Wrecked by E. R. Frank

please.”
    “Why is the Audi at home?” I ask. “Why don’t you or Dad have it?”
    “We miscommunicated,” my mom explains. “I thought Jack was taking it, so I got a ride with Phyllis. Your dad thought I was taking it, so he got a ride with Russell.”
    “I’m in the middle of studying,” I say.
    “Anna, this isn’t an option. We’re stuck here,” my mom says.
    “Is she giving you a hard time?” I hear my father ask in the background.
    “I can’t—,” I start to tell my mother.
    My dad gets on the phone. “Get over here now,” he says. And he hangs up on me.
    “What’s the matter?” Seth asks. “Your teeth are chattering.”
    “No, they’re not,” I say. They all look at me funny.
    “Can someone give me a ride home?”
    Seth does. I have to direct him because he’s never been to my house.
    “Are you okay?” he keeps asking. I keep nodding behind my sunglasses. I’m going to need them for at least a few more weeks. Even though I stopped using the drops a couple of days after that gonioscopy.
    “What happened on the phone?” Seth tries.
    “Nothing,” I say. “My mom just needs me to pick her and my dad up.” I pull my arms around myself, and he drops it.
    “So, what was that piece of paper you were so interested in at Ellen’s just now?” I ask him. My teeth are chattering, and it’s not even that cold out.
    “My next big thing,” he says.
    “Your what?”
    “My next big thing.” He grins. He has sort of a goofy grin. “You need a big thing every now and then,” he goes. “To keep life from getting boring.” He reaches into the pocket on his door and grabs a Tootsie Roll.
    “Here,” I say. “You’re driving.” I unwrap it for him. Instead of holding out his hand, though, he opens his mouth. I ignore that and toss the naked Tootsie Roll into his lap, so that he has to fish for it. “So, what’s a big thing?” I ask him.
    “My first one was in seventh grade,” he says, rolling the candy between his front teeth. “You know that huge waterwheel moat thing by the library?”
    “Yeah,” I go. “The one somebody made into a bubble bath about four yea …”
    He’s rolling and smiling.
    “Oh my God,” I go. “That was you?”
    More rolling. More smiling.
    “What about the colors?” I ask him. “That started later, right? Like, a year later?”
    “Food coloring,” he goes. “My favorite was the purple.”
    “Mine too!” I go. “How did you not get caught? I mean, they could have arrested you or something.”
    “Yeah,” he goes, tucking the Tootsie Roll into the side of his cheek, making a little bulge. “Life without parole.”
    “Don’t make fun of me.”
    “Never.” He chews and swallows. “I’m glad you don’t have that robot eye anymore during the daytime,” he says as he turns onto my street. My arms have become uncrossedsomehow, only I’m shaking again, so I recross them.
    “Because I’ve been wanting to kiss you, only that thing was messing up the physics of it.”
    “The physics?”
    “Who have you gone out with, anyway?”
    I cross my legs now too. “Nobody,” I say.
    “I thought you and Paul what’s-his-name were a thing.”
    “No,” I say. We’re around the curve now, almost at my driveway. “He liked me, but I didn’t like him back.”
    “Why?” Seth asks. I don’t really know why. He was cute and cool, and he played soccer, and Ellen thought I should like him. “And what about Rothman?”
    I roll my eyes. “Rothman is ridiculous,” I say. “Here.” He pulls into my driveway. I unknot my limbs and get out of the car. I try to seem calm while I make myself walk around to his side.
    “Why do you like me, Seth?” I ask through his rolled-down window.
    “Am I ridiculous if I don’t have a reason?”
    I shake my head. He reaches out and pulls a curl. And doesn’t let go.
    “Let go,” I tell him.
    The truth is, I’ve been kissed by only two guys. Paul what’s his-name and Rothman, and I’ve never really had