Five People Traveled With Four Seats, Then They Panicked When I Left Chapter 10

Five People Traveled With Four Seats, Then They Panicked When I Left Chapter 10

Three months later, the company planned a weekend road trip.

Five people, one seven-seat SUV.

Before we got in, one of my coworkers asked, “Where do you want to sit?”

I went for the back row on instinct.

“Anywhere is fine.”

He looked confused.

“Anywhere?”

“The passenger seat’s open. Don’t you get carsick?”

I stopped. “How’d you know?”

“Last trip you said looking at your phone on the highway made you nauseous.”

He tossed me the keys.

“Get up front. Don’t throw up in my car.”

Everyone cracked up. I laughed too.

When I got in, my phone lit up. It was Pearl.

She hadn’t contacted me in a long time.

She only sent me a picture from graduation.

The four of them were standing outside Cedar Hill University. There was a space in the middle.

[Graduation photos today.]

[It’s so obvious someone’s missing.]

I looked at it for a while.

Then I replied: [Looks good.]

She quickly asked: [How have you been lately?]

[Good, actually.]

This time, I meant it.

Felix hadn’t sent me any more long messages. His last one had come two weeks earlier.

[Rae, I get it now. You didn’t just suddenly walk away.]

[We pushed you away. Little by little.]

I never replied. I didn’t delete it. Just left it there.

Once we were moving, one of my coworkers asked, “What’s everyone feeling for food?”

I answered without thinking. “Anything’s fine.”

A voice from the back cut in. “No ‘anything’ allowed.”

“Everyone pick one. Drop the polite act.”

“Right. We’re here to have fun. No need to go back and forth.”

I froze for a second.

Then I said, “I want barbecue.”

“Sounds good.”

“The top-rated spot nearby?”

“That one.”

No one complained that I was being difficult.

No one asked me to change it. Like what I wanted to eat was just a normal thing.

We hit the highway.

I leaned against the window and suddenly thought about that senior trip.

Back then, I was always chasing after them.

The car.

The route.

One explanation after another.

Once I stopped, they started looking for me instead.

But by then, I didn’t need them to anymore.

Someone in the back tapped my seat.

“Rae, don’t fall asleep.

“Next rest stop, we’re grabbing coffee. We’ll wait.”

I turned back.

“Got it.”

The car buzzed with talk and laughter.

This time, someone was really waiting for me.