“No. It’s nothing.”

“So? A ride?”

“Sure. Why not?” Maybe I would learn a few more things about him that would make him different from my brother.

“This is your car?” I asked as we approached a beige sedan. It was at least twenty years old and looked like a car my grandpa would drive.

“You don’t like my Buick Century? It’s a classic.”

“No, this cannot claim that title.”

“You’re going to hurt his feelings.” He stuck the key in the lock, turned it twice to the left, once to the right, then jiggled it before pulling it back out and opening the door. I wasn’t sure if that was really necessary or if it was just something he did as a joke.

“I thought you had a Lexus.”

“Who wants a Lexus when they have the opportunity to drive this?”

“True.”

“That was my dad’s car. He let me borrow it a few times while my car was getting fixed.”

“Oh.” I climbed in and spent the entire time he walked around the car trying to buckle my seat belt.

“That one doesn’t work,” he said as he sat down. He patted the middle seat. “Guess you’ll have to sit next to me.”

“Did you break this seat belt on purpose?”

“Best pickup line ever, right? I wish I had thought of it on my own. But no, I didn’t. It legitimately broke all by itself.”

“Right.” I slid over next to him and buckled up.

He draped his arm across the back of the seat, lifted one side of his mouth into a half smile, and met my eyes. “Hey.” His eyes were green. Like my brother’s.

I scowled, and he laughed and put both hands on the wheel.

“Sorry, I’ll behave. It was just a joke,” he said.

Of course it was.

“Where to?” he asked, starting the engine.

I told him where I lived, then reached for the radio.

“It doesn’t work.”

I gasped. “How can you drive without music?”

“Well, it might be an old-car thing, but my gas pedal isn’t connected to the radio at all.”

“Funny. It’s just, I wouldn’t be able to do that.”

“But to be fair, you don’t do anything without music.”

“Music is life.” It was to me at least. It filled me up, gave me words, helped me to feel or not to feel.

“Interesting.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”