The Captain's Dirty Little Secret

Chapter 21: Chapter 21 - The Drive

Zac did not ask again.

He put the car in drive and pulled away from Mason’s street. Both hands stayed on the wheel. His eyes stayed on the road.

Roxie sat stiffly in the passenger seat with his jacket around her shoulders.

Anywhere had been a stupid answer.

Anywhere could mean a parking lot, a bridge, the closed diner, or some random street where people went when they had no plan and too much pride to admit it.

Right now, anywhere meant away from the house.

Away from her mother.

Away from Steve.

Away from Zac knowing too much.

Briarwick passed outside the window in wet streetlights and closed storefronts. The old pharmacy. The church sign with missing letters. The laundromat with one broken machine taped off near the door. All of it looked normal if someone did not know what happened behind the windows.

Zac stayed quiet.

That made Roxie uncomfortable.

At school, Zac Prescott was never quiet. He laughed in hallways, shouted across parking lots, teased people without thinking. He moved through Briarwick High like the place had been built around him.

Now he just drove.

Roxie hated how careful he was being.

”You can stop acting like I’m dying,” she said.

His eyes flicked to her, then back to the road. ”I’m not.”

”You are.”

”I’m driving.”

”You’re driving like there’s a funeral procession.”

He breathed out through his nose. ”I’m trying not to say the wrong thing.”

”That’s new.”

”Yeah. Last time went badly.”

She almost smiled.

Almost.

The car pulled into a gas station at the edge of town.

Roxie straightened. ”Why are we stopping?”

”Food.”

”I didn’t ask for food.”

”You said anywhere. This is somewhere.”

”That logic is terrible.”

He parked near the convenience store. ”Stay here.”

Her eyes narrowed. ”Do not start giving me orders.”

Zac paused with his hand on the door handle. ”Please stay here.”

That was worse.

He got out before she could decide whether to argue.

Roxie watched him walk into the store. The fluorescent lights made everything inside look too bright, including him.

The cashier glanced up.

Then glanced again.

Everyone knew him.

Everyone always knew him.

Roxie checked her reflection in the dark window and immediately regretted it.

Her makeup was smudged. Her eyes were red and puffy. She looked like every bad decision adults loved warning girls about.

She lifted a hand to fix her hair, then stopped.

There was no point.

Zac had seen her house.

He had seen Steve.

He had seen her mother.

She only hoped he had not noticed her mother’s pupils. The way her movements were too quick. The way her smile looked wrong.

A few minutes later, Zac came back with a plastic bag and two drinks. He got into the car, set the bag between them, and pulled back onto the road.

Roxie opened the bag. ”What is all this?”

”Food.”

”This is chips, chocolate, a sandwich, and gummies.”

”Still food.”

”This is what middle schoolers buy on field trips.”

”You’re welcome.”

She dug through the bag, mostly to avoid looking at him. ”You’re very calm for someone who followed a girl through the creek path and scared her half to death.”

”I said I was sorry.”

”I know. You’re still a creep.”

”That’s fair.”

He drove uphill, past the last stretch of houses and the church cemetery, until the road narrowed toward Raven’s Point. It was the spot people used when they wanted to be alone, make bad choices, or pretend Briarwick looked better from far away.

Zac parked near the wooden barrier.

Roxie stared through the windshield. ”Seriously?”

”What?”

”You brought me here?”

”It’s quiet.”

”It’s where people go when they don’t care about their reputations.”

”No one’s here.”

”That’s what makes it worse.”

Zac turned off the engine but left the heater running. ”We can stay in the car.”

Roxie looked at the empty turnout, the trees, and the town lights below. It was colder up here, and she was still wearing his jacket, which made everything more annoying.

She opened the door.

Zac got out after her.

The air hit her legs first. Roxie pulled the jacket tighter without meaning to and hated that it helped. She walked to the barrier and leaned against it, keeping space between them.

Below them, Briarwick sat in small lights.

From up here, the town did not show the cracked sidewalks, the yelling kitchens, the girls whispering by lockers, or the bills sitting beside microwaves.

From up here, it could fool someone.

It actually looked beautiful.

Zac set the plastic bag on the hood of his car. ”You should eat.”

”I don’t need you feeding me.”

He was quiet for a moment. ”I’m trying to help.”

Roxie did not answer.

That was the problem.

He was helping.

She could handle him being annoying. She could handle him being cocky. She could even handle him flirting in public and making everyone act insane.

This version of him was harder.

Zac pulled out the sandwich and held it toward her. ”You don’t have to eat all of it.”

