My Stupid Girl by Aurora Smith Page A

down?" I
said coldly. Her hands stopped mid-drum and she slowly turned her head in my
direction.
    "Excuse me?" She straightened her
legs so they were completely straight, exaggerated even, her foot touched my
windshield.
    "Lucy, if we get into an accident,
you’re going to be sucking on your knee caps. Although, I’m not sure you'll
notice because you’ll be dead!" She didn’t respond. I pressed on, “Maybe
they can use your kneecaps to identify your charred corpse, because your teeth
will be all messed up from swallowing your lower legs.”
    She guffawed. "David, I hate to break
it to you, but we’re in a Volkswagen. If we graze a dog we‘ll be in trouble, so
does it really matter where my feet go?”
    She still had her feet up. I glared at
those feet and shook my head. I didn’t try again, just stared at the edge of my
headlights. Stone silence in the dog-killing Volkswagen. After a few seconds,
though, she put her legs down. I looked over at her and she stuck her tongue
out at me. I may have cracked a smile. A little one. A very tiny, morose smile.
    "So, what are your plans after high
school?"
    "Not sure, you?" I answered back.
    "No clue either.”
    "Well aren’t we just a pair of budding
entrepreneurs?” I said, with building irritation. The small talk was making me
crazy. Had she not been up in the lighthouse just now? I felt like my body was
going to combust into a bazillion pieces and there she sat staring into space
like she didn’t even care.
    This was the first time I’d ever had any
girl show me any kind of attention and I was apparently having a much harder
time shaking the whole experience off than the bombshell next to me was. But
what was I thinking? She was probably used to it. Everyone was passionate about
Lucy. This kind of evening was probably nothing new to her. Which made me feel
like an idiot.
    She must have noticed the smoke coming out
of my ears.
    "You ok?" She asked, reaching up
and moving a tiny piece of hair behind my shoulder. I pulled away half an inch,
but still let her touch me.
    "Fine." I answered her quickly.
Curt is a word old people use that seemed pretty appropriate.
    "Yeah? ‘Cuz you look like a pouty
little baby right now." She put it bluntly. A sly smile inched its way
across her amazing face.
    "What would I be pouting about?"
    Her face lit up. "I’m hoping it’s
because you have to take me home? Maybe it’s because we were about to kiss and
a crazy old man interrupted us. Maybe because I look wayyyy better than you
ever did in these pants.” She chuckled a little. When I didn’t chuckle back she
gave me a big, cheesy pout complete with scrunched eyebrows. I instantly felt
stupid but still couldn’t help but feel sorry for myself.
    It felt good to hear her say "almost
kissed" when referring to me, though. She noticed me smiling and punched
my arm with her fist, before grabbing it and shaking it a little.
    "Cheeeeeeer uuuuuuup,
Daaaaaa-viiiiiid!" She sang. I didn’t respond, but let my smile grow,
visible through my curtain of hair. I felt considerably better.
    Almost kissed. Booyah.
    It had started to rain again, forcing me to
go slower. Slower was fine with me. I liked being in a warm car alone with
Lucy. It was kind of a long drive and I kept catching myself relaxing. I would
realize, from time to time, that I’d just gone a few minutes feeling totally
comfortable. Once I realized it though, I would instantly go back to feeing
awkward.
    I had serious issues. We all know this by
now.
    At Lucy’s direction, I pulled into a
neighborhood called the West Mountains. Giant houses planted on football
field-sized lots made me think of a Richie-Rich version of tract homes. Though
they were huge, every three houses looked the same. I cringed a little,
remembering that me and my friends made fun of the people who lived here on a
pretty regular basis.
    "Turn left up here." Lucy pointed
to a street glittering with street lights and falling rain.
    "There, number 1480." She sat