Page 64 of Without You

Katie

“No! No no no no no! Arrghhh! This can’t be happening. Not right now,” I cry to myself. I wasn’t paying attention and veered onto the gravel on the side of the road and not ten seconds later I knew something was wrong.

Luckily, I was about to pass a small roadside café so I pulled in, parked my car, and got out to inspect the damage.

The tire is flat as a pancake.

I learned how to change a flat tire when I was eighteen, but that was knowledge I didn’t fully retain. I really don’t think I should trust myself to fix this, but I hate to bother Brody with it, either.

If I don’t call him, he’s going to be upset with me. That much is obvious after last night’s heated… discussion.

I pick up my phone, dial his number, and wait for it to ring. I’m standing next to the flat tire and scowl at it. What horrible luck! In the split second that I was off the road I must have run over a nail or something.

The call gets dropped after one ring.

I try again.

Same thing.

I look at my phone and realize I have no bars. No service. Then I look around and curse myself for taking a side road this morning. I was in a good mood and didn’t feel like dealing with the interstate traffic. Plus, I’d always wanted to take the scenic route. A lot of good that did me. For three months, I drove to school and used the same route. Today I told one of the professors I would meet her for a coffee because we had developed a friendship. For some reason, I thought it’d be a great idea to shake things up and go a different way. With the leaves changing color, I just knew it would be fun to take the winding road through the mountains instead. It was pretty and until I got to the base of the mountain, I was thinking I had made a brilliant decision. I was wrong. All the pretty crimson and gold trees are long forgotten, replaced with misery of my own doing.

Because it’s what people do, I lift my phone in the air, praying that the extra elevation will somehow trigger it to pull a signal. It doesn’t work. Shocker.

I decide to try a text instead.

It doesn’t go through.

So I stomp into the café, irritated that I’m going to be late meeting her and can’t even get enough service to call her and let her know that I’m not just flaking on my promise to get together. I order myself a cup of coffee to go then ask to use the restroom. After taking care of business, I walk back outside, chug down some of my ambition, and pop the trunk.

“Oh, shit!” I shout. “Arrggghh! Are you kidding me?” I whimper.

My spare tire isn’t here. What the hell?

Because I only keep the emergency kit that my dad gave me (lot of good that’s providing since it’s a set of jumper cables, a box of granola bars, and two bottles of water) and an extra blanket in my trunk, it’s not as if it can be hiding anywhere.

It was a used car when I purchased it but I swear I checked to see if there was a spare tire when I bought it. Obviously, that wasn’t the case. Either that, or there’s some sort of spare tire thief roaming around the state.

A vehicle pulls up and parks a few spaces down from me but I’m too deep into my pity party to care who it is. I slam my trunk shut with as much force as I dare and climb back into the driver’s seat, grip the steering wheel, and rest my forehead on it.

Brody is going to kill me. This is what he does for a living. What kind of… girlfriend? Am I his girlfriend? I shake off the thought because I don’t have time to worry about labels right now. I know we’re exclusive and that’s all that matters. Anyway, what kind of… person he’s seeing am I that I can’t even do the most basic of car fixes? A crappy one, that’s what.

I will not cry.

I will not cry.

I will not cry.

Damn it.

I’m crying.

Not ugly sobs. I almost think that would be better because these hot tears just sliding down my cheeks are almost worse. I detest crying because of a situation I’m in. And this one could have been one hundred percent prevented had I checked to make sure I have a spare but also taken the time to practice knowing how to change a flat tire.

A knock on my window sounds and I turn my head so I can see who’s standing there.

An olive green t-shirt covered torso and a jeans waistband.

It appears to be a man.

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