Just a fun filler chapter to lighten up the story a bit:) Inspired by the references to Morgan's driving on the show, haha:)
XVIII
Luckily, my mom had not been informed of any of this trip's dramas, so I was easily able to lie through my teeth about how I had a nice time upon returning home. I wasn't completely lying. All of the time that I didn't spend with my dad was time well spent. If the trip had consisted of solely being shipped off to Catherine's house, it would have been one hundred percent good. So, maybe I wasn't completely fibbing; just withholding some major details. I knew that in only a short amount of time, surely I was going to accidentally admit what I had said, as well as what had happened after that. It wouldn't be the end of the world; at least my mother always agreed with me with those kinds of things.
Shortly after my sixteenth birthday that May, I had gone to get my driver's license, and saying that I was rather excited would have been a major understatement. My mom and Jerry had found my pure joy upon passing the initial test quite amusing, and I was too stoked to get mad at them for laughing at me. It's not even like I had anywhere to go, though; I was just content with knowing that I was one step closer to having more freedom… Despite the fact that I hardly did much that required any freedom whatsoever. Doing homework and hanging out with friends once a week or so wasn't exactly all that rebellious.
"Morgan?" my mother called from downstairs as I stressed over a math pretest. What even was the point of finding a square root and why did I have to do it?
"Yeah?" I called back, disinterested.
"I'll take you out to practice driving when you're done your math, if you want," she replied. My head immediately lifted after a solid thirty minutes of concentrating on the numbers on the page in front of me.
"Okay! I'm done!" I exclaimed, lying, but too happy to care.
"That's convenient," she remarked, an eyebrow arched. I shrugged, hoping she wouldn't send me back to finish my work. I wouldn't be able to focus after she made that offer, anyway.
I may have taken the written test, but I had seldom driven an actual car before. I had driven up the street once before; a complete straight line through a quiet neighbourhood, making it almost impossible for me to mess up. I was sure this time would hardly be different, but I would feel so official; driving for the first time with a license.
"Can we go?" I asked hopefully, essentially jumping up and down in place. She laughed at me yet again, but I didn't care. This was too awesome.
"Yep. Get your license," she told me. I nodded happily, running to where I had left it last. I had been admiring it while I had been watching TV earlier. I probably couldn't tell you the plot of whatever show it had been at the time, but I would have been able to recite every word on that license from top to bottom. When I grabbed it, I went back to staring at it, joyous as ever.
"Okay, Morgan, stop staring at the picture of yourself, we're all aware you're very cute," she joked, and I looked up, smiling.
"I know!" I giggled, still way too excited to not smile at every single thing. I followed her out to the car and went around to the driver's side, feeling quite proud. I opened the door, my reflection staring back at me from the silver colour of the car. This was so cool.
I sat down, immediately buckling my seatbelt as if I was going to die if I didn't get it done up within the first millisecond of sitting. Even though I was excited, I was completely aware that I had a good chance of messing up terribly, and that made me just a bit nervous.
"You backed into the driveway," I commented. "You had this planned." Just getting out of the driveway would be scary enough for everyone, so if I had to back out instead of go straight out on top of that, it would be super worrisome. My face almost hurt from the grin that was permanently on my face.
"Nice observation, detective," my mom joked, and I laughed along with her. She handed me the keys, probably pretty nervous herself, and I started the car. I jumped as the engine started, almost going to turn the key again. I hesitated, but I started to shift the car out of park nonetheless.
"Wait… Which one is the gas again?" I inquired, a bit puzzled. Well, I was off to a good start. I looked at my mother for clarification, and she looked at me incredulously.
"How on Earth did you manage to pass that test?" she asked, and I smiled apologetically. "The longer one."
"Thanks," I said quickly, going back to what I was previously doing. After shifting into drive, I put my foot on the gas (the proper pedal, thankfully), and the car lurched forward. An even better start, really.
"Okay, a bit more gradual next time, unless you wanted to snap my neck," she instructed, saying the last bit slightly quieter. I barely laughed this time, already completely focused on what I was doing. "Turn right."
"Do I need a turning signal!?" I asked, panicking. There were way too many things to think about.
"We're turning out of the driveway, Morgan. I think you're good," she replied. I gave a sigh of relief.
"You never know," I said as I somewhat smoothly completed the first turn of the trip. I continued down the road, still a straight line, so there wasn't much to worry about. That really didn't stop me from internally freaking out, though. "Where am I going?"
"Driver's choice. Just no freeways, please," she responded, and I laughed again.
"Wasn't planning on it."
I had continued through the surrounding neighbourhoods fairly well. There were no other cars around, so I didn't have to completely panic about that. I probably would've started screaming in fear of hitting a passing vehicle. Even though not every other driver on the road was as incompetent as I was, there was still the possibility.