She took it because her stomach had started hurting from hunger, and refusing would make this a bigger thing.

The sandwich was cold and basic and probably terrible, but she ate anyway.

Zac opened a drink and handed it to her.

Roxie took that too.

”You look stupid,” she said.

Zac leaned against the car, watching her with that almost-proud look boys got when they thought they had done one useful thing and deserved applause for it.

”Still hot though,” he said.

Roxie gave him a tired glare. ”Do you ever get exhausted being you?”

”Sometimes.”

That came out too honest.

Roxie looked away first.

They ate quietly.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket.

Roxie ignored it.

Zac noticed.

He did not ask.

The wind moved through the trees, cold enough that Roxie tucked her hands farther into the jacket sleeves. Zac’s name was stitched near the front.

Prescott.

She touched the stitching once, then stopped.

Zac saw but acted like he didn’t.

Annoyingly decent.

He looked down at Briarwick. ”I can’t wait to leave.”

Roxie turned her head. ”You?”

”Yeah.”

”Why? This town worships you.”

He gave a low laugh with no humor in it. ”That’s part of the problem.”

Roxie waited.

Zac stared at the lights below. ”Everyone already decided who I am. What I’ll do. Where I’ll go. What matters. Football is supposed to be the answer to everything.”

”For you, isn’t it?”

His mouth tightened. ”Sometimes.”

”That sounds like a hard yes.”

”It is.”

Roxie took another bite of the sandwich to give herself time.

She should have said something mean. Something easy. Something about rich boys and their expensive problems.

But his voice had changed.

Roxie knew what it sounded like when someone stepped too close to something they usually avoided.

So she left it alone.

”I want to leave too,” she said.

Zac turned to her.

She kept facing the town. ”I want to go somewhere nobody knows my mom. Nobody knows my house. Nobody cares what Kendall says. I want to walk into school and not feel like I have to fix every part of myself before anyone else notices.”

Zac stayed quiet.

”I’m tired,” she added.

The words came out plain.

That made them worse.

Zac leaned back against the car. ”You don’t seem tired at school.”

”That’s the point.”

”Yeah.”

He said it like he understood more than she expected.

Roxie glanced at him. ”Don’t make this weird tomorrow.”

”I won’t.”

”I mean it.”

”I know.”

”And you’re not allowed to be creepy around me.”

His mouth moved like he wanted to smile but didn’t. ”I’ll try.”

”Thank you.”

”But I’m still talking to you.”

Roxie paused.

That felt bigger than it should have.

”Why?”

He shrugged, but his voice stayed serious. ”Because I want to. Besides, we’re friends.”

She stared at him, trying to find the joke in his face.

There wasn’t one.

That made her look away first.

They passed the chips back and forth without talking for a while. It was awkward, but not unbearable. The heater from the car still ran behind them.

”I won’t say anything about tonight,” Zac said.

Roxie paused.

She doubted he knew how she felt. That was fine. The important part was that he was keeping his mouth shut.

Then headlights swept across the road behind them.

Roxie straightened.

A car was coming up the hill.

Her whole body reacted before she could think. ”Zac.”

He turned and saw the lights.

”If someone sees us here, I’m dead,” she said, already moving toward the passenger door. ”Go.”

Zac grabbed the plastic bag from the hood and opened his door. ”I’m going.”

”Faster.”

”I need to start the car first.”

”Then start it faster.”

He got in as she pulled the door shut. The headlights were closer now, turning around the curve.

Zac started the engine.

Roxie grabbed the dashboard. ”Prescott.”

”I got it.”

”You do not have it. Drive.”

He pulled out of the turnout just before the other car reached the top of the hill.

Roxie ducked lower in the seat.

Zac glanced at her. ”Are you hiding?”

”Yes. Shut up and drive.”

The other car passed them, slow enough to make Roxie’s heart jump into her throat. She held her breath until the headlights moved behind them.

Zac looked in the rearview mirror.

Then he let out a breath and laughed once.

Roxie turned on him. ”That was not funny.”

”It was a little funny.”

”No, it wasn’t.”

”You said go like we robbed a bank.”

”Because for me, being seen at Raven’s Point with you is socially worse than robbery.”

That made him laugh harder.

Roxie tried to glare, but the panic had already started turning into something stupid and shaky in her chest.

Then she laughed too.

She covered her face with one sleeve of his jacket, horrified. ”I hate this night.”

Zac kept driving, still smiling. ”I know.”

”I hate you too.”

”I know.”

The car rolled down the hill, away from Raven’s Point, while Briarwick’s lights disappeared behind the trees.