-ellen-
"We need to have a bonding night," Evelyn said as we sat at dinner. We were all lounging around in our respective spots- Evelyn and Morgan on the couch, me draped across the chair, Logan in the passenger seat and Noah eating as he drove.
"Bonding night?" Morgan asked inbetween spoonfuls of chicken noodle soup. "What's that?"
Evelyn shrugged and put her hands in her lap. "You know, like a little girl's night. A get-to-know-you kind of thing. It'll be fun."
I set down my empty bowl and nodded. "Yeah, sounds cool. I'm in."
"Me too," Morgan replied. "I mean, I'm just so surprised that none of my other friends could take me in- I don't think they really want me. But I'm so glad that you guys took the fall for Jordan."
I rolled my eyes. This must have been the eighty-fifth time she'd apologized since we took her in, and I still didn't think it was necessary. None of us really minded, and Morgan was a great person to hang out with. She had a great sense of humor and this cute little laugh that sounded like tinkling bells.
"So," I said casually after I'd slurped up the last of my soup. "Why did Jordan kick you out, anyway?"
Morgan's eyes grew wide and she dropped her spoon to the ground with a clatter.
"Whoa," I said, picking up the spoon for her. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want."
Morgan winced and shook her head profusely. "Sorry, no, I'll tell you. Jordan was- is- the definition of an asshole. He'd do these awful things- make me have sex with him every night, check through my phone, he'd hit me if I did something he didn't like and he didn't want to look at me unless I had all my makeup on." She paused and sniffled a little. "But he was hooking up with like, a million other girls anyway. He wouldn't even call me by my name- it was just "sexy" or "tits"."
"That sounds awful," Noah called from the front. The three of us exchanged glances- how much had he heard?- and Morgan stood up worriedly.
"It was," she said with a quivering voice. "But I never left him because I always thought it was my fault, that I was doing something wrong and that's why he was always so violent. Plus, he was a big drinker, even though I'm only nineteen and he's twenty. He always found buddies to get him some whiskey."
"Well, it wasn't your fault," Noah said passionately. I squinted curiously at him- I didn't remember him being so nice in the past. Then again, maybe he just wanted to get in Morgan's pants.
Evelyn stood up and ushered Morgan and I into the bedroom. Once we were all situated, she leaned in and began to speak in a hushed voice.
"So Morgan and I are currently the only ones single," she said, writing their names down on a stray sheet of paper. "And the avalible boys at our expense are Noah and Kale from Indiana."
"Kale from Indiana?" I shrieked, immediately getting hushed by Evelyn.
"Yeah, we got his number, remember?" Evelyn asked. I rolled my eyes and said nothing- there was no way that I was seeing Kale ever again.
Morgan wrinkled her nose in momentary confusion. "Why is this important?"
Evelyn shrugged. "It's just good to know your potential suitors. I know that you're not going to want to date anyone for awhile, and that's fine, but any guy would be lucky to have you."
Morgan blushed furiously and looked down. "Thanks," she mumbled.
I yawned, looking over at my clock. It was only five PM, but I was pretty exhausted. "Hey, can we get this bonding night on?" I asked. "I'm going to crash soon."
Evelyn nodded. "Yeah. Uh... let's start by telling each other two things that no one else knows about us."
I sighed and leaned back against my bed, thinking of what I could possibly say. My middle name is Grace. I've been best friends with Noah since I was thirteen years old. My brother's name is Joey and I haven't spoken to him in two months.
"I'll go first," Evelyn volunteered. "Once, when I was fifteen or so, I broke up with a boy and he jumped off of a bridge and killed himself."
Morgan and I gasped. "He died?"
Evelyn nodded. "Yeah, he- yeah. My second one is that I lived homeless in my car for two years. And I was married before I even moved out of my parents' house. And my parents are both dead. That was more than two, sorry."
I shook my head. "Jeez, Ev, you've been through some shit."
"So have you," Evelyn retorted. "C'mon, tell us all your secrets!"
