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Dave gets his license and a car the summer before junior year.
He’s not the first one of their friends to get a license - that honor goes to Jade - but he is the first one to get his own wheels. He’d been saving for it, saving every pitiful cent earned from his Bandcamp page and from bagging groceries at the store he could walk to from his apartment. He'd been expecting that his first car would be some beat up piece of shit that would probably chug out leaded gasoline somehow, but surprisingly, Mr. Harley had slipped him a check for a sizable amount of money. It wasn't enough to buy a brand new car outright or anything, but a couple thousand was enough to significantly improve Dave's options among the used car lot.
"I know you'll be driving my girl around in any car you buy," he'd said, "so make sure it's a safe one."
Dave ends up finding a Honda that's got 20k miles on it and drives just fine. It's not flashy or exciting in the way that he'd kind of like it to be. He hears the guys at school talking about all of the fancy sports cars they'd like to get, and he sometimes fantasizes about driving up to school in one of those and driving Jade home. But the Honda has a sun roof, and his friends all give him dumb bumper stickers to put on the rear, and it feels like his.
More than anything, he's excited to actually get to use it for a change. He's already driven it to his friend's places a couple of times, but it's not like they live that far away. He wants to drive it somewhere he couldn't have gotten to before. He feels the itch to just... get on the road and see where it takes him, just because he can.
He pulls out his phone, lounging back in bed. It's near the end of June and hot as hell outside, but his car has better air conditioning than his room, and going for a drive sounds like a great way to beat the heat, actually. He just doesn't want to go alone.
hey
you wanna go for a drive
a drive? o:
where are we going??
dunno yet
kinda figured id just hop in the car and see where the road takes me
you in?
im in!! <3
cool
be there in like fifteen min
Dave hops out of bed and immediately starts to get his shit in order. He checks his outfit - a pretty basic graphic tee and a pair of jeans that Jade has told him look good on him before, meaning he's started wearing them around her as often as possible. He brushes his hair out, throws on his shades, and grabs his keys and his wallet. He feels like a real adult doing that - keys and wallet, like he's John's dad or something. Maybe he should start investing in a fedora.
Once he's set, he does his best to slip out before his brother can bother him, but just as he's about to set his hand on the doorknob-
"Where're you headed?"
Dave freezes, his breath catching in his throat. He shouldn't be freaked out about this. He's got his own car now. He can drive wherever he wants. He doesn't need to tell Bro where he's going.
But he also knows that if he tries to walk out the door without saying anything, he's going to make it to Jade's with another bruise or two, and he's worried she's starting to catch on to those. It's gotten harder for him to brush them off now that the two of them are starting to get a little more adventurous with the things they do together, and he doesn't want to invite more questions if he can help it.
"Out," he says. "Just gonna drive for a bit with Jade."
He doesn't turn to look at his brother. He knows he's still sitting on the futon, because he hasn't heard the springs creaking. It's usually the only sound he gets, because otherwise his Bro is fucking silent when he walks.
"Where're you driving to?" Bro asks. Dave can imagine the raised eyebrow, like he's challenging Dave to give a wrong answer.
"Around the neighborhood, probably. Maybe go to that ice cream shop that's around her house. It's hot out."
Dave is only telling the truth on a technicality, saying "maybe" and "probably." He doesn't think he's actually going to do either of those things, but maybe Jade will ask to go to the ice cream shop once she hops into his car. How would he know?
Bro grunt. "Alright. Fine. Just don't waste too much gas. You know I'm not paying to fill up your tank."
"Right."
Dave knows that, but he also has some money in his bank account that he doesn't want Bro to know about, so it's not like affording gas is actually that big of an issue. Either way, it's good news. Bro isn't going to stop him. He can go and pick up Jade and he doesn't have to worry about her noticing extra bruises this time.
He steps out of the apartment and practically runs down the stairs, as though his brother might change his mind if he sticks around too long. It's only when he hops in the car and pulls out of the parking lot that he fully relaxes. Bro is fast, sure, but he can't outrun a car. Dave is safe here. He could go anywhere in this car.
