GROSS

Charlotte Cane

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“ɪ ʜᴀᴠᴇ ʟᴇᴀʀɴᴇᴅ ɴᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡʜɪʟᴇ ᴛʜᴏꜱᴇ ᴡʜᴏ ꜱᴘᴇᴀᴋ ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ ᴏɴᴇ’ꜱ ᴍɪꜱᴇʀɪᴇꜱ ᴜꜱᴜᴀʟʟʏ ʜᴜʀᴛ, ᴛʜᴏꜱᴇ ᴡʜᴏ ᴋᴇᴇᴘ ꜱɪʟᴇɴᴄᴇ ʜᴜʀᴛ ᴍᴏʀᴇ.”― ᴄ. ꜱ. ʟᴇᴡɪꜱ

Gross.

I felt gross.

Gross and awful.

“Hey you missed a spot!” Kevin huffs at me. He folds his hands over his chest, growing redder every second I scrubbed.

“S-sorry.” I peek at him between scrubs as I clean off the passenger door of the car. I’m careful not to scratch the red paint job, but I have to admit it’s difficult not to control my shaky hands as Kevin throws daggers at me. He stands behind me like a drill sergeant, barking orders and increasing my anxiety.

“You see that?” Kevin points, pinching his nose. “Make sure you get all of it!” He growls in a guttural snarl.

I cut my eyes back and forth between him and the soapy surface of the car door. “Okay,” I whisper, hurriedly cleaning, water drizzling down my arm.

“God, I can’t fucking believe you.” I can hear Megan’s irritated voice from behind me. “Did you really have to spew your guts everywhere? I knew you were afraid of cars because of the accident, but fuck, this is just dramatic for something that’s been like forever over with it!”

The moment I threw up, everyone got out of the parked car and made a large distance between me and the car. I would have probably done the same if I were them. I can’t believe I threw up on Kevin’s car. He has every right to hate me. If only I could have held it in.

I’m such a disappointment.

“Seriously, Meg. That’s why I keep telling you…” I can hear Julie mutter and whisper something, but I can’t make out all the words. All I know is that they’re not happy with me, and truth be told, I know that they shouldn’t.

I can smell the flowery scent of soap as I scrub a little harder.

“Hey!” Kevin’s loud voice shakes me. “What did I say earlier? Be careful with the paint job!”

“S-sorry.” I lower my head, my knees digging into the coarse ground.

“Whatever, just hurry this shit up. We got places to be,” he snaps.

After another few moments of cautious cleaning and feeling the scornful glares of Megan and them, I finished with a frown.

“Is…is this good?” Still on my knees, I turn around, allowing Kevin to view his now clean car.

“Gosh.” He runs a hand through his dark hair. He stares with scrutiny as he views his car, disgust clear on his snarling scowl. “Well, it’s better than before.” He clicks his tongue, his face reddening.

“Sorry.” I peek at him, shrinking into myself. “I really didn’t mean to.”

“If you didn’t mean it, why the fuck did you do it?!” he bellows, running another hand through his hair. Irritated, he turns his back to me.

“I really didn’t mean to.” I stand, the wet rag feeling like a heavy damp stone in my hand. “It’s just that sometimes when I get into cars and when they’re moving at a certain speed, I start to—.” My throat constricts as I fight to speak. Even just speaking on it makes the fear choke me.

“I don’t care. I really don’t give two flying shits anymore. Just get away from my car.”

“Sorry.” I nod, lowering my head. “I’ll just get my backpack and—.”

“Did you not hear me?” Kevin throws his hands up in the air and marches towards me.

I look up to him, his towering height domineering over my shrunken figure.

“I said get the fuck away from my car!” He glares deep at me before he roughly tugs me by the arm, and like a ragdoll he jerks me around before shoving me backwards.

The pain from his strong grip stings instantly, even as I stumble away from him.

“I’m sorry.” I clench the wet rag. “I really didn’t mean to, and at least it didn’t get on the seats.”

He glares at me again and opens the passenger seat, tossing my backpack by its straps to the ground.

‘THUD’

I watch my backpack land with a hard resounding thump. I’ll be lucky if anything is salvable there now.