Spy School: We Meet Again

Chapter 30: Road trip

My mind was racing. I was not ready for this, but despite my stress, I had to correct her. "You know, they are more your friends now then they are mine."

As I said it she picked up her phone. I couldn't see what she was exactly doing since I was paying attention to the road, but I could see that she was typing something. "No, they are not. Believe me, they are still your friends."

"Not after what I did." As soon as those words left my mouth Erica hit me in the arm.

"Hey! Be careful, I'm driving here." I kept one of my hands on the steering wheel, while with the other I was rubbing the spot Erica hit me, to make the pain go away.

"Then don't say stupid things. Joshua is the one to blame here, not you."

I briefly looked at her and could not help but reply. "Great that one of us believes in that."

"My mother believes in it too."

"Not Cyrus though." I thought about how he looked at me yesterday. He really is terrifying sometimes.

"You know my granddad. He can be stubborn." She put her phone back in her pocket and started changing the radio stations since we could hear a lot of static the more we drove ahead.

We sat in silence again and I was starting to stress about what is going to happen next. Not wanting to stay silent, I asked the first question that came to mind. "Did you message someone?"

"Yes. I messaged my mom. I told her to get in contact with everyone." Erica said as she was still changing the radio stations to find the one she liked.

"So are you actually thinking that we need to ask Zoe and Mike for help?"

"Chip and Jawa too, yes. The more help we have, the better chance we have of defeating Blaze."

I let those words sink in for a second. "Who are you and what have you done to Erica?"

As I said it she stopped changing the radio stations but resumed it after a little while. "What do you mean?"

"Since when do you think the more people we have on our side the better. Before you believed that people just get in the way." I changed lanes to pass the car that was in front of us.

"Well, I was wrong. You proved that to me before you left." She said, never even glancing at me. "Why aren't there any normal songs playing right now?!"

I laughed at her outburst. It was funny seeing her getting frustrated at such a simple thing.

"Don't laugh." Erica quickly told me off and turned off the radio altogether. Neither of us made a sound as we sat in complete silence. I just kept passing the cars in front of us while Erica was looking out of the window and was fidgeting her fingers. I noticed the fidgeting after a few minutes and without thinking I took her hand in mine, stopping her from continuing it.

"What are you doing?" Erica asked, clearly stunned by my actions.

I looked at her again and smiled. "Holding your hand."

"Why?" Slowly she asked.

"You kept fidgeting." I simply answered and didn't add anything else to it. I don't know why I even did it.

"Sorry." She said, pulling her hand away from mine. "I will stop."

I felt a bit disappointed that she pulled away, but I didn't say anything. I knew this trip was really not the right time to bring up the topic of our relationship. No matter how hard she tried to hide it, I could see that deep down something is really bothering her. Not just the dreams, but something else. Now all she needed was a friend. Someone who she can rely on. "You know you can talk to me, right?"

Erica looked at me again and gave a weak smile, clearly trying to hide her true feelings. "Yes, I know, but if you haven't noticed, I am not much of a talker."

"Oh, believe me, I noticed." Once I said that Erica received a message. She picked up her phone and started texting again. My guess is that the person who texted her was Catherine. "Just keep it in mind. I'm always here to listen."

She didn't say anything back and I didn't push her to. I just dropped the topic at hand and concentrated on the road ahead. As I was driving a building came into view and I got excited. It was just what I wanted, so I sped up a bit. "Look at that. There is a drive-through."

"You are actually going to stop?"

"You said that we can, so yes." I made a right turn and entered the drive-through area. Not wasting any time, we ordered some food and were on the way again. We still have a long drive ahead of us.