"I really can't believe you're letting her do this."

I glare at Jacob, who is sitting in the back seat, and stick my tongue out at him.

"Ray, you do realize that Jordan hasn't driven a car since she very first got her license, right?" Jacob asks warily, raising his eyebrows. "This is a hazardous decision right here."

Ray shrugs. "That's why I'm up here. To help. Also, you don't have to come on the drive with us. We aren't forcing you and strapping you to the seat."

And with those words, Jacob unbuckles his seatbelt and climbs out of the car. "Don't blame me when you're both in the hospital, paralyzed. Jordan's driving, even back then, wasn't quite superior... If you were to get in a crash with that car, man you'd be toast. What year is this? 2007 Honda Civic?"

"Thanks for the boost of confidence, Jacob, but you can run along now," I tell him, rolling my eyes.

So he goes, and Ray and I are left alone in the car. I start the car and place it in reverse, which I clearly remember how to do. I drive Ray's car slowly out of the driveway before putting it in drive and heading forward.

"Why exactly are you trusting me to drive?" I ask him, curiously. I have told him on numerous occasions that I haven't had much experience, therefore placing me into the 'dangerous drivers' section of this earth by default.

"Because I do," Ray tells me. "I do trust you not to kill us both. Don't prove me otherwise, though, please. That would be nice."

I nod. "I'll keep that in mind."

I head down the street and make a right turn at the corner. I turn on the radio and roll down all the windows.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Ray says, placing one hand on the steering wheel. "You've got to slow down. You're going fifty in a twenty five limit. No, no, no."

Keeping my eyes on the road and slowing down considerably, I say, "Hey, I didn't see any signs that told me what the speed limit was."

Ray sighs. "They're not going to be in the middle of the road with blinking lights around them, you've got to keep an eye out for them."

I do as he tells me and watch for the signs. It's really difficult to pay attention to all the signs while paying all attention to the road, let me tell you. There's a sign, I need to see it, but oh no, there's a car coming too! What ever shall I do? How can people figure out this hard stuff so easily?

"You've got to make space for the other car to come through," Ray tells me, grabbing the steering wheel from my grasp and tilting it more to the right.

I nod, swatting his hands away from my personal bubble.

I take a few turns down roads I've actually never been on before. I see older looking houses and playgrounds and kids in the streets playing in the snow that I have to avoid very cautiously.

"Oh, it looks like its starting to snow," Ray says, looking out his window. "It's pretty dangerous driving during a storm here. You can't really see. Lets start heading back."

I nod, but freeze, lifting my foot off the gas pedal.

"What?" Ray asks, looking at me with curiosity.

I bite my lip. "I don't really know where we are right now..."

Ray chuckles before telling me to switch him spots, so we do a Chinese Firedrill right here in the middle of a road. I take the spot in passenger and buckle up my seatbelt. I feel so much more comfortable here than holding that deadly steering wheel.

******************************

"Here you are," Ray says, pulling up in front of my house. True to his prediction, it has started snowing so much it's difficult to see.

"You sure you don't want to come in?" I ask, turning to him, fingers still on the handle.

He looks up in thought for a moment, before saying, "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to go hand out with Jacob for a while. Give me a break of all the torture I've endured through the last hour."

I slap his arm before pushing the door open. I can hear him shut his door after me. I cover my eyes with my hand as I trudge through the 6 inch snow covering the lawn.

Ray and I kick the snow off our shoes at the porch before stepping inside. Jacob and George (when did he get here?) are sitting on the stairs with a stack of playing cards.

"I've got to go change out of these jeans... I'll be right down," I tell Ray, before heading up the steps. Of course, there is an obstacle in the way. Two boys in the midst of a card game. "Really? This is the worst place you could possibly have a game of War."

"We could always play it in your room," Jacob shrugs, placing down a queen.

My eyes widen in horror as I quickly jump over their game. "The stairs are fine."

I can hear their chatting with Ray as I enter my room at the end of the hallway. From the drawers in my dresser, I pull out some sweatpants and one of Jacob's old college football t shirts. How it got into my stuff, I have no clue, but it's super soft. So I shall wear it.

With the new and warmer clothes on, I hang up the wet ones over my shower to dry off. I also brush the horrible knots out of my long hair. The consequences.

Now that I'm cozy and comfortable, I head back through the hallway and towards the kitchen downstairs (once again hopping over the card game).

"That's my shirt," Jacob whines.

"Not anymore."

"I hate you."

"Ah, that's the nicest thing you've said to me today."

Ray is sitting on a stool, looking at our plastic fruit in a basket that sits on our counter. Yeah, I don't understand that much, so don't ask me. Why fill a basket with fake fruits when you can fill it with real fruit that can fill a stomach and are most likely cheaper? I will never understand decorations.

"You try to bite into that apple or something?" I ask, eyeing the fake fruit Ray's tossing back and forth between his hands.

He laughs, shaking his head. "Not quite."

Of course, being the klutz I am, I trip over my own foot and fall head first into the table, and rebound by flailing onto the tile floor. I'm pretty positive my life just flashed before my eyes.

Smooth.

"Gosh, Jordan, are you alright?" Ray asks, and I can hear his footsteps running to me.

I groan, feeling my head and nose throb in pain. My face still against the floor, arms refusing to move, I reply, "Swell. Just... Ah... Gettin' to know the ground a little better."

Ray is at my side, helping me pull myself off the floor. Wow, I feel like an old crippled woman who's been shot.

"You'd better put some ice on that," Ray pulls out a chair and sits me into in. I grip my head with my hand and wince. "I'll get you some."

Less than ten seconds later, Ray is back with a bag of frozen berries and places it against my head gently.

"That was quick," I note.

"This is a serious matter," Ray says. "Therefore I must save you from destruction."

"And the cure is a bag of berries?"

Ray smirks at me slyly. "A handful of berries can bring down an entire country."

"Touché, Ray," man I can never get tired of saying that. The rhymes, they kill me!

******************************

"I'm ready for Christmas," I say, just to say it.

"Ah, so am I," Ray comments.

We're sitting on my window seat with the curtain pulled aside, just watching the snow fall down. There are Christmas lights visible in the distance, on the neighborhood houses. The blinding whiteness of the winter is more appreciated by, at least me, at night.

"What is it, a week and a half away?" Ray asks, leaning against the wall.

"Yeah, sure is," I nod. "Seems so long of a time, whereas one and a half weeks of summer seem to whirl by so quickly. Can we just choose the time amounts of everything?"

Ray sighs. "That would be great. One day of school per year. Get there at noon, leave at 12:05."

"Absolutely brilliant," I comment tiredly, leaning against the wall next to him.

My eyes are protesting against me and holding signs up, telling me to please close them and go to sleep. But I ignore it and force them to suck it up and let me have my moment.

Not wasting another second with my lame inner battle, I let my head fall onto Ray's shoulder. I sigh, taking slower blinks than before.

No, eyes, don't give up now. You're stronger than that.

Ray sighs too, and puts his arm around me.

We sit here in comfortable silence for a long time, I don't know exactly. But I feel like its been forever. It's only now that I realize that this picture I've painted myself of this moment with Ray, not wanting to forget a second, is only a tiny fraction of the forever we're going to have together.