Ginny was right. There was no one on the planet that deserved to be in a car with that much tension concentrated into such a small space—sexual or otherwise. Fred drove with his eyes set directly on the dirt road in front of them and Katie sat with her fist in her mouth to keep from either muttering swear words or what she was really thinking about.
Because every time the moonlight flashed between the trees, she'd steal a glance of his face and imagine that it was three years ago during the summer and that it was the sun that was throwing his freckles into a brighter light. She would be wearing her old faded blue jeans and a halter top, with a fresh pink flower in her long dark hair that would be blowing carelessly in the summer wind that blew threw the window of the old muggle truck, as she laughed and tossed her head at something funny he had said. Then he would smile, pull over the truck, and kiss her shoulders, warm and freckled from the sun.
Fred glanced over now and again at Katie. She was sitting cross legged on the passenger's seat of her own car with her fist in her mouth and trying to look very angry. He knew it was only trying because he could see that her eyes were somewhere else entirely. He longed to know where her thoughts were but refused to give in to this curiosity and quickly shifted his eyes back to the road, still keeping a mental picture of her in his mind. She had really changed over the last couple of years. She didn't seem like the same content, confident girl that he had known. Her long hair she'd cut short, her clothes more conservative, and her whole manner of carrying herself had seemed to shrink. He wondered, with a twinge of guilt, how much of this alteration he was responsible for. What a way to spend New Year.
They drove down the highway in silence. It began to snow softly and stick to the dozens of frozen layers already on the ground while Katie fought off memories of summer love and Fred drifted in and out of sleep at the wheel.
I wonder if he's changed, Katie thought listlessly. Because then it wouldn't be so bad of me to give him a second chance. I mean after all, neither of us have dated since we dated each other. It could work…
"Gaaah!" Katie yelped as she grabbed the steering wheel of her car, narrowly avoiding a ditch full of frozen water. Fred snapped awake and took the wheel from Katie, shoving her out of the way as he redirected them onto the road.
"You idiot!" Katie yelled, silently cursing herself for the thoughts she'd been entertaining just a moment ago. "Pull over! You nearly got us killed! Pull over!"
"Oh, and would you prefer to die freezing outside the car, Kates?" Fred spat out angrily as he pushed her away from the wheel.
"No, I would prefer to die an old woman after I drive myself home tonight and live seventy more years!"
"You'll never live another seventy years being as high maintenance as you are right now, and you're not driving home. If you recall, it was me who was entrusted with that task."
"You're an arse," Katie said angrily. "You haven't changed a bit."
It was silent in the car for thirty seconds before Fred suddenly pulled over and slammed on the brakes.
"Get out," he said.
"Get out? What do you think you mean get out? This is my car!"
"I'm not driving home someone who can't have anything positive come out of her mouth without a little piece of her dying inside as she says it!"
"I never wanted you to drive me home, remember?? That was your parents. How about you get out and apparate back to your precious Burrow while enjoy my night at home with my parents and friends!"
"You'll never make it to London in time. It's 45 minutes to midnight!"
"What do you mean? I'm driving."
"No, you're not. You're getting out of the car, remember?"
"I am not leaving my own car! What are you going to do, drive home and explain to dear Mum and Dad that you just happened to kick me out into the freezing cold and kept my car?"
"Well, at the moment, that sounds like an excellent idea! Whatever happened to you, Kates?? I don't even know you anymore!"
"Nothing happened to me! I'm a successful top rated journalist. I'm going somewhere with my life, rather than spending my time in a joke shop poking fun at the world and devising new ways to humiliate people!"
"Some people like to laugh, Katie. And they have enough self assurance to laugh at themselves, too."
"What are you saying?"
"What do you think I'm saying? You're so bloody…busy being important, you haven't realized that while you're going somewhere with you're life, you have no one to go there with!"
"I have friends, if that's what you mean."
"I'm talking about love, Katie. L-O-V-E, love. Or have you forgotten what that feels like? Because I haven't. I still remember, Kates, and whether or not you deserve it, I'm still in love with you."
"Excuse me? Deserve? If there's anyone here that doesn't deserve someone's love, it's you."
"Are you saying you love me then?"
"Quit putting words into my mouth. You always put words into my mouth."
"Cut it out, Katie. You love me. You know you do."
Angry, Katie looked out the window at the silent landscape surrounding her and shivering. "Well so what am I supposed to do then, Fred?" she asked finally. "Just…give up my career and come live with you in some run down shack while we gradually forgive each other and forget our differences over a cup of coffee and say we'll just work it all out—years of distrust and anger mixed in with some distorted version of love, raising our children to be poor like we're poor and taking them over to George and Ange's to play, and growing old together and just…just letting you kiss me right now, with ten minutes to midnight while I cry hysterically over all our lost years and what I've been doing with my life since then and—"
Fred rolled his eyes tossed his coat at her. "Put that on," he said. "And yes, that's exactly what I except. Except for you don't have to cry hysterically."
Katie pulled the coat around her shoulders and hugged her knees. "Yes, I do," she said to the dashboard, her eyes welling up as she buried her head into her jeans.
"Katie, I love you," he said. "What is there to be sad about?"
She looked up at him and shook her head, wiping the tears from her eyes. He kissed her gently on the lips and asked the question again. "What is there to be sad about?"
She shrugged. "Maybe the fact that we're spending New Years in my lemon car on the side of the road with no one to witness our midnight kiss."
"Then we'll go back," he said.
"Yes," Katie agreed. "Let's go home."
Fred started the car and turned it around. Five minutes to midnight.