Walking Down The Line, chapter 2

"So, what's your name?" he asked.
"Emerald," she replied.
"Pleased to meet you." he held out his hand for her to shake, but suddenly withdrew it, looking at his watch.
"Oh shit, I'm so late! Mike and Billie are gonna kill me!" He looked up at Emerald. "You'll have to come with me, quick, get in the car!"
"Tre, what's the matter?" she asked, scrambling into the car and slamming the door behind her. "What are you late for? Is it my fault?"
"No, it's not you," he muttered distractedly as he attempted to start the ignition. "I'm meeting Billie and Mike for lunch, then we have a photoshoot...OH COME ON!" he screamed at his car, and it finally started up.
"Right, let's go," and he slammed his foot down on the accelerator.
They sat in silence for a while, Em staring out of the window at the scenery flashing past, then she spoke.
"Um, Tre, won't Billie and Mike be kinda annoyed that you're bringing me along? Maybe you should just drop me off somewhere, and i can make my way home."
"Oh no, I'm not letting you outta my sight, no no no, can't do that. I've had to deal with suicidal people before, and that's the last thing you do. Billie and Mike won't mind, i'll tell them I'm looking after you."
She nodded, and went back to looking out of the window. Tre turned on the stereo, and cranked the car up another gear.
About ten minutes later, tehy entered the outskirts of the city, and Tre turned the stereo off.
"So, Emerald, where are you from?"
This caught her off guard.
"Huh? Oh, em, I'm from Oakland."
"Not originally though?"
She looked at him puzzled, though he kept his eyes on the road.
"How d'you know that?"
"I can hear a bit of your real accent. Your Scottish by birth, aren't you?"
She turned to find him loking intently at her, then saw the lorry headed for them.
"Tre, the road! LOOKOUT!"