Travel The Road

Two sides to every story, but one's filled with lies. Should I believe the words from your mouth or the truth in your eyes?

When Joe awoke again, it was still dark outside. Groggily, he rolled over to find the other side of the bed empty. Slowly, he sat up. Juliet was at the foot of the bed, pulling her hair into a ponytail and watching him.

"Come on, we need an early start," She said as she finished messing with her hair.

Joe glanced at the clock. "It's 4 AM," he stated. Juliet nodded and stood up.

"Aunt Marie has a habit of getting up at 5. By then, I want to be long gone."

"Why?"

"John's noticed I'm gone. He'll come looking for me and he knows Aunt Marie is fond of me. This is the first place he'll look."

Joe collapsed back onto the bed, burying his face in the pillow. This would be the home stretch, the last 24 hours he would have alone with Juliet. The last 24 hours he had to contemplate what he would do about returning home. Juliet smacked him on the leg. "Up and at 'em. Let's go! And be snappy about it."

Reluctantly, he sat up again and swung around, his feet finding the hardwood floor. He ran a tired hand over his face, contemplating the day that awaited him. Finally, he stood, grabbing his shirt off the floor and pulling it over his bare chest. Juliet was watching him by the door with a sort of impatience only she could achieve. For a moment, he thought he saw something in her eyes. Longing maybe, or even regret, but she turned from him to open the door just wide enough for the two to squeeze through to avoid making any noise.

Juliet's tactic, it seemed, was to pretend absolutely nothing had happened the previous night. Joe found this particularly hard, since she had basically confessed to feelings for him, but not being able to act on them. Which was infuriating, but he wasn't about to push her into anything she didn't want.

Therefore, it surprsied him when she grabbed his hand, ushering him to be quiet by putting a finger to her lips. She was walking backwards, glancing every now and again over her shoulder to find her bearings. She seemed somewhat giddy and was giggling as she tugged him forward. He couldn't help but find this new attitude a bit more attractive than her jealous side, and by the time they had reached the front door, he was laughing, too, as quietly as possible as he pulled on his boots.

Perhaps this new personality had to do with their talk the previous night. Letting something out like that had to lighten someone's heart, right?

Juliet was already waiting outside, her back to him, when he stepped out the front door. Her eyes were scanning the horizon, and though her good mood wasn't exactly gone, it was more subdued. She grabbed his hand again as they made their way to his motorcycle, already miles up the road from when they had first arrived at Marie's house. This way, the sound wouldn't wake her and they would be on their way before anyone knew what was happening.

Joe slid onto the motorcycle with ease, scooting forward to make room for Juliet. She followed quietly, and if he hadn't felt her arms wrap tightly around his waist, he wouldn't have known she was there at all.

"Ready?" he asked her, glancing over his shoulder.

She nodded her assent and he started up the motorcycle, loving the way it sounded as it roared to life, vibrating beneath him. It had been days since he'd last rode and it felt nice to be back on it again. It was nice to have Juliet's arms around him again.

He kept a steady pace, slower than usual, since he was reluctant to head back to California at all. They entered Colorado and he was almost positive he heard Juliet gasp as she took in the sight of the mountains for the first time in her life.

The air was exhilerating, somehow fresher, but he knew this wouldn't last long. They still had more farmland to make it through and he wasn't exactly thrilled about it.

They were on a deserted highway, making much more progress than Joe would have preferred, when it happened. It was ever so slight, just a tiny deceleration. Joe pushed forward, coaxing his bike forward, but it was no use. The motorcycle was openly sputtering now and he pulled over to the side, beside overgrown grass. Deja vu overwhelmed him as he jumped off his motorcycle, helping Juliet to do the same, before kicking it only to hear the splash of a still half-full gas tank.

"Is this what it did before?" Juliet asked. Joe ran a hand through his hair, exhasperated. "No. It wasn't this bad the first time," he said.

Juliet licked her lips, focusing on the bike, almost as if willing it back to life. It was of no use, the bike was dead and there was nothing she could do for it. Joe let out a frustrated growl and kicked it over, where it toppled into a ditch, useless.

"But on the bright side, Nick knows we're supposed to be back today, right?" she asked.

Joe paused, only for a moment, before turning to her. That pause was long enough for Juliet to read him and she stopped in her tracks.

"He does know we're coming back, correct?" she asked.

Joe opened his mouth, preparing his defense, but she cut him off.

"You didn't actually call him, did you?"

Her good mood was completely gone, hurt taking it's place. She was angry, repulsed even.

"Juliet, you have to understand..." he began, but she burst out before he could finish his sentence.

"Understand what, exactly? That you lied to me? Did you even plan on going to California at all? Did you think you were just going to dump me off somewhere and continue on with your little adventure?"

