Dear Universe, Up Yours!

Chapter 5

[ "Book of Love" by The Monotones playing faintly]

My eyes slowly fluttered open as my whole body began to wake up. Shit, I think I fell asleep. My head was faced down and my neck was in pain so I was scared to move it. Why the fuck did I have to fall asleep in this position? Finally, and slowly, I tried moving my head back up, the pain in my neck decreasing as I let my head rest back. Outside, the sky looked pretty dark so I checked my watch. 7:57 p.m. Shit. How the hell did I sleep that long? And how far did we go since? I looked down at my lap and a black jacket covered me from my shoulders to my knees. I felt warmer and it was nice.

I looked beside me to see that Gerard wore just his T-shirt and scarf now, which explains the jacket over me, used as a blanket. He was particularly thoughtful and I fervently admired that diminutive gesture.

"Thanks," I said.

"For what?" He immediately replied.

"The jacket?" I answered in the form of a question.

"Oh- oh! Oh, yeah, um it's no problem," he said with a slight grin. I smiled to myself. Again. What was this kid doing to me?

"I'm getting pretty tired, so is it okay if we go sleep at a motel?" It took me a while to process this because I was already preoccupied with the thoughts of Gerard in my head. There was something terribly interesting about him. But then I was finally able to respond after remembering what he had just said. It happens all the time; I react to whatever people say, late, processing and responding to it afterward. I think I did this to myself too. I know I did. I'd say things to anybody and I wouldn't have known what I said to them until delayed realization.

"Oh- yeah. Yeah, that's fine," I answered.

[ "Book of Love" stops playing]

He drove up to the parking lot for a small, two-story motel. We got out of the car and I gave Gerard's jacket back, watching him put it on afterward. We headed into the building, opening the door, and heard a little bell ring. Another fucking bell. Fascinating. There was a lady at the front desk. She wore the motel uniform, which was some polo shirt, had dark brown skin, black curly hair, and brown eyes, looking at us as if we were two children in a casino. Like we were lost or something. There was a small word search puzzle book in her hands, and she looked down at it to circle a word she found, then brought her attention to us again. I walked up to the counter with Gerard following behind me.

"Hi, um, can we get a double room?" I asked as she put the book down on the desk.

"Yeah, sure, one double bed?" she said, and for some reason, my heart raced and my eyes widened for just three seconds. I didn't think it would be appropriate to share a bed with Gerard.

"No, no, um do you have the double twin beds. Y'know... two beds?" I said nervously and her eyes trailed to Gerard, looking back at me for a while, then back at Gerard, then at me. Odd.

"You, uh, sure you want double beds? Not just one?" I wouldn't be asking for two beds if I didn't want them, right? Is this some weird money-saving thing?

"Yes, I'm, uh, very sure," I assured firmly, though she raised an eyebrow, making me confused again. What the hell was going on? She then gave me a key to a room 204, knowing we'd pay at check-out. I decided not to think more of her confounded expressions. "Thank you," I added. She smiled and nodded, picking up her word search book after, and Gerard and I headed outside to find our room.

It was pretty dark and cold outside. I couldn't see anything 100 feet away. Maybe less than that. I don't know if that measurement was accurate, considering I wasn't very good at estimations. As I looked around the trees we were surrounded by, I realized I didn't actually know where we were, state or city-wise. We didn't even have a map, we just went along with things. There was something relieving about that. There was no plan and that was okay.