One.
“So, even if I’m going to slow down, you’re saying I need to hit the clutch?”
“Yes! My God you’re a slow learner. How did you ever pass high school math?”
“Woah, Beesly. Stop right there. I don’t know if you realize that you are talking to the Honorary Student of the Year in Pre-Calculus”
“Honorary? Isn’t that just a fancy word for ‘you didn’t win, but we think you’re alright anyway?”
“Hm. Maybe. What kind of honorary awards did you win, then?”
“Superb Achievement in Stick-shift driving”
They were both laughing at the comfortable banter between them, easing both of their nerves as Jim approached his first hill driving Pam’s stick shift car. She had offered to teach him how to drive stick since he was considering buying a new car, and wanted to save money by going for the manual transmission. It had become a routine for them. On their lunch break, Pam would toss him the keys and he would pull out like a scared teen as they went to the local deli to pick up sandwiches—for him: Ham and Cheese, and for her: turkey on a roll. He made fun of her endlessly for not choosing any condiments, cheese, or even lettuce. She would always respond that she was set in her ways; she had been having turkey sandwiches every day since high school.
As he pulled into the parking spot at the Old Street Deli, she commended him on his progress, noting that she was impressed with how he knew how to downshift after the hill without her even telling him. He smiled a nervous smile, hoping that she wasn’t on to him. He reached for the emergency brake at the same moment that she did. Her delicate hand brushed on top of his, and lingered almost as if it wasn’t an accident. He felt hot, like every nerve ending in his hand was on fire at her touch. The fire flooded to his face, and he was sure that he was blushing. He was also pretty sure that she was burning a hole into his knuckle right now, and if he looked down he might throw up from the inevitable exposure of his raw flesh and bone. But he didn’t dare move before she did. He looked over to her, and she was smiling too, looking down and blushing as she slowly and deliberately moved her hand back to her lap, clenching it and rubbing it with her other hand nervously. “That’s not your hand to hold,” she told herself, “no matter how unbelievably soft it was.”
That day, she ordered a buffalo chicken panini.
“I thought you were ‘stuck in your high school ways?’” he asked her playfully.
“Yeah, but I’m beginning to realize my high school life is over. I need some changes.”
Story Notes:
My first 'five times!' If you review, I'll give you a cookie. But not the Dwangela kind :)
DISCLAIMER: No copywright infringement intended. SPOILERS up through the delivery
DISCLAIMER: No copywright infringement intended. SPOILERS up through the delivery
Author's Chapter Notes:
