Malia’s relationship with cars has always been a tentative one.
She’s never fully comfortable contained in a metal box, but she can manage, sometimes, when the right person is behind the wheel. The forty hour drive from Beacon Hills to New York was a harrowing adventure of rest stop breaks, long meal stops and occasional nightmares, but in the years since Malia’s learned to deal with it. She’s learned to deal when a member of her family is behind the wheel. She’s learned to trust that a car isn’t as scary as she makes it out to be. She refuses to learn how to drive it herself, despite how Peter thinks it might help her come over those last roadblocks of her own fears, but when it comes to driving to dance competitions out of state, she can deal if a member of her family is taking her.
As she overs outside where the group is packing in the sticky New York summer weather, watching as her belongings get packed into Matt’s SUV in preparation of driving them down towards Mystic Falls and she has her unsure face on.
She knows this is something she has to get over. She knows that she needs to take a breather and remind herself that not everyone in her life is going to be a terrible driver and just because Matt is not Laura does not mean that he’s not incapable behind a wheel, and it’s so stupid. She knows it’s stupid. At the same time, she can’t seem to will her feet to move.
“You ready to go?”
Jeremy comes up to her with a small smile, and his expression indicates that he’s not unaware of her current feelings about the situation, but he’s going to try and push past it unless she says something. It’s hard for her to pin down what exactly it is about this situation that’s bothering her, but there’s something there and she swallows hard before blurting out the first thing that comes to mind.
“Maybe this is a bad idea.”
His face flickers, almost like he’s hurt. “Do you not want to go?”
“No, I do.” She wants to meet Jeremy’s aunt because she knows that’s important, and she wants to see Mystic Falls, but she can’t make herself get in the car. “But maybe I should go with Tyler and Caroline.”
It seems like an adequate compromise. Tyler and Caroline have healing factors of sorts, if Malia happens to lash out then they will heal and hopefully not hold it against her. Jeremy, Matt and his sister are all very fragile and very human and when she thinks about the possibility that if another accident happens, the same fate could befall them that did her sister and mother, she feels her chest tighten.
“Ty and Care left yesterday.” Jeremy’s voice is soft, because he knows something’s wrong, especially when Malia can’t fight the whine that comes with that plan being squashed, and she takes a deep breath. “Malia what’s wrong?”
She swallows hard. “I don’t do well in cars.”
“Okay,” he says slowly. “So how does that make Ty and Care better?”
“Tyler and Caroline can heal themselves.” She swallows. “You guys can’t.” There’s another pause as she buries her face in her hands. “I’m sorry, this is so stupid.”
“It’s not stupid,” Jeremy sighs as he reaches forward, taking her hands in his. “I just wish you would have mentioned it when we were making the travel arrangements.”
“I thought I could handle it. I mean, the last time I had a panic attack in a car, I was eleven. But … that’s also because the only people who have been driving me around have been Derek, Laura and Peter.”
“So you’re used to them and how they drive. But you’ve never been in a car with Matt before.”
She nods. “I’m sure he’s fine, and I’m sure we’ll be fine, I just … can’t convince my body of that.”
Jeremy nods. “Would you feel better if I drive?”
“Will Matt let you do that?”
Jeremy nods. “Yeah, he trusts me. And I’m sure he and Elena would much rather snuggle in the back anyway. You and I can sit up front.”
Malia considers quietly, trying to determine if that’s really better but she trusts Jeremy a lot more than she trusts Matt, even if she’s never driven with him before. And she’s seen his reflexes in action. He’s still not at werewolf fast, but … he could do.
It’s not the most rousing vote of confidence, so she doesn’t say that, but it’s enough.
“Okay,” she nods, before looking up at him with an awkward face. “And sorry.”
“Sorry for what?”
“Making things weird.”
“It’s not your fault,” he replies, leaning forward to kiss the top of her head. “But we’ll be okay. We’ve driven this route a ton of times and nothing’s ever happened.”
“I know.” Given that Jeremy is still here and all. She doesn’t vocalize that sometimes she still feels more like a Stitch, destroying everything she touches, sometimes without even meaning it, and tries to focus on the confidence instead. She can do this. Jeremy can do this and she can do this. He tucks her into his side, and heads back towards the truck.
“So if it’s okay with you guys, I’ll drive and you guys can take the back?”
Matt frowns. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, just Malia gets car sick so she needs to be up front, and I figured you guys would rather cuddle than split up.”
“Not wrong,” Elena grins, leaning into her boyfriend’s shoulder.
“Werecoyotes get car sick?” Matt blinks in surprise.
“Motion sickness is about equilibrium, not illness,” Malia nods, going with Jeremy’s ruse, even though she’s terrible at lying. Matt seems to take that at face value and nods.
“Works for me.”
