Chapter 4: Baby Come Back

Sam frowned and persisted in shooing Miles out of the car. "Family is forever, Miles, wingmen are just for a chick. Besides, you didn't wingman at all. Get out of the car, please."

Miles was left speechless as he hesitantly got out of the car. Sam started up the Camaro and speedily drove towards Mikaela, leaving his friend in the dust as he stood dumbstruck by the lake and the tree he once climbed.

"What do I do?" I asked Sam from the backseat, because I really didn't know what my role in this was.

He waved his right hand above the black steering wheel before he finally gripped it tightly. "Nothing, nothing, just do nothing." He was really nervous.

"You'll do just fine, Sam." I winked and he saw it through the rearview mirror. He chuckled nervously as he drove near her, slowing down right beside her.

"Mikaela! It's Sam! Witwicky? I hope you don't get stranded or anything. Listen, I was wondering if I could ride you home? I mean, uh, give you a ride home, in my car, to your house?" She stood there, thinking over it for a moment. I felt like a spy from the backseat. She finally gave in as Sam opened the door. "There you go."

She sat in, muttering a short and almost inaudible, "Thanks."

Sam continued to drive in the direction of the town, to get out of the 'lake public property', as Sam would call it. Mikaela told him her address. I didn't bother remembering the exact numbers and all, but I recognized the name of it as a poor and dangerous part of Tranquility.

"So, uh…" Sam wanted to start a conversation, because the radio in the car was refusing to work.

"I can't believe that I'm here right now." Does she not like us? It is a little disrespectful from her to say such things, especially if he offered her a free and safe ride home.

"You can duck down if you want, I mean, it won't hurt my feelings." Good one, Sam.

She turned to face him, with a bit of a blank expression on her pretty facial features. She didn't notice me at all being in the backseat, although I did hide rather well behind her passenger seat. "Oh no, no, no, I didn't mean-I didn't mean here with you, I just meant here like, in this situation." What situation?

"Oh." Sam muttered.

She elaborated without being told to do so, but it beat sitting in an awkward silence. "Same situation that I'm always in, 'cause I don't know, I guess I just have a weakness for hot guys, with tight abs and really big arms."

Don't all of us girls have a weakness for them? I can vouch for that.

"Big arms?" Sam repeated absently. I knew he was brewing up a plan in that dumb brain of his. "Well, there are a couple of new additions in the car, like, I just put in that light there," there was absolutely no light, I could see that Sam was trying to impress her with his 'big arms', by raising his arm up and flexing his bicep, pointing towards the disco ball that was hanging on the rearview mirror, "in that disco ball. So the light reflects off the disco ball." He tried flexing his bicep, but there was next to nothing to flex.

Mikaela looked at him weirdly. "Oh."

"Yeah." Well his 'smooth' move didn't go so smoothly after all. He was really nervous, it was way too obvious.

They sat in the silence for a short, but very awkward moment as the radio was off, and I knew that shouldn't say anything, but I could clearly feel the tension in the atmosphere. Luckily, Mikaela was the one to break the ice, once more. "Are you new to school this year? Is this your first year?"

"Oh no, no, we've been in the same school since first grade."

"Really?"

Yeah, you ignorant concubine.

"Yeah, yeah, long time." Sam stretched the neck of his shirt, trying to get more comfortable even though he was probably sweating.

"Well do… do we have any classes together?" Mikaela asked.

"Uh yeah, yeah. History, language arts, math, science…" He trailed off, knowing that if he kept on talking, it would probably seem like he was stalking her.

"Sam." She tested out the name.

"Sam, yeah." She got his name, that's a plus. It was really interesting to see their chat building up ever so slowly.

"Sam Wilkicky." But the surname was going to be a problem.

"Wit-wicky."

"You know-I'm so sorry, I just didn't recognize you." She was suddenly really sweet and nice to him and Sam was showing a gentler side to him. I guess he forgot about me lying down in the back of the car.

"Yeah well, I mean, that's understandable."

This was really going good.

Up until the moment the car died on us. The engine just switched off and the car started to slow down. Sam tried to turn it on, but it didn't want to. I knew that Bobby Bolivia was a horrible car seller. Poor cars didn't deserve to be treated like this.

"No, no, no, sorry, just working out the kicks, it's a new car." Sam drove the car off road, until he got to a tree. The car stopped right next to the tree as there was a beautiful orange sunset in front of us.

The suddenly, the radio turned on randomly for the second time today.

"This radio is like an-an old radio." Sam tried to make up an excuse, but failed miserably.

"When I get that feeling… Sexual healing..."

Old song, but the lyrics were quite kinky. Maybe this car had a soul to it we were yet to uncover. "Look, this isn't something-I can't get this radio to stop-look, I wouldn't try this on you. This is like a romantic thing that I'm not trying to do."

Oh Sam.

So many things were happening at the same time. I wanted to burst out laughing, the radio kept changing stations, Sam kept on blabbering dumb excuses. This was too much. And it was so hilarious being in the center of it all!

"Not that you're not worthy of trying something like this on!"

Oh yeah Sam, that got her.

"No, of course not." Mikaela said somewhat awkwardly and at length as she picked up her hair.

"I'm a friend of yours, I'm not a romantic friend. Romantic friends do this. I-I'm not that-that friend. I mean, we-I-I could be."

"WOW! I feel good…" The radio spoke up again.

"Just pop the hood." She got out of the car as Sam kicked the radio multiple times. I hissed at him.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!" Sam hissed at the radio, and I hissed in turn.

"Sam!"

"The car ruined everything!" He hissed back at me. Mikaela couldn't hear us talking as he pressed a button that popped open the hood. Mikaela rose the hood as Sam hastily got out of the Camaro and the two of them started talking about something, but I couldn't exactly hear what. I wonder what a 'jock concubine', as Miles would put it, would know anything about cars and engines?

"Did you have to break down, huh?" I punched the seat lightly. "I didn't bring a phone, we're gonna be stranded here forever and it's all because of a dumb car we bought in an even dumber reseller. Maybe it wasn't even a reseller, maybe it's all illegal. Maybe we can take you back there and get a refund?" I patted the spot I just punched.

Of course, I was given no answer, not that I was expecting one at all.

"If Trent's such a jerk, why do you-why do you hang out with him?" Sam kept starting up the car by turning the key with his body outside the car, his arm throught the window, but the engine only coughed and still refused to start up.

"Turn on, for goodness sakes." I tapped the seats. I really didn't want to be stranded here for hours until help got here.

"Uh, good luck with your car." Mikaela said as she took her purse from the passenger seat through the window and walked towards her home, leaving Sam alone here with a broken car, and unknowingly, me too.

Sam quickly got in the car. "No, no, no, no, no, no… Please, please, you gotta work for me now. Don't let her walk away, come on, come on, come on…" He kept turning the keyand pressing the gas pedal until the engine suddenly roared to life, and with it, the radio blasted.

"BABY COME BACK!"

Written:

10.01.2015.