Sunshiner

“Do you think they’re worried about us?”

She looked at me. “Who?”

We had been driving for nearly a half an hour and the adrenaline rush had long since disappeared. The sun was blazingly hot and even with the wind whipping at our faces, we were still sweating. I was hoping we could find a diner or a restaurant soon so bask in the air conditioning.

“You know…our parents,” I said slowly.

She snorted with laughter. “Of course not.”

I was genuinely surprised. “Why not?”

“We’ve only been out for a few hours,” she said. “That Amber Alert the cop mentioned…it probably wasn’t about us. Besides, I’m sure it isn’t rare for a boy and a girl to go missing for a while; they’re probably off doing the same thing we are. It’s summer and kids are free to do whatever we want.”

“I don’t think running away from home is a common summer activity,” I stated.

“You’ve obviously grown up in a sheltered town,” she informed me. “At my home-home last fall, one of my friends Billy just took off for a week. No note, no phone calls, nothing. His parents were worried, sure, but they knew he was fine; he had taken his car. Turns out, he had driven to Maryland for a week to live at his friends house.”

“What’d he do in Maryland?”

“Went to the beach. Smoked pot. Picked up girls. Billy was the kind of kid who just did whatever the hell he wanted. His parents had no control over him.”

“So…do you think our parents know we’re fine, since we took my car?” I asked tentatively.

“Probably. Why? You seem way too worked up over it.”

“I can definitely imagine my mom freaking out and calling the cops,” I said. “I mean, I had told her that I’d be home in the morning, so she shouldn’t even realize that I’m not home until right about now…but she could have easily called Johnny Boy or his mom and realized that I was gone.”

“My parents will know I’m gone, too,” she said. “They’ll be able to put two and two together. Everyone will probably think that we killed each other in an insane prank.”

I laughed. “Or maybe they’re actually smart enough to figure out that we willingly ran off together.”

We exchanged a look.

“Wait. No. Maybe not,” I conceded. “They’d definitely think you killed me.” She laughed lightly and shifted her gaze out the window. “You don’t seem too concerned about your parents,” I observed. “Won’t they be worried about you?”

“Nah,” she shrugged. “I’ve done this before.”

“Done what before? Run away?”

She nodded. “They’ll just assume that I needed some space again.”

“And they’re fine with this?”

“No,” she said. “But it’s not like I give a damn. They’ve learned to put up with it. And they’ve also learned that no matter how hard they search, they’ll never find me.”

I didn’t really know what to say to that. “Oh. Okay then.” A silence ensued. “So you definitely don’t think the Amber Alert was for us?” I said, trying to reassure myself.

“No, Kasey,” she said, sounding a bit exasperated. “You have to wait a few hours to be able to report a missing person, anyway, and we weren’t gone for that long. Besides, the cop said that the kids who went missing were from a town down south – Dayton is north from here.”

“I feel bad for those kids, then,” I said. “I mean, do you really think they’re in danger or something?”

“Doubt it,” she said. “Things like that don’t usually happen around these parts. They probably ran off, the same way Billy did, and their parents called the cops. Parents who have no control over their kids tend to turn towards the law, like they have some sort of hope that maybe their kids will listen to a police officer since they won’t listen to their own mom and dad. Or maybe – maybe the cop was just saying that to scare us. Cops do that sometimes.”

“But – “

“Listen, if the officer really thought that we were missing kids, he wouldn’t have let us go like that,” she said. “Chances are he had a description of the kids, and we obviously didn’t fit it. So are you happy now?”

“I guess,” I said, but my tone indicated that I was far from satisfied.

“Christ, Kase. Relax,” she sighed. “What happened to your whole I-don’t-give-a-shit persona?”

“Nothing, it’s just…” I grimaced. “I can’t help but feel bad for my mom. She’s probably having a heart attack.”

“We’re going to go home eventually,” she reassured me. “Enjoy yourself while you can.”

I was thankful that Candace understood my family situation; any other kid would have teased me for being a momma’s boy or something like that. “You’re right,” I said resolutely and forced a smile on my face. I was being way too uptight. As we passed a sign that read EXIT 122: 11 MILES, by smile widened and my nerves were soothed. “Are you hungry?”

