Billionaire Happy After

Then Re do

"Is she taking a year off?" I asked, watching and fiddling around with my hands since it was kind of weird to be staring at him when he wouldn't look at me. Maybe that was whyChristian had been so open and adamant to the gap year thing. Though a gap year for them would probably mean traveling the world or something equally as cool.

"No. Sort of. I don't know. I guess you could call it that." I glanced at him from the corner of my eye without looking up and noted that he'd not only clenched his focus, but his expression also seemed tense. In fact his whole body looked pretty stiff, making me decide to let the topic drop.

Until he said, "She's in the hospital."

My head snapped up. "What? Why? Is she okay?"

He shrugged, trying to look casual, I think, but failing. "She's been in a coma for months."

I opened my mouth, then closed it, unsure of what to say. "I'm sorry," I said finally, even though that was probably the most useless response ever. I had next to no knowledge about anything medical, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that a coma lasting months wasn't good.

He shook his head. "It sucks because sometimes she'll move or make a sound or even open her eyes but she- not wake up."

I wish I could've found something to say to somehow make it better like he had tried to give me advice for my university problem, but I had no idea what to say. I hesitated for a moment, then grabbed one of his hands, interlocking our fingers and squeezing.

I cleared my throat. "I hope she gets better."

*********

Our road trip was almost done.

We only had three universities left, two in Illinois -University of Chicago, which had been my (or my parents) choice, I think and Northwestern University which had probably been Jacen's- then Berkeley, then we were home.

We had a ton of driving, though, since we were literally going from one end of the country to the other.

Surprisingly, Christian let me drive.

I had driven before, on those times we were running late to a university either of us really wanted to see and decided to drive through some of the night, but other than those occasional cases, Christian rarely let me touch the steering wheel.

For the record, I'm an excellent driver.

"Light, light, light! Either stop or go faster!"Christian yelled at me.

I jerked the RV to a stop and turned to give him a dirty look. "I can see the stoplight, I know it's yellow."

"Okay, great, but do you know what it means?"

I glared at him. "Can't you just- Just take a nap if me driving stresses you out."

"I don't I could go to sleep with you driving," he said.

"You've done it before!" There had been one time where we had overslept and Christian had really wanted to see the university we were going to, so we had compensated by driving late and getting up at the crack of dawn that night to get moving. Of course, since he had driven until midnight, he was in no shape to drive four hours later, so he had dozed in the back while I commanded the wheel.

"Yeah, but that was before I knew how you drove," he muttered.

"I drive fine," I told him.

"You rive like a fifteen year old who hijacked their parents car," he replied. He paused, then raised an eyebrow. "Have you even passed your drivers exam?"

"Yes!" I hissed. "I have."

His brow arched higher. "Passes after three tries don't count."

"I didn't take three tries," I replied. I took four, but he didn't need to know that.

Christian snickered, probably guessing what I wasn't saying, making me glare at him. However our staring contest was interrupted by a series of honks from the car behind us. I glanced in the rearview mirror to see a man get out, and he looked kind of really mean and angry.

I turned to face the front to see the light had changed to green and jammed my right foot down on gas pedal before he could reach my car door, launching us forward and down the road.

Christian’s hand shot out to grip the dashboard, bracing himself to keep from hurling forward. "See what I mean?"

"He just looked really angry," I replied defensively.

"And who's fault is that?"

"His, obviously!" I exclaimed. "It's his face."

He rolled his eyes. "Who's fault is it for not noticing that the light turned green?"

"Yours," I said.

He jerked back and turned to look at me. "How's it my fault?"

I glanced at him from the corner of my eye to see a mildly offended expression on his face. "You distracted me."

"I know I'm distracting, Valentine," Christian said. "But you can't blame me for that."

I let out a frustrated breath. "Not like that." I sneaked another glance at him, then gently pressed down my right foot on the pedal.

It had the desired effect- he shot forward and slapped his hands down to brace himself. "Easy there."

"Okay grandpa," I teased. "I guess I'll go slower for you."

"Save that for the freeway," he told me. "...And you're about to miss our entrance."

Now it was his turn to laugh as I cursed and hurriedly cut across the lanes, leaving a series of angry honks behind me.

I did make it onto the highway, though.

Jacen shook his head. "You driving is a hazard."

"Says the guy who hit me with his car," I retorted.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he said with a perfectly blank expression. "You must be thinking of someone else."

I rolled my eyes. "You and your startovers."

Christian grinned, but before he could reply, his phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket, and I noticed his stiffened when he read the screen, but he answered it nonetheless.

"Hey dad," he said.

I almost snapped my neck with the speed I turned to look at him. Thankfully, I managed to jerk my eyes back onto the road before he noticed.

Christian’s dad.

Mr Harvey.