Headlights

The silence was unbearable in that car, but somehow, Aiden preferred it that way. Then Jordy turned on the radio.

Of course he did, Aiden thought to himself bitterly. Can’t stand to be alone with his thoughts.

Or maybe he just couldn’t stand to be alone with Aiden right now? But that didn’t sound right. Aiden scowled to himself and leaned further out the window. 

They’d had another one of their stupid arguments, which was really just a disguise for something bigger.

A shitty disguise, Aiden thought. It was like in dumb comedies, when someone tries to quickly hide a large object by throwing a small sheet over it. It never fooled anyone in the movies, and it certainly wasn’t fooling Aiden or Jordy right now.

“It’s not what you’re thinking,” Jordy grumbled. Aiden glanced over his shoulder at him and almost smiled, but caught himself; Jordy’s hands were firmly gripping the steering wheel and his eyes were glued to the road. It was the first time Aiden had seen him follow the rules of the road so strictly since the day he got his license. 

Blushing now, Aiden looked back out the window. “What am I thinking?”

But Jordy didn’t respond. 

“God, you can be such a dick sometimes,” Aiden muttered.

“You say that as if I don’t already know.”

Aiden looked at him sharply, and was about to respond, but Jordy put a hand out.

“This is a good song,” he said, and Aiden almost smiled again, because it most definitely was not a good song: Hey There Delilah was playing. He had to bite his lip to keep from laughing, but couldn’t bring his gaze back out the window this time. 

Two years ago, Jordy and Aiden had listened to it for the first time together, and -- after deciding that it was bad in that fun, ironic kind of way -- spent the next week learning all of the lyrics so that every time they heard it, they could sing it as loud as they possibly could. 

So tonight, Aiden stared at Jordy, waiting for him to start singing. He watched him until the song was over. But Jordy sat quietly, eyes still on the road, hand still out as if to make sure Aiden stayed quiet, too… and then the song ended, and the radio host started talking about a raffle for tickets to the upcoming One Republic concert in Chicago. 

You’re kidding, Jordy thought, hands tightening around the steering wheel. You’re fucking kidding. He didn’t sing. It was the song and he didn’t sing.

Looking back, the argument they’d had wasn’t even that bad. No one had said anything too harsh, there were no painfully accurate insults thrown around. Hell, Jordy couldn’t even remember what they’d been arguing about.

(That wasn’t true.)

Jordy narrowed his eyes and suddenly noticed headlights down the road. The streets were always deserted by now, so it was unusual to see another car out. Jordy frowned, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw Aiden was frowning, too. That was comforting, somehow, and Jordy nearly smiled, but he shook his head lightly and focused back on the road.

It was a police officer; as soon as Jordy noticed he looked away, holding his breath. He tried to look calm and hoped Aiden wouldn’t notice how tense he’d gotten.

(Also not true.)

They passed each other without any incident, and Jordy let out a soft and steady breath.

“You okay?” Aiden said quietly. 

Jordy glanced at him to see nothing but the back of his head, then looked back at the road and cleared his throat.

“What do you care?” he replied, mentally slapping himself in the face.

“Sorry I asked, then.”

Jordy wondered if he should say something back, but decided that it was probably best if he didn’t. He glanced at Aiden again and unfortunately met eyes with him. 

“Did you need something?” Jordy asked, somehow unable to look away.

Aiden squinted at him and didn’t say anything for some time. “What’s your deal?”

“What’s my deal? Are you kidding?”

“No, I’m not. You’ve been all over today. Why won’t you just tell me what happened?”

“Nothing happened.”

“Shit, Jordy, we just did this!”

“Yeah, well, we’re gonna have to keep doing it until you understand that nothing happened.”

“Fine,” said Aiden. 

Jordy scowled and tore his eyes away from Aiden’s, forcing himself to look at the road ahead of him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Aiden angrily turn the radio off.

Fifteen more minutes passed in silence before Jordy turned around and started back towards Aiden’s house. 

Aiden closed his eyes and leaned against the head rest, sighing. He didn’t really want to go home, as uncomfortable as things were in the car. He preferred driving in the dark with Jordy to sitting in the living room with his parents no matter what mood Jordy was in. 

Why can’t he just say it? Aiden thought. But he didn’t really want him to. At this point, it seemed like Jordy was arguing for the sake of arguing, and if that was the case, Aiden couldn’t care less what was going on with him.

Well, no, he thought. I do care. But he doesn’t have to make it so damn difficult. I do care.

Suddenly, Aiden hated the silence, too, and began reaching for the radio, but Jordy made it first and on came the radio again. The Offspring was playing; it was one of Jordy’s favorite songs. Aiden heard him humming along, and this time, he let himself smile. 

(this is a shorter story so trying to fit the word count uhh, idk i wrote this really fast but i liked it so here it is, no offense to anyone who likes hey there delilah of course, i do too but in my mind jordy and aiden are very snooty about music lol, anyway hope you liked and sorry all of my stories are about the same two characters but they're the only thing i want to write about these days for some reason)