"Juliet, it's not like that. I didn't want to make it all happen so fast."

He laid out the words quickly, let them settle on her. She wasn't having it and simply shook her head before heading off down the road. He called after her, but she continued in her path, storming on.

"Where are you going?" he asked, but she still wouldn't turn. Desperate, he began to run to catch up with her. He did so easily, his years of jogging paying off.

"Juliet, would you please stop running? I'm sorry, okay. It was wrong of me to lie to you and I sincerely apologize."

Juliet ignored him, keeping her eyes straight ahead. She was walking quickly, but once he had caught up with her, he was able to slow his pace.

"Where are we going?" he asked her.

"I'm walking to the nearest town and calling John to pick me up, and hopefully kick your ass while he's at it," she replied.

"Juliet, that's ridiculous."

She finally stopped and looked at him. He paused, too, watching as the anger in her eyes turned to hurt.

"How can I go anywhere with you if I can't even trust you?" she asked.

"I didn't think it was that big of a deal," Joe replied, running a hand through his hair as he avoided her eyes. He'd give anything to take it back, just to keep that look from her eyes.

"You lied to me, Joe. Lying's a big one in my book. Especially about something like this. I mean, look at us," she gestured to the open space around them. "There's not another town for miles. We're stuck out here and no one knows it. Any comfort I'd had is gone and it's your fault."

She continued to walk then and Joe was unsure of whether to bother with keeping up or to let her take her time. One thing was for sure: he wasn't letting her leave. Not this easily. Not when he'd worked so hard to get her to come with him in the first place.

He left the motorcycle behind, knowing that Juliet was more important. The hunk of metal wouldn't run anyway. They'd have to find another way to get back home.

Home.

There was a thought. Was that what California was? Home to him had been snowy New Jersey winters and a dog named Coco. Recently, home had been the road and a beautiful girl with an ugly past.

And that's when he realized that sometime within the last few days, Juliet had become his home. And there was no way he was letting that go without a fight all for a stupid screw-up on his part. So he kept pace with her as she angrily kept walking, avoiding even the slightest glance in his direction.

They kept on that way for a while before Juliet let out a loud grunt of annoyance and crossed to the other side of the road, quickening her pace a little bit. Joe contemplated crossing the road with her, but decided against it. He'd let her calm down and realize how ridiculous she was being. Maybe it was the sun that was making her overreact so much to one little lie.

But looking back on it, he realized that to her, one little lie was everything.

What was it that John had said after beating her?

"It won't happen again."

Yes, one little lie could bring everything tumbling down, couldn't it?

[&&&]

Joe had to hand it to her, Juliet could keep going for days. It took her an hour to finally slow down to a walk, but she still wouldn't look at him.

He hadn't said anything to her for fear of setting her off again. Instead he kept his eyes fixed on the horizon ahead, occasionally glancing across to Juliet to make sure she was still there. She always was, and even though she was fighting to stay angry at him, he could see her exhaustion beginning to win over it.

Within a half hour, she was occasionally glancing at him, too, though he never called her out on it. He would watch it from the corner of his eye, enjoying this little victory in the breaking down of her wall. She was always careful for him not to catch her, but she underestimated exactly how aware of her Joe always was.

He constantly felt her in his veins.

It was odd how easily he had come to terms with it. Sometime within that last hour and a half, he'd been able to admit it fully to himself. He was in love with Juliet. It'd only taken a couple of days, but he knew it was true. He couldn't imagine life without her, couldn't imagine what it would be like if he had to leave her. All he had was right there.

When he looked back on it, it made perfect sense. She was his cure for the madness in his head. She'd found him when he'd needed her most and he knew she was what he'd been searching for without the knowledge of his search.

He was thinking about the way the sunlight played in her hair when he first noticed the crop of wildflowers growing just within the field of corn they were walking beside. They were bright yellow, growing in clumps just between the rows and rows of green stalks.

Joe glanced in Juliet's direction just in time to catch her looking at him. She bit her lip and looked away, straight forward again, but even he could tell it was taking great effort at this point to be angry with him.

It took him only a split second to make up his mind. He stopped, turned, and disappeared into the rows of green stalks. He continued walking for a few rows before he finally stopped to catch his breath. He wasn't sure if this had worked; if Juliet had continued to go on or if she had paused, too.

"Joe?"

He smiled to himself and reached over to shake one of the stalks of corn, sure she'd see it. Soon enough, he heard footsteps and took that as his cue to continue further into the field.

"Joe? Where are you?" she asked, but he continued to march on, occasionally knocking a stalk or two so she could follow his path.

"Seriously? This isn't funny," he heard her behind him, but continued on until he found what he'd been looking for. It was there he stopped to wait for her.

