Even though Ronan always took the front seat when Gasney was driving, lately he would push Adam aside as he pulled up the front seat to crawl into the back with Blue. Gansey never seemed to notice this change, or if he did, he never made it look like he did. The first time Ronan did it, Adam mumbled something under his breath, while letting a look of gratitude mixed with shame fall on his face and slid into the front seat next to Gansey. This had been happening ever since Blue and Adam broke up. It still happened even now after Ronan and Blue had their little tiff in Nino's. If the situation had been different, Blue would have most certainly spoke about how ridiculous it was to be walking over eggshells because they were all adults here after all, and that her and Adam were getting along just fine.
But this wasn't any other situation. Blue was already entangled with Gansey and Adam was still obviously bothered by the breakup so Blue was willing to keep her mouth shut and indulge in his awkward avoidance of her.
She caught herself sometimes staring at Gansey in little moments like this, while he was driving the Pig, the way his mouth curled up into a smile while he talked to Adam. The way his forearm flexed as he gripped the clutch to switch gears. It was happening more and more and she was incredibly afraid it was painfully obvious she was falling in love with him.
She looked over to Ronan to see if he had been paying attention, and to her relief he was still irritated by the plan to visit the Gray Man and had his arms crossed looking out the window. Adam was engrossed in his conversation with Gansey, going over the specifics for the trip out to the Gray Man's shack in the middle of the woods.
"Jane? Are you still with us?"
Blue was knocked from her daydreaming back into the conversation.
"Oh, sorry."
"What do you think we should tell Sam about going over there? You are the one who knows her the best after all."
Blue looked back out the window at the streets light beginning to turn on at the first signs of dusk.
"Well I don't want to lie to her, and I think we should be as upfront with her as possible. She already knows about the Gray Man, I'm not entirely sure this whole scheme is a good idea."
Gansey clutched the steering wheel a little harder and frowned.
"It's not a scheme, Jane. But we have to protect ourselves, we won't lie to her but I think we should be as vague as possible about this. The element of surprise is going to be crucial if she isn't as she says she is."
"Have either one of you geniuses thought about what happens if she is a farce? What the hell is she going to do if we uncover her?"
Ronan was now taking up as much space as he could possibly muster sprawling himself out just short of Blue's seat. His eyes were closed as he added his commentary.
"Well, given there will be the three of us in addition to the Gray Man, I don't she'll be able to do much. Even if she happens to have a gun, four guys is a lot to overtake."
Between Adam ignoring her for the past few weeks and his most recent comment, Blue snapped.
"And I can't do anything? I don't count for anything? News flash, Adam Parrish, I am fully capable of holding my own. You can't just keep pretending I don't exist."
So it was out there now. The elephant in the room that no one had mentioned since their breakup. Gansey only felt comfortable gracefully sidestepping the conversation topic because of his attraction to Blue. Adam didn't want to talk about it because it was just another person to add to the list of people who couldn't love him. Ronan never mentioned it because he noticed he was less angry in general after they did breakup and didn't want to explore the reasons why. Only Noah would make veiled commentary like, "I guess you don't have to be a ghost for people not to notice you."
Everything became silent for a moment, which shouldn't have happened, then the Pig sputtered and jerked till the engine finally died and Gansey coasted the car to the shoulder of the road.
"Apparently the Pig doesn't like feminist rants."
Ronan had finally opened his eyes but was still making no moves to get up.
Blue shot him a look and she would have made a comeback but she realized Ronan wasn't who she was angry with. She decided to lean back and replicate Ronan's position. Her head eased into the well worn leather and she was engulfed in its warm and musky smell. The car was so much Gansey's that she didn't know whether he smelt like the Pig or the Pig began to smell like him.
Gansey looked suddenly very tired as he looked across to Adam for help.
"You just got the Pig inspected right?"
Adam furrowed his brow trying to think of possible reasons for the car to stall out.
"Yea, just last week."
Gansey tried to start the car again, but this time the engine didn't even turn over.
"We just changed your spark plugs, maybe it's the fuel pump?"
Adam ran a hand through his already messy hair.
"The dash lights are rather dim, don't you think? Do you think it could be the battery? "
Gansey put the ignition on accessories and tried the headlights. There was no stream of light coming from the front of the car.
"Perfect." Gansey said as he heaved himself out from the car after he reached down to pop the hood.
Adam followed him outside.
They were still not far from the Main Street, and it was still relatively early enough that there was still quite a number or cars that whizzed by, and some notably slowedy down to honk their horn and whistle or hoot and holler at both Gansey and Adam standing under the hood of the Pig. They were most likely from the public school. It was obvious even in the early darkness that this was the car of Aglionby boys. Or maybe they could see his Aglionby uniform that he was still wearing. Gansey clenched his jaw, sometimes he really hated how much he could stand out.
