My Life Of Evasion

14. There's A Lot Of Trunk Space On This Elephant

Chapter 14

There's A Lot Of Trunk Space On This Elephant

I'd been to a plenty of other countries, but India had to be the one with the craziest drivers.  When we were still in the city of Bangalore, I swear we were going to be run over at least a dozen times. 

And to top it all off, Ben was the one driving. 

"If you don't stop weaving in and out of the cars, I swear I'm going to puke all over you," I said, holding on to the handle that was over the top of the door. 

"Amen to that," Sophie said, who was sitting on the other side of Drew, who was in between us. 

The guys, including Max, were just laughing and holding on for the ride.  I wanted to switch places with Ben just so we didn't have to unnecessarily weave in and out of the traffic, which Dad wasn't even doing in front of us.

"I'm just trying to get the experience," Ben said with a laugh. 

"Exactly, and you're going to experience death by either car crash or me and Callie."

"And we'll make it look like an accident," I said, narrowing my eyes at him.  "Girls can get away with a lot if we set our minds to it."

The guys laughed and Max looked back at me just to roll his eyes.  I reached forward just as he looked forward again, just in time to smack the back of his head.  Sophie and I were the ones laughing then. 

To say the least, Sophie and I got along a lot more than I thought we would.  The few times in the past two days that we'd just sat down and talked about random stuff, I'll admit that it was fun.  It was nice to talk to a girl other than Brielle.  Plus, I got to learn some embarrassing things about Max that I knew, just didn't know a lot about because he would never elaborate.  I had some ammunition now for whenever I needed it. 

Dad and Brielle didn't seem so surprised that we were actually talking, but the guys...that was an entirely different story.  Whenever they walked in after we settled things between us, the three of them just stared.  It was like the world was coming to an end because she and I were actually getting along. 

Which was just stupid...though I did used to think that that was the only way I would ever get along with her.  Oh, well.

"There they go, ganging up on us," Drew said.  He lifted both of his arms and wrapped then around mine and Sophie's necks, pulling us right up against his sides.  "I think I liked you two better when you didn't like each other."

Sophie's face was blank as she looked up at him.  "You'd better watch it before you're on the list with Ben."

He laughed, squeezing us tight once more before letting us go.  "Let's put Max on the list and then we'll call it a party!"

Sophie rolled her eyes and shook her head at his weirdness, exactly like I did.  There was something else in common. 

"So where exactly are we supposed to be looking for this seal?" Ben asked, looking back at us in the rearview mirror.  He wasn't driving crazily anymore since we were heading out of the city and onto the more deserted roads leading out into the country. 

"You saw the picture," Max said.  "It's engraved on the stone somewhere."

"And we're going to look for this seal carved in stone," Drew said, poking his head up between Ben and Max in the front seat, "in a stone temple.  That shouldn't be so hard, should it?"

I rolled my eyes at him, shaking my head.  “It probably won’t be that hard.  The biggest part is trying to get the place to our selves without any tourists.  We don’t want to have people watch as we’re looking for another clue.”