"Morgan, you're getting really close to the sidewalk," my mom warned, and I steered away from it a bit. "Okay, you're good."
"At least there's nobody on the sidewalk," I said drily. Seriously, it wasn't that big of a deal when no one was around, right?
"Nice reasoning. Okay, you're too close again," she said, looking out her window. "Now you're definitely on the sidewalk. Get off the sidewalk."
"Why does that keep happening?" I asked no one in particular.
"You're dangerously close to someone else's lawn. Turn," she instructed, slightly covering her eyes. I veered away, the car jolting a little as it hit the actual road again. Not expecting this, I shrieked a little, wishing I could cover my eyes just as my mother was at that very moment.
"This is terrifying," I commented, straightening myself out on the road again.
"Okay, imagine what it's like for me. The innocent passenger," she replied. I rolled my eyes.
"It's still worse for me," I said happily, continuing down the road.
After the sidewalk incident, there were almost no problems, despite the occasional lurching motions I had managed when I put my foot on the gas after stopping at a sign. It was still a rather stressful experience, though, even though I was having a lot of fun.
"You know, you don't have to hold the steering wheel like it's going to run away from you," my mom said, trying to hold back laughter. "Just relax. You're doing great." I tried to relax, but this was stressful stuff! When it came right down to it, I had little clue of what I was doing.
When I turned left onto a street that was notorious for its copious amounts of children, fear racked my body. There were kids everywhere! I should've avoided the street altogether, but honestly, I couldn't remember much other during those moments other than the few things I knew about operating the car.
"Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god…" I said under my breath, slowing down substantially. If I had any clue of how to make a U-turn, I would have done that, but that was far beyond my knowledge.
"You're fine, just stay slow. And give them lots of space," she advised, and I slowed down even more. "Okay, not that slow." I gave her a wary sideways glance, completely convinced that the pace that was slower than a turtle's was just fine. Despite the difference of opinions, I stepped on the gas a little more, trusting her more than me. Once again, for probably the tenth time, the car jerked forward, providing another near neck snapping experience.
"I swear, you're going to give everyone who drives with you whiplash," my mother commented. I laughed a little, still trying to avoid the children. "You're good. Almost past them all." She smiled at some of the parents who occupied the sidewalk as well, who gave me confused looks.
"Why are they looking me like that?" I asked nervously, almost whispering, as if they would actually hear me as I sat in an enclosed vehicle.
"Maybe they're wondering why a twelve year old is driving," she joked. I raised my eyebrows as I still focused on getting past the large group of children.
"Hey! I do not look twelve," I exclaimed. Okay, maybe I did look way younger than sixteen, but I hardly looked twelve. Or at least, that's what I thought.
"Whatever you say." I couldn't resist laughing. It had been a long time since I had actually been able to have a lighthearted conversation with my mom alone. Sure, we weren't at each other's throats all the time anymore, but I didn't often get the chance to just have a nice conversation. It was usually a shared complaint about something my dad did, or just some boring conversation about school. It was a nice change, to say the least.
As I rounded the final turn onto our street, I gave another sigh of relief. I hadn't killed anybody, or even injured anyone in the slightest. Even though I had been so excited to do this, I had also been incredibly terrified deep down, so it was nice to know that my worrying wasn't necessary. It usually resulted in nothing, except the abundance of extra stress. That was definitely not a benefit.
"Okay, okay, slow down before you turn into the driveway," my mom said once we were not too far from it. I put a significant amount of pressure on the gas, bringing the car to a near stop. "Not that much," she added under her breath. Putting my foot on the gas again, I almost got the car going without such a sudden movement, but not quite.
"One last time," I joked, turning into the driveway and bringing the car to a stop. I put it in park and turned the key to turn the engine off. I was secretly beyond proud of myself.
"I'm sure it won't be the last time you do that." I nodded in agreement.
"Probably."
"You know, Morgan, that was awesome. I know you were stressing out the entire time, but you did a great job," she said sincerely. I smiled.
"Thank you. If those kids hadn't been there it would have been much more relaxed," I replied. I handed the keys back to her and opened the door, happy my first official time driving had been pretty much successful.
"I know. How dare they walk on the sidewalk, right?" she laughed. I smiled. "Now, go finish your math, because I know you didn't finish."
"Fine," I sighed. Secretly, I was actually going to be emailing Catherine about my first experience driving. Thinking of Vegas, I was also pretty relieved that I was going to have a conversation topic for the next time I was forced to talk to my dad on the phone. I would probably embellish how smoothly it went to him, trying to impress him, but it was still a story all the same. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't going to be using this as an excuse to talk to him. But since I had to keep the details of the last trip under wraps, I couldn't avoid phone calls altogether, which was a shame. At least I had sworn to myself that I would never go back there. I would definitely keep that promise to myself this time; it benefited everyone.