"So, have you decided where you wanna go yet?" Ashley asks me as we continue down the highway. We've been on the road for a good four hours now.
"I don't know. I haven't really thought of anywhere. I say you choose." I tell her, grabbing her iPod changing the song.
"Do I have to make all the decisions?" She asks before turning to me and smiling.
"Well, this was all your idea." I say as a Sara Bareilles song comes through the speakers. She shakes her head and rolls her eyes as I begin to sing along to Love Song. "Um." I say looking at Ashley then out the window.
"What is it?" She asks glancing over at me.
"I kinda gotta pee." I tell her and she sighs.
"Spence. You know we weren't gonna stop until we were at least eight hours into the trip." She tells me in a sing song voice.
"I know, I know." I whine. "I can't help it baby. And I'm pretty hungry too." I say in a small voice.
She shakes her head and smiles before saying, "You're such a little kid, Spence. I swear."
"You love me." I smile and kiss my girlfriend on the cheek as she pulls off the highway. We pull into a gas station where I quickly hop out run inside to use the bathroom.
"Oh my God, I feel so much better." I exclaim as I exit the gas station. Ashley doesn't acknowledge me, she just keeps her eyes focused on something. I walk over to her and hold up the two cheap cell phones I just bought out of the store. "Looky what I got us, baby." I say all cute like, waving the phones in her face but she still doesn't acknowledge me. She keeps her eyes focused on whatever she was looking at when I came out of the store. I follow her line of sight, straight to a cop car sitting in the parking lot about fifty feet away from where she's parked. "Fuuuuck." I mumble out as I make my way to my girlfriend. "Who called the cops?" She shrugs but doesn't say anything. "Oh my God, we're gonna go to jail. Your dad called the cops and now they're looking for us. I'm too young to go to jail Ashley." I go off on a rant, pacing back in forth in front of my girlfriend. "Do you know what they do to girls like me in jail, Ash? Oh my God, oh my God."
"Pull it together, Carlin." Ashley says grabbing my shoulders, yanking me around to face her. She nods her head in the direction of the cop and I see that he is coming towards us. "Be cool. I got it."
"Afternoon ladies." The officer says to us once he reaches us.
"Um, hello officer." I stutter out and get a look from Ashley.
"Hi officer. How are you this fine afternoon?" Ashley asks calmly. Why do I get the feeling she's had run-ins with the cops before?
"I'm doing mighty fine myself." The officer says adjusting his belt. 'Mighty Fine?' I mouth to my girlfriend as he starts to walk around her car looking inside. "What are you two girls doing here, shouldn't you be in school or something?" He asks as he reaches the back of her car, checking out the plates.
"Well you see officer, we're from LA and there's no school today so my friend and I decided we would take a day trip and just see where we end up." Ashley tells the officer who nods.
"You're a pretty long way from Los Angeles." The officer states the obvious as he steps back in front of us.
"Yes sir. We were just stopping to go to the bathroom before we headed back." Ashley says with a smile.
The officer takes another look at Ashley and I before saying, "Alright, well you girls be careful. Get home safely." He adds then retreats back to his car.
I let out a big before of air then say, "That was a close one." Ashley turns her head from the cop to look at me.
"No it wasn't. That cop had no idea what was going on. You're the one that almost gave us a way, scaredy-pants." She says in a mocking tone as she opens the driver side door and gets in. I run around to the passenger side and get in, tossing the phones I just purchased on the floor in front of me.
"I was not scared. I don't know what you're talking about." I say crossing my arms over my chest.
She scoffs and smiles at me, "Spence, if you wanna play dumb...be my guest. We both know how you truly felt." She says putting the key in the ignition and starting the car.
"Yeah." I let out a contrived laugh. "I was totally fine. I felt fine. I'm fine."
"Keep telling yourself that, Spencer. You know... if it helps you sleep at night." She giggles to herself as we pull out of the gas station.
"You know I hate you, right?" She nods and smiles as we pull into a McDonald's to get food.
