Passenger | Unedited Version

chapter eleven | stay stay stay

chapter eleven | stay stay stay

"This is literally my baby," Indie says with love, spreading her arms out in welcome. 

        I've known all along that Indie's house is a former school bus, but it never really sunk in before now. I've seen millions of campers and trailers in my life (due to this town being a sumer tourist town that attracts a lot of people wanting to camp out), so a bus shouldn't be all that different than the two of them. But for some reason, it's completely different than those two. 

        Maybe it's all weird to me because I was just on a bus exactly like this a few weeks ago, as senior year ended at the end of May and it's only the middle of June. I like to think that I'm so grown up and mature, that high school is nothing more than a long forgotten memory that I don't let myself think too much about. Having to ride the school bus from freshmen to junior year was the absolute worse, but thankfully I didn't have to ride it much in my senior year. I had to ride it for the last two weeks of my high school career, though, as my car broke down and there was no way that I could walk the twenty miles to my school. 

        I don't have the slighest idea as to why someone would want to relive those kind of memories every time you step inside your home. It could always be that Indie actually had some really fond memories that took place on a school bus, as not everyone is bound to have a horrible time at the same place that I did. To be completely honest, there wasn't much wrong with the school bus; I just don't enjoy having to be surrounded with screaming kids that don't know how to have the smallest grain of respect towards people other than the white male or how to put on deodorant for any longer than I had to. 

        You would think by the time someone was old enough to vote, they would realize that you shouldn't stink like that. 

        Once I got over the inital shock of it being an old school bus, I started to realize that the outside didn't resemble the bus I rode on all that much. The most noticeable difference is that her bus isn't the classic shade of yellow that the one's at school always are, but a nice shade of sea foam green that I know is her favorite color. I've always been a big fan of that shade of color, so seeing it displayed at this big of a format is actually a pretty rad thing to witness with my very own two eyes. Indie really does have a good taste in colors. 

        "It's certainly something." I force the words out of my mouth, trying not to sound the way my stomach feels.  

        Indie is too excited about showing me where she lives to notice that I'm not enjoying this nearly as much as she is, which is a good thing. I don't want to make her feel bad about this, as I'm nothing more than an annoying little brat who likes to complain about nearly everything under the sun in every situation possible. I should really work on not complaining so much and just enjoy moments as they happen. 

        She grads my hand, leading me up the stairs and to the inside of the bus. I don't know if I can ever get used to this whole thing, as I feel like I could have a heart attack every time that she holds my hand in hers. Fourth of July isn't until another two weeks, but it feels like Independence Day is happening every day inside my heart when I'm this close to her. I don't think I can handle all these emotions, especially not all at once. Feelings are actually pretty gross things, but having a girlfriend is not on the list of disgusting things by far.  

        The two of us enter the threshold of her house, arm in arm and smiles promptly on both of our faces that appear to be true to the feelings in our hearts. Mine might be for a different reason than Indie's, but all that matters is that both of us are enjoying something that's happening. Even if Indie were to find out that I wasn't all that excited for her bus and that I'm only here to make her happy, I doubt that she would mind all that much.  She's pretty rad like that.