He drives straight to Jade's, and he feels a smile threatening to cross his lips when he sees Jade standing out on the front porch with her purse slung over one shoulder. She practically runs over to his car and climbs inside and he feels like the coolest guy in the world, swinging by to pick up his girlfriend for a date. Jade leans over to kiss his cheek.
"It's so good to see you!" she says, which makes him snort in laughter.
"Pretty sure you saw me yesterday."
"Yeah, but John and Rose were both there, meaning I had to hold myself back a little." She kisses him again, this time a little closer to his lips. He tilts his head to kiss her properly. It is nice having a place that's his to share with her. They don't have to sneak around either of their guardian's places or sneak into John's dad's car. This place is his. They can do whatever they like in it.
Dave considers for a moment if maybe what he actually wants to do is just park somewhere and make out with Jade for the entire day. That sounds pretty nice. But... nah, he wants to drive. Maybe they can drive until they find a good spot or something.
"I get that," he says. "But you gotta hold back a little while I'm driving too. As hot as it is to imagine you all draped on me while I'm driving one-handed like some macho guy in the movies, I don't want to go up in a fiery inferno on our first car date."
Jade laughs, and it's the most beautiful sound in the world. "Oh? Our first car date? Is this gonna be a regular thing from now on?"
"Maybe." Dave starts the car again. "If you like it, anyways."
At first, Dave really is just driving kind of aimlessly. He lets Jade take control of the stereo, and he's thrilled when she pulls out the mix CD he'd made for her last birthday: "cool songs for a cool girl." She puts it into the car's CD player and starts singing along to every single song, which feels like the height of romance to him. He made her a mix CD and she listened to it so often that she knows all the words?
He loves her so much, even if she does sing kind of off-key.
They weave through the unzoned streets of Houston, going from tight city streets one moment to more open suburban areas. He soon finds that he doesn't really enjoy driving in the city all that much, with more cars and narrower roads and many more pedestrians. So he decides to go further out; when he sees a sign for the highway, he follows it and hops on.
"Have you thought of where we're going yet?" Jade asks as they merge onto I-10 from the feeder road. He catches her out of the corner of his eye, leaning up against his window.
"Nah," he says. "Not yet. Just sorta want a bigger road, though. We can go faster that way."
"Good point!"
He merges into the left lane, which everyone knows is the fucking fast lane, and he lets himself relax as his car carries them further and further away from his apartment. The somewhat familiar sights start to give way to complete unfamiliar ones, the buildings getting shorter and further apart. He vaguely thinks that they're headed west.
"Not sure I've ever been out this far before," he remarks at some point. Jade hums.
"I'm not sure I have been either," she says. "Well... maybe to go to a shooting range with Grandpa? But it's hard to remember."
Jade gets out so much more than he does, he muses. Hell, he's pretty sure that most of the times he goes much of anywhere, it's with Jade and her grandpa, or sometimes with John or Rose and their respective guardians. His brother has never been big on bringing him places. But maybe that can change now. Not the Bro part, but he can bring himself places. He can bring Jade places. He doesn't have to be a boyfriend who needs to rely on his girlfriend's grandpa to take them to their dates anymore. He can bring her directly.
It's a freedom he's not used to having, and as they zoom west on I-10, he realizes that there's nothing stopping him from just... driving. He could keep going. He's pretty sure I-10 goes into other states. He could just keep driving until he reaches the end of the road, and then he could find another road to go on and start driving along that one too. He'd eventually make it to, what. California? It feels a little stereotypical to be thinking of California as an end location. He knows there's NASA locations there, because he and Jade have discussed it as a possible future place to live once they both have their doctorates. But it's also the place that a lot of kids from broken families try to run to in order to make it big.
It's either that or New York, and New York feels like it's more Rose's scene than his anyways.
