Chapter 2

The next day Danny took the scenic route to work, he wanted to take in the beautiful changing of the seasons. He knew it was cheesy, but little moments like this where he got to be alone in his thoughts were sometimes the only moments he ever had. His mother, while he loved her dearly, could be incessant with her constant barrage of questions and wanting to connect and talk about his feelings.

His alternative route had him driving past Green Grove High, which he looked at with a cold feeling of remorse. Why had he ever put himself through that? Then he remembered…Lacey and Jo. They were the only reasons he had let his mom talk him into going back there. And in the end, it didn't matter. Not all friendships are going to be forever he convinced himself, people change. The stoplight he was at was a long one, he looked at the time on the dashboard of his old Camry, shit hopefully this scenic route wouldn't make him late. As the light turned green, he sped up to a little over the speed limit, grateful there weren't too many cars on the road. Then suddenly, a silver car pulled out from some neighboring street and he had to slam on his breaks. Danny was never one to believe it was too early in the morning for a car horn-which he blared in conjunction with a slew of curse words.

Lacey was running super behind schedule, her college was 6 hours away and she was trying to get some mileage behind her before the back to school traffic held her up for any longer. She hadn't even seen the car speeding along and when the driver slammed on his horn she was so startled she spilled her coffee.
"OMG OMG, o wow ow hot hot!" She cried out to herself. She tried dabbing at her lap with some old crumbled napkins she fumbled around for in her car, hoping that it wouldn't stain her favorite skirt.

She looked angrily at her rear view mirror hoping the other driver could feel her laser beams of hatred.

And to her horror, she watched as the car turned into the passing lane next to her to try to get around her. When he looked over to give her the stink eye she almost spilled her coffee again. Danny Desai was the person she had almost hit.

Danny's mouth dropped as he recognized the girl driving next to him. What should he do? Should he do anything at all? And just as he thought his day couldn't get any weirder, he hit another red light. Lacey cursed the stop-and-go type streets of the quiet suburban town. Now she was forced to look over at Danny, knowing he was probably staring at her. She was right, and he was motioning to roll her window down. She obliged after rolling her eyes.

"Hey Lacey!" He smiled that wonderful, familiar smile. "where you headed?" He asked, his voice sounded way more confident than he was feeling.

"Back to school." She answered back.

"You got a minute, I'd like to chat…" He hated cutting straight to the point but he felt rushed for time.

"Are you crazy…?" He cut her off.

"Follow me if you're down." Danny winked and rolled up his window as the light turned green. He had no idea what he was going to say to her, or if she was even going to meet him, and his heart was beating so fast he almost wished he could take it back. But then he saw her come into view in his rear view mirror, and his rapidly beating heart suddenly soared. He didn't give a damn if he was late to work now he thought to himself as he pulled into the parking lot of his job.