The Stalkers' Guide To Roadtrips

Day 6: Food Is A Bonding Tool

You’ll never change,

What’s been and gone.

 

Start Destination: Milan, Italy

End Destination: Zurich, Switzerland

Via: /

 

07:23AM (GMT) / 8:23AM (Local Time)

 

Rosie and El groan as they step out into the morning sun, they were not impressed by my suggestion of an early start but I want to set off early and so they were not allowed to argue.

After already deciding that I was going to be the one to drive, Levi slips into the passenger seat after Rosie and El claim that they need to sleep on the journey, apparently their hangover doesn’t help them travel long distances.

The journey starts off slowly as we find ourselves queuing in traffic on our way out of Milan, my fingertips start to drum on the steering wheel out of boredom but neither Levi nor I decide to trade conversation. Instead we sit next to each other, in a not entirely awkward silence and wait patiently for the cars in front of us to begin to move.

Eventually it happens and as the car lurches forward I find myself starting to feel trapped by the quiet of the car. Levi must feel the same too because after a quick glance at the sleeping pair in the backseat he leans forward and turns the radio on.

It doesn’t seem to offer much of an improvement, an Italian radio station is blaring Justin Bieber and neither Levi nor I can reach to turn it off quick enough. And then the laughter starts and we both realise that in our hurry to turn it off and the collision it caused we haven’t actually turned the radio off but rather started to turn the music louder.

Once we manage to collect ourselves, Levi wordlessly plugs in his IPod and selects a playlist before placing the device in the middle of the two of us, allowing me to change it if I want to.

As the opening notes of a familiar Oasis track begins to play I hold my breath in the hope that he hasn’t really put on this playlist, that he just happens to be a big fan of this song and that he has it on all his playlists.

But no Oasis fades, to be replaced by The Pigeon Detectives and as Levi begins to mouth the words I begin to panic slightly.

Of course if I think about it the playlist is an obvious choice, it was carefully created by the pair of us to ensure that it included both our music taste and that we could both stand every song, but it was the playlist for after the date, for in the car, for hushed conversations in unnecessary whispers about nothing and everything. It was not created for roadtrips with ex-boyfriends, or fights that haven’t occurred but might as well have done.

And yet Levi does not seem to understand that and so he continues to mouth the words to the damn Pigeon Detectives song and shoot me strange looks when he realises I am not singing along.

I grip the steering wheel tighter without realising it, but eventually I start to notice the rough material hard against my skin and I release my hold a little, finally realising how uncomfortable holding on that tight it.

And as I watch Levi try to remember the lyrics, I decide that it can’t be that bad for me to remember too, just as long as I’m remembering that and not what the lyrics used to be the soundtrack too. Just as long as I focus on the fact that a year and a half later Levi is still singing the lyrics wrong and not the fact that a year and a half later everything between Levi and I has changed and the lyrics do not mean the same thing they used to, but I have to ignore that.