𝖈𝖔𝖒𝖒𝖊𝖓𝖘𝖆𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖒 | d.f. |

🦋 dominic28 🦋

"i love you apple."

"i love you too."

"bye."

i pocket the phone and jog a little to catch up to soraya.

"ray wait."

"dominic! please drop the fucking topic. i don't want to talk about us or our stupid powers! i just want to get to apple so we can figure a plan to get to alex. cool?!"

i roll my eyes.

"i don't even know why i even try with you. cool. it's just weird. how did they figure out we were being chased by the government?"

"yeah, i don't know."

•
[ 4:42 PM ]

we hitch another ride with a woman in her late 40s. she's blonde and going to naples.

ray hasn't spoken a word to me since essentially getting mad at me for getting mad at her.

marina, our lovely driver, hasn't said much besides her name. i'm sensing she can feel the tension between her two passengers. that, and ray expressed just how much sitting in the back with me will make her really uncomfortable.

"y'all together?" marina asks, breaking the silence, her country accent pure and sweet. she asks hopeful, dancing around her inflection delicately.

"sort of," ray mumbles in a sulking heap in the passenger seat.

i sit in the middle, watching her act like a child.

i roll my eyes.

"i shouldn't pry," marina deflects, shaking her head and catching my eyes in the rear view mirror.

"you know marina, you should pry!" ray blurts, sitting up and turning in her seat to face marina.

"rose," i warn her.

what the hell is she doing?

"as we told you marina, we're heading to naples, but we didn't tell you why," soraya smiles.

"rose, come on," i urge.

why does she have to be extra right now?

"the guy in the back, i guess i'll call him my boyfriend, knocked me up. a proud two and a half months. so we'll be staying with his family, but he decided to go some other route without consulting me. our time got pushed back for us to be in naples. he's mad at me for not being okay with his choice but i'm pissed at him for being an idiot and not being 50/50," she explains.

"that's not even true," i butt in, shaking my head.

"then what's the truth, david?" she asks, squinting her eyes at me.

"the truth is i'll always do shit to protect you, and until you realize that, you'll always be at odds with me," i tell her.

i'm starting to realize i'm going to need lots of patience dealing with her.

"who's in the right marina?" ray asks, ignoring my answer.

"uhm... well... technically both of y'all are. he loves you, a lot. i can tell," she grins at me. "it's evident, but i can see why you're mad as well rose. road trippin' ain't easy, makin' it longer ain't fun either. plus you're pregnant," she retorts, hoping to be the bridge to our divide.

"not exactly what i want to hear, but thank you for trying to help us get to naples," soraya states.

"no problem honey."