Chapter 5- Amber
"Hey, get in quick, people are staring," Damien said, shoving open the car door. He'd left the engine running and was rolling slowly along like he was some kind of getaway driver. Amber threw her bag in and climbed in next to him. She leaned in to kiss him but Damien turned back to the road, letting her lips brush his cheek. Amber sat back.
"You look cute, is that a new shirt?" Amber asked.
"What? Oh yeah, I got it last week." Damien said, not looking at her.
Amber stroked his arm gently. "Hey, are you hungry? I've got some food in here somewhere..." Amber picked up her bag and started rifling through it, chucking old sweet wrappers and used tissues behind her.
"Hey, don't leave all that crap in my car, ok babe?" Damien muttered, still focused on the road.
"Oh! Sorry, right I'll get rid of it." Amber started packing up all the trash but stopped suddenly, looking out the window. "Hey, babe, you missed the turning," she said.
"No. This is the one I want."
"Are we... not going to your place?" Amber asked, quietly.
"No. We're going to Harry's. A bunch of the guys are there and they managed to get some weed so I was gonna take you there and surprise you but you ruined it."
"Well... I'm sorry but... I kinda thought it was just gonna be me and you, you know? I had sort of a rough evening with my mom and I just wondered if maybe we could talk a little..."
"Don't you have girlfriends for that?" Damien snapped, impatiently.
"Right," Amber replied. It wasn't true. She literally knew nobody. Damien was all she had, and when he got all grumpy with her like this she was stuck. "But.. I just don't really feel like smoking right now, babe. I'm a little tired and..."
"What?" Damien growled.
"Don't be mad, I just don't feel like it right now. Maybe some other time?"
"I arranged this whole surprise for you 'cus I thought it'd make you happy and now you're sat there whining like a two-year-old that you 'don't feel like it'. Geez, what is wrong with you?"
"Damien, calm down, you're scaring me." Amber tried to grab his arm but Damien yanked it away violently.
"I thought you were adventurous! That's what you told me! You told me you loved being spur of the moment and doing crazy shit, that's why I like you!"
"Honey..."
"NO! Shut up with the 'honey' 'babe' stuff, I don't wanna hear it!" Damien yelled. They sat in silence for a while, Amber chewing her fingernails while Damien ground his teeth, his tight jaw moving back and forth.
"Get out." he hissed eventually.
"What?" Amber squeaked.
"Get. Out." Damien said again, emphatically.
"But... we're moving."
"Are you deaf? You're not who I thought you were. You lied to me. I don't want liars in my car."
"Damien..." Amber begged, but it was too late. Damien reached over her and shoved open the door of his old junkyard Honda. The air from outside the car rushed in. Amber could see the ground rushing by beneath them, and she started calculating. She didn't have much time. They weren't on the freeway or even a main road but they still going at a significant speed. There was a strip of grass running along the side of the road. Amber figured she should aim for that.
Then she felt Damien's hand on her back, where it had been so many times before, comforting her, loving her. Now it was pushing, shoving her out of the car. The cold air punched her in the face before she tumbled down onto the grass with a thud, her face planting itself into the wet grass and mud smearing itself all over the top she'd saved for months to buy. She heard it rip somewhere as it caught a twig. She watched, from her position on the ground, as Damien's car sped off into the distance, definitely breaking a few speed limits. She watched him chuck her bag out a couple of yards ahead.
She groaned and felt her head. No blood. She could still see straight. She felt... fine. Maybe she'd gotten away with it. She pushed herself to her hands and knees and that's when she felt the searing, blinding pain in her leg. She collapsed back to the ground. Shit.