As they head to the car, Jeremy squeezes her shoulder. “Ready to go?”
out there on the road | new york wolves | 1,000 | set 8
She’s never fully comfortable contained in a metal box, but she can manage, sometimes, when the right person is behind the wheel. The forty hour drive from Beacon Hills to New York was a harrowing adventure of rest stop breaks, long meal stops and occasional nightmares, but in the years since Malia’s learned to deal with it. She’s learned to deal when a member of her family is behind the wheel. She’s learned to trust that a car isn’t as scary as she makes it out to be. She refuses to learn how to drive it herself, despite how Peter thinks it might help her come over those last roadblocks of her own fears, but when it comes to driving to dance competitions out of state, she can deal if a member of her family is taking her.
As she overs outside where the group is packing in the sticky New York summer weather, watching as her belongings get packed into Matt’s SUV in preparation of driving them down towards Mystic Falls and she has her unsure face on.
She knows this is something she has to get over. She knows that she needs to take a breather and remind herself that not everyone in her life is going to be a terrible driver and just because Matt is not Laura does not mean that he’s not incapable behind a wheel, and it’s so stupid. She knows it’s stupid. At the same time, she can’t seem to will her feet to move.
“You ready to go?”
Jeremy comes up to her with a small smile, and his expression indicates that he’s not unaware of her current feelings about the situation, but he’s going to try and push past it unless she says something. It’s hard for her to pin down what exactly it is about this situation that’s bothering her, but there’s something there and she swallows hard before blurting out the first thing that comes to mind.
“Maybe this is a bad idea.”
His face flickers, almost like he’s hurt. “Do you not want to go?”
“No, I do.” She wants to meet Jeremy’s aunt because she knows that’s important, and she wants to see Mystic Falls, but she can’t make herself get in the car. “But maybe I should go with Tyler and Caroline.”
It seems like an adequate compromise. Tyler and Caroline have healing factors of sorts, if Malia happens to lash out then they will heal and hopefully not hold it against her. Jeremy, Matt and his sister are all very fragile and very human and when she thinks about the possibility that if another accident happens, the same fate could befall them that did her sister and mother, she feels her chest tighten.
“Ty and Care left yesterday.” Jeremy’s voice is soft, because he knows something’s wrong, especially when Malia can’t fight the whine that comes with that plan being squashed, and she takes a deep breath. “Malia what’s wrong?”
She swallows hard. “I don’t do well in cars.”
“Okay,” he says slowly. “So how does that make Ty and Care better?”
“Tyler and Caroline can heal themselves.” She swallows. “You guys can’t.” There’s another pause as she buries her face in her hands. “I’m sorry, this is so stupid.”
“It’s not stupid,” Jeremy sighs as he reaches forward, taking her hands in his. “I just wish you would have mentioned it when we were making the travel arrangements.”
“I thought I could handle it. I mean, the last time I had a panic attack in a car, I was eleven. But … that’s also because the only people who have been driving me around have been Derek, Laura and Peter.”
“So you’re used to them and how they drive. But you’ve never been in a car with Matt before.”
She nods. “I’m sure he’s fine, and I’m sure we’ll be fine, I just … can’t convince my body of that.”
Jeremy nods. “Would you feel better if I drive?”
“Will Matt let you do that?”
Jeremy nods. “Yeah, he trusts me. And I’m sure he and Elena would much rather snuggle in the back anyway. You and I can sit up front.”
Malia considers quietly, trying to determine if that’s really better but she trusts Jeremy a lot more than she trusts Matt, even if she’s never driven with him before. And she’s seen his reflexes in action. He’s still not at werewolf fast, but … he could do.
It’s not the most rousing vote of confidence, so she doesn’t say that, but it’s enough.
“Okay,” she nods, before looking up at him with an awkward face. “And sorry.”
“Sorry for what?”
“Making things weird.”
“It’s not your fault,” he replies, leaning forward to kiss the top of her head. “But we’ll be okay. We’ve driven this route a ton of times and nothing’s ever happened.”
“I know.” Given that Jeremy is still here and all. She doesn’t vocalize that sometimes she still feels more like a Stitch, destroying everything she touches, sometimes without even meaning it, and tries to focus on the confidence instead. She can do this. Jeremy can do this and she can do this. He tucks her into his side, and heads back towards the truck.
“So if it’s okay with you guys, I’ll drive and you guys can take the back?”
Matt frowns. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, just Malia gets car sick so she needs to be up front, and I figured you guys would rather cuddle than split up.”
“Not wrong,” Elena grins, leaning into her boyfriend’s shoulder.
“Werecoyotes get car sick?” Matt blinks in surprise.
“Motion sickness is about equilibrium, not illness,” Malia nods, going with Jeremy’s ruse, even though she’s terrible at lying. Matt seems to take that at face value and nods.
“Works for me.”
As they head to the car, Jeremy squeezes her shoulder. “Ready to go?”
Malia smiles and nods. “As I’ll ever be.”