Still up for it? Outside!

Griffin’s phone buzzed at the incoming message. He read it, smiled, and switched his phone to silent. It was late. Griffin wasn’t sure what Charlie’s dad did for work, but he didn’t bring the car home until well after 9 PM. It ended up working out for the best, though. Griffin’s mom didn’t want him driving, so he was going to have to sneak out in order to learn – and she was usually already holed up in her room for the night at this point.

Griffin pulled a backpack over his shoulder and gingerly stepped through his dim house and out the front door. He pulled the door shut behind him and slowly locked it with a soft click. He turned to see a simple black sedan waiting at the curb. The front passenger window rolled down, and Griffin could see Charlie waving from behind the wheel, faintly lit by the yellowing streetlight overhead.

Charlie cupped a hand beside his mouth and called out, “Hey Griff!”

Griffin shook his head vigorously and brought a finger up to his mouth to signal Charlie to be quiet. He rushed on his tip-toes over to the car, slid into the passenger seat, and rolled up the window.

“Sorry, are your parents sleeping?” Charlie asked in an exaggerated whisper. “It’s late, but not late late.”

Griffin shook his head. “Not sleeping, no. My mom just can’t know I snuck out.”

“Snuck out? Wait, why?” Charlie asked.

“She doesn’t want me driving,” Griffin shrugged. “Moms, you know?”

Charlie nodded meaningfully. “Well, in case she’s watching, we’ll wait until we get to the parking lot for you to take over the wheel.” He moved the gear into drive and slowly pulled away from the curb. “That way she’ll just think you got in a car with a strange boy in the middle of the night, and not something, like, nefarious.”

Charlie flashed a smile in Griffin’s direction before turning back to the road and driving down the dark street away from his house.

“So, did you bring the good stuff?” he asked without looking away from the road. He was wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

What a dork, Griffin thought, and found himself grinning.

“Only the premium ‘ish’ in exchange for my driver’s ed,” Griffin said while unzipping the backpack at his feet. He pulled out two paperback books. “I’ve got two choices to kick you off – high fantasy, or cyber noir.”

Charlie opened his jaw, but promptly shut it again. He turned to Griffin and put on a half-convincing smile. “Oh, uh, what about – I don’t know – something more… grounded?”

“Grounded?” Griffin asked, trying to suppress any notion of offense in his voice.

Charlie shrugged as he turned the car onto a joining road. “Yeah, I just – I think I have a hard time getting into stories that are really unrealistic.”

“Hmmm,” Griffin hummed to himself as he stared down at the two books in his hands. Their glossy covers flashed up at him intermittently beneath the passing street lights. One showed a bare-chested man standing on a cliffside above a roaring sea at night. He was raising a massive sword towards the sky, catching the moonlight on its glittering metal edge. Shadowy figures crossed the night sky above them. Moonsword, the title read.

The other cover was simpler. A large, flat black square against a cream-white background. Inside the square, green pixelated lines formed the shape of a body – like a chalk outline you’d find at a crime scene. Monospaced green letters wrote out the title above: Terminal Network.

Griffin felt a fluttering of nerves in his chest, suddenly self-conscious of his choice in narratives. He and Charlie had gotten off to a good start earlier, but now his cool, casual project partner was going to think he was an irredeemable dweeb just like every other guy at their school.

“Yeah, I totally get that,” he said and cleared his throat. “I can do grounded.”

He started to place the books back into his bag, but Charlie’s right hand shot over and caught him gently by the arm. “Wait,” he said with a softness to his voice. “Maybe you can tell me about them.”

Griffin felt another flutter of nerves bubble up, but different this time. Warmer, maybe.

Before he could respond, Charlie’s hand retreated as they turned into an empty parking lot outside of a quiet church. “In a bit, anyways. Your obstacle course awaits.”

Charlie pulled into an aisle and slowed to a stop before shifting the car into park. Ahead of them, Griffin saw a slew of orange safety cones strewn about in a pattern he couldn’t yet make sense of. Their wide reflective bands glinted beneath the stream of the car’s headlights.

“When did you set this up?” Griffin asked.

“Before I picked you up. A teacher is only as good as his classroom,” Charlie replied. He nudged Griffin’s shoulder with the back of his knuckles. “Come on, switch with me and show me what you’ve got.”

