It was currently a very interesting day in the life of Princess Audrey Roselia Camilla of Auroria.
It was her birthday, and theoretically, in most people's understandings, there could not be a happier day. Moreover, Audrey's parents were actually there for her birthday this time instead of on some extravagant vacation, so that should have made it even better, right?
If only.
Her parents had been there, and it truly was a wonderful birthday. However, there was one small complication that had totally seemed to mess up Audrey's day so far.
"Jay, they got me a car for my birthday!" Audrey exclaimed emphatically and dramatically as she spoke on the phone with her boyfriend, and she could hear the boy's chuckle on the other end of the line.
"What kind is it?" Jay asked, and Audrey rolled her eyes, putting a little bit of effort into at least somewhat trying to remember what car that her parents said it was.
"A Honda Account or something, I don't know!" Audrey whined in reply. Jay hummed in appreciation as he took in her answer.
"A Honda Accord. That's a really good choice. Hondas are famously safe," Jay affirmed.
"I don't care about how safe it is! It's absolutely terrible, even if it is gorgeously pink!" Audrey complained in pure hopelessness.
"You make it sound like it's the end of the world," Jay pointed out, and Audrey groaned as she fell back onto her bed with a groan.
"It is the end of the world! I don't need a car!" Audrey whined, and Jay huffed in a manner so that she honestly couldn't discern if it was irritation or fondness. Although, it was likely fondness if his chuckle was anything to go by.
"Y'know, I would have killed to be given a car," Jay told her, and Audrey could almost see him shaking his head. Of course he didn't understand. He had actually been one of those weirdos who wanted to learn how to drive.
"Yeah, but I don't need a car, Jay, because I am driven wherever I want to go!" Audrey proclaimed, thinking of her wonderful butler who always chauffeured her in a limo wherever she wanted to go.
"By who? That crusty old butler? Babe, you know he's old as the hills, and probably half-senile. What's his name again? Albert?" Jay questioned, and Audrey growled under her breath in irritation. Honestly, everyone always got his name wrong.
"It's Alfred. And he's not senile. He's an excellent driver," Audrey informed him somewhat defensively. After all, Audrey was quite fond of Alfred.
"That's what Evie said about herself when she ran a red light and got a ticket the other day," Jay commented with a practically audible smirk, and Audrey rolled her eyes.
"I mean it! He really is good!" Audrey protested.
"Once again, Evie said that, too, but anyways," Jay breezily responded, and Audrey sighed, returning her mind to the current issue of the day.
"But what do I do about this car situation?" Audrey questioned, and there was a beat of silence. She furrowed her brow, wondering why he was so quiet.
"Y'know, I could teach you if you want. It'd be a good place to spend some time together, and I could show you all I know," Jay offered, and Audrey immediately was shocked. However, her shock quickly turned to a warm, giddy glow inside of her. They may have been dating for a while, but hearing that he wanted to spend time with her really got her smiling like an idiot.
"That'd be great. What're you going to show me?" Audrey asked, suddenly in a much better mood at the prospect of additional time that she could spend with her boyfriend.
"Lots of stuff. But I could show you how to get from zero to sixty in three point five," Jay flirted, and Audrey felt her stomach flutter against her will.
"Really? Sounds interesting," Audrey replied coyly, and Jay chuckled.
"You bet," he replied confidently in that borderline cocky tone, and she felt a pull toward him as she always did.
"I'll be looking forward to it," Audrey replied, and before long, they had exchanged their goodbyes so that she could return to her family and spend time with her parents before they left, excitement in her heart regarding her and Jay's sort-of-kind-of date.
That is, until she began to overthink it, and her mind started to fill with fears. What if she couldn't drive well? What if Jay thought she was a ridiculous klutz? What if she wrecked them?
Suddenly she wasn't quite so excited…
…
"So? You excited to go on your first drive?" Jay questioned from his position in the passenger seat as they sat in Audrey's driveway.
It had been about a week since Jay had offered to teach her to drive, and Audrey had taken her written driving test after she read through the instructions in the information booklet that covered all the street signs and other necessary facts that one must know before getting on the road.
Right now, her previous worrying that she had started had now evolved into something quite terrible indeed. Now, instead of feeling enthusiasm about hanging out with her favorite guy, she was just horrendously nervous because this was her first time behind a wheel, and worst of all, she was with the one person that failure would be most embarrassing in front of.
Of course, in front of Uma could be more embarrassing, but at least Uma would most likely not think any less of her if she messed up. And it wasn't that she thought Jay would. It was just that she was terrified that she was going to do something wrong and disappoint him.
So, with those thoughts at the forefront of her mind, she responded to him finally.
"Yeah," she breathed nervously, looking over at him and giving him a slightly appreciative onceover as she noted his exposed arms. She always did love his tank-tops that he had. They showed so much of his arms, and that was one of her favorite parts of him.
