Where Gravel Roads Lead Home

2

2“You're Gonna Go Far, Kid” – The Offspring

He knew there was something wrong when he opened his eyes. s**t, what time is it? He realized he forgot to set an alarm last night before he passed out. Finding his phone lying on the floor, he pressed the home button and groaned. Not only should he have left the house five minutes ago, but his texts were also blowing up.

V: We'll be back to town in ten, just FYI

V: Okay… you're still picking me up, right?

V: I swear to god if you're still asleep, I'm going to kill you.

V: That stupid truck better be sitting in the parking lot when this bus pulls up.

V: Annnnnnd we're here. You're not. Screw you Luke.

Shit s**t s**t s**t s**t. He pulled on a pair of basketball shorts from the floor and didn't even bother to put anything over his undershirt. By some miracle, he saw his keys lying on the dresser without looking for them and grabbed a Cavaliers hat on his way out the door.

L: Literally on my way right now. I'm sorry. I'll be right there.

V: Oh, you're sorry, so that makes it cool that I'm sitting here waiting for you. Kim stayed so I would have company. Thanks for making me look like an i***t.

Luke started the ignition on his truck and peeled out of his driveway to head towards school. It took a lot of self-restraint not to point out that Kim could have just given her a ride home, but he suspected that was not the point. She wouldn't have been able to hold the fact that she was waiting over his head if that happened.

Luke knew that she'd find out he'd been drinking with Troy and Devin last night and be even more pissed. He'd had a delayed reaction in remembering the scene from when he'd gotten home the night before, but it sucker punched him when it came flooding back. He really needed his girlfriend to cut him slack this one freaking time.

L: You never look like an i***t. Because you're so beautiful. Be there in a min.

V: You owe me so much more than a lame compliment.

The adrenaline from waking up late had worn off, and a decent magnitude headache was settling in. It is going to be an awesome day.

He pulled up into the parking lot of Gem City High and saw his girlfriend sitting with Kim on the curb, red and black duffle bag by her side. Kim got up to head to her car and shot him a look of sympathy beforehand. Luke hopped out of the truck to greet Vanessa and carry her bag.

“Hey, baby. Lemme take your bag.”

“Don't 'hey baby' me. And I'll carry my own bag, thanks.”

“V, I know you're mad, but I'm seriously fifteen minutes late, and I had the shittiest night known to man. Can I just say I'm sorry and we move on from this?” Her glare let him know that was probably not going to happen. He leaned closer to her to gently take the duffle bag from her hand, and she let him. So, progress.

“I missed you,” he murmured.

“You smell like a bar.”

Luke just groaned, knowing there was nothing he could do but wait for her to get over her fit.

“Who were you drinking with?”

“Just Troy and Devin. There was no party.”

“Troy and Devin and who else?”

He could see the crazy-eyed look creep over Vanessa's face. He could kill Zack Roads for making her think that every guy would cheat. “No one else, V. I swear to you. Come on. Can we get in the truck?”

She silently made her way to his truck and got in, slamming the door too hard for it to have been an accident. “Just take me home.”

“Out to breakfast? Okay, great idea.” He gave her the most charming smile he could muster under the circumstances. It didn't work.

“Home. You'll have to charm me later. I'm tired and sore and pissed off and I'll only get madder if I sit across a table from you and watch you eat hangover food.”

“Fine. Home it is.” His head hurt, he was trying not to have a breakdown about the loss of his college money, and he just couldn't keep up the argument at the moment.

* * *

The sound of the ball hitting the cracked concrete echoed against his house. It was dark, and he was probably pissing off the neighbors, but he didn't really care. He dribbled and shot, dribbled and shot, the night summer air cool and heavy on his shoulders. His mom wasn't home and wasn't picking up her cell. Vanessa wasn't either, but at least he knew why about that one. She probably wouldn't be speaking to him until tomorrow afternoon if he had indeed perfected his calculations connecting how badly he screwed up to the length of her silent treatment. He dribbled and shot some more.

He swore when he finally checked the time, wondering where the hell his mom was. He sighed and pressed call again. Just pick up.

“Yeah?” His shoulders dropped noticeably once he heard her voice.

“Hey, I just wanted to see when you'd be home.” He raised his voice slightly, hearing the background noise on her end.

“I'm at Sandy's. In case you forgot, I'm the parent. I'll be home later.”

A snarky retort begged to be let out, but he bit his tongue. “You don't need a ride, do you?”

“No, Luke. I don't need a ride. I'll see you at home.” Her voice flattened considerably with that reply, and she hung up before he could respond. She sounded okay. Enough that he allowed himself to think about sleep.

L: V, I'm sorry. I swear on mermaids I will make it up to you. Can you please just text me back? I wanna see you tomorrow.

V: You could have seen me today. Your beauty rest was obviously more important.

Well, she responded, so he was wearing her down.

L: Are you telling me my beauty rest isn't also important to you? You know you like having me as your arm candy. Don't try to deny it. I can't possibly be expected to look as pretty as you like me to when I haven't had a full ten hours, you know that.

V: Too soon to joke.

L: Ten bucks says you're smiling anyway.

A few moments later, a photo came through of Vanessa wearing a very clear frown upon her face. She still looked pretty, which was good because she frowned at him a lot.

L: Fine, you win. I owe you ten bucks, and I will take you to Wendy's for a Frosty tomorrow. For breakfast. And whatever else you want.

The next photo that arrived was of her smiling and giving him a very dorky thumbs up.

V: You better have missed me.

L: Of course I missed you.

V: I missed you too. I'll see you in the morning.

L: Unless you want me to scale your drain pipe tonight ;)

V: While I appreciate the 80s rom com effort there, I think I'd like for you to stay out of the ER. <3

L: <3 See you tomorrow.

The heart emoji made him grin when he thought about it. Vanessa was not a particularly difficult person to read, she just liked to think she was. She'd been texting him hearts for a couple of months, and he was just waiting for her to tell him that she loved him. He'd known he was in love with her for a while, but he couldn't be the one to say it first. He could imagine the whole scene- she'd shut down or say something snarky about how high school love was something portrayed in teen movies, not real life. Even though she'd want to say it back. Nope. It had to come from her first. So he took all the heart emojis she wanted to send him and maintained his patience.

Luke finally let out a sigh and dragged his ass into the house and up to his room.