Chapter 76
“You’ll have to teach me how to drive now.”
Ri
43
Emeka and Mimi exchanged a look across the table, the kind of look that said they were both thinking the exact same thing and it wasn’t good.
“Wait, hold on,” Emeka said slowly, setting down his coffee cup. “You’re telling me you got a whole Mercedes-Benz and you don’t even know how to drive?”
Elara shrugged, trying to look innocent. “I mean, I know the basics. Kind of. In theory.”
“In theory?” Mimi was laughing now. “Girl, what does that even mean?”
“It means I’ve watched people drive. I understand the concept. Gas pedal makes you go, brake pedal makes you stop. How hard can it be?”
Emeka put his head in his hands. “Oh my God, we’re going to die.”
“We’re not going to die,” Elara protested. “You’re both being dramatic.”
“Dramatic?” Mimi was still laughing. “Babe, driving in New York is not a joke. You can’t just theory your way through Manhattan traffic.”
“Which is why I need you to teach me,” Elara said sweetly. “Come on, please? I can’t ask Marcus. He’ll probably be all serious about it and make me read the entire driver’s manual first.”
Emeka looked at Mimi. “What do you think? Should we do this?”
“I think we don’t have a choice,” Mimi said, grinning. “Look at her face. She’s giving us the puppy dog
eyes.”
“I am not.”
“You absolutely are.”
Emeka sighed dramatically. “Fine. But we’re doing this in an empty parking lot first. I’m not getting in that car with you on an actual road until I’m convinced you won’t kill us all.”
Twenty minutes later, they were standing in a massive empty parking lot in Queens, the kind attached to a shopping center that was mostly abandoned on weekday afternoons. Elara’s Mercedes sat in the middle of the vast expanse of concrete, looking far too expensive and beautiful to be subjected to what was about to happen.
“Okay,” Mimi said, opening the driver’s side door. “Get in. Let’s see what you remember;”
Elara climbed into the driver’s seat, her hands already sweating. The car still smelled new, that expensive leather scent that made her nervous about messing something up. She adjusted the seat, checked the mirrors, put on her seatbelt.
“Good,” Emeka said from the backseat, where he’d insisted on sitting so he could “monitor the situation.” “Now start the engine.”
Chapter 76
Elara pressed the start button and the car purred to life, the dashboard lighting up with displays she didn’t fully understand.
“Okay, foot on the brake,” Mimi instructed from the passenger seat. “Now put it in drive. See that? D for drive.”
“I know what D stands for,” Elara muttered, shifting the gear.
“Alright, now slowly, and I mean slowly, take your foot off the brake and press the gas pedal. Gently.”
Elara did as she was told. The car lurched forward with way more force than she’d intended, making all three of them jerk in their seats.
“Jesus Christ!” Emeka screamed from the back. “I said gently!”
“I barely touched it!”
“That was not barely! That was aggressive!”
“Okay, okay, everyone calm down,” Mimi said, trying not to laugh. “Elara, the car is very responsive. You have to be really light with the pedal. Try again.”
Elara tried again, this time pressing even more carefully. The car moved forward smoothly, and she felt a surge of pride.
“There you go!” Mimi cheered. “That’s perfect. Now just keep going straight.”
Going straight was fine. Going straight was easy. Elara managed to drive in a relatively straight line across the parking lot without incident.
“This isn’t so bad,” she said, gaining confidence.
“Don’t get cocky,” Emeka warned from the backseat. “You haven’t tried turning yet.”
“Turning is easy. You just turn the wheel.”
“Oh my God, she thinks turning is easy,” Emeka said to Mimi. “We’re going to die.”
“We’re not going to die,” Elara insisted. “Watch.”
She approached the end of the parking lot and attempted to make a turn. She turned the wheel too hard and the car swung wide, nearly jumping the curb.
“BRAKE!” both Mimi and Emeka screamed in unison.
Elara slammed on the brake and they all jerked forward against their seatbelts. The car stopped just inches from a shopping cart someone had abandoned in the lot.
“Okay,” Elara said, her heart pounding. “Maybe turning is harder than I thought.”
“You think?” Emeka’s voice had gone up an octave. “Girl, I saw my life flash before my eyes just now.”
Mimi was laughing so hard she had tears streaming down her face. “Oh my God, the way you screamed, Emeka. I thought you were about to jump out of a moving car.”
14:57 Mon, May 11
Chapter 76
“I was considering it!”
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They spent the next hour practicing in the parking lot. Elara got better gradually, learning how to feel the car’s responsiveness, how to judge distances, how to turn without nearly killing them all. By the end, she could drive in circles around the lot without making Emeka scream, which felt like real progress.
“Alright,” Mimi said eventually, checking her phone. “I think you’re ready for an actual street.”
“Absolutely not,” Emeka said immediately. “Did you see what just happened? She almost took out that light pole.”
“That was twenty minutes ago! I’ve gotten much better since then.”
“Better is relative.”
“Come on, Emeks,” Mimi said. “She needs real experience. We’ll pick a quiet street. Nothing major.”
Emeka looked genuinely terrified. “I’m going to regret this.”
They found a quiet residential street in Queens, tree-lined and mostly empty of traffic. Elara pulled out of the parking lot with only minimal terror from her passengers and managed to navigate onto the street without hitting anything.
“You’re doing great,” Mimi encouraged. “Just keep it steady.”
“I’m trying.”
“Maybe a little slower though,” Emeka suggested. “This is a residential area. There could be kids.”
“I’m going like fifteen miles an hour.”
“Which is still too fast for someone who learned to drive an hour ago.”
They made it three blocks before Elara had to stop at a red light. She stopped too suddenly and they all jerked forward again.
“Sorry, sorry,” Elara said quickly.
“It’s fine,” Mimi said. “You’re learning. Next time just ease into it more gradually.”
The light turned green. Elara pressed the gas pedal. They moved forward smoothly.
“See?” Elara said, feeling proud. “I’m getting the hang of this.”
That’s when her phone rang.
It was connected to the car’s Bluetooth system, so Marcus’s name appeared on the dashboard display, his ringtone filling the car.
“Oh, it’s Marcus,” Mimi said. “Should I answer it?”
“No, I can talk and drive,” Elara said confidently. “Answer it.”
Mimi pressed the answer button on the screen.
14:57 Mon, May 11
Chapter 76
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“Hey,” Elara said, trying to sound casual and not like she was currently operating a vehicle for only the second hour of her life.
“El.” Marcus’s voice came through the speakers, tense and irritated. “Where are you right now?”
“I’m out with Mimi and Emeka. Why? What’s wrong?”
“There’s a man here at the company constituting a nuisance. He’s in the lobby causing a scene.”
Elara’s stomach dropped. She already knew. She could feel it in her bones.
“He said he’s your father,” Marcus continued, his voice tight with barely controlled anger.
“Shit,” Elara breathed, her hands tightening on the steering wheel.
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