Love and Conspiracy

The sun was finally shining bright as we arrived at the motel.

“Well, you want to leave early, or do you want to go up and sleep a little longer?” Mike asked as we pulled into the parking lot.

“Will you be okay to drive if we left early?” I asked. He nodded his head.

“Yeah, I got my coffee so I’m good for the day,” he answered. I thought about it for a moment.

“I say we should leave, then. I don’t want to waste any more time in this place,” I said.

“Alright. It’s easier to drive when Tre is asleep anyways.” he said, getting out of the car, “I’ll be right back.” With that, he went up the stairs and disappeared into the room. A few minutes later, he came back out with Carrie and Tre dragging their feet behind him. Once they piled in the back seat, they immediately fell asleep again.

Mike and I remained quiet on the drive back to Carrie’s. I was way too tired to even put together a sentence at the time. Luckily when we pulled up to her house, there were no cars in the driveway, meaning her parents already left for work.

“We’re here,” Mike announced to the back seat. It was enough to wake Carrie up.

“Thanks, Mike,” she said as she rubbed her eyes. Tre slowly woke up.

“See ya, babe,” Tre said, giving her one last kiss before she got out of the car. Within seconds, Tre was out again. Once Carrie made her way back inside, we were off. As all the familiar places blurred past us, my eyes started to droop. I could hear Mike chuckling.

“Get some sleep, Luce,” he said. I nodded in agreement and before I knew it, I was out too.

~~~

A few hours later, I was awoken by a whining voice.

“I really have to go, Mike,” Tre said from the backseat.

“Alright! I’ll pull into the next gas station,” Mike said.

“Hurry!” Tre yelled. Before we even came to a full stop, Tre bolted out of the car and ran inside. I laughed quietly, causing Mike to look over at me.

“Hello, sleepyhead,” he said with a smile.

“What time is it?” I asked, rubbing my face.

“It’s almost 9:30,” he answered, looking at the clock. My eyes widened.

“I was asleep for that long?” I said, shocked.

“Don’t worry, we still got another five hours before we even get close,” he said.

“Wow, I didn’t know it took that long to drive. Where are we going?”

“Berkeley,” he said. I nodded my head. Considering I had only been to California once before, I had no clue where that was. “I figured we’d stop in an hour or two and get some lunch. You want anything in the meantime?” I shook my head, not having an appetite. By that time, Tre came walking out of the gas station with a bag of chips and a slurpee.

“You guys want some?” he asked as he got in the car, mouth full of food. Mike and I shook our heads. “Good! More for me, then,” he said, continuing to shove his face. I just laughed.

~~~

For the next hour and a half, all three of us talked. Surprisingly, Tre was being somewhat calm, however, he did have to throw in a ridiculous remark every here and there. Once they told me about everything I could possibly know about their band, Tre decided that we stop at Denny’s to get something to eat.

“Denny’s? Can’t you choose some place that has a little bit better food?” Mike asked.

“Denny’s has good food!” Tre argued, “Can we please?!” he whined a little more. Mike sighed.

“I guess, but only this time. That place is nasty,” Mike said with a disgusted face.

“Yay! Denny’s, Denny’s, Denny’s,” Tre chanted, causing me to laugh.

It didn’t take us long to park and get inside, considering there was hardly anyone in there besides a few elderly people.

“This is what you were excited about?” I joked. Tre turned around and gave me a fake glare, but then smiled.

“Yes, I love this place,” he said seriously. We got in the plastic booths and took a look at the menu. They didn’t really have much of a variety to choose from, so I just kept it simple and got a grilled cheese while Mike ordered another coffee. As for Tre…

“I’ll have the Mickey Mouse pancakes with strawberries, chicken fingers, potato smiles, and a side of bacon,” Tre told the waitress, cheerfully. She gave him a blank expression.

“You do know that’s only on the kid’s menu, right?” she asked in a monotone voice.

“I am a child, what are you talking about?” Tre answered as he started coloring on the little menu. She rolled her eyes.

“Obviously,” she mouthed as she wrote it down and walked away. Mike chuckled.

“You’re paying for this Tre,” he said.

“What’d I do this time?” he said, not taking his eyes off the paper.

“No, I mean, you’re actually paying for this meal since it was your idea.”

“Hey, that’s not fair!” he said, but finally agreed, “Fine…” as he continued coloring.

~~~

It only took about ten minutes for our food to get there. Mike wasn’t kidding. The grilled cheese was practically cold and hardly had any cheese on it. Tre, however, thought differently as he quickly ate everything in front of him. He shockingly managed to finish before me. Within the next twenty minutes, we were done with our food. Before we left, Tre threw a twenty on the table and then we were on the road again.

Once we got back in the car, Mike put on the radio, which we listened to for the rest of our trip. Between that time, somehow Tre managed to fall asleep again.

“Wow, he must be really tired,” I said. Mike laughed.

“Oh, yeah. He probably didn’t get any sleep with Carrie on him all night,” he joked.

~~~

Time seemed to fly after that. Mike and I talked continuously about our lives during that time. I discovered a whole lot about him that I had never imagined he had gone through; things much worse than I had ever had to experience. For once, I was actually thankful for what I had. After he told me the main events that had happened in his life, up until that point, Tre woke up.

“Are we there, yet?” Tre grumbled from the back.

“Almost, we’ve got another half an hour to go,” he said. Tre sat up and looked around. That’s when I started to stare out the window, soaking up the surroundings of this new place.

“Where’s she gonna stay?” Tre questioned, talking about me.

“With me, dumbass,” he said back.

“You think Billie is gonna be okay with it?” Tre asked seriously. Mike shrugged.

“I have no idea. Most likely not, but he’s going to have to deal with it.”

“Who’s Billie?” I asked curiously. Tre laughed.

“He hasn’t told you about him?! Oh, you’re in for a surprise then,” Tre answered.

“He’s the singer for our band,” Mike paused, “I also live with him.”