“Are you sure you want to do this?” Justin asked, nervously tugging on a curl that fell into his eyes. He dropped his hands into his lap and mentally yelled at himself for not getting his hair cut like he wanted to.
“Of course I’m sure,” JC replied, slowing the car down until it stopped and he put the gear shift into park. “I want to help.”
“But are you really sure?” Justin pressed, biting on his lower lip. “I mean, Lance practically shot out of a cannon to stay away from me. Chris freaked out so much I think he needs to be put into a mental hospital, not that he didn’t before. And Joey, well, Joey doesn’t want to get anywhere near me.”
“Well, unlike the others, I won’t give up on you,” JC replied with a bright smile. “You will get your license by the time I’m done with you.”
Justin let out a sigh and smiled. “Thanks C. I can do everything fine, it’s just the parallel parking I can’t really do right.”
“By the time I’m done teaching you you’ll be a pro. Now what is it about parallel parking that you have trouble with? Knowing how far to back up? Being too close to the curb? What?” JC asked as he leaned back in his seat, looking at the younger boy.
Justin turned to face forward, his eyes tracing the practice lines of the commuter lot and stayed quiet. What was he supposed to say? That he gets freaked out thinking about the car crash video he saw before he started getting his permit? That was the reason but JC couldn’t know that. He’d think that Justin was a wimp, which Justin wasn’t. He performed in front of 20,000+ people all the time in Europe. That’s harder than driving. And he could do that. But he just couldn’t parallel park.
“Um, the first one,” Justin replied finally.
“Ok, using this mini can will make it easy,” JC said as he stretched out his arms. “This mini van is roughly the length of a parking space so you’ll be able to tell how far back you need to reverse. I’ll talk you through it but then you’ll try on your own, ok?”
Justin nodded and opened his car door. I can do it. JC’s the patient one, he can teach me. No problem. He took the keys from JC as he passed him and got into the passenger side door. Justin got into the driver’s seat and closed the door, making a face at how far away the seat was to the steering wheel. JC wasn’t taller than Justin by much anymore, only a few inches and Justin was catching up, but still it felt like he was a million light years away from the steering wheel. Justin stuck the keys in the ignition, pausing to think as to why JC took them out in the first place, but shrugged it off as he buckled himself.
“Ok, adjust the mirrors,” JC spoke so suddenly it caused Justin to jump. JC laughed a little as Justin slightly adjusted the mirrors. “Adjust the seat and steering wheel?” he asked. Justin nodded and gripped the steering wheel at ten and two. He swallowed and nervously licked his lips. “Ok, put your foot on the break and keep it there as you take off the parking break.” JC waited patiently as Justin did so. “Put the car into drive.” Grasping the gear shift, Justin quickly said a prayer and shifted it until the little red arrow pointed at the D sign. Ok, the car’s in gear. So far so good. Justin let out slow breath. “Good, now slowly take your foot off the brake and give the car a little gas.”
Justin took another deep breath and pressed his foot on the gas pedal. A little too hard. The car zoomed forward. “Not too fast,” JC instructed. Justin slammed his foot on the brake. The car stopped short and he and JC leaned forward from the force of the stop before slamming back against their seats.
“Sorry,” Justin said sheepishly.
JC rubbed his neck where the seat belt made a red mark. “S’ok. We’re still alive. Just don’t slam on the break. If you do that on the road there’s a better chance it could get you rear-ended.”
Justin paled. “Rear-ended?” He repeated.
“Don’t start freaking out. Let’s do some easy stuff. Turns, signals, parking in parking spaces before you do anything else. Ok?” JC said, sensing Justin’s fear. He offered the younger boy a smile and Justin smiled in return, albeit it was hesitant.
Justin practiced his right and left turns. He practiced backing up. JC even let him try a few doughnuts before doing anything else. When Justin backed up over a curb his grip tightened on the steering wheel. When he accidentally knocked over a metal trashcan his grip got even harder. So hard JC could see his fingers shaking. The longer the practice went the more stressed Justin seemed to get until JC didn’t think he’d be able to pry Justin’s fingers off of the wheel.
“Why don’t we try driving with music?” JC suggested, reaching to the floor and pulling out a CD player. They were in park but Justin didn’t dare remove his hands or his eyes from in front of him. His lips were in a straight line and Justin was staring so hard JC thought he looked like he was straining on a toilet. Chuckling, JC put a CD into the car’s CD player. A slight twitch formed in the corner of Justin’s mouth when the sounds of the Beatles Drive My Car flowed through the speakers. JC then got out and pulled cones out of the trunk, placing them on the ground in front of the van before getting back in. “Ok, let’s try a three point turn.”
Justin knew that a three point turn was supposed to be done in, well, three points. However, whenever he tried it always took him six turns minimum to get out of the space. After trying, and failing, four times, he glanced over at JC, his lip sucked into his mouth. JC’s cheeks were puffed up slightly and his eyes were squinted, his right hand clutching at his knee.
