When former beauty pageant queen, Ellie Wilde, hears of her grandmother's sickness, she's the first to offer to drive her to her chemotherapy. What she didn't know she was agreeing to was an obnoxiously cheerful blond boy somehow nudging his way int...
He nods, adjusting the rear-view mirror slightly before his hand returns to the steering wheel. "I know we're supposed to pick from the jar at random, but I couldn't resist. I've planned this whole thing out."
Ellie's eyebrows shoot up in surprise at the news. "You've planned this?"
He pulls his bottom lip between his teeth as he tries to suppress a smile. "Yeah. We're in for one hell of a time, El."
"Cooper—"
"Remember the rules," he says sharply. "No objections."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Cooper," Ellie whines, earning a laugh from him and another groan from her. "Where are we going? We've been driving for two hours."
He rolls his eyes though she can see that he's clearly amused at her discomfort. "Stop being so fussy. You're like a little kid, Ellie. If you throw a tantrum I will not hesitate to pull this car over."
"But I'm hungry."
His smile fades as he glances over at her in concern. "You're hungry? Why didn't you say so? I'll get off at the next exit and we can get something to eat."
"Will you tell me where we're going then?" She tries.
"Maybe," he says before a mischievous smile takes over his lips. "Or maybe not."
"You know that this is technically, like, kidnapping or something. Driving with me for hours without telling me the destination."
"I'm pretty sure this isn't kidnapping. I'm pretty sure you're just being overdramatic," he says with a blank face.
Deciding that he's right, she chooses to be quiet. Instead of wasting her time with a witty comeback that he'll annihilate with his own witty comeback, she takes to her phone. She doesn't know what she even really does on her phone, but it always seems to have her attention one way or another.
Cooper hums along to his music and continues on down the freeway before taking the first exit, as promised. They luck out and pull into a diner that conveniently happens to be right off the freeway. Ellie follows Cooper out of the car, taking a moment to stretch out her limbs before making her way into the nearly-empty restaurant.
They follow the instructions of the sign that reads 'Please Seat Yourself,' cozying themselves up in a small booth near the door. Cooper's eyes rake over the menu but Ellie finds herself distracted by the prospect of where they might be heading. They're nearly to Oregon, and unless he plans to take advantage of the lack of sales tax and go shopping, she's not sure what reason they would have for going to Oregon.
"Where are we going?" She asks again, peering over her menu in hopes of gaining his attention.
His eyes stay trained on his own menu but she can see his lips quirk up just the slightest bit. "Ellie. If you don't mind, I'm trying to figure out what I want to eat."