I pursed my lips, shuffling through my mental file folders of memories. "Ah, here's a good one," I said after a moment. "At a house party in high school, I got drunk and went topless and boys paid to feel me up." I stifled a grin as I remembered that day. "It almost seems funny now. Noah had to literally drag me out by the ear."
"Aww, Noah," Morgan said with a chuckle. "So caring."
I smiled fondly. "Yeah, he's a good guy. He took such good care of me the next day, God, I was so hungover. I kissed him once. That's my other thing."
Evelyn furrowed her eyebrows and shook her head. "No, I already knew that you kissed him. Tell us something else."
I had already known about Evelyn's things, but I let it go because of my overwhelming confusion. "How did you know I kissed him?" I squawked.
She shrugged. "Noah told me once. Now c'mon, there's gotta be something."
I groaned in frustration and leaned back, hitting my head against my bed frame. "Okay. I don't get along with my parents at all and I haven't spoken to them in months. It's December fifteenth, right? That makes it like a month and twenty-seven days. And my middle name is Grace."
I looked expectantly at Morgan, who sighed. "Oh, I don't know. My middle name is Gertrude, which is pretty much the ugliest thing I can imagine. I went to school in Indianapolis for most of my life, and I've had three boyfriends in the course of my life. One of them was in the fourth grade. I did a two-year university, so I went to college, yeah. I'm guessing neither of you did?"
Evelyn and I shook our heads. I didn't want to go to college, and Evelyn didn't have the funds for it, so I guess we'd just be undereducated ninnies for the rest of our lives. Oh, well.
"Hey," I said suddenly, a thought occurring to me. "The house that I got, in Maine? It only has three bedrooms. So the three of us might have to share so the boys can have their own room."
Evelyn groaned, but Morgan looked fine with it. "I've had to share a room with my younger sisters all my life," she explained. "I'm used to it."
The three of us discussed plans for a while, fantasizing about what color we'd paint the walls and what sort of furniture we'd put in. Evelyn wanted a theme, like an under-the-sea thing, and Morgan wanted it to be colorful and lively. I thought it would be cool to have black walls and splatter the walls with glow-in-the-dark paint, but no one was on board with my idea.
"Oh, whatever," I said after awhile. "We've got awhile yet to figure it out. This trip is going to last, like, a week more and then we'll be done."
I glanced out the window and sighed. "I think we're in Ohio right now, but Noah wasn't planning on stopping here. We'll do something in Pennsylvania, and obviously we'll visit New York City, but I don't what else exactly we're going to do."
Suddenly, my phone rang from where I had nestled it on the carpet. I picked it up and squinted at the number- I vaguely recognized it, but couldn't quite place it.
"Hello?" I said cautiously, bringing the phone up to my ear.
"Ellen," a taut voice answered. My blood instantly ran cold, and my heart skipped a beat; but not in a good way. It was the voice that had yelled at me when I woke up late, chastised me for getting less than an A in my classes, and told me over and over how much of a failure I was.
It was my mother.
I dropped the phone like it was a hot potato and froze, unsure of what to do. I could either pick up the phone and face my mother, or hang up and not have to speak with her.
I was hoping that I would never have to see my mother again. She terrified me, if I'm being honest, and I was always scared that she was going to hit me or hurt me physically. Though that never happened, she hurt me mentally, and when she found out that I was cutting in my sophomore year, she didn't speak to me for a full week. She later told me that it had tarnished the perfect image she'd worked so hard to build for our family.
"Ellen?" Morgan asked curiously. "You're white as a sheet."
I pointed to the phone. "My mother called," I whispered, unable to speak any louder. My hands were trembling and my heart was racing. I knew what was happening- I used to get panic attacks a lot, but I thought I had them under control.
Morgan stood up. "I'll get Noah," she said in a hushed voice.
Within a matter of seconds, the RV was pulled over and Noah had ushered everyone out of my bedroom. He was sitting on my bed with me, trying to calm me down as I hyperventilated.
"Ellen, I'm going to answer the phone for you," he said calmly. "Drink the ice water that Morgan got for you, and try to focus on my voice."
I nodded dizzily. I felt detached and unreal, like my surroundings were just an illusion of some sort.
