章 23: Late Night Ride II
"No. No, I'm not." He said hurriedly. He'd seen her before in the neighborhood. She lived about two blocks down from where he did. "What are you doing here? It's 1 am! You shouldn't be out so late."
"I was takin' a walk." She said matter-of-factly. "And when I heard the garage door open I went to check it out."
"That could get you killed. What if I were a serial killer?"
"I have my phone with me, I could just call the cops."
"Not if I was faster." Martin stood up completely and buried his hands in his pants pockets.
"What were ya doin' so late in here anyway?" She asked, ignoring his last remark, and sauntered into the garage as if they were best friends. "Tryin' to steal your daddy's bike?" She raised her eyebrows high.
"No." He said sheepishly. She had gotten awfully close. She looked tired - just as tired as he must have looked too. The rings under her eyes were dark.
"Do ya know how to ride it?" She asked.
"No." He admitted.
"Well, you're in luck, baby. Because I do." She smiled at him, but the smile was ungenuine. "Lemme have a swing."
"Uh - it's kind of late and-."
"And?" She pushed past him and took the bike by the handles. She slowly pushed it forward until it stood just outside of the garage. Martin stood rooted to the spot. The whole thing felt like a fever dream. She looked over her shoulder and raised her eyebrows again. Her expression annoyed him. "Ya comin' or not?"
Fuck it, he scurried out of the garage, pushing the button for the door to close behind him.
"Now, this is a beautiful bike ya got here, and it's gonna be damn loud, so we're gonna take it to the end of the street and start it over there. Otherwise yo mama's gon' wake up." She spoke as if the bike was her and Martin had no say in their plan.
"You can drive this thing?" He asked.
"Yes, sir I can." She said. "But imma need your shoes, you can't start a bike like this one with flip-flops."
"Maybe we-."
"Should forget it?" She interrupted. "No. We can't. Nothing ever happens unless you do something."
Martin was a bit creeped out, but he followed the girl out of his driveway and down the street. She pushed the bike with confidence. She was strong. "How old are you?" He asked.
"Ya never ask a woman her age." She replied. "But I'm fifteen. And ya?"
"Sixteen."
"My name's Mirjana." She said. "I'm from Serbia."
"I'm Martin."
"Like the actor?"
"Which one?"
"Doesn't matter." They'd reached the end of the road. She instructed him to take off his shoes. Then she pushed hers over to him. "We have the same size, you can take my flip-flops."
"Okay." He wasn't sure how to say no to her. She wasn't pretty or anything, not really, but then again maybe it was just her tousled hair and the dark rings under her eyes that made her seem a bit...scary. She was too fierce to be cute.
She tied his shoes and then swung her leg over the bike. "Stand back." She said. She pushed out the kick-starter and jumped on it. It took about three goes until the engine spurted to life - not bad for a girl who didn't weigh much trying to start a motor that hadn't been revved to life in a long while. Tony sometimes took the bike on rides with Deborah, but not often.
"Get on." She said with a nod of her head. So, Martin climbed on behind her. "Wrap your hands around my waist and whatever ya do, don't let go." He did as she said. "Here goes." The second she started to drive his heart stopped racing and dropped to a slightly accelerated pace. She'd done this before.
They chugged through the streets. The bike was loud - too loud for 1 am, but she didn't care, and after a few blocks, he didn't either.
"I have a cool place we can go to!" She called out over her shoulder. Martin just nodded.
She let out a whoop of joy. Before he could register what she was doing or why, she drove off the road and down a little path. He gripped her more tightly. The bike bounced over rocks and sticks, but she navigated her way through the dirt path professionally. "Enjoyin' the ride, soldier?" She asked with a laugh. He just nodded. She laughed again. They sped down the track. She took a sharp right. And then they were there, next to the playground they'd all played at as kids. She halted the bike and ordered him to jump off. He got off. She followed. "I've seen ya here." She said with a smile. "The first time I saw ya we were just kids. Ya were here with ya Mom." The fact came out of the blue. Martin said that he'd seen her around as well. Mirjana arched an eyebrow.
"Come on." She grabbed him by the hand and pulled him to the slide.
"What are you doing?"
"We're," she corrected, "climbing up this slide. And then we're gonna sit at the top and you're gonna kiss me." She left no room for argument. She trodded up the slide and he followed her. It was almost impossible to climb up it with his footwear, but he tried his best.
"Why are we doing this?" He asked.
"Do ya not want to?" She asked. When she looked back at him over her shoulder her eyes were full of curiosity. It was the first time she'd asked him about what he felt that night. Martin just shrugged. He was put off by her asking - he'd gotten used to her bossy behavior - why did she look so soft and gentle now?
They reached the top. "We can see the bike from here." She stated. "Make sure nobody steals it."
He nodded."
"You're quiet." She noticed.
"And you're...crazy."
"Not really." She said. Then she leaned in and kissed him without warning. Her lips were warm against his. He'd never kissed anybody before. She pulled away after a second. "My Dad died yesterday." She said.
Martin didn't know what to say. But now it made sense. Kind of. He didn't know what it was like to lose a parent - he couldn't remember his Dad at all, but he knew what it felt like to not have one. Until Tony came. Mirjana looked even darker now. Her hair fell over her shoulders which were hunched.
"That's my Dad's bike." He said after a moment. "He died before I was two years old. I've never ridden on it until today." Mirjana looked up at him in surprise. Her eyes were glazed over with tears. "I have a lot of his stuff in the attic, but...I don't remember him. I love doing stuff that I knew he loved doing, it makes me feel closer to him."
"I'm sorry to hear that." She said.
"I'm sorry to hear about your Dad too."
"Thanks." She leaned her head against his shoulder. "Ya know, I was sort of hopin' that someone would... kidnap me or somethin'."
"I bet." Was all he answered.
"You're supposed to say 'don't say that'." She said with a snort.
"And you're not supposed to jump scare me at 1 am and hijack my bike." His response made her laugh.
"My Mom's going to kill me when I get home." She remarked almost cheerfully.
"No, she isn't," Martin said quietly. "She's going to be too caught up in her grief to notice. So," and he looked at her with pleading eyes, "Please, Mirjana, please don't do something like this again. Take care of yourself."
Mirjana smiled, it was the first genuine smile of the night. She looked too sad to be pretty though. "Call me Mia." She said and stretched out her hand.
Martin gently shook it. "Teach me something in Serbian." He said.
But she kissed him instead.
He pushed her away. "Listen, Mia, I'll give you my number. But I don't feel comfortable with this, not with what you just told me."
"Fine." She said. Then she smiled. "I'm glad you have some sense of self-confidence," she drew her eyebrows high - judging him, "I thought you were a lost cause."
"I know. I'm a bit too...I let you fucking steal my bike." The two shared a laugh.
Mirjana cried as she put her number in his phone.
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