Unwritten Rules (Rules 1)

Winter, stop it.

“Sorry. Family drama.”

I was right. He was talking to Tanner.

“Don’t worry about it.”

His eyes say it all. He’s wondering how to act, too.

“It’s getting late. We should get going,” I say, getting up before he can get a word in.

I hear him sigh behind me.

“Sure.”

I pick up the blanket and shake it to get rid of the sand clinging to it. We’re halfway to the car when a drop of water hits my hand. I look up at the sky that’s now fogged and cloudy. Great. Rain. Just what I need right now.

As we walk side by side, the weather goes from let’s annoy them to let’s drown them in a matter of seconds. The rain comes pouring down on us. We’re already soaking wet by the time we reach the car and take cover inside. We have a two-hour ride ahead of us, and the rain is so bad, I’m afraid we won’t have a choice but to wait it out.

“Shit,” Haze mutters to himself. He’s staring at his phone.

“What is it?”

“It’s supposed to last all night.”

“Damn it. What are we going to do?”

“The only thing we can do—be careful on the road. We can’t stay here forever, can we?” He turns the engine on.

I have no choice but to agree with him… and pray that we’ll make it back home alive.

WHEN THE FOURTH KISSING-RELATED SONG in a row comes on the radio, the only thought consuming my mind is “I sure hope you’re enjoying this, Universe.” We’ve been driving for an hour. There are only fifty minutes left before I can collapse onto my bed and forget this ever happened. The rain hasn’t stopped. In fact, it’s only gotten worse.

The song on the radio contains the lyrics “Kiss me before it’s too late. Kiss me, that’s all it takes.”

Oh, the irony.

I look to my left and see Haze smirking.

Smirking.

As in, he thinks the unbearably heavy tension in the air is funny. Well, excuse me, bad boy, but I’m dying over here.

When we slow down and find ourselves stuck behind an endless line of cars, Haze frowns and stretches his neck to see what the reason is for the blocked road. Then, cars begin to turn around and cross to the opposite lane, going back to where they came from.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

That’s when we see the ambulance and flickering police lights from afar. It’s quite clear that there’s been an accident, and considering the terrible weather, I’m not surprised.

The access to the bridge is completely blocked. I hope everyone’s okay. Next thing I know, a police officer comes knocking on the window, probably to tell us exactly what he’s been telling everyone else. Haze rolls down the tinted glass.

“There’s been an accident. Two cars went off the bridge into the lake. You have to find another way,” the poor man struggles to say through the pouring rain

That’s awful.

Haze thanks him and does a U-turn, watching the scene become more and more distant in the rearview mirror.

“Is there another way home?”