Up in the Air

Chapter 31

"That's supposed to be my line." He was sullen as he studied me. "You're not sick.But you bailed on movie night – why?"

Time to play defense. "As if that's what this is all about."

"Of course that's not what it's about!" It was about eleven at night and he was yelling at the top of his lungs."Was it Daniel? Did he do something?"

"No, he did not." At least not in the way Nate meant. "Go home, Nate. This is –"

"Ridiculous? Yeah you are ridiculous. Acting like a girl all of a sudden, after all of these years."

"You're a couple of years late to the party but I've been a girl all my life, thank you very much." I couldn't help myself. I laughed way too much than I should have as Nate stared.

"So he did do something." He'd seen through my theatrics."He's dead on Monday."

"He doesn't go to Warren Brown anymore." Then I realized what he meant. "No, Nathaniel. No."

"Give me a good reason why I shouldn't."

"Because I'll never speak to you again." We both knew I was bluffing but it was a very good reason after all.

"So dramatic,"he mocked. "I can't just not do anything, you know."

"You could help me egg his house," I joked. "I don't have a car so you can be the getaway driver."

Nate checked the refrigerator. "You're out of eggs."

"I was kidding."

Nate didn't see me gaping at him. He was diligently rifling through the fridge. "No tomatoes too. But – mech. Lots of broccoli. That won't do – unless he hates the stuff? That's kind of like torture. If you want we can sneak back to my house? Mom has a ton of cranberry sauce left. We could fill balloons with it and throw those instead." He looked at me expectantly.

"I. Was. Kidding."

"I'm not." His smile was ruthless. "Come on, Sara.You need to let loose." He pulled me off my chair and towards the backdoor.

"I just turned eighteen a month ago, Nate," I reminded him. I tried to fight back but who was I kidding? He was an All State Athlete. "I don't want to celebrate that with vandalism –I could get arrested. No."

He thought it over. "Nothing illegal," he finally acknowledged. "Road trip?"

I rolled my eyes. "And what could be open at this hour?"

"It's always an open road." He smiled. "My jeep's parked out front – come on."

* * * * *

Excitement displaced the blood in my veins.

Greenville wasn't a big city but there were still enough cars to congest the roads during the day. The roads, however, were semi-deserted now. I could taste adventure in the air, just like you could taste lightning before a heavy storm. The night was brimming with possibility and I was brimming with desire to explore them.

"Anywhere you want to go?"

From the set of his shoulders, Nate too was in this same mixed state of being relaxed and wired at the same time. I smiled at him and snuggled further into my seat, resting my head on the seat belt trip.

"You dragged me on this trip. You tell me."

"You beat me to the car," he pointed out. "I'm hungry."

"I think you ate your own weight in food during Thanksgiving dinner. And nothing's open right now– nothing decent anyway."Fast food burgers and convenience store hot dogs didn't scream adventure. I sat up. "Let's go to New York! I want a genuine New York hot dog."