“Maybe.” I shrugged.
“Maybe means no.” He looked over at me. “Say yes.”
“Gage!”
He looked forward just in time to hit the brakes. A second longer and we would have collided with the car in front of us.
In a delayed reaction Gage put his hand in front of me as if to hold me back. “Fuck.” The car had no lights on and straddled the right lane and shoulder.
“Agreed.” Any lighthearted conversation was over. This was no longer a leisurely drive.
We sat there waiting for the car to move, but it didn’t. “It’s broken down. That’s why we didn’t see any lights.” Gage backed up and moved into the left lane to pass the stopped car. I tried to peer into the dark windows, but I didn’t see anything.
“Okay, near accident over, can you just say yes to the party so we can move on?”
“Why do you care?” His insistence had almost caused an accident.
“Because I do. We go to the same college. We’re from the same town. We might as well be friends.”
“And being friends means going to Joey’s party?”
“Yes.” He smiled.
I wasn’t sure if it was his plan, but returning to the party conversation helped calm my nerves. Nearly rear-ending that abandoned car had done a number on them.
“We’re going to get off at the next exit.”
“Why? I thought we didn’t have to get off for another forty miles?”
“The turnpike isn’t plowed, so there’s no reason to stay on it and risk what just happened. We’re taking the back roads.”
“Are you sure you know where you’re going?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I’ve driven this way before.”
He didn’t sound overly confident, but I couldn’t argue with the evidence. The snow was heavy on the turnpike, and there were likely plenty more abandoned cars up ahead. Still, I didn’t like the idea of getting stuck out on a back road somewhere. At least I wasn’t alone.
Gage put on his blinker and made a slow turn off onto the ramp. The snow had drifted and half the lane was piled high with snow. “I’m going to need a drink when we get home tonight.”
“Your parents let you drink at your house even though you’re not twenty-one?”
He nodded, thankfully keeping his eyes fixed straight ahead as he drove us carefully onto the highway. “I’m twenty. That’s close enough.”
“I wish mine felt that way.”
“See, that’s another reason to come to the party tomorrow. Otherwise you’ll have to go sober.”
“I don’t drink much at school anyway.”
“What do you do?”
“Meaning?”
“You do party some, right?” He adjusted his hands on the wheel.
“Of course. I was at a party last night.” A lame one, but a party nonetheless.
“I should introduce you to some of my friends when we get back to Boston.”
“Wow, first Joey’s party and now this? What is this ‘pity the poor loser’?”
“Loser? Not exactly. I just don’t get why we never hang out with the same people. We’re not in high school anymore.”
“Yeah, but there are still different crowds.”
“Don’t you think I’d enjoy meeting your friends?”
I laughed. “Oh yeah, you’d love that.”
“What? I’ve seen you around campus. You have friends.”
“Of course I have friends, but they’re not your type.”
“My type? I have a type of friend? Does that also mean I have a type of girl?”
“Of course.” Not me.
“Okay, let me hear it.”
“Your type?” I asked.
“Yeah, this should be interesting.”
“Attractive, cool.” I paused while trying to come up with more adjectives.
“Very descriptive. You do realize that description covers you though.”
What? Was Gage calling me attractive? “Whatever.” I tried to shrug it off.
“You don’t think you’re cool? You have to realize you’re attractive.”
“I don’t have to.” It’s not like I had horrible self-esteem, but I knew I was pretty average.
He glanced over. “I hope that’s a joke. Do you realize how many girls would give everything to look like you?”
“Like me? Not likely. It’s more like every guy would want to look like you…” And I’d just said that thought out loud.
“Oh? You think I’m attractive then?”
I sighed. No reason to deny it now. “Who doesn’t?”
He chuckled. “And now the truth comes out.”
“The truth?”
“Yes. The truth. You got in this truck with plans to seduce me.”
I laughed dryly. “Oh yeah, that’s it.” No, I only plotted that in my dreams.
The snow came down harder, and Gage sat forward to see out the windshield. “Man, this isn’t good.”
“No. No it isn’t.”
We drove down the empty two-lane highway for another forty-five minutes without seeing a single car. Clearly no one else was crazy enough to be out in the storm.
“We’re obviously going north, but where are we exactly? Close to Albany yet?”
“We’re still a little ways off from there.” He slowed down the truck. “Oh. But we’re good. At least we won’t hit traffic.”
“Very funny.”
“I knew these chains would come in handy. I almost took them out of the truck over Thanksgiving.”
“It’s a good thing you didn’t.” I rested my head back. “I’d offer to do some of the driving, but…”
“Yeah, you’re not driving my truck.”
“Would you have said that even if I hadn’t brought up my accident?”
“Yes. No one drives Bessy but me.”
“Bessy? You named your truck Bessy?” I crossed my legs and turned toward him.
“Is there something wrong with that name?”
“No. It’s just surprising.” Gage didn’t seem like the type to name a vehicle. I figured he was more concerned with the horsepower.
“See, you don’t know everything about me.”
“I don’t know plenty about you.”
“I know almost nothing about you.” He changed into fourth gear as we headed up the next hill. “Tell me about you.”