The One I Should Never Love

A plume of smoke erupted from the vehicle's engine the moment Stanley swung the hood open, rising against the heavy downpour of rain. “f**k! f**k,” he muttered. Then he looked towards his family. “We're fucked.” “Let me take a look, dad,” Jacey said. “What now, you're an auto expert?” “Move over, old man.” Jacey climbed out into the rain, and dragged her hand over her face before crouching beside the open hood. Her hair was already plastered against her forehead. Stanley moved over to allow her inspect the smoking engine. She stared into it for a few seconds, blinking rainwater from her eyes, as if the machinery made much sense. After a few moments, she too looked up and said, “Yeah, we're fucked.” “Well, we gotta do something,” Emma threw both her hands into the air, then immediately dropped them to her sides. The rain ran down her face as she looked from the smoking engine to the darkening trees around them. “We can't stand here under the rain in the middle of nowhere for the rest of the evening. It's already getting dark, visibility is only gonna get worse.” “All this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't been the usual jinx, Emma,” Jacey muttered. “What did you just say, young woman?” Emma moved toward her, multiple steps at a time. Jacey didn't move. She simply lifted her chin, meeting Emma's eyes as the rain hammered both of them. “Jacey, that's no way to talk to your mother,” Stanley said, stepping between them. “Yeah, well, mothers are supposed to be responsible.” “Oh, Christ.” Emma's mouth tightened. For a moment, she looked like she might fire something back, but the words that came to her seemed to die instantly. “What did I ever do to you, Jacey?” She said instead. “For starters, how about this: the entire trip, was there nowhere better, than in the middle of nowhere, to take my dad's eyes off the road by telling him you love him? Seriously? Did it really have to be on the trail's loneliest stretch, that you suddenly remembered your feelings?” “Jacey!” Stanley exclaimed. “No, no, it's fine, honey.” “I don't have it in me to argue with you right now, Jacey. We need to find a way out of the woods.” “Me and Caleb will walk back onto the freeway and try to see if we can find a lift for the family,” Stanley said. “I hardly doubt anyone would be driving in this thunderstorm,” Caleb barely looked up when he said it. His eyes remained on the rainwater running off the car's roof. His voice was flat, almost making the situation sound ordinary. “Yeah, turns out we might be the only ones stupid enough to do that.” “I don't wanna hear another word from you, Jacey,” Stanley glared at his daughter. He then turned to Caleb. “Come on, young man. We're toast here, in the middle of nowhere, either way. We have to try, it's our only hope of getting out of here before night falls.” “You know what? Since they both believe their parents are two fools, how about they stay here together?” Emma said. “Honey, you know that's a very bad idea.” “Well, I can't stand Jacey, at least not right now. She and Caleb should remain here. Let's go find the lift together.” Jacey was about to speak again, but Stanley cut her before she did. “Woman!” He then turned to his wife. “Let's go.” **** She just kept staring at him, she'd been doing so for more than a minute now. Caleb looked up at the leaves. He looked sideways, at the tree trunks. Then down, at the mud. Anything but her. He shifted his weight and shoved his hands into his pockets. Another few seconds passed. When he finally risked a glance, her eyes were still on him. He looked away again, then back. Her eyes hadn't moved. “What?” Jacey asked. “What do you mean, ‘what?’ “Why the f**k are you staring at me?” “Yeah, let's pretend like you haven't been death-staring at me for the past hour.” “My dad and your mom haven't been out of here for more than ten minutes. It's only been a few minutes.” “Why, though? Whyyyy?” Jacey opened her mouth to bite back immediately. But nothing came. She looked away from him to the trees disappearing into the rain. Why was she staring at him? Because she was angry? Or because she wanted him to admit something? Was it because somewhere beneath all that anger she was waiting to see whether there was even a trace of regret on his face? She looked back at him. There was nothing. “You know what? I have no obligation to answer you,” she finally spoke back. “What I do have an obligation to do, is get out of this storm and away from you.” “You can't. The car isn't safe. It could blow up.” “Yeah, thanks, Mr obvious. I'm going to find shelter anyway. I can't remain under this storm forever.” “What do you mean ‘you're going to find shelter?’ How the f**k are mom and dad going to find you when they get back?” Jacey reached into the back of the car and pulled out her phone. “They can call me,” she brandished the device in Caleb's face. As she walked away, Caleb immediately rushed to get his phone from the car too, put on the flashlight, and immediately followed. When Jacey looked back and glanced over her shoulder, Caleb was right behind her, with his flashlight bobbing through the rain. She stopped, closed her eyes, then took one slow breath through her nose. When she opened them again, he was still there. “You should know the storm isn't the only thing I'm trying to get away from, Caleb.” “Listen, I don't like being around you anymore than you do me. But I'm not going to have both our parents scream at me when they return and see that I let you walk off on your own mini adventure.” “So you're just gonna.. follow me?” “Well, I can't physically try to stop you. You'll have your dad hang me.” Jacey sighed. “Can't you just, like, die? That'd solve so many problems.” “For what it's worth, death is better than being here.” Jacey flung her head backwards and moved forward in the trail, with Caleb rushing to overtake her. Immediately he did, he saw a wooden bridge in front of them. It was in a sorry, bad shape. “Nahhh, let's go back, Jacey.” “Why? You're scared of heights?” “Can't you see that this bridge is in no state to be considered safe?” “Safe this, safe that. People really don't know they should live a little.” “Yeah, tell that to the massive currents in the river below.” “I don't know about you, man, I'm crossing.” Before Caleb could spring into any form of action, Jacey was already almost halfway across the bridge. He now had no choice but to immediately follow. As the two crossed and pressed their weights against the weak wood and joints used for the bridge, Caleb could sense that it was slowly giving away. “Walk quickly, Jacey. Goddamnit!” “Don't rush me, princess,” Jacey safely made it to the other side of the stream. Immediately she turned to see Caleb, the bridge snapped, and he was in a free fall, stopped only by Jacey’s outstretched arms. “Jacey! f**k!” Caleb exclaimed as Jacey grabbed him. For one terrible moment, Jacey's grip loosened. Caleb's fingers slipped against hers. She looked down, and below them, the river tore through the gorge, with brown water exploding over rocks and branches before vanishing into the darkness. All she had to do was open her hand, one move, and Caleb would be gone. She'd be rid of him, and everything he represented. Forever. “Come on, Jacey! Pull up!” Caleb's words snapped Jacey out of her thoughts. Damn, she knew it was bad, her feelings and thoughts about him. But not this bad. Jacey pulled Caleb back to the bank with both her arms. “Well, there goes our way back to the car,” Caleb dragged both hands over his face. “We'll need to find another route back. The old couple will probably soon be back. Since they can't see us here from the car, it's safe to say they'd assume the worst.” “How many miles do you figure this river runs for?” “We don't need to walk around the river, we can find another bridge.” “There's no way in hell I'm crossing another bridge with you.” “Well, we can stay here arguing while the night gets more vicious above us, or we can start walking.”