Dave realizes, with a start, that he's daydreaming about running away from home. He'd never seriously considered it before, despite how miserable he often was at home, because it always felt like his brother would be able to catch him. But right now, in this car, Dave feels downright invincible, like consequences can't chase him down.
They drive further and further, the houses getting even further apart. They pass by actual trees and grass that doesn't look like it's obsessively mowed by a landscaping company. Jade's rolled down the windows so they can feel the speed of the car more thoroughly, even if it causes hot air to blow fucking everywhere, which means that Jade's hair is also blowing everywhere. He kind of loves it, though. It's cute just glancing over and seeing her laughing and singing along with the songs with her hair an absolute mess.
He wants to marry her so bad. He wants to keep driving until they reach Las Vegas and find one of those drive-thru wedding chapels. He doubts they even marry people who are sixteen years old, but maybe they could lie or something. Really, it's just nice to think that he could keep driving and stay with Jade and start their life early. He wants to be with her. He wants to be away from his Bro. Right now, he has both things, and he kind of wants to keep it that way, so he keeps driving and driving.
The buildings have now given way to open grasslands with some trees clustered in spots. He has no idea how long they've been driving, but Jade rolls up the windows, and she reaches out to squeeze his shoulder.
"Hey, Dave?" she asks. "We're kind of far out. Can we stop?"
He really doesn't want to. Fuck, he doesn't want to. He wants to keep running and running until Houston is so far behind him that it might as well not exist. But Jade is asking him, and he recognizes that she can't exactly just get out of the car if she wants to, so he gets off the highway and pulls off the side of the road next to a small copse of trees. Jade lets out a sigh when he does, shifting her hand down to rest on his knee.
"Dave? What are you thinking about?"
He looks over at her, and due to knowing her his entire life, he can read her expression like an open book. She's got that little furrow in her brow, that little frown of concern. She's worried about him. The problem is that he knows that she can read him nearly as well. She's gotten better at it since they started dating, which is both touching and a little alarming.
"You," he says, which is kind of true. It's funny to see the way her expression shifts from being initially a little sappy, then back to suspicious and kind of concerned.
"What about me?"
"Just thinking like. About what it'll be like when we live together." A sigh. He knows running off is a fantasy. "In a couple years, I mean."
Dave wishes he could run off this second. He doesn't want to drive back home. He'd be happy sleeping in his car for the next two years. But even if that's what he wants, he knows that isn't what Jade wants. Jade wants to be valedictorian at their high school, probably, go to college, get her doctorate, and then work at NASA. She can't do that if she runs away to elope with him, and he can't imagine a world where he'd ask her to give up on her dreams for him. So, he'll wait.
Jade grins at him, leaning in a little. "Yeah? What are you thinking about how we'll live together?"
Good. That little furrow is gone. He leans in as well. "Just thinking of having a little apartment together. Just you and me. We can do whatever we want, whenever we want. Cake for breakfast. Decorate for Halloween all year round. Put embarrassing pictures of Rose and John on the wall for whenever they come over to visit." A beat, then he leans in just a bit closer. "And we won't have to sneak around anyone. It'll just be you, and me, and a whole place all to ourselves."
Jade squeezes his knee, though there's some intention behind it this time. "That does sound pretty nice," she says. "Though we will need to have separate shelves for my plushies and your dead things collection."
"What? Your Squiddles can't hang with my biological specimens?"
"No! Ew, Dave. What if they get chemicals on them and I go in to hug them?"
Dave just laughs, and he leans in to kiss her, because he's relieved to know he gets to have those dumb arguments with her. They aren't running away together yet, but he'll get out. He'll get to live with Jade. They'll get married, and he's pretty sure he's talked her down to four kids by now. It's going to happen. He just needs to wait a couple more years.
Jade pulls back from the kiss, a mischievous little grin on her face. "You know what?" she points out. "There's nobody to sneak around in your car right now either. It's just you. And me."
By the time Dave gets back to his brother's apartment, the sun has set, and he already knows to expect the worst when he opens the door.
But it's just two more years, he reminds himself. He can do two more years.