“Man...” Dodge rubbed his hands through his hair, “Of course, you do. Why wouldn't you like the tall, mysterious manly idiot from the sticks?”
She felt bad for him but she had told him the truth and that had felt right to her.
“That's not fair, Dodge.”
“No,” he snapped, “It’s fair. I came here because you wanted me to. You could have said no, but now, I realize how much of a damn waste of time it really was. You wanted a distraction from him and you got it. Now you made him jealous and look, you got what you really wanted, Chloe. You've always been like this!”
“Oh my gosh!” she walked towards him. “I didn't invite you here because of that. I didn't even touch you. You were the touchy one. I wanted a friend for once! These last few weeks have been the hardest of my life!”
Dodge rolled his eyes, “Whatever, Chloe. No wonder your mom put you on birth control.”
She ran at him and slammed her hands into his chest. He fell back into a picture on the wall and slipped to the floor.
He stared up at her and stayed quiet.
There was a knock at the door and Chloe hesitated, her heart pounding. Walking to the door, after another knock, she opened it. A short, fat man stood in front of her, looking overly happy and chipper.
He smiled, “Henry said I could drop off his truck.” He held out the keys, “Guessing you're his daughter?”
Chloe nodded, “Yeah, thanks.” She had forgotten the old Chevy had been at the shop and that his friend, Bert, or Randy, or something like that, was bringing it back that evening. She took the keys as the man's other ride pulled up in the drive.
“Tell your dad, Hi! See you around.” He smiled and headed over to the old car waiting for him.
Chloe shut the front door and turned around to Dodge as he stood up, “I'm sorry, Dee.”
He shrugged, “Nice guys finish last. I get it.”
Chloe sighed.
“I can catch a plane out tonight.”
She sighed, “It's one more day.”
“Gonna be honest, Chloe. I don't think I can stay one more day.”
“Well, I have no way to get you to the airport. Dad won't be home till seven in the morning.”
Dodge pointed to the truck keys, “You have a driver's license.”
Chloe swallowed and looked down to the keys, her dad might understand the circumstances, but the snow and ice made her nervous, “The weather changes quick here. I don't really want...”
“It's clear today,” Dodge snapped, getting more agitated as the seconds passed. It made her want to give him an out, for putting him through what she had.
“Fine,” Chloe sighed.
He nodded and went to pack his bags. She walked up to her room as Dodge busied himself. Her open laptop pinged as she changed out of her dirty clothes.
She pulled on a new shirt and walked over, squinting down at the screen.
Grayson Holtz
Whether or not, I was right to do what I did back there. I'm happy I did.
I love you.
She sat in the chair and smiled, reading the message more than a few times over.
Chloe Pryce
It's okay. I'm glad you did. By the way, I'm choosing you.
I love you.
She swallowed her fear, the same fear that had been holding her back. Made her reject him, made her fight him, and snap at him, make her fight with him. That was gone now. She didn't want to leave Polar, Alaska, unless it involved Grayson Holtz.
Grayson Holtz
Thank god, Little or else I may have had to die.
Can I come over?
Chloe smiled, shaking her head at the screen, almost like he was in front of her.
Chloe Pryce
No... I need to take Dodge to the airport. I'll be back later and you can come over then.
Grayson Holtz
You're driving... alone?
She sighed; she knew she shouldn't have told him.
Chloe Pryce
Yeah, alone. What a concept... ha ha ha.
Grayson Holtz
Well, I can drive.
Chloe Pryce
Gonna be honest, Gray... Dodge probably won't like that.
Grayson Holtz
I don't care what he likes.
Chloe giggled, while rolling her eyes. His jealous streak, far too entertaining.
Chloe Pryce
I'll be back soon...
Grayson Holtz
This is me in protest.
Chloe Pryce
It's fine, Gray-gray.
She heard Dodge call up the stairs and she turned in her chair, “Be right there!” She swung back around as her computer pinged at her.
Grayson Holtz
Call when you get home?
Chloe Pryce
Bruce broke my phone... I no longer have Grayson Holtz's number.
Grayson Holtz
Take note, Little ...
