Falling Into Us Read Online Free PDF Page B

and tried to call up my ire at his nerve. He still owed me a hell of an explanation, but I knew I’d let it go after a while. I’d give him shit about it, but I’d forgive him. Eventually.
    I approached his black pickup truck and smoothed the front of my gray cotton skirt. Jason jumped out of his truck and circled around to open my door for me; points to Jason for manners. He didn’t speak until he’d swung the truck around the short boulevard at the entrance and out onto the main road.
    “So,” I said. “Explain.”
    Jason just grinned at me and turned on the radio, tuning it to a country station. I grimaced and changed it, but Jason frowned at me, tuning it back. “I like that song.”
    I glared at him. “I hate country music.”  
    “Have you ever really listened to it?” he asked.
    I sighed and shook my head. “No, not really,” I admitted.
    He turned the volume up so the music filled the car as a new song came on. “Listen to this song. It’s one of my favorites. It tells such an amazing story.”
    I closed my eyes and focused on the words… Eighty-nine cents in the ashtray, half-empty bottle of Gatorade …I was hooked immediately by the simple, vivid imagery. I lost myself in the song. Every line, every verse, and every repetition of the chorus was sung with wrenching emotion. I drive your truck …god. It hit so hard. I didn’t know why, because I’d never lost anyone the way the singer had, but I felt the song so poignantly.  
    When it ended, Jason clicked the stereo off. “So? What’d you think?”
    “Who was that singing?” I asked.
    “Lee Brice. The song is called ‘I Drive Your Truck,’ if you couldn’t tell from the chorus.” He grinned at me. “So was I right?”
    I nodded. “Yes. You were right. That is a very touching song. It wasn’t so twangy like I thought it’d be.”
    He laughed. “You’re thinking of the older style of country. The stuff coming out these days isn’t all like that, it’s more like country-influenced rock, I guess you could call it. I like country music because it’s…I don’t know. It’s about stuff. Most of the songs tell a story, or deal with something you can grab on to, you know? Something you can understand. I mean that song, obviously it’s about a guy who lost a close friend or a brother or his dad or something. It’s right there in the lyrics.”
    “The lyrics were very poetic.” I smiled at him. “Play something else for me.”
    He grinned and turned the radio back on. He listened for a few beats and then nodded. “This is another good one.” Glancing at me, Jason pointed in my direction as if dedicating a performance to me. “This one’s for you, Becca.”
    I couldn’t help laughing. “You’re weird.”
    He cranked it up and shouted over the guitars. “I’m dedicating it to you! Listen up!”
    He rolled the windows down and stuck his hand out, bobbing his head with the music and slapping the side of the truck with his palm in time with the beat. It had the same feel, the music in the background to the singer’s voice. It was more pop-influenced, I thought, and the singer had less of a country accent, but it was still definitely a country song. Then I started paying attention to the lyrics, in which the singer told the subject of the song, a woman, that she didn’t have to do all sorts of sweet and sexy things, but it sure would be cool if she did. It was a cleverly written song, romantic and heartfelt.
    When the song ended, Jason turned the volume down a bit as another song came on. “Like that one? That was ‘Sure Be Cool If You Did’ by Blake Shelton.”  
    “Isn’t that the guy on that TV show? X-factor or The Voice or something?”  
    “Yeah. He’s on The Voice. ”
    I glared at him. “Why would you dedicate that song to me, anyway?”
    He blushed and looked away, glancing at me sideways as he drove. “I don’t know. I just did. It seemed…fitting, I guess. For you and me, out on a date?”
    I sighed.