Page 71 of A Dead Girl's Guide to Living
Ellis screamed, and her feet automatically began to sprint before Liv cackled loudly, running alongside us, laughing like a maniac as we tore toward the end of the bridge.
“Oi!” the ranger called again. “Stop right there!”
I noticed Ellis fumbling with her pocket as she ran, her face flushed and eyes wide with terror as she sprinted beside me. I saw what she ripped out just as she held it toward me, like passing a baton in a relay.
“You drive!” she shrieked. “I can’t do any more getaways!”
“Run!” Liv screamed with delight. “He’s catching up!”
“Shit, shit, shit!” I gasped, both fear and exhilaration racing through my veins as I snatched the key from Ellis. I unlocked the doors, the satisfying pop hitting my ears, and we piled in. I didn’t bother with my seat belt but noted Ellis tugging on hers, whimpering as it jammed twice before extending.
I grinned wickedly and put the key in the ignition, my hands shaking at the chance to finally get a turn behind this wheel. I threw the car into gear and floored it, Ellis flung back into her seat while Liv slid along the back, delighted laughter spilling from her lips as the wheels tore up the dust and gravel behind me.
In the rearview mirror, I saw the ranger standing in the cloud of dust, hat in hand as he shook his head. I grinned and pressed the gas harder.
ELLIS
Tip #11: Birth charts are just flirt prompts. Share your time of birth responsibly.
Dove’s playlist had shifted into something upbeat and vaguely chaotic as G Flip’s “Worst Person Alive” blasted loud enough from the stereo to keep my thoughts from circling too hard. I was still coming down from the shit show that was St. Louis. The kid at Ted Drewes... my heart still tugged painfully at that one, and I swallowed roughly.
Liv on the bridge... that had been a lot. Especially in that brief moment where she’d looked like Alexis. Just standing there, and then falling. Falling.
Then there was the extreme getaway from the park ranger. I had been biting my tongue on saying theI told you sothat had been waiting to fall from my lips.
I closed my eyes tightly, then reopened them and took a long, deep breath. The windows were cracked just enough for the scent of incoming rain to cling to the air. Dove looked relaxed behind the wheel, loose and confident, one thumb tapping therhythm on the leather grip, the other hand resting casually between her legs.
I knew I didn’t look that cool when I drove. I was usually two hands on the wheel, back ramrod straight.
She was so cool. Calm. Collected. All the time. And I was sitting here trying not to have a meltdown over not being in control, not being the one with the map, the one navigating which parts of the route we had to bypass and where we’d get back on again. She drove a little too fast, in my opinion, and every now and then I caught myself pressing my brake foot into the footwell.
Behind us, Liv was narrating a game of Ad Libs, tossing out sentence prompts that Dove enthusiastically responded to. Liv had clearly climbed out of her stupor, the bridge serving as some kind of breakthrough for her. Too bad her closure had just unraveled my tightly sealed Alexis box.
“Okay,” Liv called out. “Give me a noun. No, not a boring one, do better, Dove.”
“Umm,” Dove said with a laugh. “I don’t know... moonbeam?”
“Good,” Liv declared with a clap. “Now an emotion.”
“Regret,” I muttered dryly, unable to stop myself.
“Perfect,” Liv said with a grin. “‘The moonbeam glistened off her regret as she realized—’ I’m sorry, I can’t. Ellis, you got something going on up there?”
I blinked at her through the rearview mirror. “What?”
“She means your foot,” Dove smirked, glancing at me before looking back to the road.
I looked down and felt heat crawl up the back of my neck. My foot was braced hard against the floor, toes pointed like I was preparing to launch myself from the car.
“I dunno, Ellis,” Dove began in a light, teasing tone, “if you keep pressing that imaginary brake, you’re gonna punch a hole through the floor.”
The heat that had been building on my neck bloomed across my cheeks. I pulled my foot back. “Um... sorry.”
Dove smirked again. “No worries. Just didn’t think it would take you this long to spiral from lack of control. I’m impressed.”
“I’m not spiraling,” I sputtered defensively, the lie tasting like vinegar on my tongue.
Liv snickered behind us, and Dove’s smirk remained fixed in place. She reached for the volume knob and turned the music down just a fraction.
