4
AND TO YOUR RIGHT, WE HAVE
NOEL'S WRECKED CHEVY
The wind blew something terrible as Aria Montgomery stared out her window, watching the flakes fall. She sipped her herbal green tea from the paint-splattered mug she'd made at a make-your-own pottery shoppe in downtown Rosewood.
She'd just recently had a fight with her mom, Ella, and was thinking about moving out for good. Maybe her dad and Meredith, her stepmom, might like the company.
Aria shrugged, thinking everything through.
Mike didn't care for her, since he still thought she and Hanna were friends, and since he broke up with her...it was awkward.
Ella didn't give a damn about her, either. She yelled at Aria all the time for the dumbest things.
At that moment, Aria realized she probably only had 1 good thing in her life right now.
Noel.
And at times, things weren't always perfect with him, either.
Perhaps he understood her better than anyone; her friends, her brother, even her own mother didn't understand her.
Beep.
"Ooh!" Aria squealed, almost giddy.
She rose from her spot on an antique leather chair and tumbled over to the table in the library where she'd left her Nokia hours ago.
ONE NEW TEXT MESSAGE FROM NOEL, it read.
hey, wanna go to kmart? ill pick u up at 4 - noel
Aria smiled warmly and texted him back that she would.
Grabbing a flowly long-sleeved shirt with lace, a pair of dark wash skinny jeans and her favorite chocolate brown ankle boots, Aria slipped into her closet and began dressing.
When done, she applied just the right touches of makeup, turbo-brushed her teeth and ran a brush through her long hair.
Out her door, she grabbed her Nokia and stuffed it into her back jean pocket, then she grabbed her favorite leather fleece jacket, because she knew her mother would say something to her about bringing a jacket.
She was half-way out the front door when someone reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her back into the house.
"And just what do you think you're doing?" Ella Montgomery looked her daughter up and down. "Hmm?"
"Uh..um..." Aria stuttered. "Going out with Noel. He's picking me up so we can go to K-mart."
Ella gave her a disaproved look. "K-mart? What will you be doing there?"
Aria sighed. "Mom!" she said. "Please, we're just going to hang out, get some food..then he'll bring me home. It's not like we're going cliff-diving."
"Hmmph..." Ella started. "Fine. But he better have you back before dinner!" She started to walk back down the hall, towards the living room. "Okay?"
"Yes, mother!" Aria hollered as she slipped out the front door. She pulled on her jacket and checked her Nokia for the time.
It was 3:56.
"Noel should be here any minute, now," she mumbled to herself, rocking back and forth on her boots' heels.
Crack.
Aria looked to her left, aware of any danger.
But an old tree with an innocent looking squirrel in it, stared back.
"Why am I worrying?" she asked herself. "A's dead."
Snap.
Aria looked again, this time both ways.
She thought she saw a dark figure standing across the street, by her neighbors' house.
"..Huh?" she whispered.
The figure looked female and her hair was long and blonde.
Aria's eyes widened as the figure stared back at her and waved, very, very, slowly.
"Ali?" Aria questioned.
No, she told herself, that was dumb.
Their Ali was dead and so was real Ali.
"Of course." Aria told herself a-matter-of-factly.
But the figure didn't go away.
It stood there, now, motionless. Just staring at Aria.
"Okay..." she said.
Maybe it'd be better if she waited inside, just until Noel got here. It was awfully cold.
But as she turned to duck back into the house, Noel pulled up into the driveway in his old Chevy truck.
Noel's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Kahn, had said Noel could have whatever kind of car he wanted. So, it was a big surprise when he came home one day driving what his dad called his "piece of shit Chevy".
But Aria thought it was cool. And vintage. Which made it more cool.
Noel parked the truck and jumped out, running towards Aria.
Before she could say hi or how are you or anything, Noel scooped her into his arms and carried her towards the car.
Aria squealed with delight as Noel placed her in the passenger seat and let her buckle her seat before gently shutting the door.
He ran around to his side of the truck, scrambling to get in.
As soon as he started the car, he turned to Aria and said, "I love you."
Aria blushed, feeling the heat rise to her cheeks. "I love you, too." she said.
She turned on the rusty old radio and on came a Ke$ha song. Aria giggled.