"I can't see a damn thing."
Adam was squinting and trying fruitlessly to see anything within the scope of the light from Gansey's cell phone.
"You're right this is ridiculous." Gansey sighed as he still clutched the top of the hood with both hands and let his head hang.
"You should probably try and call a tow, it's only getting darker."
"You're right. Blue also has to be home soon."
Adam was still holding his phone. He turned his face away from Gansey out towards the field away from the road. He was clutching the edge of the car with clenched fists.
Gansey had been initially relieved that the Pig had distracted him and Adam from Blue's remarks, but now it was snowballing into an even bigger problem. He had Blue still upset in the car and Adam still avoiding the topic out here with him. He decided to try and go out ahead and strike the beast head on.
"Listen, I get it Adam, it has to be hard for you to have her still hanging out as much as she still is with us. But it's Blue, she's a part of our group now, you have to at least try, dude. Please."
Gasney held his breath for a moment. He wasn't sure if his words had hit their mark in the intended way he hoped.
Adam sighed deeply like he was trying to expel all of the air from his lungs. He pushed himself from the edge of the Pig's front. He turned his back completely to Gansey and stared out into the expanse trees, grass and stars. The sky was an explosion of dark blues and purples and closer to the horizon, the sun was but a memory, just a faint blood orange glow. It was so tragically beautiful, Adam thought to himself, the way the sun bowed its head to the night. Suddenly everything seemed so overwhelming, the smell of the grass, the weight of Blue's words, Gansey's pleading with him. He was trying so hard to keep it all together. Why is this still happening?
There was a long horn blast that made both Gansey and Adam forget their conversation and look to find the source. A car sprayed gravel and dirt in their direction as it pulled onto the shoulder several yards ahead of the Pig and AC/DC was playing very loudly over the sound of the engine. Adam noticed it looked a lot like the car that they had seen earlier that day.
The same girl that was with Blue before pulled herself from the car and shut the door. He could hear the Pig's door open again and both Ronan and Blue walked came around the side of the car.
"How lucky for the three amigos I was in area," Sam smirked at Ronan and then turned to Blue and waved as she said, "always a pleasure running into you, Blue."
"Unless you can tow us, why don't you fuck off."
"Good luck with that. You're going to be stuck here awhile then, I'm sure you noticed there's almost no cell reception over here."
Adam flipped open Gansey's phone…one bar was struggling to stay on screen. So it looked like calling a tow or even getting a hold of Declan was a pipe dream at this point.
Adam's eyes narrowed as Sam continued to come towards them. Her engine was off but her lights were all still on. The tail lights casted an other worldly red glow on her face. It was hard to tell if she was coming over to help them or devour them.
"How lucky for us then that you happened to come across us." Gansey said evenly.
Sam ignored Gansey and continued to make her way over to Blue, she ruffled her hair and put a hand on her shoulder.
"Blue, you mind going into my trunk and getting out the metal box I have in there? Looks like for all their education these dumb asses don't have a flashlight between them."
Blue's anger from before completely dissipated as Sam's touched lingered, she took the key from Sam and walked over to the trunk.
Sam looked over to Adam first since he was closest still to the hood of the Pig and probably because out of the three boys looked the most likely to know what was going on with the car. He wasn't in uniform anymore, unlike Gansey, he had on jeans and a generic t shirt on, but there was still grease and oil marks on his jeans from earlier. Ronan was still in his uniform khakis but was wearing a white wife beater. Sam asked him what had happened with the car as Blue hobbled back over with a gunmetal silver box and plopped it on the ground with muffled clanging of whatever was in it jostling about. Blue opened the box and handed Sam the flashlight.
"It stalled out about five minutes after we left Nino's. I already checked for the usual causes."
Adam was getting annoyed being treated like he knew nothing when it was in all likelihood he knew more then everyone there put together about the Pig.
Sam continued to look over the inner parts of the Pig with the flashlight, regardless of Adam's statement.
"I'm not trying to insult your intelligence. It's Adam, right? I'm assuming it's your battery since you guys don't have your hazards on and while it's unlikely someone will hit you, it's safer if I just try and get you guys going again since it's already pretty dark out."
Adam realized she was right. Crazier things have happened to them on the side of the road, having the Pig hit by another car that didn't see them on the shoulder would be rather ordinary.
"It's hard to see right now, but I think it might be your alternator. I can give you guys a jump to get you guys back to whether you're headed, but I'd get that checked out asap."
All Adam could think to say was, "It's not my car."
Sam smiled at him. "I was hoping it wasn't. This car belongs to someone incredibly obnoxious and who also neglects to take care of their things."
"Now what exactly is that supposed to mean?" Gansey shot back annoyed when he realized he was being referred to.
