บท 4: In The Balance
IMANI
"Driving on the ground is so boring," Lola lamented as she slumped in her seat opposite Imani.
Imani glanced at her friend out of the corner of her eye. "You're not the one driving."
The Renfield XV Sutton was a self driving car, solar powered and had a battery indicator. It was one the latest brand of Sutton Inc. and one of the most coveted classic car in the world. The vehicle had cameras, sensors and lasers that reproduced the environment in 3D and allowed the vehicle to make navigation decisions alone.
It was able to communicate with other vehicles and infrastructure such as roads and buildings to get a variety of information from the outside world such as traffic, weather, vehicle condition, service stations, accidents and so on. It had online services such as cloud, Wi-Fi, media and entertainment available to its passengers.
It had four seats in it. Two on one side and two on the other with a small table in the middle and a sunroof above. The seats and table were lined with neon blue lights that lit up the interior of the car.
It was also designed by Lola Sutton.
"Oh, come on. You know what I mean."
Of course Imani knew what she meant. Lola liked being up in the air, Imani doesn't. Mostly because according to Fodel statistics, six cars drop while driving in the air each year and Imani didn't want to join the list of casualties on their website.
"So," Lola grinned at Imani. "Wanna test it out?"
Imani grabbed her bag from the second seat next to her. "Sutton, park."
The car beeped before a female's voice filled the interior and the car began to slow. "Parking."
"No, no, no," Lola leaned forward and held her arms out. "Sutton drive home."
Another beep as the car picked up pace. "Driving home."
The city was flooded by a sea of people heading in different directions. A lot of people strutted down the street carrying their limited edition Kron handbags and wearing their Lancaster coats. A Sutton bike drove past the car, reminding Imani that she still hadn't taken hers for a ride.
"You need to stop reading that Fodel website," Lola said as she crossed her arms and pouted.
Imani dropped her bag back in the seat. "They give accurate information. I like accurate information."
"No Sutton car has ever fallen from the sky."
"Yeah," Imani drawled. "I don't want to be the one in a million chances."
"Well, the ground will catch us if we fall," Lola muttered and began to type out a message to her mum using the pop-up feature on her phone like she didn't say anything.
Imani rolled her eyes and opened her brother's message to finally reply him.
DESMOND, 9:18 PM: Since you're not back yet, can I order food from Quik?
DESMOND, 9:18 PM: Answer me lady. I'm starving.
IMANI, 9:32 PM: I don't want vampires on my doorstep. I'll go there and get you food myself.
Quik was an amazing restaurant in the middle of town. The only issue Imani had with them was the fact that they used vampires as their method of delivering food.
DESMOND, 9:32 PM: -_- whatever. Hurry up, woman.
"Manny," Lola called out and Imani looked up from her phone.
There was a picture of a man displayed above Lola's phone. Lola flipped the picture so it faced Imani and she blinked in surprise. The man was quite hot and he looked like he would definitely be on Minerva's hottest men website. Minerva's website was trashy and sleazy... and Imani read it every day.
'Is that where she got the picture,' Imani thought.
In block letters beneath the photo was the name KURT POWERS. Imani knew him. Well not exactly, she knew who he was. He was a musician, a really famous one but she hadn't listened to his music before.
Imani let out a long-suffering sigh and looked back at her phone. "What am I looking at?"
"Your date for Saturday," Lola announced and Imani pinched her brows.
"Huh?"
"Four days ago, three thirty-one, kitchen," Lola said before she theatrically cleared her throat. " 'Lola, I need a boyfriend. Set me up on a date.' "
Imani's mouth fell open. She remembered saying that to her friend but she had been joking and she was sure Lola knew she was joking.
"I was joking," she stated monotonously before she glanced at the GPS between the two seats opposite her and saw that the car was turning into the street that led home.
"Sutton, drive to Quik, Ingram avenue," she said when she remembered she'd told her brother she would get him food.
The car beeped. "Calibrating..." It beeped again. "Driving to Quik, Ingram avenue."
"Date has already been planned." Lola grimaced.
Imani dropped her phone in her lap as the car made a U-turn. She pursed her lips at Lola who was now hiding her face behind her hands.
Dating was a hurdle and Imani was less than enthusiastic about this gambit of Lola's to get her a boyfriend. She glanced at Kurt's picture again. She didn't want to be rude by having Lola cancel the date.
'Maybe he and I will actually click on the date,' she thought as she leaned back in her seat.
"Fine."
Lola let out a squeal and did a little dance in her seat. "You won't regret it."
Imani made a little hmphing noise and turned her attention to her phone. 'It's not like she's dated him before. How would she know?'
"Manny," Lola called out after a couple of minutes and Imani looked at her.
Lola flipped the image hovering above her phone to face Imani but this time it wasn't a picture, it was a highlighted text on a website.
'The dangers of a flying car isn't just about the car falling, it's also about what or who the car falls upon. All the casualties of a car that falls are always from who it falls on.' It was Fodel's website.
Lola grinned as she pointed at the sunroof and Imani glanced up to see two cars flying overhead. "Might as well fly, eh?"
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