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I whipped back around, the sudden motion making me wobble on my feet. Noticing, Max stepped forward, but Veronica laid a hand on my arm, trying to steady me.
“Okay?” she asked.
“Yeah, thanks,” I told her, noticing how much smaller her hand was than Max’s.
Stop thinking about Max.
I smiled at her. “Just a little woozy.”
Her head bobbed. “You can lean on me.”
Max made a rude sound.
“How do you know my car is totaled?” I asked him.
“I saw it.”
“Y-you saw it?”
“We all did,” Ryan said. “We went to the accident site, remember?”
Right. They had said that last night. The details of the accident were still fuzzy even though the events before it no longer were. I wondered if driving by the place or even seeing my car again would make me recall everything the way seeing Veronica made me remember the diner.
Even though I was making a real effort not to look, my eyes dragged back to Max. “Did you see me?” My stomach dipped, my chest aching for what that must have been like. Just thinking about my dream last night and how my parents looked in that car—which wasnotreality—made me sick.
“I, ah, tried,” he said, voice hoarse. “But you were already gone. The car was empty.”
“Youlookedin the car?”
“Punched one of the officers to get to it,” Jamie mused. “It was kinda badass.”
“Punching police officers isnotbadass,” Madison admonished.
“Aw, baby, but it kinda was,” Jamie cajoled.
Swallowing, I looked back at Max. Suddenly, Veronica’s small hand seemed so heavy. “Max?”
“I wasn’t just going to leave you in there.” He didn’t have to defend himself to me, though. It didn’t matter what he did. I loved him regardless.
That is not romantic, Wes. It’s toxic.
“But you were already en route to the hospital.” Max finished.
“Right.” Forcing my eyes back to Veronica, I couldn’t quite force a smile. “Yeah, gonna need that ride.”
Her eyes lit up, and I suddenly felt like a giant dick. “Of course.”
“Jamie will drive you,” Max announced.
“Oh, you trust me now?” Jamie mused.
Max gave Jamie a withering look, and Jamie just smiled and lazily walked over to the donuts to stuff another one in his mouth. “Bro, I’ll drive.”
“I don’t mind,” Veronica said.
“You guys have done enough for me. I know you have classes.” I blanched, turning to Veronica. “Do you go to Westbrook?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I just work at the diner for extra money.”
