Ahead of us is a long stretch of road with seemingly endless bumper-to-bumper traffic. The highway has become a parking lot. We have two hours to go until we’re in the city, but at this rate, I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned into five hours.
“There must be an accident,” Oliver says, leaning into the front of the car between Tina and Ryan. At this angle, he’s a lot closer to me than he would be if he were buckled into his seat. He’s invading my space. I can feel his body heat, and I can even smell him. He doesn’t smell bad. It’s actually kind of a good smell, not that I would ever admit it. It’s a little bit intoxicating, though, and it must be messing with my brain chemistry, because my mind wanders back to when I saw him standing in his boxers at his house. For the briefest moment, it felt like my brain was malfunctioning. There’s no other explanation for why I thought about coming so close to him that he could have mistaken it for an attempted kiss. Even as I think about it, my body feels warm. I’m glad I didn’t do it. I narrowly avoided embarrassing myself.
I cross my arms and lean against the door to get away from him.
“Or construction,” Ryan offers.
“A construction accident,” I mumble. I don’t intend for anyone to hear me, but Oliver shoots a look at me over his shoulder.
“We’ll make it in time,” Ryan says. “We might cut it a little close, but we’ll make it.”
I wonder if this is my karma for messing with his proposal. I probably deserve it. I can feel the ring silently screaming at me from its spot inside my bag. I glance up at Ryan in the driver seat. He’s put together a big plan for today, and he has no idea that I’m about to screw it up. I briefly think about sneaking the ring back into Oliver’s pocket. He hasn’t even noticed it’s missing yet. But then I look at Tina. She has a plan of her own—an amazing, once in a lifetime plan, and she trusts me to make sure her vision comes to life. I can’t let her down. Still, I feel torn.
I watch as Oliver leans back into his seat, his hands clasped together in his lap. I wonder at what point he’ll notice the ring is gone. If I were in charge of safeguarding an expensive ring like this, I would be patting my pocket every five seconds just to make sure it’s still there. I wonder if Ryan knows how nonchalant Oliver is about this sacred duty of his.
Tina kicks her feet up onto the dash and lets out a heavy sigh. “Can’t you just drive on the shoulder, babe?”
“The shoulder is for emergency vehicles and tow trucks,” Ryan says.
“At this point I could walk and get there faster.” She takes a sip of her empty iced coffee, the straw rattling as she slurps up a few drops of melted ice. The sound teases my already full bladder. I wish I had thought to use the bathroom before we left.
“It would certainly be safer than keeping your feet up there where your legs will get broken if the airbags pop out.” Ryan reaches over to gently nudge her legs down, then keeps his hand on her knee.
Tina tilts her head to look at him. “Yes, because we’re so in danger of getting into an accident at…” She sneaks a peek at the speedometer. “Five miles an hour.”
“Actually, traffic jams just like this are notorious for causing accidents.”
She narrows her eyes. “You just made that up.”
“Look it up if you don’t believe me,” he says.
I bounce my leg in an effort to ease the pressure on my bladder. I’m not sure if it helps, but it distracts me from the discomfort for a minute.
“Are you okay?” Oliver asks, pulling me away from Tina and Ryan’s conversation.
“What? Me? Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”
He looks pointedly at my bouncing knee.
“Oh. Yeah. I have to pee.” I look out the window at all the cars ahead of us, which are now at a complete standstill. “Any idea on where the next rest stop is?”
“I saw a sign a while back that said two miles,” Ryan answers from the front of the car.
“Oh, good,” Tina says. “So we should make it there in about two hours.”
I know she’s joking, but I can’t help but feel like she might be right. I pull my feet up onto the seat, tucking my knees against my chest, but that only makes it worse, so I put my legs back down.
“Need a cup?” Ryan asks.
Tina holds up her coffee cup, which contains just slightly discolored half-melted ice cubes. I stare at it, for a moment considering how good it would feel to relieve myself right now. Then I remember that Oliver is in the back seat with me. I think I would die of embarrassment if I peed in a cup in front of him.
“Yes? No?” Tina wiggles the cup, shaking up the ice cubes inside.
“As tempting as it is, I’m not peeing with all of you in the car.” My bladder protests my decision.
“Suit yourself.” She takes another rattling sip of melted ice.
“Come on,” Oliver says.
