✓ VIRTUAL AEROBICS; eli moskowitz

58. {long, long way from home}

"unless your name is lindsey instead of simple fred, i don't think she did." gioia challenged.

fred frowned, turning around to the girl. "have you always been this mean?"

"that's what i've been saying!!" johnny exclaimed. "and no one believes me."

─── ∙ ~εïз~ ∙ ───

they had been driving for at least a day, gioia was so bored and was being engulfed with testosterone. the two men would not stop talking, and her white, apple airpods could only block out so much of their noise. robby's mood still hadn't improved since they stopped at the gas station, but he would mutter a few words when fred tried to get him into their conversation.

gioia didn't plan on speaking to robby during the trip. she wanted it to be quick. they go to mexico, find miguel and go back home. all while pretending the brunette wasn't there. but robby felt the opposite.

during the first night of their drive, johnny and fred had swapped places and the group had finally crossed the boarder. both robby and gioia had fallen asleep in the backseat. the two had managed to lean up against each other while unconscious. gioia had her head on robby's shoulder, while his head was resting on her own.

the boy had woken up and was now aware of the position they were in. yet he didn't mind, he went right back to sleep. but when gioia had arisen, she quickly pulled her head away and turned to face the window. her jerk movement forced robby to wake up too and they sat there with awkwardness filling the air. as this happened, fred was giggling to himself, watching them through the rear view mirror.

"you two all right back there?" he teased, knowing their feud wouldn't last long.

"yeah."

"mhm."

now, somewhere in mexico, the four were taking another of their many pit stops. while their fathers were gone, robby wanted to take this opportunity to talk to gioia.

he mustered up the courage to talk to the blonde girl and didn't waste a second. "gioia, i'm really sorry for everything that went down. and for what i did to hawk. you were a good friend to me even when you didn't have to be and i guess i took that for granted. i get if you don't want to be friends or if you don't even want to speak to me this whole trip. but i just wanted to apologise to you. also, thanks for forcing my dad to tell me the truth, i appreciate that."

the girl didn't say anything.

"gioia?" robby frowned. so she was just going to ignore him? "gioia?"

the girl peeled one of the airpods out of her ears. "yeah?"

"you didn't hear a word i just said?" robby sighed.

she giggled. "no i heard you, just wanted to scare you."

robby could almost smile.

"thanks for apologising." gioia nodded. "i appreciate it. and i'm sorry too."

"for what?"

"kicking your ass at your dojo in front of all your friends." she said, plainly.

robby laughed out, "really?"