“Ok,” she said not letting go of me.

            “You can let go now,” I said jokingly.

            “I have an idea,” she said.

            “What is it?” I asked.

            “Let’s camp out on the beach tonight,” she said. “What do you say?”

            “Can we do that?” I asked.

            “I don’t see why not,” she said. “So what do you say?”

            “Only if you protect me and keep me warm,” I said.

            “As always,” she said.

            “But I have to take Aiden’s car back to him first,” I said.

            “That’s fine,” she said. “We can get some blankets and stuff while we’re there.”

            “Sounds good,” I said.

            “Ok,” she said. “Meet you at the house.”

            She kissed me and let me go. We got into the cars and headed home. There wasn’t much traffic which was weird. Ashley was ahead of me so I thought it would be fun to race her. I pulled over into the next lane and pulled up next to her. She looked over and I blew her a kiss before speeding off. I pulled back over into the other lane. I looked in my rearview mirror and saw Ashley coming up behind me. I sped up to about 90. Ash was a little ways behind me. I kept going. Then all of the sudden an animal ran out in front of me. I slammed on the brakes and swerved. I spun three or four times and ended up on the side of the road in some grass. I put the car in park and turned it off. I was shaking horribly. Ashley ran up and opened the door.

            “Spence,” she said, “are you ok?”

            I couldn’t say anything. I just wrapped my arms around her tightly and cried.

            “It’s ok,” she said. “I’ve got you.”

            It had been a half an hour and I still hadn’t calmed down.

            “Spence,” Ashley said pulling away from me, “we need to get going. Can you drive or do you need me to?”

            “I don’t think I can,” I said.

            “That’s fine,” she said. She ran over to her car. She got her keys and locked the car. “Scoot over.”