Dreaming Up A Secret

Now all I had to do was wonder exactly where this road trip would take us. All I knew is Tom was driving Aiden, Alice, obviously, himself, and me to somewhere in his car, though that last part was kind of obvious, because there wasn’t much else for him to drive in. I was thankful for the fact that Ronan took notoriously quick showers so I didn’t have to worry about missing my chance to shower and smelling like crap for who knows how long. Sighing, I got up and walked cross the room to pick out clothes for after my shower as apposed to getting back into these clothes. Looking through the closet, I realized how easy it was to see that he had packed for me because A.) Everything was thrown around, and if you know Ronan, you know he is the farthest thing from a neat freak ever. If neat freak is ground level, he’s already dug his way through China, and B.) There was almost nothing left in here except for a few pairs of pants and a couple tee shirt. So I pulled out my dark black, I know, what black isn’t dark, but still, tight skinny jeans, a black H20 shirt with the words “H20” written across the front in bright blue bubble letters and the words “Thicker Than Water,” which was one of their songs, written in the same blue, only in block letters, across the back, one green sock and one blue one, and a pair of black high top Chuck Taylor converses.
I heard the door pop open behind me and, quickly tossing my clothes on the bed, walked in, not looking at Ronan’s bare shoulders, torso, and, the bottom half at least, of his legs, which were covered in tiny little water droplets. I closed the door behind me, slipping out of my pants, and switched on the shower. I let the hot water undo the stress of the last few days, the disappointment of losing to Ronan, and the worry of what was going to happen if we ran off today on a road trip and skipped the rest of the school year.
“You know you still have your boxers on, right?” A familiar voice reminded me.
I glanced down, and sure enough, there were my soaked boxers, clinging to me.
“Uh,” I said, sliding them off my tiny hips, somehow not picking up on the fact that I was having a discussion with someone in the shower, “I know, I meant to leave those on.”
“Mhm,” he said sarcastically.
“I did! I mean, I do! I mean, wait… what the?” I said, not paying attention to my own words.
“Aiden!” I heard a voice from behind the door. “You ok? Tom and Alice are going to be here soon.”
“Ya,” I switched the water off, wrapped a towel around my waist, and swung the door open.
I hurriedly dried myself and worked into the clothes.
“Ready!” I turned around and bumped right into Ronan.
“I see.” He laughed and wrapped his arm around my neck. “They’re outside waiting for us.”
I grabbed the backpack all my stuff was crammed into in one arm and hung onto Ronan with the other as we made our way up the steps to, for probably the first time since I got here, go out the front door. I could see Alice’s shining face in the passenger seat, Tom’s arm around her, his face bright with both relief and happiness. Her arm started frantically pumping itself back and forth in a wave.
“Hey Alice, how you feeling?” I asked as we slide into the backseat.
“Great!” She said enthusiastically.
“How bout you Tom?” I thought about how stressed he had been when Alice was in the hospital.
“Great,” he said with the same tone as Alice.
I smiled to myself, thinking about the happy couple, picture perfect, and of course, cancer free in every way possible. Ronan took my hand in his, gripping it tightly, smiling at me.
“Pay up,” he held his other hand towards Tom.
I cocked my head curiously at Ronan and Tom.
“He bet that he could convince you to come, I didn‘t think you would,” Tom explained.
“Aw, you bet on him?” Alice asked Tom, lightly slapping his shoulder.
“You bet on me?” I asked Ronan, fairly annoyed.
“Ya,” he shrugged, “that’s cuz I knew I’d win.”
“Oh? What made you so sure of that?” I asked him, my ego throbbing.
“Cuz I know how you work!” He said obviously.
As I said earlier, he knows exactly what gets me. I stuck my tongue out at him.
“Don’t stick it out unless you’re going to use it,” he smiled dirtily at me.
“Ok,” I leaned towards him, not having forgotten how he had tricked me earlier.
He leaned forward, this time actually intending on kissing me before Tom yelled our names.
“Aiden! Ronan! Did we forget the rule?” He asked, a tint of fake annoyance behind his voice.
“Yes,” I answered leaning towards him again.
“Aiden! No making out in the back seat of my car!” He said like a big time boss talking to all his small time workers.
“So,” I theorized, “if Alice and you switched places with Ronan and me, we could make out?”
Tom slapped his head with one hand, still steering with the other, and dragged it slowly down his face, making sure to leave his fingers parted so he could see the road making sure we didn’t crash and die.
“Let’s say this,” he told me, talking slow like I was stupid or something, “none of you are to make out in my car.”
“Wait!” I interjected. “So you can but we can’t?”
“Exactly!” He snapped his fingers for emphasis. “By George he’s got it!”
“No fair!” I half whined half yelled.
“He does have a point,” Alice helped me.
“Yes but Alice, if I can’t make out in the car, then you would be out of luck too,” he explained to her.
“Now he’s got a better point,” Alice shrugged at me and kissed Tom’s cheek.
I crossed my arms in defeat and looked over at Ronan, who was laughing at the whole fake argument.
“Hey!” I pointed out to him. “If I can’t make out in the car, then who will you make out with in the car?”
He bit his lip and stopped laughing.
“That’s what I thought!” I grinned.
“Ok!” Tom yelled. “No one can make out with anyone in the back or front seat of this car aside from me and the girl I am making out with at that moment.”
“How many girls so you make out with in this car?” Alice eyed him suspiciously.
“Just you,” he laughed and earned himself another small kiss on the cheek.
“Wait!” I yelled again. “What about the trunk?”
Alice and Tom both hit me.