"I know."
After getting some food we got back on the road.
"How much longer before we can call it a night?" I asks Ashley as I turn down the volume on the radio.
"I don't know, maybe another hour or two." We've been driving none stop for about five hours since we left the gas station and I must admit, I'm sick of being in this car already. I've never been much of a road trip type of girl. I like to get where I'm going quick, fast, and in a hurry. Flying's my thing.
Ashley looks at her watch, "It's only five thirty, Spence. Can we at least go for another two hours?" She asks keeping her eyes trained on the road ahead.
"Fiiine." I whine and she looks at me and smiles.
"You make me feel like I'm living a teenage dream the way you turn me on, I can't sleep, let's run away and don't ever look back don't ever look back." I sing along to Katy Perry on the Radio. "I freaking love this song!" I yell a little bit louder than necessary, causing my girlfriend to giggle at me.
"I can see that." She yells over the music.
"Imma get your heart racing in my skin tight jeans be your teenage dream tonight, let you put on your hands on me in my skin tight jeans be your teenage dream tonight." I say dancing to the music, while my girlfriend continues to laugh at me.
"Fuck!" Ashley yells out when there is a loud popping noise and the car swerves onto the side of the highway—into the emergency lane.
"What happened?" I ask, visibly shaken. That scared the crap out of me.
"I think we got a flat." Ashley says before getting out of the car. I watch her as she goes to the back of the car and bends down. "Yep, we got a flat alright." She yells over the sound of speeding cars. I get out of the car and join her down by the back tire on the drivers side.
"What are we gonna do, do you have a spare?" I asks and her eyes light up.
"Yeah, I think so." She says jumping up and opening the trunk. "Fuck!" She exclaims again.
"What is it?" I standing up.
"There's no spare in here. I'm guessing since we have Triple A my dad didn't think I needed one." She tells me slamming the trunk shut.
"Well can you call Triple A?" I ask as we both walk around to the passenger side.
She sighs, "If I call them, they'll probably call my dad and then our whole plan would be ruined." She says then opens the door and sits down.
"What are we gonna do then?" I ask her, doing the same. She looks at her watch and stands up looking back the way we just came from then in the direction we should be going.
"Come on." She says pulling me up, grabbing the bags from the backseat—handing me mine.
"What are we doing?"
"We're walking." She tells me, grabbing her iPod off the seat and hiding anything else valuable.
"Walking where, Ashley?" I ask looking around. We haven't passed a turn off in miles.
"There was a sign back there for a Greyhound station about two miles up ahead. We're gonna walk to it." She tells closing the door then hitting the door lock button on her key chain.
"Wait. We're just gonna leave the Porsche here?" I ask in a high pitch voice. She nods. "On the side of the highway... all alone?"
She laughs at me, "It'll be fine, Spencer. The cops won't let it sit there for long. That's why we need to be long gone before they get here."
"But, but, but, but..." I say looking back at the Porsche as she drags me away. I liked that car.
"The car will be fine, Spencer." Ashley tells me for the twentieth time. Since we started walking I can't seem to stop looking back, although I know the Porsche is long gone from view.
"Well, we shouldn't have just left it there." I tell her, pouting.
"You know." She stops and turns to me with a smile on her face. "I'm starting to think you love that car more than you loved me."
I fake insult, "How dare you assume that I love you." I joke and she playfully hits me in the arm.
"Spencer Carlin, you take that back right now."
"Okay okay." I say placing a sweet kiss on her lips. "I love you, Ashley Davies."
"That's more like it." She says as we start back walking.
"How much longer?" I feel like we've been walking forever but I know in actuality it's only been thirty two minutes. I know because I keep asking Ashley for the time every thirty or so seconds.
"It shouldn't be more than another ten minutes." I wouldn't advise doing this—walking on the side of the highway that is. Especially two hot chicks. If I had a dollar for every guy that blew his horn or pulled up and asked if we needed a ride I'd haaaaaave... about 17 dollars, but that's besides the point. The point is... wait what was my point again... look, I just don't advise you do. "There." Ashley says, pointing to a bus station in the distance.
