Chapter 25: I'm Getting That Bad Feeling Again

"450 dollars, Are you kidding me?!" Melanie screeched to the worker, named Jared. He was holding Molly's keys waiting for them to pay. He puffed up his cheeks as the sun hit his brown skin of his impatient expression. That's how much it was to get the car off the hook. It took ten minutes to arrive here, forty-minute wait time and an hour of arguing. Melanie accused them of breaking the passenger side mirror. He even had the nerve to say it was like that when it was towed. With a charge to fix it for an extra 100 dollars, and told them it's a discount. "You really think I'm gonna fall for that?" Melanie was this close to slapping the shit out of him, ready to lunge, Cole and Matt stopped her.

"Mel, stop, you can get arrested," Molly said in a warning tone as the boys tried to hold her back.

"This is a scam. He is swindling us. They're all swindlers," Melanie said loudly, glaring at the worker.

"Swindlers? Ok, Rolf," Matt chuckled. Melanie turned to him and gave him a hard stare as he continued to laugh.

"Look, we don't have that much. Can't you just give us a discount or something? We're tourists," Melanie asked Jared, fluttering her eyes.

"That is the discount. Take it or leave it," he pointed out. Melanie made a hmph sound, trying so hard to not to kick him in the balls. That didn't work.

"Ok," Molly told him in defeat.

"What?!" Melanie squeaked.

"We have to," Molly shrugged.

"But what about the rest of our trip?" Melanie whined to her.

"We can still have it. We're in the greatest place on earth." Molly suggested.

"Yeah, without them trying to bleed us dry and rob us."

"That can happen anywhere and to anyone. Let's just pay the guy so we can get back on the road."

"Do we even have enough?" Molly pulled out her purse, counting the leftover bills

"About one hundred bucks," Molly mumbled sadly.

"Uuuugggggghhhhh!" Melanie threw her arms and head back. "What the hell are we gonna do now?"

"Here you go." The sound of Cole's voice as he gave Jared money, he nodded and handed Molly the keys.

"What are you doing?" asked Molly with confusion on her face.

"You guys need your car to get home," Cole insisted with a small smile.

"Thanks but we don't need your charity," Molly told him, shaking her hand dismissively.

"It's not charity, it's me being nice. We have more cash. Take it," he trailed off. Melanie and Molly both looked at each other, she gave a shrug.

"Thanks," the girls said in unison. He nodded and met Matt where their car was.

"So are we actually going home?" Melanie asked.

"Not yet," Molly responded.

"Yay!" Melanie clapped.

"You know, I was the one that dragged you here with me."

"And I'm in it for the long haul. We should party," Melanie said with a smirk.

"Yeah, who's throwing a party tonight?"

"Let's check instagram." Pulling out her phone to check, Melanie began to scroll down the newsfeed.

Matt's voice chimed in, "there's actually a party tonight at Pace University, my brother goes there. He has an apartment close to the campus so we can crash. You guys can come if you want," he finished.

"Cool," Melanie appreciated, looking at Molly to see if she would agree. She stood like a statue. "Mol, do you want to?"

She sighed, "sure."

"Do you guys need a ride?" Matt asked.

"We'll follow behind you," suggested Molly.

"Actually the window still needs to be fixed, it will take two hours," Jared said.

"Two hours, why?" Melanie asked, frowning.

"We need to find the right one, it will be fine," he smiled smugly.

"Can't we just drive without one?" Melanie asked, already not trusting him.

"And get our car stolen? We're lucky we knew where to get it. "We can wait," Molly said, Melanie reluctantly nodded in agreement.

"We can wait with you and then head out. Your car is in good hands," Cole said with his arm around her. Molly raised an eyebrow to his action.

"Thanks, guys. For the cash and... yeah." Molly trailed, pouting her lips out, removing his arm off her shoulder.

"You two hungry?" Matt offered, "we can try to get something to eat while we wait."

"We don't want to leave the car yet," Molly said, looking at Melanie.

"I am hungry," Melanie said. They had no chance to eat breakfast and it was lunch time.

"We can get something, and you girls can wait," Cole said, pointing to the other side. "I saw a cafe around the block."

"Sounds good," Melanie nodded. Molly sighed, reluctantly agreeing. The boys ran to the corner, Melanie whistled a random tune. Molly kicked the rock in front of her lightly.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Molly asked, biting her upper lip.

"Huh?" Melanie wondered with wide eyes, not listening.

"Is this a good idea?" Molly repeated.

"I mean, you said we shouldn't drive with only three windows," Melanie pointed out.

"No," Molly scoffed, shaking her head. "I meant with Matt. buying us food, staying with us."

"He already paid for our window and our car off the tow. Might as well. And as he should, Mol."

"It won't mend anything," Molly said, crossing her arms.

"I know it won't, but we need food. And a ride. And more money."

"We don't need more money."

"All right." Melanie leaned against the building, looking side to side as the wind blew. Molly paced in a circle. There were sounds of motors and drills from inside. Molly noticed someone getting their tires inflated.

"I just wished he didn't do what he did." Melanie looked at Molly, she had a pout and frown on her face. Realizing they havent talked about what happened since on the road, she let Molly continue to vent. "He sucks for doing this, ruining us. I still want answers. Is it bad that I'm a little happy he's here? But I want to punch him again."

Melanie laughed, "it's what you're feeling. It's ok."

"How did you handle it with Matt?"

"I had to force myself to stop thinking about him. He moved on so fast. Those feelings don't go away all at once. It's still kinda hard seeing him around now."

"I didn't know you still felt that way."

"It's ok. What we had is done. Yours is still fresh. I wished I punched Matt for accusing me. He thought I cheated. Or was going to."

"Did you?"

"No. What sucks is that he didn't trust me. Because I have exes, because he thought I was flirting with other boys when I wasn't."

"They're so stupid." Molly rolled her eyes.

"Yep. No wonder they're friends."

"And we dated them." Molly and Melanie looked at each other and laughed, "Oh, God."

Melanie puttered her lips, shaking her head. "There are times that I miss him. We had fun. Seeing him now, I can call him a friend and say it's a clean break. For you and him, it's not so clean."

"You think that's what happened?"

"I think he couldn't handle the pressure of being faithful. Long distance is tricky."

"He could have tried. I did."

"Mmmhmmm. If your heart's not in it, there's no point in being with that person."

"I guess." The boys came back, arriving with sandwiches and coffee.

"So you still want to go?"
"Where?" Molly asked.

"To the party, around Cole," Melanie questioned.
"Yeah, they're our ride," Molly smirked. One of the mechanics came by with a wrench and a rag.

"Is our car ready?" Melanie leaned forward to the mechanic.

"It should be," he answered simply before walking away. The boys came back with two brown bags and two coffees.

"Thanks," the girls both said, Melanie swiped it quickly cause she smelled bacon and cheese. Taking a big bite of the sandwich. She breathed out as she chewed, leaning against the wall. They ate in silence until the window of the car was ready. Jared announced that he was done.

"Finally," Melanie said tiredly, throwing her garbage in the nearest trash can.

"Just follow us, okay?" Matt told them.

"Got it." Molly gave a thumbs up, jumped in front, turning on the gas in case they had to go to the gas station. Matt and Cole were in front of them, she kept an eye on his car on the road to follow. I'm getting that bad feeling again, Molly thought to herself, making a turn as he did.