Sam once again pretended like Gansey didn't exist and continued to talk to Adam.
"I'm going to pull my car over, you want to set up the jumper cables and I'll give you guys enough juice to head home."
Adam nodded and prepped the Pig for the cables. Blue moved the steel box out of the way, and Gansey was left to stand off to the side rather awkwardly with nothing to do. Ronan was already getting restless kicking dirt and gravel with his hands in his pockets.
"I've gotta feed Chainsaw soon."
"Conveniently, it looks like we'll be home soon."
Gansey was eyeing Sam pulling around up to the front of the Pig with an air of suspicion.
"If she's that tight with Kavinsky, you have no idea what kind of can of worms you're about to be opening up hanging around her."
"What kind of can of worms is that exactly?" Gansey turned to Ronan and raised an eyebrow.
Ronan still looked at the ground as he kicked the gravel round and shrugged his shoulders.
"Take it however you want, man."
Gasney had a vague idea of what Ronan and Kavinsky did on various weeknights. The other implications of their friendship he decidedly glossed over in his memory, specifically the one of Ronan's nether regions toting a flag presumably put there by the Bulgarian. How much was Sam like Kavinsky, were they two heads of the same beast? That was what really worried Gasney, having someone around who didn't care about anyone or anything, just was looking to get off on every sensory experience. Kavinsky was not someone he could ever reason with, he was what Gansey would never let Ronan become. In Gansey's opinion, people who couldn't see reason were the most dangerous of all, at least even the Gray Man could be brought over with the power of an argument. Kavinsky just wanted to see things burned and destroyed. Sam could very well be the same way, and with her hanging out with Blue so much he had to make sure she was at least genuine on her remarks about not wanting to find Glendower.
"Hey princess, the peasants are done fixing your car."
Sam was waving at Gansey since it was incredibly hard to hear over the sound of both of the car's engines. But really it had more to do with the fact that he didn't want to dignify such a remark with a response.
Adam got out of the front seat to let Gasney get in.
"Thanks, Adam. I appreciate it, let's get the hell out of here."
Sam was still talking to Blue as she was putting her jumper cables back into her trunk.
Sam got into her car and reversed in order to allow Gasney to pull forward back onto the road.
Gasney pulled up his seat and let Blue climb through to the back.
"Sam's going to follow us back to Monmouth in case we have any other problems."
"Of course she is."
Ronan mumbled from his corner of the backseat. Gasney didn't say anything, but it wasn't far from what he was thinking.
"She just helped us from being stranded on the side of the road for God knows how long. Unless you wanted to wait up for Declan to come along?"
"Come on you two, please. It's been a long day for everyone."
Gansey was trying to cut the edge of irritation from his voice. Everything that happened today was wearing them all thin. He looked at his phone and it was already almost nine. He was pretty sure Blue was supposed to be home about a half hour ago. It was just another thing to add onto today, Calla reaming him out when she next saw him. Since Maura disappeared Blue had a curfew of sorts of varying degrees of enforcement depending on where Calla and Persephone were in their search for Maura. He hopped they were too engrossed in research to notice. Though with his luck today, they'd be constructing of voodoo doll in his likeness after tonight.
After a relatively silent ride back to Monmouth, which was hard to tell if it was from exhaustion or from the unresolved argument from before, Ronan immediately began to rush Adam out of his seat.
" Move it or lose it Parrish, I've gotta feed Chainsaw before she starts thinking Gasney's model town is dinner."
He beelined it for the door to the building and waved to the Pig as an afterthought, which Blue assumed must have been his goodbye to her. This left Adam standing rather awkwardly outside the car while Gansey and Blue sitting were sitting in the Pig. Adam looked toward the door of Monmouth torn about whether to leave or stay, but luckily the Impala pulled up and saved him from having to choose.
Gansey helped Blue climb out from the back seat and Sam pulled up beside the Pig.
"You got your bike, Blue? Just throw it into the trunk and I'll take you home."
Gansey felt a pang of pain in his gut. He was planning on driving Blue home tonight and talking to her about Adam.
Blue must have assumed the same thing, since she looked sheepishly back to Gansey and said, "I just figured it'd be easier than taking a chance with the Pig again tonight."
Gansey managed to plaster a smile on his face through his exhaustion and frustration. With a wave of his hand he showed it was fine and said good bye to Blue.
Before leaving Blue made a point to look Adam straight in the eyes and said good night to him as well. Adam quickly turned away and had his face turn red.
Sam waved goodbye to Gansey and Adam, though she used her middle finger to bid farewell to the former.
Sam lowered the classic rock coming from the stereo and looked over to Blue for directions. Blue closed her eyes and sighed deeply.
"Calla is going to kill me."