Noel backed out of the driveway, beeping the horn to a spying Ella in the window. Then, at a red light of course, he moved closer to Aria on the old picnic table seat cushions in the truck and kissed her softly.
His lips tasted like ginger ale and snow. Aria smiled. De-licious.
"So," Aria said, snuggling into her seat. "We're going to Kmart?"
Truthfully, she hadn't been there in forever, not since she was 5 and bought little squishy toys from those toy machines they had at the checkout lines.
"Yeah. It's not a romantic date per` se`, but it's a date. And I have a surprise planned." He grinned, showing off a mouthfull of glistening, white pearls.
"Okay!" Aria tried to sound cheerful, but she couldn't help but wonder what he'd plan for ''romantic-ness" to take place at a Kmart.
Noel pulled into the right lane, picking up speed as he drove.
They passed the speed limit sign, which said the speed limit was 55. Aria checked Noel's speed, just for something to do, noting that it was 75.
"Um?" Aria started. She turned down the radio so she could be heard. "Aren't we going a little fast?"
Noel looked out his rear-view mirror. "Sorry, babe. " he said. "This asshole's riding me."
Aria looked behind her out the window, noticing at large modern Ford truck driving very, extremely close to Noel's Chevy's bumper.
"Jerk." Aria said.
"Yeah!" Noel agreed, stepping on the brake.
He turned to Aria. "I go a little slower every minute just to bug his ass. He doesn't seem to like it too much!"
Aria half-smiled as if to say, Okay, honey, just get me to Kmart alive, please!
And she hoped that's what would happen.
"Maybe you should pull over into the other lane." Aria suggested.
"No, no." Noel said, hands gripped tightly on the wheel. "He'll have to move his ass first."
Aria sighed. It was useless. All she could do was pray they got to Kmart safely.
She turned around to look at the jackass, who was still riding Noel's bumper.
"That's nice!" she cried. "He's texting now."
She turned back around, shaking her head.
The light ahead turned red.
"Shit." Noel muttered, going slow, about to stop.
He stopped at the light. Whew. They were safe.
But bumper-rider didn't stop. He just kept texting, his foot firmly on the gas.
"Noel!" Aria said. "Pull over! Now!"
"Why? It's a red light."
"Just pull over! That guy's not stopping!"
Beep.
ONE NEW TEXT MESSAGE, Aria's Nokia read.
It was from Spencer.
FWD:Emily FieldsFWD:Hanna MarinFWD:
GOT A NEW TEXT FROM A! ME-
Aria screamed, Noel tried to pull over; but it had been too late.
Jack-ass slammed into the side of the Chevy, which smashed the car in front of it, then that car and the next car.
When it was all said and done, Aria opened her eyes to find herself out onto the middle of the street, surrounding by shards of glass. Sticky, red blood stuck in her hair.
Noel was curled into a ball next to her. His eyes closed.
She crawled over to him, pain aching her body. "Noel?" she whispered. "Noel?"
Swarms of people crowded around the beaten up and wrecked cars, 4 of them in all, and Mr. Jack-Ass tumbled over to Aria.
"Hey!" he snapped. "Tell your boyfriend to watch himself!"
"Get the fuck out of my face!" Aria screamed at him.
He backed off. Aria went and pressed her nose to Noel's nose.
"Noel?" she tried again.
No answer.
"Noel!" she screamed in his ear.
Aria started to cry salty tears as someone called 911. An ambulane showed up, making the street even more crowded, with the police men directing traffic and everyone yelling, asking what was going on.
The EMTs put Noel on a gerny and wheeled him into the back of the ambulance. A man asked Aria if she wanted to go, too, maybe get treatment for her head, but she said no.
She called her mom, explaining what happened through tears, waiting for her to her up. All of it was so terrible.
She started to cry again, walking away from the drama and sitting on the sidewalk.
Beep.
"Who the hell could this be?" she asked her Nokia.
ONE NEW MESSAGE FROM: RESTRICTED, it read.
Aria's eyes widened for the second time that day.
"No." she said. "It couldn't be."
But it was:
Aria,
Too bad your guy's truck crashed, huh? Maybe he should've paid more attention to you. 'Cause that's how you lose your bf's, sweetie, you treat them like shit. But hey, accidents happen.
-A