“Starving,” she said.

“Good. Me too.”

I sped up as to get to the exit faster. Meanwhile, Candace had reached into the back seat and pulled out my small duffel bag. “Jesus, how many things did you pack?” she asked, shaking it up and down almost violent.

“Hey, hey, easy! There are some expensive things in there.”

She had already taken the liberty to open it up. She slowly reached her hand in and when it emerged again she was holding my iPhone. “Oh, you mean like this?”

“Yes. Like that. Be careful, it costs a fuck load of money.”

Without saying a word, she abruptly threw it out the window. I watched in horror through the rearview mirror as it shattered on the pavement, exploding into little bits of plastic and metal and microchips.

“Candace, what the fuck?” I shouted.

My temper had absolutely no effect on her. She shrugged it off coolly and said, “You don’t need it.”

“I might need it, you know, just in case – “

“What’s the point in running away if you’re going to let people find you?” she snapped, and I was taken aback by her sudden mood swing. I was the one who was supposed to be mad, not her. She was acting like I had betrayed her or something.

“I was going to keep it turned off,” I retorted.

“It doesn’t matter,” she stated. “You were supposed to come without a phone. That was the whole idea. Having your iPhone with you, it’s just…it feels wrong.”

I scoffed. Wrong? What the hell did she know?

“Besides,” she added, “you’re filthy rich. You can get a new one when you get home.”

“You can get me a new one. You broke it,” I seethed. She was right about the rich part; I could easily call up my dad and ask him to buy me a new one, and he would give it to me without asking questions. He would do it as quickly as possible and speak to me as little as he could; he tried to keep me out of his life as much as he could, especially when he had his new son to take care of. But still…I wanted Candace to pay for it.

“Fine,” she retorted and folded her arms.

“Fine,” I replied.

“Fine.”

And then we fell into a heavy silence.

The exit came up, and by some miracle we only had to drive a mile before a decent-looking diner came into view. I swerved into the parking lot and parked crookedly, but I didn’t care enough to actually fix it. Without opening the door, I hopped out of the car and headed towards the diner, not bothering to wait for Candace, though I knew she was following me.

The interior of the diner was old, but at least it was clean. It had the classic fifties-theme; the tiles were checkered white and black, the waitresses all wore nametags named “Betsy” or “Shirley,” and there was even a working jukebox in the corner. The walls were covered in photos of Elvis and other old rock stars, and the booth seats were a nauseating teal color.

“Table for two,” I growled at the lady who was supposed to seat us. The tag on her dress said her name was Ronda, but judging by the fact that people had stopped naming their kids so ridiculously since the sixties, and also by the fact that this girl looked to be twenty-five, I could assume that it wasn’t her real name.

“Would you like a booth or a smaller table?”

“Surprise me.”

“Uh, okay,” she said, eyeing me nervously. I sort of had that effect on people when I was pissed off. “Booth it is then…”

She guided me over to a booth near the wall with two menus in her hand, but after looking around awkwardly she only handed me one of them. Looking around as well, I saw that Candace hadn’t joined me at the table; she had gone off and was sitting on a tall stool by the counter. Well this was just great. Not only was Candace ignoring me, but she had also managed to embarrass me in front half the restaurant.

“I’ll have pancakes and a chocolate milkshake,” I grumbled to the waitress without even looking at the menu. After she scribbled down my order and scurried off, I just sat there in a silent rage, staring out the window and watching as the cars went by. But I wasn’t really looking at them; I was just kind of staring off in the distance. I hardly even noticed when a black and white cop car pulled into the parking lot.

It finally registered in my mind that we were in trouble when the very same policeman from this morning stepped out of his car. Immediately I sprung up from my seat, and I was about to go warn Candace and tell her we had to leave right fucking now –

And then the cop saw me through the window. We locked eyes, and I knew I was done for.

“Whatever. What the fuck ever,” I groaned to myself and slumped in my seat, cradling my head in my hands. It was over. I would be sent home and there was nothing I could do about it this time, unless I wanted to go to jail. So I might as well accept my fate with whatever dignity I had left.

