I'm surprised the way you affect me

 

"What were you trying to do?" Cade yelled at Rafe.

Really, Harley thought they should call the professionals. "What if the cops come?" Harley mentioned it was getting late. There was a curfew. Or had they forgotten.

Of course, Mercer and Brick looked at Rafe as if he was just being the little shit he was. 

"Come on, we can do this," Rafe sounded optimistic. "If everyone helps, we can push this sucker right out of here."

Harley gave Maddie a hoodie to put on in the chill of the night air. They were after all in their homecoming dresses.

"Did he hurt you?" She couldn't help but ask as she had her arm around Maddie's shoulder. Suddenly, she felt as if she was the friend that Maddie needed. Honestly, she'd missed it. She never heard from her other friends. But they were in a University world now.

"No." Maddie shook her head. "We..we just talked."

"Oh." Harley nodded as if that was enough.

Meanwhile, Rafe got Cade in the driver's seat as if he knew the most about cars, but then Cade motioned for Mercer to do the driving.

"Why?" Rafe looked at him blankly.

"Because, he's my boyfriend and I don't want him to get his clothes messed up," Cade told him.

Rafe blew a breath.

So there they were, the boys would push the hood of the car, bogged down in gunk. Harley made a face of disgust. Mercer had the car in reverse and the tires wailed in despair. The stale odor of burnt rubber lingered, giving everyone a cough.

Harley nursed her bottom lip. Here they went again, pushing harder. The car jumped back, suddenly. It was like it was a sign of hope. 

Harley shook her head as the boys were proud of themselves. 

"We're not out of the clear yet," Harley said to Maddie. Yes, they'd be in a mud bath too, but they went to help, and finally after spinning tires for a good twenty minutes or so, the car was back on the dry dirt road. 

"Should we all meet up for coffee?" Harley asked.

"You know, we just had pie," Brick's brow wrinkled as if she was not supposed to be eating this late.

"We gotta get to the car wash," Rafe shrugged.

Maddie remained quiet.

"All right, then let's meet up at Golden Corral for lunch," she knew when it came to a buffet neither Mercer nor Brick could say no. Those boys could stay a good three hours, just sampling what was in the bakery.