Chapter 2

"Why won't you start?" I mutter under my breath as I turn the key in the ignition of my car. "Start, damn it!" Like talking to it is going to make it work.

But it doesn't work. The engine sputters and makes weird sounds, sounds that are unfamiliar to me, but I can make some assumptions still as to what they are. I know I can't possibly be out of gas, and last time I checked, all the nuts and bolts and plugs seemed to be in place. And then it dawned on me. The only thing that could have happened, because I tend to forget about it all the time, is that I left my headlights on. I never switched them off.

Shit. Shit, shit, shit. My car battery is dead. This is definitely not a good start to my week-long vacation.

Of course, I had to be the last to leave. Call me fashionably late, if you will. I always have the best intentions on leaving on time, or even early. But I seem to pack my entire wardrobe into several bags, and just when I think I'm ready to go, I always remember that I need to pack something else, something extra, something that I think that I might need while I'm away that can't possibly be replaced... All things that have been passed from mother to daughter, I've convinced myself over the years. And here I was now, sitting in a dead car with a trunk full of luggage.

But now, it's like... who do I call? I suppose could always call AAA or another company for immediate help so I could be on my way, but what fun is that? Jenna and Dianna left for La Jolla hours ago, literally. They were gone before the sun even rose, since they volunteered to pick up the keys and go grocery shopping to stock up the house before everyone got there. Kevin, Mark, and Chord lived too far away to give me a jump, and besides, they were probably too far away from me anyway. Chris and Ashley... well, I doubt either of them would know how to jump a car, and I know the way Chris packs. There would be no room for all of our bags, along with Ashley's, in Chris' coupe if they were to take me with them. Amber was driving Naya, Heather, and Darren down to the house, and again, there would be no room for me, but I put money on it that Darren would know how to jump a car. He seems manly like that. The only other person who I knew that was driving down by himself was Cory, and that was because he had errands to run first, and he knew that he would only be getting there at night, far after everyone else was due to get there.

As I sat in my recently deceased car, I figured that there are far more terrible things than leaving late with Cory and arriving to the party when it was in full swing. In fact, this might work out quite nicely. I mean, how bad could it be to sit shotgun alongside the man that I have been secretly in love since 2009? We could always talk about... well... something. Something else besides the show and the tour. Something else besides work. But really, what did that leave us? I would have to come up with something fast. Maybe I'll ask him questions about his band, or I could declare my love for a song on the radio and I can explain what the song does to me, or I can ask him to stop at a Starbucks along the way and we could debate which Frappuchinio flavor is the best... anything that I can think about to get to know the man better than I already do. Oh, I can ask him about Canada! I bet he could rate all the different brands of maple syrup found across the country on a 1 to 10 scale!

But, none of this can even begin to happen if I don't call him first.

I reached into my purse and pulled out my iPhone effortlessly, as if it were a magnet to my palm. After unlocking the screen, I found his number on my list of Favorites in my phone book. With one quick press on the screen, my phone began dialing Cory's number. I pulled my bottom lip into my mouth nervously, as I tend to do when I'm, well, nervous. The phone rang five times before going to voicemail. Shit!

"Hey, this is Cory. Leave a message and I'll get back to you!"

A quick beep played before I had to come up with some sort of message. I took a deep breath and delivered a desperate plea.

"Cory, this is Lea. I need your help! My car battery died, and I have no way of getting to the beach house. Just wondering and hoping and pleading that you would come pick me up from my apartment complex and we could head down there together. Please call me back, you know my number. Bye."

Sadly, I had to toss my phone to the seat next to me, praying it would ring before it even left my fingertips. But it didn't. I sat there, in my driver's seat, and just waited. He'll call soon. Maybe it was just in his pocket and he couldn't get to it before it went to voicemail. Or he could be driving, and talking on the phone while driving is dangerous. Or maybe he was still packing and didn't hear his phone ring under a pile of clothes. Damn it, I just hope he realizes I called.

I closed my eyes for a few moments, just to relax and try to wait patiently, but not even after a few minutes, I received a text message. Quickly, I reached for my phone.

"See u in a few :)"