Antecedent (Tex Sawyer)

Antecedent 2

A/N: With thanks again to an amazing friend at the other side of the country. Inconvenient_Ideal

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What was promised to be a short drive was considerably longer than I had assumed; despite the other three not vocalising their opinion, it was clear that they felt the same. Tex however seemed to have made himself comfortable in the back while Sherri dedicated her full time and attention to him. Troy had remained out of it, seething and steaming with his head pressed against the car window, his breath fogging up on the glass at each angry exhalation he made.
By now what was left of the daylight had shed its skin, breaking in the start of night and darkness which was only cleared by the headlights. The road seemed endless and as I tore my attention away from the mirror, I too took to swaying and curling up where possible on my seat. A shaking hand removed the fedora I had borrowed from Joel and held it against my lap, the need to sleep was slowly dripping in my senses; my eyes burned gently as I held up a hand to rub both of them with the back of it and gave a low yawn.
Briefly, I noticed that Tex was still watching me in the mirror and I found myself wondering if he had even stopped, each and every time I had caught his eye it seemed as though he never tore his gaze away. At first it seemed harmless, but by now I felt ready to just shut it out and with that thought alone I used the tip of my boot to prod Joel's leg, as hard as it was for me to stay awake, I didn't envy his part in the journey. "Want to swap over?" I suggested hearing my boyfriend give a small and dry chuckle in return.
"Honey, you're barely awake."
"And you are?"
"Don't worry about me," leaning a hand off the wheel, he placed it tenderly and reassuringly on my ankle before turning his head slightly. "How much longer, Tex?"
"Not far," Tex mused back simply humming and pushing himself up, Sherri slid off his shoulder slightly as she adjusted herself too. "Maybe another ten, fifteen minutes and don't you worry, plenty of room at home and you're all more than welcome to stay overnight."
Closing my eyes so ours didn't connect once again, I allowed my hand to connect with Joel's tenderly. "That seems like a good idea, so long as your family doesn't mind."
"The family loves guests," Tex laughed in reply. "We could easily take you in and if you're hungry heck, dinner will probably be getting made."
"We do have places to go." Troy disagreed bitterly and despite my stomach growing gently realising that food as well as sleep niggled, part of me wanted to agree with him. I pondered being too exhausted and tempted to bring out the tents gently stashed away in the boot. Despite seemingly being a nice enough guy, I could still feel those eyes on me and it was something that slowly was beginning to make me uncomfortable. "Right, guys?"
"I would happily have dinner with you." Sherri cut off what was meant as a rhetorical question and eagerly piped up. "Even just stretching my legs would be a blessing."
"And to be honest," Joel agreed with a sigh, retrieving his hand to rub his neck, "I'm ready to have a nap unless you're wanting to take over, Troy?"
"Thanks, but, no. Lori offered, however."
"Lori is ready to count sheep so unless you want to crash and end up in a ditch somewhere." Trailing off he shook his head at the agitated sigh that came from the ashy blonde in the back. He had had enough and frankly didn't care if he was being rude. Biting my lower lip gingerly, it was clear if this was to turn into a team vote, nothing would be solved. Two against two only meant a more frustrating scenario, a tie, a tie and bickering. Just like before, I was simply going to have to lump it. It was pointless to refuse such a good offer, we were all ready to sleep, ready to eat and tomorrow would be a fresh and new day with Alfredo just being a thing of the past and Tex just being a snippet of a story when we relayed the road trip details onto others.
"We need a rest and if Tex is offering..."
"It'd be our pleasure." The cowboy insisted, "we love guests and really it's the least I can do for you kind folk."

"Looks like it's decided then." Joel nodded as I breathed through my nose and nestled against the corner of my chair allowing my eyes to close as my eyelids grew heavy and the fight against trying to keep them open was faltering. How this was meant to be a short trip and somehow was going on for so long was a little unbelievable but to just leave him with Alfredo after the armed man had tried to shoot us just was not an option. Not to mention that Tex couldn't have predicted the few road closures which had stalled us for some time.
The road had become coarse and bumpy, the wheel giving an uncomfortable shift each time it
collided with something. Roadkill, most probably, Tex had informed us remarking there was roadkill all over Texas and he seemed to have a point, armadillos particularly were finding themselves too close to the vehicle for comfort. Knocked against the window with a groan I heard an apology come from Joel's way as he blamed himself, in response I did all I could to wave a hand.
"My turn to drive tomorrow," I teased, keeping my eyes closed and allowing the smooth and cooling panel of glass to tend to the minor thumping in the corner of my head.
"Cheeky."
"It's been a long day."
"Yeah, not every day you punch a gas station attendant."
"He deserved it."
"I am not disputing that!" Joel laughed amused, but even as he tried to stay positive the volume of his voice was rising as though in an attempt to keep us all awake and alert. It was clear he was taking Tex's word for it on not being much further. Fool me twice, I had found myself thinking before mentally scolding myself, being tired and hungry was not an excuse to get irritable with a man who genuinely came to our aid and was quite charming, regardless of the staring problem he appeared to have.
It was possible he found more comfort in talking to me as unlike Sherri I was not draped over him like a boa snake or being the opposite of Troy who was agitated and voicing it loud and proud. He was acting like a child who had been sent to the naughty step, he wanted us all to know his displeasure and we did, it was difficult not to sense awkwardness in the atmosphere. Joel however was trying to remain civil and neutral and I found myself taking his stance. It wouldn't be much longer and a night really was not that long when evening was upon us.
"Where do you folks hail from anyway?" Tex questioned idly as a ringing rang through my ears and head allowing Joel to become the conversationalist. Through the darkness of my sealed eyelids, fuzzy shapes and lights spiralled as I hoped greatly that food and sleep would cure what was clearly an oncoming migraine. Through the voices and sounds of gravel crunching, I felt my eyebrow raise as we gave another thud. There was something else. Bringing my legs back to myself, I heard it again, a louder crunch from behind, a whooshing of air as if something heavy was in the wind.
Allowing the still clasped fedora to go back over my auburn hair, I gave a frown as it caressed the skin of my ears. It offered no aid from the distracting noise and inhaling, I finally opened my eyes and straightened up. Joel spoke my name as I held up a hand. Again, there was a crunch and clasping my fingers around the corner of my chair, I focused past Tex who seemed to still be watching me and out past the boot. The trees being so caked together made it almost impossible to spot anything through the thickening coat of darkness. Joel started again but this time I shushed him. Either I was going mad or amongst the already sounds, it was closer.
Swaying and edging my head, I attempted to see closer, my eyes squinting to make out anything. "I heard something."
"You were dreaming, come on settle back down."
"I heard something, Joel." I reiterated somewhat impatiently, it wasn't weather related unless the wind suddenly only wanted to attack from one place, there were no signs of builders on this road and surely if any rangers gathered around this area, they would make their presence known in order to avoid joining the litter of deceased critters on the road. "Stop the car."