Wanderlust

21- The Four-Letter Word

He laughed reassuringly and squeezed my hand tighter before we were pulling out onto the road and driving out of our hiding spot to go find some clothes for both of us preferably, but mainly Thomas. And food, we needed some more food too, although I’m sure we could hold out until we got to my dad to feed our tummies.

“When do you want to stop for clothes?” Thomas asked me.

I shrugged. “Let’s wait until we get to San Francisco.”

“If we’re going to wait until then, why do we need to stop at all?”

“I can deal with your boyish stench.” I shrugged. “But you could have at least a decent smell when you meet my father. He’s very proper. Not as proper as my mother, of course, but smelling nice won’t hurt.”

“Okay.” He sighed heavily. “Whatever floats your boat, girly.”

I chuckled softly and watched as the scenery around us changed and moved from rural to city and then rural again and then back to city within a few hours. The conversation in the car was comfortable and light, talking about simple things like favorite colors and foods and movies and shows, trivial things like that.

It took us almost four hours to arrive in San Francisco, and we planned that we’d stop by a Wal-Mart before finding the map I had of San Francisco to search for my dad’s house and how to get there. We chose Wal-Mart because it was busy and spread out, so it should be fairly easy to get in and out with some clothes and food without being noticed. Especially with the self-check outs and everything.

Thomas parked in the front of the parking lot and we made our way inside of the supermarket that was really busy, due to it being Saturday, so that was both good and bad. We’d blend in more, but there were more people there to recognize us.

“Should we split up?” I asked Thomas when I realized that if we split up, then it would be harder for people to put two and two together, I think.

“We should, but I don’t want to. Do you want to?” Thomas asked with his hand in mine.

I shook my head in all honesty. I knew that it would be smart to split up, but I didn’t want to leave him because I highly doubt that if the thing that happened at the mall happened again, we’d be able to get away so easily. That just wouldn’t happen with people knowing who I am and what I look like now.

“Then to the clothes we go.” He grinned, leading me down the aisle way towards the guys clothing.

I didn’t know how to shop for guys clothing, so I wasn’t much help, but I did keep a lookout for anybody who may have spotted us in the crowd. Luckily, I didn’t see anybody acting differently towards us or walking by quickly. There were no cops or anything and it was all smooth sailing.

We were shopping for about an hour when Thomas had gotten a few t-shirts and some basketball shorts along with some jean pants and socks and underwear. I got two shirts, two shorts, and some panties, but I had a nice supply of bras still in the car.

“So where am I going to change into this stuff?” Thomas asked with raised eyebrows at me.

“In the back of the car.” I told him in a ‘duh’ voice. “Where else?”

“It’s not very roomy back there.” He informed me.

I laughed. “I’ve been doing it for a few days, you’ll live.”

“You have?” He questioned.

“Yes, while you’re asleep, braniac.”

“You let me sleep through that?” He whined. “What kind of person are you?”