold tears stream down my face, but I don’t even feel them.

“Well, if you hadn’t fucking shouted, we would have been fine! What was so important I had to do an emergency brake?” I ask him with a raised voice, shock slowly replaced by anger. I take a deep breath before I ask him, “Are you okay?”

“Even if not, what would you do? Call an ambulance? In this weather?” he cusses and gestures outside.

“Well, I’m fine too, thanks for asking,” I snap back at him. My neck feels a bit strained, but luckily, I’m sure that’s just minor whiplash. It hurt more after some Hystoria concerts I was dragged to and encouraged to headbang.

Without another word, I get out of the car to see what happened. Apparently, Lola was stopped by a boulder that has now lodged into her underside. Great.

I get back into the driver’s seat and try to reverse, but she doesn’t move in any direction, and the sound leaving Lola’s engine makes me hesitate. That doesn’t sound too great .

“Please, please don’t give up on me, Lola,” I whisper and try again to get her off the boulder. But no dice. She doesn’t move an inch. “Well, great,” I mutter and grab my overnight bag from the backseat. Simon does the same and storms to the entrance. I follow more slowly, fighting with the icy ground and lack of grip on my soles. Of course, this morning, I opted for my comfortable shoes, not those with strong soles for winter.

When I finally reach the door, I’m shaking, and my hands are trembling from the cold and shock. Meanwhile, Simon is at the reception, in a heated discussion with the receptionist. This time, it’s an older man with kind eyes and grey hair who takes his tantrum way more relaxed than the young woman yesterday. In fact, he seems amused by Simon’s attitude. No wonder, he must have had a bunch of unpleasant guests in his lifetime. It only causes Simon to get even more worked up in his rage.

“What’s it with all you fucking incompetent hotels offering two rooms on booking apps when you only have one?” he rages and paces in front of the reception. I shoot the guy an apologetic glance and fight the urge to trip Si in his rage-pace. By now, anger is really starting to make the blood in my veins boil, but it’s solely directed at him.

When Si hears me approach, he faces me angrily. “This time, you’re taking the couch. I don’t give a fuck,” he spits and turns back to the reception. I narrow my eyes at him. If he’d remained on the couch yesterday, fair, but I let him sleep in the bed with me, so who the fuck does he think he is? I’ll let him have a piece of my mind later. For now, I step up to the reception next to him .

“Sir, we don’t have any couches available in the rooms. Only armchairs,” the receptionist mentions, but Si’s gaze only turns more deadly.

“I don’t give a fuck,” he repeats and storms off.

“I’m so sorry,” I tell the guy, trying to muster all the kindness I have left to give instead of kicking Si in the nuts.

“No worries, Ms. Shaw. Here is your key,” he assures me and hands me the card with a friendly smile. For a second, I’m wondering how he knew my name, and then I realise that it was probably on the reservation.

“Thank you,” I say with a grateful smile as I take it, then take a deep breath. Oh God, this is embarrassing. “I am afraid my car needed to use one of your boulders as a brake,” I admit sheepishly. “I’m so sorry about that. Is there any possibility you could call a mechanic for me once the snow lets up? Or get me a number so I can call them myself?”

“I’ll have it handled, dear. Don’t worry,” he says and gives me a reassuring smile. “I will let you know when they are able to come.”

“Thank you so much,” I say and do my best to return his smile before I hurry after Simon. Or I don’t once I realise that he ran off in the wrong direction. I find a corner in the lobby and take out my phone. There are ten missed calls from Jake, and I roll my eyes, taking a deep breath before I dial his number.

“Hey, bestest sister in the world, nice of you to finally give me a sign of life,” Jake scolds me as soon as the call connects.

“I mean, I can hang up again if you’d prefer,” I tell him, but he quickly objects. “I’m calling to let you know that Lola needs to get repaired. That might put us back a few days.”

“What happened? ”

“The ground was icy, and she needed a boulder to come to a stand. And before you panic, don’t. We were driving at pedestrian speed, and everything’s fine. Besides Lola.” I hear a frustrated sigh.

“Alright, I’ll let your insurance know.” My cheeks heat. I didn’t even think about insurance. If I’d known, I probably wouldn’t have mentioned it. I’m sure I could just pay out of pocket.

“You don’t need to, it’s fine.”

“This is literally what insurance is for, Harper. Don’t make me fight about this with you.” I inhale, ready to object, but he just says, “Nope,” and now then he’s the one who randomly ends the call. What the hell? Contrary to him, I don’t spam him with calls and messages, though. Instead, I put my phone away and check the hotel signs to find the way to our room.

Simon storms into the elevator hall just as the one I’m waiting for arrives and storms into the tiny metal cabin with me.

“This is all your goddamn fault.”

“No, it’s not. You’re the one who randomly screamed at me to stop. There was nothing in the road except for the damn boulder I would have dodged if I continued driving normally,” I argue, but he just makes a dismissive hand gesture in my direction.

“There was absolutely something in the road,” he insists, and I roll my eyes at him, which I can see makes him even more furious.

“Well, good thing we swerved that only to hit a fucking rock,” I shout and start pacing the tiny space.

“You know what, Harper? Fuck you!” Oh no, he didn’t. I whip around to face him .

“Fuck me yourself, you coward!” I scream back and stop, facing him. We stand on opposite sides of the elevator cabin, glaring at each other and breathing heavily.

I don’t know who moves first. But suddenly, we’re at the center of the elevator, and Si grabs my hair, forcefully tilting my head back to crash his lips onto mine in a fierce, punishing kiss.