At first she was a vague outline in the shadows of the mid-summer corn stalks. He watched her as her eyes scanned around her, first at the ground to watch for snakes, then above to try to find his path. She saw him then and began to make her way toward him, cautious as to where she was stepping until she finally walked into the break in the field where a few corn stalks had withered and died.

She opened her mouth to say something smart, but he held out the wildflowers to her, shutting her up.

Juliet took them, rolling them in her hands as she examined them.

"When did I tell you wildflowers were my favorite?" she asked quietly.

Joe shook his head. "You didn't have to."

Juliet looked up at him, an unreadable expression in her eyes. Joe watched her as she looked back down to the wildflowers, indecision obvious in her posture.

"Still mad at me?" he asked hopefully.

She answered with a smack to his face with the flowers. It was light, and he knew she was only playing. He closed his eyes, avoiding the pollen sure to make a home there. When he opened them again, she was gone, a few feet away and an outline again.

"Juliet?" he asked.

She didn't look back, only continued further into the corn. Joe sighed and began to follow her, like he knew he probably would for as long as she'd allow him to. After a few minutes, she must have begun to run because he could no longer see her.

"Juliet, where are you?" he asked, worried now.

He waited a moment before he heard her reply.

"Follow the flowers!"

She was still playful and Joe smiled. Anytime their encounters began to get too serious, she'd make it light again and Joe had no problem with that. They'd get to the serious stuff eventually.

He found a flower he'd given her laying on the ground and began in the direction that the flower side pointed. He continued this until he finally saw the end of the corn field. Finally, he broke through the stalks and into the grass.

A farm house was in the distance, separated from where he stood by a pen of horses. Nearest to him was a small pond and a willow tree. It was there he spotted Juliet, laying beneath the willow branches. He made his way over to where she lay, an arm over her eyes as she rested, trying to catch her breath.

Joe lay down beside her, unsure of what to say. She must have felt the change in atmosphere, for she let her arm fall down beside her again and looked over to him.

"You're about to say something complicated and romantic, aren't you?" she asked. Her tone was light, but the meloncholia was beginning to seep into her eyes. Joe half-smiled at her.

"You're just always running away from me," he said simply.

She laughed and shook her head. "It's not like you're making it easy for me. You're always just a half-step behind."

Joe sighed. "I'd follow you anywhere."

Juliet turned to him.

"What do you want me to say, Joe? What haven't I said already?" she asked. She sounded tired, even sad. But this was how she was every time the subject was brought up, and she was always wiggling her way out of giving him a straight answer. This time he wasn't going to allow it.

"You haven't said you'd try, Juliet. That's all I want to hear from you. All I hear right now is excuses as to why you can't. And I understand that you're hurting, but I was too before I met you."

He watched as Juliet sat up, running a hand over her face. He wasn't going to let everything drop like he normally did. This time he would get an answer from her.

"All I'm asking is for one night of you legitimately trying. No walls, no fences. I've only ever caught glimpses of you, Juliet. That's all you'll let me see. And yes, I lied to you, but I never intended for it to hurt you. I just needed to buy more time. I could feel you slipping away with every mile marker we passed on that highway."

Joe was sitting up beside her now. She had her eyes closed and he could almost feel her wishing the conversation away. She was breathing slowly, collecting her thoughts and trying to sort out what was appropriate for her to say in response to him.

He attempted to wait for her patiently, but his nerves were beginning to get the better of him. He didn't say these kinds of things, especially out loud. To admit them to her was almost taboo, but he knew it needed to be said. As obvious as he was in love with her, she wouldn't allow him close to her without those words being out in the open.

Finally, she opened her mouth to speak.

"Okay."

It was simple, the word. It floated in the air between them and Joe found himself confused. Days of trying to win her love and it was as simple as that? Okay.

She looked at him amusedly and began to laugh. His uncertainty had begun to show on his face.

"But I'm making no promises for tomorrow," she warned as she lay down again beside him.

"Tonight, and that's it," she murmured as she closed her eyes.

The sun was setting lower in the sky, and Joe didn't allow his eyes to leave her as he laid beside her again. To have her say yes was the first step, but had he really ever intended it to work? Now what?

The thought had hardly crossed his mind before his arm began to stray toward her, his fingers brushing the side of her face, down her cheek to her neck. She shivered slightly and he watched as goosebumps began to form where his fingertips had traced her. She opened her eyes to look at him.

The intensity of his stare was just so she couldn't break free of him. He reached up again to brush some hair from her eyes and she smiled and scooted closer in the grass. He let her rest her head on his shoulder and she allowed herself to enjoy the feeling of being there in his arms. He was so warm and so right. She began to forget what she'd started fighting for.

"So tell me about you," she found herself saying.

"What about me?" he mumbled in reply, his lips lost in her hair. She smiled.

"Everything."