Charlie stepped out of the driver’s seat and jogged around to the other side of the car. Before Griffin could move, Charlie was opening the car door for him. He bowed ostentatiously as Griffin stepped out. “One premium, bespoke driving education course designed by yours truly.”

Griffin was taken aback by Charlie’s enthusiasm for the exercise. He was so much goofier than Griffin had imagined, but he still wasn’t sure if he should be playing along – or if he’d just be making a fool of himself yet again. He managed a nervous grin. “Uh, thank you… kindly.”

Charlie beamed and stepped into the passenger seat. “Come now driver, chop-chop!” he said while clapping his hands dramatically. Charlie closed the passenger door, leaving Griffin standing outside the car looking uncertain of himself. He watched Charlie raise his hands and clap two more times from behind the window, and the muffled sound snapped him back to attention. He jogged around to the driver’s door and slid in, closing it behind him.

Charlie was aiming his phone camera at him. “Can we get a smile for future-Griffin to look back on this, his last moment of driving virginity?”

Griffin mustered a nervous smile and a cheesy thumbs up. There was a click and a flash, which Griffin had to shake out of his eyes. Charlie whispered a half-laugh, half-apology as he tucked his phone away.

When Griffin’s vision cleared he placed his hands on the wheel, then nervously lifted them off again. He looked over at Charlie for reassurance, who nodded back at him encouragingly. He was holding Griffin’s backpack on his lap and hugging it against his chest with both arms. Griffin’s fluttering nerves became warm in his chest again. There was something calming and comforting about being in Charlie’s presence.

Griffin grabbed the wheel again – hands at ten o’clock and two o’clock – and took in a deep breath. He held it for a moment, and then exhaled it all at once like spitting out a bad drink. “I have no idea what to do next,” he said, the words rushing into one another.

Charlie took a deep breath himself and demonstrated a proper slow exhale. Griffin followed suit, feeling a small bit of heaviness leave his shoulders.

“First,” Charlie started. He reached over and placed a hand on Griffin’s closest wrist, pulling it gently down the circumference of the wheel a few inches. “You actually want your hands at three and nine for the most control.”

Griffin slid his other hand down to mirror the position on the other side. Charlie kept his hand on Griffin’s wrist and then tugged it casually away from the wheel and onto the gear shift lever jutting up between them. He wrapped his fingers around Griffin’s hand, aligning his thumb over the button on the left side of the lever.

Griffin caught himself holding his breath. Charlie’s hand was warm and soft – and so unlike his own, which was starting to feel clammy. Charlie’s movements were relaxed and confident, as if he’d grown up never having been introduced to the concept of second-guessing himself.

It was that certainty that entranced him, Griffin realized. The notion that Charlie moved through the world knowing that he was alright, and by extension of choosing to spend time with Griffin that he was alright as well.

There was a moment of silence between them, Charlie’s hand wrapped around his own, before Charlie pulled away. It wasn’t sudden or nervous, like the flittering feeling in Griffin’s gut. It was calm. And suddenly Griffin felt calm as well, feeling more of the heaviness on his shoulders melt into the air.

“You’ll want to clench the button and move the gear into drive,” Charlie said. His voice was quiet and tender, as if he was soothing away an air of anxiety that had risen like a fog in the car. “Make sure your foot is on the break as you do it.”

Griffin followed his instructions, earning a congratulatory pat on the arm and a very sincere great job! from Charlie. They sat there, immobile, as Griffin slowly eased his foot off of the break.

The car inched ahead, exciting Griffin enough to cause him to lift his foot from the brake and have the car suddenly lurch forward as it gained speed. He quickly slammed his foot back down, stopping the car and throwing them both forward against their taut seatbelts.

“Ouch,” Charlie said, rubbing his chest where the seatbelt caught him. “But a good test of the seatbelts – they work!” he added enthusiastically, grunting through a small bit of discomfort.

“Sorry!” Griffin shouted nervously. “So, so sorry,” he said more quietly, letting his voice trail off.

“Hey,” Charlie said softly. He reached over with a hand and gently rubbed the middle of Griffin’s chest where the seatbelt laid. “No worries, we’ll just have matching bruises.”

Charlie pulled his hand back and took a deep breath. Once again, Griffin followed suit. “Ready to try again?” Charlie asked.

Griffin closed his eyes and took a moment. He recalled the feeling of tenderness he’d felt as Charlie touched his chest for those brief moments. He committed it to memory.

He opened his eyes, nodded, and slowly eased up on the brake again.