A Different Light

Chapter 5

Tobias POV

A week after Hannah wakes up, she gets to leave the hospital. After extensive tests and scans, they determine she's completely fine, jut a bit beat up. She's given orders to take it easy but as we pull away from the hospital, she decides she wants that burger we never got- and we head for Nana's. As we walk in, Hannah sees a newspaper rack by the front door and picks up a newspaper with the scene of her accident on it. We sit down and she opens it up: the headline reads "Drunk Driver Pleads Not Guilty: Trial Starts October 18th".

"Not guilty?! How could he think he wasn't guilty? He could have killed me!" Her eyes get big and full of tears.

"Shh honey, it's okay. He won't get away with it," her mother says and pulls her close. Some people in close proximity are watching Hannah, which pisses me off. I go up to the counter, order 3 burgers, a chicken sandwich, 3 chocolate milkshakes, and a strawberry milkshake for Hannah with 4 baskets of fries, all to go. I slide the woman an extra $20 and ask if she can get those out to us in the next 7 minutes. She gives me a smirk and writes something down, then slides the receipt over to me. Her phone number is written across the top of the receipt with a smile. I turn and walk away.

"Wait! You forgot your receipt!" She calls out after me.

"Nah. I don't need it, thanks," I say over my shoulder.

I sit down at the table with Hannah and her family- Hannah is still upset but no longer crying. A few minutes later, the woman comes out with two bags and a drink carrier loaded with cups. I grab our food and motion towards the door.

"We can eat this somewhere else," I tell them, and they all nod in agreement.

Hannah stands and leads the way out the door, determined to get out of there. We reach the

cars and I tell Harold I'll follow him. We drive through town and he's heading back towards their home, which I'm sure Hannah is happy to get back to. I park in the street and the Silvers pull up into the garage. I meet them at the door and we all file into the house. We sit at the kitchen table and I unload all the food. Mr. Silver grabs his wallet and slips me $50.

"I can't accept-"

"You can and you will, son," he says and claps me on the shoulder.

I always have an issue turning Mr. Silver down- it makes me feel like I'm disappointing him or something. I shake my head and deposit the bill into my pocket. We all eat in comfortable silence, except for Hannah who looks somewhere between pissed and sad. Nobody wants to set her off, so we just keep eating in silence. I pop the lid off my chocolate shake to dip my fries in at the same time Hannah does the same to her strawberry shake. I wrinkle my nose.

"That is so nasty," I say to her, teasing.

"It's no different that your chocolate shake, weirdo," Hannah says, dipping a fry and daintily biting off the end.

"False. Chocolate and salt go together. Strawberries and salt don't," I inform her.

"Strawberry margaritas. Salted rim. Your move," she says, shoving another fry into her mouth.

"Okay. Strawberry ice cream and salt don't go together. Your move," I tell her.

We've played this stupid game of mental chess for years. It all started when Hannah decided she was going to be a lawyer like her father. I cannot tell you the things we've argued about- all ranging from pretty stupid to quite important. 

"It does, it just hasn't hit the mainstream, yet. Just you wait," she says.

"Don't worry- I won't hold my breath," I tell her with a polite smile.

Her parents are delighted to see that she's back to her old self. She finishes her fries, gulps down her shake, and says she's gonna go take a shower. She kisses her parents on the forehead and thanks them for everything then disappears out of the room. As soon as she's gone, I see my opportunity.

"You know, we could still make it in time for school. She seems pretty ready," I tell them.

"Tobias. She just got out of the hospital. She isn't ready," her mom insists.

"She's doing pretty well, though, I must admit," her father says.

Her mother turns on Harold, her arms folded across her chest.

"She isn't ready, Harold," she stares him down.

Harold's jaw clenches, and I can tell he's got the lawyer gears going.

"Hope, look at her. She's a smart girl, she has no permanent damage, and I don't see a reason to let this ruin her life. The sooner she gets back on track, the better. We cannot use her accident as a crutch for the rest of her life," he says.

Go Harold!

"A crutch?! She could have DIED Harold! Is that a crutch to you??" Her mother is furious.

"But she didn't, did she. She's not even that badly hurt. A few broken ribs- that are already almost healed- and some scrapes and bruises that are already almost all healed. She's fine. She doesn't need us to baby her every time something goes wrong. She's a big girl now- and I think it would be beneficial for her to go to school for that first semester," he says.

Her mother sighs and I know we've won. Hannah comes back into the room, hair wet, dressed in shorts and a white tank top. Her black bra can be seen through her white shirt, especially through the back where her wet hair soaked through her shirt. I choke on the milkshake I'm drinking and Mr. & Mrs. Silver turn to look at me, worried and bemused looks on their faces. They exchange a look and I know they're debating telling her.

"Well if something is going to happen, it needs to be like now. The deadlines are coming up," Hannah says, letting us know she was eavesdropping.

We all laugh under her lingering gaze and she smiles. That's my girl, the thought crosses his mine. Where the hell did that come from?

"We would need to leave by Friday to get moved and settled before classes on Monday. We never cancelled this semester, we just postponed it. We might even be able to keep the classes we wanted. We should call and make-" I break off when I hear Hannah on the phone.

"Yeah, it is a miracle I know. Oh really? You did? That's amazing!! Thank you so much. Next Monday? Well actually we were thinking of leaving this Friday. Saturday? Yeah that could work! Yup. That's mine. And I also wanted to check for Tobias Steele? Yup. That's his. Perfect. We will see you Saturday! Thank you so much! Oh thank you. Yes, we will. Take care. Bye," Hannah hangs up her phone and beams at us.

"What happened?" Harold asks.

"A miracle," she says. She looks at me, "Think your b***h ass can be packed by Friday? We gotta meet Beverley in the office Saturday morning at 10am," she says, beaming a 100 watt smile.

I don't want to tell her I've been packed...

"I can try," I tell her.   

"Good. Obviously we're taking your car since mine-"

"I uh bought a truck. So we should be good. I was thinking we should rent a U-Haul."

"You sold your Mustang???"

"God no! It's gonna be stored while we're away," I reply with a wink.

Her answering smile is dazzling.

Hannah POV.

I load up my last box with some books, a couple stuffed animals, some shoes pairs of shoes, and my shoe rack from behind my closet door. I look around at my purple room with the black and white bedspread, 4 poster bed, and all my childhood things covering the walls. I sit on the edge of my bed and lay back, staring at my ceiling. There's a knock on my door and it opens, revealing Tobias leaning against the door frame, looking more like a Greek God than anyone has the right to. I wipe the tears on my face and smile at him.

"You better hide those dimples, man. You're gonna be beating away chicks with a stick," I tell him.

"Nah," he says. "It is 7:30, though, and we need to get moving. Got any more boxes?"

"Just this last one," I tell him, pointing at the box.

"Hey. It's not forever. We will be back for Thanksgiving and Christmas," he tells me, wrapping his arm around my shoulders.

I lean into him and inhale the scent that is all Tobias- musky, woodsy, and slightly spicy aftershave. It calms me down slightly.

"Yeah. Alright. Let's get going. Did you get snacks?" I ask him.

"No. We're stopping for gas and snacks on the way out," he says to me. We head out of my room and descend the stairs, Tobes holding my last box. I get to the bottom and rush to my parents. I squeeze them tight with tears in my eyes.

"Oh honey, don't cry," my mother says to me, and her owns eyes reflect tears as well.

"You'll be fine," dad tells me as pulls me into a hug too.

Finally, I go to Harper. She has tears streaming down her cheeks.

"We can FaceTime as much as you want, okay?" I tell her.

She cracks a small smile and wraps her tiny arms around my neck. I hug her tightly and Tobias comes back in from loading the last box.

"That's everything. You ready?" He asks.

My mother rushes up to give him a hug, too. My dad fishes out his wallet and hands Tobias what looks like a few hundreds. I roll my eyes. Tobias of course tries to deny it but my dad gives him a look and he shoves the money in his pocket. I grab my purse out of the kitchen and take a look around. I'm going to miss this place. I look at a couple pictures that are stuck to the fridge with magnets. One of Toby and I and one of Harper. I grab them and the magnets and head outside where everyone stands on our driveway. We give hugs and make promises to check in and call every now and then on our way and then when we get there. We climb into Tony's shiny gunmetal gray Dodge Ram, roll down the windows, and wave goodbye. We pull out of the drive, turn left at the stop sign, and stop at one of several Kwik Trips in our rinky dink town. I head inside with one of the hundreds my dad gave Tobias and head to the snack aisle. I grab bags of candy, chips, chocolate bars, waters, a diet cherry vanilla Dr. Pepper for me, a regular for Tobes, and a couple of sandwiches with packets of mayo and mustard. I give the guy the hundred and tell him to pay for the gas on pump 3. He gives me $30 in change and I head outside. As I approach the truck, I can see there's a blond ponytail bouncing excitedly over the hood. I hear Tobias talking to her- sounds like he's letting her down easy. I hop in the truck and she turns to look at me, giving me a death glare. I smirk back at her.

"Oh come on, Toby. It's just a phone number. I know you and your girlfriend broke up," she says in a voice that might be trying to sound sexy but is failing.

"We gotta get going actually. Got a big drive ahead of us. Over 13 hours, Tobes," I say and she turns to glare at me again.

Toby takes the chance to climb into the truck.

"Sorry, darlin," he says and starts it up.

We pull off and get on the highway.

"What was that about?"

"Don't even ask," he says, turning up the radio. He eyes the bag at my feet, "What snacks did you get?"

"Don't even ask," I say snidely, looking out the window.

He reaches over and grabs the bag. 

"Can you try to maybe NOT get us killed? I was just in a car accident and here you are trying to get me into another one," I tell him, narrowing my eyes in disdain. 

He opens the bag and grabs a chocolate bar and his soda. 

"I'm hungry. You got directions up?" He asks. 

"Uh yeah hang on a sec." 

I pull my phone out and pull up the directions. 

"We stay on this road for 11 hours and 27 minutes," I tell him, reaching into the bag to pull out some candy and my soda. 

"Who'd have thought, huh?" 

"Thought what?" I munch my gummy octopus, eating the legs off first and then biting the body in half. 

"That we would be going to college together. Not like- yanno- together, together, but like...together. You hated me all of high school," he says, sipping his soda. 

"I didn't hate you. You hated me," I tell him. 

"I was...angry. I didn't hate you. I just didn't know what to do. I was a dipshit kid who felt like everyone who ever mattered was either gone, leaving, or hurting me. That's a lot when you're 13 years old, Han," he says. 

I can hear a thickness in his voice from the tears he isn't letting out. I don't know what to do- I don't know what to say. 

"I wish you would have just told me that... But I don't know that it would have made much difference. I wasn't allowed to hang out with you because of your uncle," I say to him, munching on a gummy. 

"Yeah. What a f*****g bastard. I wish I could beat the s**t out of him myself sometimes but he's the only family I got left," he tells me. 

Toby Keith's Bullets In The Gun comes over the radio and I turn the volume up, singing. Tobias joins in and we sing together just like old times. I almost want to tell him what happened to me in the hospital- my mysterious meeting with The Voice, and what it told me. I don't want him to turn around and take me back to the hospital, though. I sigh and keep nibbling my candies, and we sing along to the radio. 

Auburn, here we come.