“Just explode all ready! Your quietness is getting to me,” Justin finally cried out breaking the silence.
JC wordlessly pushed open the door, angrily fought with seat belt that was holding in, and slammed the door shut. Justin winced at the sound and watched JC stalk to the front of the car, stand there for a few minutes, and then start yelling and stomping around and kicking at the cones. Despite JC’s angry antics Justin couldn’t help but burst out laughing. And once he started he couldn’t stop. Tears fell from his eyes and he slapped at the steering wheel. His stomach ached and he was finding it hard to breath.
He couldn’t help but find his predicament funny. He was part of a quickly rising band. He played sold-out shows. People had his face on their walls. But he couldn’t drive a car! When JC got back in the car, slightly red in the face, he looked at his buddy as if he were crazy. “Do you want to try parallel parking, Mr. Giggles?” JC asked dryly.
“Yeah,” Justin replied, wiping at his eyes.
“Ok then.” JC waved his hands, motioning to the cones. “Just drive up next to them, back up, pull forward, and fix the tires.”
He’s not even going to help!? Justin took a deep breath and did as he was told. The first time he backed up too close to the curb and drove onto the sidewalk. The second time he tried he ran over the cones in front of him since he was too far forward.
“Ok, forget it, that’s not working.” JC turned to Justin so his blue eyes were burning holes into Justin’s head. “Pretend…the cones in front are Lynn and the cones in back are Stephen, ok? If you run over them, you kill them.” Justin turned a scared and shocked gaze to JC. At this point JC didn’t care. If it was enough to get Justin to Parallel Park he’d have to take drastic measures. Bringing his family into it would motivate him to do well…he hoped.
Justin tried parking many times but telling him it was his family was a bad idea on JC’s part. The first time Justin ran over “Lynn” he freaked out, sped in reverse, and ran over “Stephen” which caused him to freak out even more. His hands were shaking and he looked about ready to cry and he kept apologizing for running them over. JC thought it was so odd that he actually started laughing.
“What’re you laughing about?” Justin nearly shrieked. “I just…burned rubber on my momma!”
JC laughed even harder. “J! It’s…it’s a cone. A rubber cone. You didn’t kill it. I was just trying to teach you to put everything into perspective if you don’t drive right. That’s all I’m trying to do. What was it about the others trying to teach you that made you mess up so much?”
“Well…Lance kept grabbing the steering wheel whenever I did something wrong,” Justin replied looking back at the road. “Chris kept trying to hit at an imaginary brake pedal on his side. And Joey, well, he wasn’t really paying attention to me. He was paying attention to some other girls that were trying to learn to drive as well.”
“And what am I doing different?” JC asked.
Justin wracked his brain. “Paying attention?” He guessed.
“Exactly. Not that the others weren’t but they couldn’t see your problem but I can.”
“Ok. What is it?”
“You’re afraid of failing which is making you fail,” JC replied. Justin sat back as the word dawned on him. “You’re used to everything you do turn to gold and people eat it up. This is the one thing you can’t do and you beat yourself up about it. Justin, everyone has trouble driving.’
“Not you. You got your permit and license on the first try,” Justin protested.
“Yeah, but I dented our garage door, knocked down our mailbox, and ran into a pole while I was practicing,” JC replied. “What helped me get them was that I wouldn’t let failure be an option. Instead of being afraid of it I fought it head on. You have to do the same thing.” JC noticed that a newborn spark was in Justin’s eyes and his knuckles weren’t white anymore. “Want to try one more time?”
“Hell yeah,” Justin replied. He half expected JC to tell him what to do just one more time but JC stayed quiet and looked out the window. Justin closed his eyes briefly and let out a slow breath. Putting the car back into drive he pulled forward next to the cones. Sticking his tongue out between his lips he backed up towards the curb, stopped, and pulled the car forward. He backed up again to straighten the wheels and closed his eyes, waiting for the bump of running over a cone but it didn’t come. He slowly opened his eyes and looked out his window. Then he looked at his car door mirror and then turned to look out the rearview mirror. He looked at JC who was beaming at him as if he won the Pulitzer Prize or something.
“What?” Justin asked in confusion.
“You parked, dummy!” JC replied, slapping him on the arm.
“I did?” JC nodded. “Really?” JC nodded again. Justin unbuckled himself and jumped out of the car, running around it as if he were a dog chasing his own tail. Then he jumped back into the car. “I did! I did it!” He cheered before high fiving JC. Then he suddenly grinned evilly. “Wait until we get back and I can rub it into their faces.”
JC suddenly shot his hand out and grabbed Justin’s wrist. “I’m driving back. You’re not ready for the highway and I’m not in the mood to be taken back home in a hearse.”
“Ok, just be careful, poles are known to jump into the road,” Justin said with a smirk.
“Shut up,” JC laughed.