Jay smirked, noticing her gaze linger, and she scoffed, looking away and out the windshield as she tried to recall where her hands were supposed to placed on the steering wheel.
"You ready?" Jay questioned, and Audrey nodded. She reached over and put the key into the ignition. She turned it, and the car cranked. However, she kept it turned for too long, not sure how long to let it crank.
He reached over, grabbing her hand and pulling it away from the key as he lightly pressed her hand against the steering wheel.
"Woah, woah. Let go of it when it's already cranked up. You should feel the shift," Jay instructed, and she immediately felt the disappointment fill her. After all, she had screwed up in the very beginning. She looked down at the gear-shifting mechanism, and she grabbed it carefully. She debated on which gear to shift it to, and she finally settled for sitting it on the "D."
"There you go. That's 'Drive,'" Jay pointed out, and Audrey nodded easily, catching on fast, and feeling her heart swell ever so slightly with his praising tone, despite the fact that it was a very small victory.
"Alright. So now that you're in drive, just hit that skinnier pedal there, and-" Audrey pressed the pedal a bit harder than she obviously should have, and the car shot forward, Jay jumping in fear. Audrey's heart leapt in her chest, and she let off of what was obviously the gas pedal.
Jay then looked at her somewhat slowly.
"Okay… So that was the gas pedal, right?" Jay told her, checking her knowledge. Audrey nodded, and Jay replied with an affirmative motion of his own.
"Good. I probably should've gone over that with you in the first place, but here we are. Anyways, the big pedal is the brake and the skinnier pedal, as you know, is the gas. You've got to press the gas very lightly on this car," Jay explained carefully, and Audrey nodded, swallowing hard as her grip tightened on the steering wheel.
"Alright. Now go ahead," Jay instructed easily and calmly. However, Audrey could see that he was ever so slightly tensed up. He looked almost as if he was just waiting on a disaster to happen, which definitely didn't make the girl feel any better.
Audrey was so scared of upsetting and disappointing him that she could not hardly focus on what she actually did know about a vehicle. Granted, her knowledge was not very vast, but she did know a bit more than what she had been showing just now.
She slowly eased forward, and before too long, she had reached the road. Audrey stopped at the intersection of her driveway into the road.
"Go ahead and turn out onto the road since it's clear," Jay informed her, and Audrey went out onto the road, getting into the correct lane.
"There you go. Good job, babe. You're catching on fast," Jay complimented, and Audrey couldn't help the smile that came onto her face. However, she still didn't look at him since she was too afraid of what would happen if she took her eyes off the road.
"Unlike Evie, I tend to be a fast learner," Audrey joked, referencing Uma's frequent jibe that she shot at Evie on a regular basis whenever Evie was acting goofy at all. He just laughed heartily at that comment, and she grinned widely, enjoying her comment.
"You better not tell her that," Jay expressed, and Audrey giggled a bit as she drove down the road relatively slowly. Fortunately, it was a very peaceful, somewhat deserted road that her castle was to the side of, so it was the perfect place for her to try out driving for the first time.
"Yeah, I don't think she'd take that well," Audrey replied, and Jay nodded wholeheartedly as they both quieted into a comfortable silence.
They were driving down the road silently for a moment until they actually had to pass by a mailbox. Audrey immediately stiffened, terrified that her vehicle was going to run into it, so she swerved into the other lane quickly, and Jay gasped, automatically reaching out and grabbing her seat in mild fear.
"Okay! Chill! You're not going to run into the mailbox, okay?" Jay expressed, looking at her with something that strongly resembled mild fear in his eyes. Audrey immediately felt horrible for scaring him, but she also found it sort of funny that her ordinarily so tough boyfriend was afraid of her driving skills.
"You know, if I didn't know better, I'd almost think you were scared," Audrey pointed out somewhat shakily, her own nervousness getting the better of her in concern to the entire ordeal despite her desire to tease him.
"No. Just cautious," Jay coolly shot back, and Audrey chuckled in spite of herself as she rode along on the road.
"That's the way I felt about me and the mailbox," Audrey told him, and Jay raised an eyebrow.
"Y'know, your smart-mouth's hot and irritating at the same time," Jay commented, and Audrey huffed slightly, feeling a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
"That's good, since I feel the same about you," Audrey confessed, feeling a bit of a blush creeping upon her as she felt his eyes scour her form. She instinctively clenched her hands a bit tighter on the steering wheel. He smirked slightly, and she knew he had enjoyed her open reaction.
"You sure you don't want me to teach you some other lessons?" Jay suggestively asked her, and she smiled slightly.
"Depends. What are they?" Audrey replied, feeling just the barest hint of a lightness creeping upon her in the midst of her intense anxiety surrounding her current activity.