The bell on the door sang loudly, announcing the cop’s entrance. I wondered if Candace had seen him yet.

I still hadn’t looked up until I heard someone sit across from me in my booth. I hoped to fucking god that it was Candace but, of course, I never had such luck.

“You kids caused me a lot of trouble,” the police officer said gruffly as he stared me down with his beady black eyes. I seriously doubted that Candace and I had been that difficult; he had given up immediately and hadn’t even bothered chasing after us. But I knew better than to argue with him.

“I’m sorry, sir,” I grumbled. I didn’t have any willpower to even stand up for myself or act like a rich, arrogant brat, like I usually did with cops. I knew that there was no escaping this time.

“I can arrest you right here and now because of the fact that you ran away,” he continued. “Are you aware of that?”

“Yes, sir.”

“But I’m not goin’ to.”

My head shot up. “W-What?”

“You two aren’t the ones who were reported missing – we found those kids earlier this morning. They’re home safe and sound now. It turns out they just took off for the night without telling their parents.”

“Oh,” I said nervously. “Uh, well, that’s good news.”

“Yeah, it is,” he said and leaned back in the seat comfortably. I was shocked and a little scared at how easy-going he was suddenly being…Did he have some other motive or something? Was he out to get me? Was he trying to frighten some sort of confession out of me? I was beyond paranoid at this point.

“I can’t help but get the feelin’ that you two did the same,” he went on, nodding in Candace’s direction. I saw that she was staring at me with wide-eyes. Her face had gone pale and she was frozen in place; she was probably wondering what the hell was going on and if we were in trouble.

I didn’t give her a nod or any sort of signal that told her that things were okay. I kind of wanted her to worry.

“We just went out of town for a little while,” I said politely as I turned back to the cop.

“Are you eighteen?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. I won’t get in trouble for lettin’ you two off then,” he said, looking a bit more comfortable as soon as I had told him that. I guess if Candace and I were under eighteen, then he’d be required by law to take us home; legally, we would have been underage runaways. Thank god we were legal adults. And thank god this cop was lazy as fuck.

“Do your folks know where you are?” he then asked.

To that, I did not respond.

He let out a long sigh and nodded, knowing the truthful answer without needing to hear it from me. “So you ran away with that girl of yours and you’re already fightin’ with her?”

“I – Um, well…yeah,” I said slowly, still feeling too uncomfortable to even bother lying to him. “How did you…?”

“I’ve been married for twenty-three years,” he said, “I’ve been in plenty of fights, trust me, kid.”

“Has your wife ever smashed your three-hundred dollar cell phone?” I asked bitterly. I didn’t care about how stupid I sounded.

He snorted with laughter. “Kid, brighten up a little. If you’re going to throw away that girl because of a little toy, well, you’ve got a few things to learn.”

“Here are your pancakes, hun,” the waitress said cheerily and placed the steaming plate in front of me. She then turned to the cop, “Good morning, Rich. What can I get you today?”

As the cop returned her warm welcome (I wish I had known that this guy was a fucking regular here), I took my plate and stood up from the table. The waitress looked at me funny, but the officer gave me an approving nod, one which I returned. I then walked over to the counter and sat beside Candace, my plate clattering loudly.

I had only gotten the chance to take one bite out of my meal before I was assaulted.

“What the hell, asshole?” Candace demanded and punched me in the arm. “What just happened?”

“Ow, ow, hey! What do you want, woman?” I shouted as she continued to hit me. “Can’t a guy eat his breakfast in peace?”

“Not if you’re about to get arrested and go to jail forever!”

“I’m not going to be arrested,” I said. “The cop’s a cool guy, I guess. Either that or he’s way too lazy to do his job.”

She stared at me blankly. “So we’re…we’re okay, then?”

“Yeah. We’re okay.”

“Oh.” She looked down at her own breakfast – fried eggs with bacon and hash browns – and stared at it for a while, as if she was trying to figure something out. “I still hate you, you know.”

I laughed. “Whatever you say, babe.”

“Don’t call me babe.”

“If you say so, darli – “

She hit me.

“Sorry, Candace,” I said sheepishly.

“That’s more like it.”