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It’s a little annoying, but I can’t expect too much out of her. She’s actually handling this all far better than I would have thought, but I’m willing to bet that the shock will come crashing down on her in a couple of days.
At least I won’t be around to deal with it.
I’ll be deep in the trenches of my own life’s bullshit, which might be far worse.
We approach town within twenty minutes, and I’ve never been happier to see this fucking place in my life.
I’ve started checking my phone obsessively waiting for a response from Misha. Vera thinks that I’m stressed out about missing a turn, so she directs me toward the campus every time I glance down at my phone.
It’s started to grate on me, but I force myself to take a deep breath and tolerate it. She thinks she’s being helpful, and she hasn’t actually done anything to warrant so much annoyance and spite on my part.
I did this to her, and I need to take responsibility for it.
As we approach the fairgrounds, we both see the yellow caution tape wrapped around the perimeter of the property. There are still cops swarming the area, putting me on high alert as I remember the bloodstain on the front of my car.
My connection to the shooting would be impossible to cover up, and I’m certain that I’d be led away in handcuffs.
I’m forced to slow down as we approach the fairgrounds where a cop in a high-vis vest directs the flow of traffic.
My forehead breaks out in a light sweat as I do the best I can to remain casual.
He sees hundreds of cars a day doing shit like this, I doubt he’s going to see my guilty expression and flag me for it.
But still, I can’t be too cautious.
Vera clasps her hand over her mouth as we pass the parking lot, and I see a huge pool of dried blood mingled with the dirt and stones. We’d been parked right by it, so the person who smeared my car might have died only a few feet from us.
We both breathe a sigh of relief after we pass the fairground though neither of us share a common threat. It’s almost funny to me, but then I remember that she might have lost friends in the carnage.
Well,almostfriends.
After what she’s said about them, I doubt she’d be particularly upset about any of them being shot.
Maybe some of them deserved it.
I’ve driven past the campus apartments enough times to know where they are, so I roll up to the main building before she points me toward the block where she lives.
“Don’t linger too much. I don’t need the questions,” she says under her breath.
“Trust me, I wouldn’t be caught dead hanging around here if I wasn’t responsible for bringing you home,” I reply.
Despite her request that I leave as soon as possible, my response seems to sting quite a bit.
“Um, thank you for bringing me back to my house, by the way. You could have just ditched me out there.”
Icouldhave, but then I’d have a body on my hands with my DNA all over it.
“Just get out of my car,” I snap.
She scrambles to unlock her seatbelt, practically falling out of the passenger door as she staggers to her feet.
As soon as she closes the door, I speed away.
I glance back at her through my rearview mirror, and she’s still collecting herself on the sidewalk as she disappears into the distance.
I feel sort of bad for the way I reacted, especially knowing that she’ll probably carry that confusion and insecurity with her for the rest of her life.
To be fair, if Misha had been responding to me, I’d have a lot less to be angry about. Notnothing, but I’d be far more capable of maintaining politeness.
