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I grinned like a madman. “It wasn't Brooke,” I muttered just before I broke out in laughter. “It wasn’t Brooke.” I hugged Leslie out of impulse. “It wasn't Brooke!”
“What the hell are you talking about? Have you gone crazy?”
I flashed a huge smile at Leslie and then ran around the SUV to the driver’s side. “Maybe I have,” I shouted, “maybe I have. Thank you, Leslie!” With that, I slammed the door shut, cranked the motor, and sped off into the night.
This changed everything.
Everything.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Brooke
The sound of a low rumble vibrated through the walls of the apartment. My first thought was that Chris had cranked up his music again which, of course, started me thinking about Emerson. I hadn't seen his bike parked out front since the Wednesday morning after he got back from visiting his dad. He still hadn't been to chemistry class nor had I seen him anywhere on campus. I tried not to let him get to me. I tried to push him out of my mind every time my thoughts wandered in his direction, but I just couldn’t seem to keep him from sneaking into my head. I'd been able to distract myself easily enough on the RAG trip, but being back in my apartment opened me up to thinking about him again.
The rumble pulsed through the apartment once more. I was about to head next door and ask Chris to turn his speakers down when a buzz on my phone snapped me out of my intentions and saved me from making an idiot of myself. Garrett’s message informed me that he was downstairs waiting for me.
I stepped out of the apartment and looked down only to find the deep rumble wasn’t coming from Chris cranking up his music next door; it was from a classic muscle car idling its engine out front. Sitting in the driver's seat was Garrett. He saw me and rolled down his window and grinned. “You coming down or what? We're gonna be late for the movies!”
“Alright, alright! I'm coming!” I hurried back inside, checked my makeup in the mirror, then grabbed my bag and locked up.
When I got to the parking lot, Garrett was standing by the pristine, vintage car, holding the passenger door open for me. I admired it before I climbed in. It looked like it had just rolled off the showroom floor. Its gleaming black paint didn't seem to have a single spot of dirt on it.
“Wow, Garrett, this is a beautiful car!”
“'67 Mustang,” he said, flashing his model perfect grin at me. “Classic American muscle. Way more personality and presence than those wannabe sports cars everyone drives these days.”
“I'll say. Jeez, I could feel the engine rumbling up in my apartment.”
“It's magic, isn't it? Man, that V8 growl gives me chills down my spine every time I crank it up.”
“My dad is a bit of a muscle car enthusiast,” I told him. “He took up rebuilding them when he couldn’t ride his motorcycles anymore. This thing has to be worth a pretty penny. It's absolutely spotless! Mind if I ask how did you managed to acquire such a machine? I mean, you’re a college junior.”
“I didn’t buy it like this, you know. My dad picked it up from a scrapheap when I was fourteen. It was dented, seized up—a real beater. So, we got it for next to nothing and worked on it for the next five years, restoring every part to original condition. And now… voila! The beauty you see before you.”
“That's impressive. How many hours of work went into it?”
He laughed. “Oh boy, I don't even wanna begin to try to add it all up! We spent many, many late nights in the garage working on this baby. But enough about my car, get in. We're gonna be late!”
“Alright,” I said, smiling as I sunk into the plush, leather front seat.
The inside of the car was as spotless as the outside. And just as Garrett had said, everything seemed completely original, except for a brand new sound system. I was staring at it when he climbed into the driver's seat.
“Yeah, I know,” he said as if reading my mind. “It looks a bit out of place, right? Brand new, twenty-first century technology in a ’60s vehicle. But I've gotta have my tunes, ya know? Although tonight, they’re gonna be your tunes.”
“How so?”
“You must have a playlist of your favorite tunes on your phone, right?”
“I do.”
“Take it out. This player will sync it up and play the music off your phone through the car's sound system.”
“Sweet!” I exclaimed.
He grinned. “Very. Go ahead, check your phone for a list of nearby devices to sync with. 'Garrett's Ride' is obviously what you're looking for.”
“Obviously.”
