Pusher

twenty-two.

My knuckles turned white, gripping the underside of the seat, as Maverick recklessly weaved in and out of traffic while a chorus of horns blared around us. Any semblance of composure I had was crumbling away with every sharp veer and tight turn.

The color drained from my face as the speedometer inched around to fifty. He slid his eyes towards me, a slight smirk tilting his lips. It was then that I realized he was only driving like a maniac for my benefit, antagonizing me at every turn.

If we weren't already dead by the time our bodies left this car, I was going to kill him myself.

We passed the city limits and kept barreling down the road until we passed the next. I picked at the hem of my shirt the whole way as the scenery morphed from the white-picket suburbs to downtown grime.

"Where are we going?" I asked, trying to sound at ease. I failed miserably.

He didn't answer. Typical.

It wasn't exactly the inner city, but my mom, as paranoid as she was, would probably go white as a sheet at the thought of me hanging around this part of town. Businesses were run down, sometimes even boarded up. Weeds grew in the sidewalk cracks. The streetlamps looked like they were installed last century.

Maverik finally pulled into a drive, some small diner with a faded pastel trim and cracked asphalt for a parking lot. It was called Leo's, but the light to the 'O' had long burnt out. The lot was mostly empty, just a few beat up cars. I assumed half of them belonged to the employees.

He cut the engine, but didn't get out. "Don't say anything, alright? Just let me do all the talking."

I nodded, trying to maintain my composure, but his warning set me on edge. I wiped my slick palms on my pant legs and followed him out of the truck.

Maybe it wasn't too late to walk away now. Sure, Maverick would tell the whole school every dirty little secret I had, but I could always drop out and start online school. Ellie wouldn't ever look at me again, but at the end of the year we'd be going to different colleges anyway. It was only a matter of time before we'd be forced to move on...

I'd just spend the rest of my senior year locked up in my room. No rumors. No dealing. No friends.

Somehow Maverick made the idea of it all almost feel appealing as he kicked open the door to the diner. I caught it, just in time before it shut behind him, and slid inside.

Maverick tipped his head back in greeting to the middle-aged man sitting at the counter. Laugh lines dug in around his eyes and his chin was shadowed by the beginnings of a stubble. His left arm ended in a nub just above the elbow.

Maverick smiled at him — a genuinely friendly smile — and they clapped hands in a brief embrace while I stood to the side.

"You look old, Buck," Maverick teased. The man bit back a bitter laugh.

"I am old, kid," he said. "Better enjoy being young and dumb while you still can. When you got grey hair like me, you're not goin' be able to keep trickin' a sharp broad like this one to keep spending time with you."

He barked out another hard laugh and dropped back into his seat. I got the sense Maverick could have sat down next to him and talked away the next six hours, but at the reminder of me, now red in the face due to Buck's brash comment, he was compelled to move further into the diner.

"Are you both regulars or something?" I asked, sparing a glance back at Buck.

"He owns the place," Maverick said.

"Then why's it call Leo's?" I asked. Mav just shrugged in return, but by then my mind was already occupied. I spotted Solomon and Ducky throwing balled-up straw wrappers at each other and a breath of relief passed through me.