"Let's just say it involves a little less driving than your current lessons," Jay informed her, and Audrey was about to reply as she realized that there was another car coming down the road. She stiffened ridiculously in terror as she realized that it was a rather large truck.
"Hey, calm down. Just stay on your side of the road," Jay expressed, and Audrey kept it mostly straight, but the shaking of her hands in her excessive worrying was causing her vehicle's path to veer ever so slightly.
"Keep it straight, alright?" Jay informed her, and Audrey clung to the wheel as if it were her lifeline. They continued along in silence, awkwardness entering the situation as Audrey's fears returned tenfold.
Now she was very worried about wrecking them or doing something that was terribly wrong and potentially life-endangering.
She could practically see it now. They'd be somewhere stranded in the ditch, killed or nearly killed. And when the ambulance got them, they'd be dragged to the hospital to live out their final days, hours, or minutes. They'd both romantically die together.
And as bittersweet as that sounded, Audrey found it more bitter than sweet.
So at this point, she was practically panicked as she drove down the road.
As if things couldn't get any worse, she suddenly spotted a pedestrian on the side of the road.
"Alright, all you've gotta do is just veer over to the side so that you don't get too close to them," Jay told her, and Audrey moved way over into the other lane as she rounded the curve. As soon as she was on the other side of the bend, her eyes widened as they were headed straight toward an enormous, quite obviously lost eighteen-wheeler.
Jay's jaw immediately slackened as he gaped in unadulterated horror. Audrey almost squealed but couldn't quite get the strangled sound out.
This seemed to spur Jay into action and he started screaming.
"HOLY- TURN THE WHEEL, TURN THE WHEEL!" Jay shouted, and Audrey screamed as she turned the wheel furiously to the left, narrowly dodging the ridiculously large vehicle that was coming their way and slamming the horn at her.
"STRAIGHTEN IT!" Jay cried, and Audrey swiftly followed his instructions, barely making it before they careened off the road. Audrey clung to the steering wheel as tightly as she could, and Jay was breathing hard as he stared straight ahead.
"Pull over, Audrey. Pull over," Jay instructed, and Audrey followed his instructions, moving the vehicle over to the side of the road. Audrey sighed deeply, closing her eyes as she tried to make her heart stop beating quite so quickly.
"Babe, I know I'm absolutely irresistible, but you've got to focus on the road," Jay told her in an attempt to be funny, but it was easy to see that he was very much shaken as he clung to both the "oh-poop" handle and the back of Audrey's seat. Audrey almost wanted to laugh, but she couldn't quite coax the sound out in the midst of her fear as a result of barely making it out of their last predicament.
"I was focusing on the road!" Audrey shot back, but it lacked the venom that was necessary for anyone to take her seriously. Truthfully, she was so nervous that she couldn't hardly begin to focus on the road. She wanted to do well and impress him more than anything in the world.
"If your head was in the game, then why did you drive over into the other lane?" Jay questioned, looking at her.
Suddenly, all of the emotions that had been building within her were starting to tumble over. She just could not handle the feeling of being inadequate, failing, and overall, just being a disappointment. And this time, she was not disappointing Grammy.
No. This time she was disappointing someone that could easily just get up and walk away from her and her horrendous failing self.
Audrey sniffed a bit, averting her gaze so that she was looking into the trees on the side of the road. She tried her best to hold back the hot tears that were threatening to spill, but she couldn't.
She had wanted so much to impress him and show him that rarely exposed side of her that was amazingly competent in some area that was not involved with being a perfect princess. But all she had done was nearly get them killed.
Audrey felt the first tear fall, and she swallowed hard, trying to control herself. However, when a sniffle that was just a bit too wet escaped her, she could hear Jay unbuckle and him unbuckle her seat belt as well.
"Foxy," he uttered that one word, and she wasted no time in throwing herself in his embrace as soon as he touched his hand to her arm. She couldn't help but sob a bit, and he scooted closer, cramping himself in a doubtlessly uncomfortable position so that he could get nearer to her.
"I'm so sorry," Audrey spoke, her voice barely above a whisper as she tried to keep her tears at bay and remain composed as she usually worked so diligently to do.
"Hey, hey, it's okay. What's wrong, baby?" he asked, running his hand up and down her back in a soothing motion as he used the other one to keep her in a firm embrace. Audrey sunk against him.
"We almost died!" Audrey cried, the immediate and pressing issue at the forefront of her mind, and he shook his head.
"We weren't that close-"
"We were that close-"
"We weren't that close," he told her, emphasizing the word and she hiccupped, her most important conflict taking precedence over her.
"I… I just wanted to drive right for you," Audrey expressed in a squeak, a sob slightly interrupting her mid-sentence as she trembled. Jay shushed her gently, nuzzling his nose in her hair.
"It's alright. Driving just takes some practice, okay?" Jay attempted to reassure her.