"Holbrook Greyhound." I read the words on the building. "Where the hell is Holbrook?" I srucnch up my face. Never in my 18 years of living have I heard of a place called Holbrook. Honestly, I don't even know what state we're in.
"It's a small city in Arizona, Spence. Only about six thousand people. It was founded in about 1881 or 1882, when the railroad was built, and named to honor the first chief engineer of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad." I stop and look at her. "What?" She asks furrowing her eyebrows.
"You're like a regular walking damn encyclopedia." I tell her seriously and she just laughs.
"I can't help it if I actually pay attention in school, Spencer." She says as we start back walking to the bus station.
"Right." I say simply. We reach the bus station about two minutes later.
"I'm gonna go see where the soonest bus that's leaving is going, be right back." Ashley tells me as I take a seat on the bench right when you walk inside the bus station. I nod and she heads off towards the ticket counters.
As I'm sitting I can't help but think of all the things that lead up to this point. Meeting Ashley, falling in love with her and having our love outed to the whole world by a person I thought was my good friend. I smile when I think of Aiden and Madison and how I'm glad that through all this they found each other. They both definitely deserve happiness. Then my smile disappears when I remember how I left things with my parents. How even though they always promised to be there for me, the time I needed them the most they turned their backs on me. I smile again remember how Glen reacted to the whole situation. How he said he loves me no matter what. I'm glad to have a big brother like him. My life got so complicated the moment Ashley stepped into it. But the funny thing is... I wouldn't have it any other way.
"The first bus that's leaving is going to New York." Ashley tells me snapping me from my inner thoughts.
"Then New York it is." I tell her with a smile.
"Well okay then. I'm gonna grab us something to eat from the food place, you can go ahead and head to the bus if you want. Here's your ticket." She hands me a bus ticket. "Want anything in particular?"
"No, whatever you get is fine." I tell her. She smiles and says a quick okay, then heads off to get us food. I make my way out to the bus, showing the driver my ticket then climbing onto the bus. I find Ashley and I two seats fairly close to the front of the bus. I put our bags in the overhead compartment and settle into the next by the window. As I look out at all the people driving by on the highway I can't help but think whether or not there's someone back in LA that is missing me, besides Madison. After about twenty minutes the bus driver climbs onto the bus and starts it up.
"Ugh that line was so long." Ashley says as she flops down next to me. "I got you two Nathan hog dogs." She says handing me a bag.
"Thank you." I tell her leaning over to give her a kiss.
"Everything okay?" She asks pulling back from the kiss.
"Yeah, everything's fine." I tell her.
"Are you sure? Cause if you're having second thoughts we could just-"
"I promise I'm fine, Ashley." I assure her with a smile.
"Okay good." She returns the smile.
"So, have you ever been to New York?" She asks taking a bite of her hamburger.
"Nope, not that I can recall." I tell her biting my hot dog.
"It's amazing. I visited there a few summers ago. But I guess since it's almost winter it's gonna be cold."
"I didn't pack any winter clothes." I say putting my hotdog down.
"I didn't either." She says with a shrug. "I guess we'll be going shopping then. Where's my bag?" She asks looking around us.
"I put it up-" Before I could finish hands me her hamburger and jumps up grabbing her bag out of the overhead compartment.
"You can't just be putting this thing anywhere, Spence." She says hushed. "Valuables inside." She says widening her eyes.
"Oh yeah. I forgot. I'm sorry." I tell her and she waves me off.
"It's okay baby. I forgive you." She leans in and kisses me as the bus driver pulls off. "You should finish that up and get some sleep. We have a long ride to New York." She says and I nod. I look out the window one last time as I take another bite from my hotdog.
Goodbye west coast, Hello New York...
Yaaaay... Sequel anyone?