"Mrs. Wilson?" I heard Noah say into the phone. "Yes, it's me, Noah. Ellen's- yeah, she's fine. She can't talk right now." A few beats passed. "Okay. Goodbye."
He put an arm around my shoulder. "Hey, she said to call you back when you were avalible, but I deleted her number from the call log thingy. You don't have to talk to her ever again."
I sat up shakily and took a few sips of water. "No, I- I'll call her when we get to Maine," I rasped. "I'll show her how strong and independent I can be... and stuff."
"Okay," Noah said with a shrug. "If that's what you want, I mean..."
I nodded. "Yeah.That is what I want. I'm so excited to get there, Noah."
He nodded. "I know what you mean. We'll get to have Christmas in the new house, which is cool. And we'll have this big yard with trees and bushes and we can maybe plant a garden, if you'd like. And there'll be three bedrooms but five people so obviously some of us are going to have to share. We'll have a house, El, all our own. We've planned this together for awhile, huh? Living together in a house as far away from Oregon as we could get. And maybe..."
Listening to Noah babble like that really calmed me down, keeping me grounded somehow. It was nice to think about the house and what we'd get to do- I was hoping to live there forever. The rest of my life.
"Noah?" I said, interrupting him mid-sentence. "Can we get a dog there?"
Noah's eyes lit up. "Yeah, a little golden retriever puppy or something? That'll be amazing. And I know you don't want kids, but I do, so maybe I'll send them to school right there in Monday and they can grow up there."
"You'd better be a good father," I said numbly. "Be everything that my dad wasn't."
"Of course," Noah replied. "Maybe I'll have kids with Morgan."
I shot straight up, my mind suddenly clear. "Dude, you're into MORGAN?"
He shrugged. "Yeah, maybe a little. I just can't believe that anyone could treat her badly."
"Dude!" I crowed. "You've hooked up with like, every girl on this trip so far! You do realize that, right?"
Noah scratched the back of his head nervously. "Uh... yeah. But I'm not a douche, honest, I'm not. I just... maybe I need to give it some time."
I nodded rapidly, like a bobblehead. "No shit, sherlock. You just met her today, for Pete's sake!"
"So did you," Noah pointed out. "And you're already best friends."
I paused. He did have a point. What I was scared of, though, is that he was just looking for someone to help him get over Evelyn. If I'm being honest, I could totally picture it- Morgan and Noah living together in a big house, having kids and pets and actual real-life jobs. They would be sort of perfect together, with Noah's caring and protective nature balancing out Morgan's low self-esteem.
"Here's the deal," I said in a low tone. "If you're still into Morgan by the time we get to Maine, then I'll give you the green light to go ahead with her. But frankly, I don't think either of you are ready for a relationship yet. And I don't want you getting hurt."
Noah nodded. "Okay. I see where you're coming from, I guess."
"Just looking out for you."
He stood up and stretched, then studied me carefully. "You're going to be okay, right?"
I smiled and gave him the thumbs-up. "I'm great."
With a slow nod, he headed back out of my room. A second later, he poked his head into my curtain and said, "I'm going to drive for about another hour until we're out of Ohio. Wanna come ride up front?"
I shook my head. "Nah, I think I'm going to turn in now. See you tomorrow."
Less than ten minutes later, I was almost asleep. But then Logan bursted into my room in a frenzy and turned on all the lights.
"Ellen, Ellen," he hissed, jumping up onto my bed with his laptop.
"What is it now?" I groaned, squinting against the light.
He shoved his computer into my face. There was a blue diagram of some sort with a white rectangle and a pulsing white dot a ways behind it.
"See the rectangle?" Logan asked. "That's us. And the dot? That's Kate. I've been watching this for awhile, since I downloaded the tracking software, and she just caught up to us a couple hours ago. I thought it was weird, and now she's been following us from a safe distance since noon. That's six hours."
I mumbled a string of profanities and put a pillow over my head. "Go tell Noah and the others," I said, my voice muffled. "I'll care a little more when I wake up again."
(A/N): I promised myself I wasn't going to write anything today but then this happened oops