"Mal and Evie didn't have these kinds of problems with driving," Audrey pitifully acknowledged, partially testing him. She was really hoping he would correct her, but she wasn't entirely certain it would happen.
"Babe, they definitely had lots of issues learning how to drive. Mal couldn't figure out how to use the more advanced traffic lights. Evie was full of road rage. And as you know, Evie's definitely still full of it," Jay joked lightly, trying to cheer her up. Audrey couldn't help but chuckle albeit wetly, but still remained clinging to him tightly.
"I just screw up things, Jay, and I can't do it all perfectly, so what does that say about me?" Audrey sobbed, shaking rather furiously, and Jay immediately responded.
"No," Jay shook his head as he pulled back from her just barely to press his forehead against hers. She trembled in his hold, but tried diligently to still herself as he stared at her intensely.
"You are perfect, alright? Don't think that some silly driving is going to change my opinion on that," Jay expressed, his voice firm but his words loving. Audrey nodded tearfully, keeping her eyes firmly locked with his own as she searched those dark brown pools for any comfort she could gain. Fortunately for her, his love for her was overflowingly abundant and she immediately felt at least a little better.
"Is this why you've been so tense through the whole drive?" Jay asked after a long moment, and Audrey hesitantly nodded, looking down somewhat ashamedly. Jay murmured her name as he took her face in his hands tenderly, kissing her lips lightly and stroking her cheeks with his thumbs.
Audrey pushed forward, almost in a search for comfort as she connected their lips again. He wasted no time in returning her kiss, and she leaned into him, finding that the more she kissed him, the better she felt. She could taste the saltiness of her tears between their lips, and as strange as it was, it was somehow a romantic picture.
Jay lightly broke away from her, and looked her in the eyes.
"You know, you're one of the most perfect things that I've ever had in my life, and I honestly don't think there's anything you could do to disappoint me," Jay expressed, and Audrey felt her heart mending swiftly. Between their kiss and his words, she found herself recovering from her breakdown quite quickly and easily.
He looked at her for a long moment before his gaze slightly hardened and he pulled away from her.
"Which is why I think you need to start driving again now," Jay told her, and Audrey looked at him with wide, helpless eyes.
"I can't do it, Jay! I can't do that! I almost killed us just a second ago, how do you expect me to do any better now?!" Audrey demanded in a panic and near tears once again, and Jay shook his head, interrupting her with only one look.
"Yes, you can. Now have as much faith in you as I do. You have to do this, Audrey. If you don't take it on now, you'll be afraid of it, and that fear will just keep growing," Jay explained to her, and Audrey could see his need for her to understand. She was immediately reminded of when her father had told her the main rule about riding a horse.
"Kind of like riding a horse?" Audrey asked, somewhat shaken but unable to stop her question, and Jay nodded with a slight grin.
"Just like that," Jay assured her. Audrey silently stared at him for a long moment before swallowing hard and nodding slightly.
"I'll do it," she spoke, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Okay," he replied in a low tone, and she took a deep breath before putting the vehicle into drive carefully and hesitantly.
Once it was in drive, she gently pressed the gas pedal and eased up onto the road, driving on the pavement carefully. Her hands were clinging tightly to the steering wheel, and she was quite honestly terrified of what might come next. However, she shifted her gaze to her hand as Jay's covered it gently.
"Hold the wheel a little looser. Be calm," he told her, his voice gentle, and she followed his instructions, holding on a little less firmly.
She rolled down the road easily and carefully, and as she followed the gentle curves of the road, she found that her confidence was increasing.
As she grew near another mailbox, she almost wanted to freak out as she had before, but she remembered Jay's words and those eyes that told her he wouldn't think any less of her. So she very calmly drove past the mailbox without any trouble.
"Great job," he praised quietly, and she felt a bloom of warmth within her chest. She happened to look up, seeing that the speed limit for the road was about forty-five, and she glanced at her speed gauge. She was currently at about twenty-five.
So Audrey tentatively pressed the gas pedal a little harder, trying out a bit more speed. Jay didn't say a word, and she continued along until she was at about thirty-five.
She kept it at that speed until they reached the end of the road. Audrey then spotted a stop sign, so she paused at it appropriately.
As soon as she did, she looked at Jay tentatively, worried about what he would think. To her surprise, he was grinning widely as he gazed at her.
"I knew you could do it, Foxy," he told her, and despite the fact that the words were in actuality quite simple, they still sent her heart to fluttering. She leaned over to Jay and pulled him into a gentle kiss, before gently pulling away just barley so that their lips were still brushing.
"And it's all thanks to you."
A/N: I hope you guys all enjoyed that little piece of Jaudrey goodness! I had several people asking me for this one, so I thought I'd give it a try. :)
Please let me know what you all thought, and have a wonderful day!