I creep out of my mom's room and grab all the stuff I'm taking with me to who knows where.
I unlock the front door and lock it back behind me. I wait a while on the front porch until I see Conner with his Chevy truck pulled up in my driveway.
"Where we goin' in that?"
"I don't know, but far."
"How about...South Carolina?"
"Sounds great. Now I have some snacks in the back. I'm guessing you haven't ate?" He reached back in the back to grab me some Cheez-it's.
"Well of course not. It's freaking 12:00."
"So what your sayin' is that there is more for me?" He smirked.
"No. I never said that." I reached for a handful in the box.
He reached over my arm to turn on the radio.
"Wait. Your 17 right? I mean you just turned 17?"
"Yep. I'm a year behind."
"Okay cause for a second that scared me. I thought you were only 15 driving almost across a state."
"No. Because that would be the only law were breaking here." He nudged me and grabbed some more Cheez-it's.
"If you don't mind..."
"What?"
"Can I use your car charger?"
"No. Mine is at 99%. I need 100%."
"Oh."
"I'm kidding. Here." He reached for my chin and propped it with his hand. He plopped a kiss on my cheek.
"Conner."
"Yes?" He gazed right into my eyes completely ignoring the parkway.
"I need the 'car' charger sweetie."
"Oh." He blushed. "Right. I knew that."
"Sure hot shot."
We backed out of my driveway and I took a deep breath. I felt like everything was going in slow motion. Kinda like a movie, when the actor is thinking hard about something. Like that.
"Can you search the nearest hotel in South Carolina."
"Yep." I yank the charger out of my phone and start searching. "Okay there's one but it only has one room."
"That's fine, great. Pick that one. Pick it." He looked at me and raised one eyebrow. Dang. I hate when he does that. He gets me all flustered.
"Uh-okay."
"Really? I didn't know there was a bad girl to you. Where'd this come from?"
"Bad girl?! What? What are we-oh lord."
He smiled wide, cheek ear to ear.
"No. No, no."
We parked at a rest stop just up on the highway to get off for South Carolina. We planned on sleeping in our cars, to mostly save money.
I reached in the back of the car while Conner was sleeping and looked in his bag for some more snacks. I unzipped the back pocket and searched.
"Oh what's this. Hmm...gummies? What-oh my god no. Ew. Ew! Not what I thought those were! Not gummies! Not gummies!"
I threw the mistaken condom packages and stuffed them back in his bag. What the crap.
I look in the back seat to find a blanket and I wrap it over the slumbering, condom using Conner. I lean on Conner to cuddle with him on the passenger seat.
I lean in and I was shocked when Conner rubbed my head.
"You plan on using those?"
"What? No. I don't even- what?"
"Just-here. Lay here, On my arm."
I lay my head on his arm and it felt oh so warm. I put my arm over his chest and rested. I was at ease.