She grabbed a pen on her desk and wrote the number on the top of her hand.
Chloe Pryce
Took note. Bye.
Grayson Holtz
Careful. Bye.
She got up, leaving the computer open, like she normally did unless she was mad.
She bounced down the stairs and knew she had to contain her happiness; it wasn't really fair to Dodge. Coming around the corner as he zipped his jacket, she wiped the smirk from her face and slipped on her winter boots, “So, it's okay with your parents if you leave today?”
“They don't care,” Curt, he didn't even look at her.
She grabbed her dad's truck keys and walked for the front door. Dodge right behind her as they made their way over to the Chevy. He wasn't much for conversation this time and the ride to the airport was awkward in turn.
Obviously upset, she knew, she didn't have him as a friend anymore and that saddened her.
Pitch dark and way too cold, she knew her would literally feed her to the wolves, if he found out what she was doing.
Dodge turned to her once she pushed the truck into park, “So, you're sure you want him?”
“I'm sorry, Dodge.” She sympathized.
He snorted and looked away.
“For what it's worth, you were my favourite boy in California.”
“But that animal beat me out,” he snapped.
“Dodge, that's not it.” She tried, but he wasn't going to hear it, he jumped out of the truck and hauled his bag with him.
“Have a good life, Chloe.”
She stared at him, “Dodge, can you just cut the-”
“The what?” he snapped, staring in at her. “What do you expect me to do?”
“I don't know,” she sighed. “I didn't mean to hurt you.”
“Yeah, well, that's just life, Chloe. People get hurt.”
She nodded and looked down her hands on the steering wheel.
“Bye.”
“Bye.” she raised her hand to wave, but he shut the door, walking away into the small airport terminal.
She looked up and realized she had an hour and half drive to get back to her house. Nervous, she started on her way and turned up the country music.
Being in Polar, Alaska had officially changed her status card from top forty and dance music to country.
Forty minutes in and it started to snow on her. She turned on the wipers and hoped it stayed at bay, but in the short time she'd been in Alaska, she knew better. It could get ugly fast. She sped up, hoping to cut the rest of the trip in half to beat it.
The roads became covered in a slick new blanket of snow and she slowed the truck, popping it in four-by-four.
Much against her wishes, it got worse. She looked to her hand and read his number over, if she'd still had her cell phone, she would have called Grayson.
All she could see was a white blur in front of the vehicle. Slowing the truck, she squinted to see the road, but the pitch dark and thousands pieces of flying snow made her feel like she was in a snow globe on shake-repeat.
She tried to keep the truck glued to the side of the snow banks, but the tires would slip and she knew, there were a few tight turns up ahead.
She whined, “Damn it.”
The back end of the truck swung out, she screamed and tried to steer out of it, not knowing what else to do.
It swung back around and she kept in her lane, “Crap.”
Her bottom lip quivered. She knew Grayson's house was not far away, if she could make it there, she'd be safe and better yet, with him.
Rounding the highway, the truck slipped and swung out again, fish tailing down the small grade.
She panicked and gripped the wheel, causing it to spin and fly into the oncoming lane. Slamming her foot on the break did little and the truck broke through the concrete barrier and flipped over the side of the highway onto its roof.
She screamed as it rushed down the steep grade, barreling through tiny shrubs and trees. She stared ahead though, her arms flying up by her face as the truck crashed full force into the path of a large tree.
The airbag deployed in her face, making it hard to breathe. The broken glass flying around her, cut her and impacted her flesh with metal and glass.
She screamed for help. Her cognitive mind gone. In her panicked state, all she could think about was trying to get free. But she was stuck, possibly broken in places and without a mind to process.
She began to thrash her arms around her, once the seatbelt caused her a claustrophobia.
After minutes and minutes, she screams turned to whimpers, her vision blurring in and out as she began to lose consciousness.
Her glazed over blue eyes looked around one last time and fell on the heavenly sight of a big white wolf outside the truck. He stood stalk still in the deep snow, his perfect coat reflecting the moonlight.
The wolf moved towards the truck and she reached out towards it, her fingertips shaking.
“Help... me...” She got out as her world fell black.