I found that not being alone was suddenly pretty appealing after all. I pulled out of the parking space and said, “If he pesters you, just tell him to call me directly, like I said. You guys may not be in town, but I’ll bet he has a cell.”
“You really meant that about taking to him?”
“Sure,” I said, brimming with sudden confidence. “What else do I have to do? The prett…” I choked myself off. I wasn’t that confident.
“What?” Carrie asked at my suddenly swallowed words.
“Nothing.”
“Come on. What?”
In a rush, I blurted, “I was going to say that the prettiest girl I know is not going to be around, so what else do I have to do?”
She actually blushed brightly enough for me to see in the dash lights. And then she smiled so brightly that I nearly drove into a ditch. That made me think fast and I covered for the slight swerve by moving on quickly. “So where do you want to drive? Cruise through downtown?”
Carrie seemed eager to change the subject from my foolhardiness as well. “I like this car.”
“It’s seven years old!” I laughed.
“It’s a Benz,” Carrie countered. “I’ll bet it’s fast.”
Fast?
“A little,” I said uncertainly. I happened to know that it was, in fact, quite fast.
“Show me!”
“Not downtown!”
“Duh. Nothing down there but traffic lights.”
“Okay,” I said, and turned at the intersection and headed outward instead of where I had intended. I was trembling at how fast I dared go. A ticket would not be appreciated by my parents. But the speed seemed very much appreciated by Carrie, whose desires, I found, made my parents’ temporarily irrelevant.
I let the car go a little. Maybe more than a little.
A landmark flashed by the corner of my eye and I had an idea. I slowed to look for a certain turn, and saw Dellwood Road ahead on the left. It was a small farm road that ended up going mostly straight, way far out into the country. Not only would it be free of cops, it would be free of just about any cars at all. Farmers don’t stay up late. I might really let the Benz show off for Carrie.
In less than a mile, we passed the last subdivision on the road and we were truly in the sticks. The moon was nearly full and it was really bright out for this late at night. Visibility was great. I took a breath and dropped the pedal.
Carrie whooped happily as the Mercedes leapt smoothly forward.
It was little exhilarating for me too, to be going on a night speed run-especially with a hot girl sitting excitedly beside me. It wasn’t like I was hitting a hundred or anything, though. This was a narrow road, after all, and I didn’t want to hit a deer or any…
A deer wandered out. Fortunately, it was way ahead of us, and I didn’t even have to dynamite the brakes to slow down in time. It still scared both of us.
The damned animal just stared at us blearily, then wandered off the other side of the road. Before I could speed up again, another came out of the field, following. I came to a stop and we watched as seven in total crossed the road from a cotton field to a little turnout by a pond on the other side.
“I love deer,” Carrie sighed. “They look so beautiful.”
“They look delicious too,” I joked.
She poked me in the ribs. “Meanie!”
My heart was still pumping a little hard, this time not from Carrie’s proximity, but from the near encounter with that first deer. More speed was not what I needed for a moment. But I didn’t want to look scared in front of Carrie. “Let’s see where they went,” I said, and steered into the turnout, dimming my headlights to just the parking bulbs. Carrie oohed her agreement.
The turnout lead about fifty yards off the road to a flat patch of grass by the small pond. There was a single oak by the edge, with a picnic table under it that had definitely seen better days. And halfway around the edge of the pond were all seven deer, just standing around in the open. They were close enough to still see clearly, but not so close as to be spooked.
“Look at them,” Carrie breathed.
Curiously, I killed the engine and the lights entirely. I reached up and flipped the cabin light switch so we could silently get out of the car without the dome lights coming on.
I went and leaned against the front of the hood, hoping my heart would stop racing. Carrie slowly stepped over and leaned on the car as well, right next to me, eyes on the deer. With the silver moonlight on the placid pond and the unconcerned deer only a hundred yards away, it would have been an incredibly beautiful night even without the vision in a red dress leaning next to me.
“Good idea to turn in and get a look,” Carrie whispered.
“I can’t believe they stuck around where we could watch them,” I replied, my eyes still on the deer. Mostly.
“Still… thanks,” Carrie said. I could not help but turn my face toward her when I saw that smile out of the corner of my eye.
She kissed me.
It wasn’t some deep, long thing. Just a peck, in fact. But it was square on the lips.
My heart, which had finally stopped pounding from the near encounter with the deer, was back to racing.