Chasing Fireflies

“I quit.” Pat threw his hands up in the air and sighed.

I giggled. We had only played four games of tic-tac-toe, but I had won all of them. “You’re such a sore loser.”

Pat sighed again. “So?”

“Hey!” John called before I was able to respond to Pat. He turned around in the passenger seat to look at Pat and I. “Are you guys done?” Pat and I nodded. “Sweet! Can I have the M&M’s now?” I shrugged and handed John our playing pieces. He hastily threw them into his mouth in one swift motion, quickly chewing them and swallowing.

Jared yawned. “Are you tired?” I asked him.

“A little, actually.” He stretched his arms over his head and laid his head on the back of the seat. “I think I’m going to take a nap. Hey, Kennedy?”

“Yeah?”

“You brought Suckers, right?” Jared opened his eyes just in time to see Kennedy’s open wide. Everyone laughed at the mention of Kennedy’s favorite Care Bear. “You know, I was just wondering, ‘cause I know you can’t sleep without him.”

“It was one time, Jared! I was scared, and--”

“Yeah,” Jared interrupted. “You were scared. Whatever.”

“I was!”

“Riiight.”

Kennedy harrumphed and turned his attention back to the scenery outside his window. For a few minutes the entire car was enveloped in silence, and I enjoyed it while it last, knowing that it wouldn’t last very long at all. Suddenly, Garrett slammed on the breaks and our heads were thrashed forward. Many complaints were uttered at the same time.

“I hope I don’t have whiplash,” John muttered.

“I was this close to being asleep,” said Jared.

“Jesus, Garrett!” Kennedy yelled.

“There’s a dog in the road,” I said.

Everyone looked at Garrett. “There’s a dog in the road.”

“Go around him,” Pat suggested.

“I can try…” Garrett looked out all of his mirrors and quickly swerved around the dog.

“Was he hurt?” I asked.

Garrett shrugged. “I’m not sure. I hope he’s alright.”

“I do, too.” I silently prayed for the dog, but my prayer was cut short by the crumpling of some food item that I couldn’t decipher. I looked next to me and smirked at the sight of Pat opening the Oreo’s. “Hungry?”

Pat nodded. “You want some?” he asked, holding out the package to me. I shook my head. He reached down to the floor and soon came back up with a Fruit Punch Capri Sun. “Here. I know you won’t turn this down.”

I laughed. “I wouldn’t dream of it.” I took the Capri Sun from his hands, took the straw off of the juice pocket and pushed it through the whole at the top. Taking a sip, I noticed that next to me, Jared was fast asleep. “Look,” I whispered to Pat. I pointed at Jared. Pat nodded in recognition.

“He’s probably tired,” he offered. “He had a huge graduation party yesterday.”

I gasped. “And I wasn’t invited?”

Pat laughed. “None of us were. It was apparently an ‘only-family’ thing.”

“Oh. Well, should we let him sleep?” Pat nodded. “So we have to be quiet,” I concluded. “Wanna play tic-tac-toe again?”

“Make it all or nothing and I’m in.” Pat smirked.

“Deal! Hey, John! Did you eat all the M&M’s?”

John turned around in his seat and shook his head. “Why? Are you guys going to play some more tic-tac-toe?”

“Yeah, and I’m going to win this time.”

I looked at Pat, and then smirked. “You are unbelievably cocky, my boy.”

“And you, my girl, are unbelievably observant,” Pat retaliated.

I shrugged. “On with the game?” Pat nodded. I grabbed the tic-tac-toe board from under my seat and then I placed my first M&M in the middle square. A few moves later I had won, again.

“Damnit!” Pat sighed and then said, “I don’t know how you do it, Campbell.”

I laughed. “I’m not quite sure, either, Kirch.”

“I am so bored!” John complained.

“At least you’re not hungry anymore,” Kennedy said.

“I could actually go for some pizza right now.”

We all groaned. “I’ll tell you what, O’Callaghan,” I said. “If you don’t complain for the next hour, we’ll stop and get pizza in LA.”

“You’re on, Campbell.”

&&

Carlos and Dina’s Pizza Diner looked like a dive, let me tell you, but the pizza was out of this world. “This was a great, pick, Jared,” I said. “Props for you for talking us into going here.”

“He only picked it because of the hot blonde on the sign.” John smirked at Jared, who blushed. “She is pretty hot, I gotta admit.” All the other guys nodded in agreement.

“But the pizza is good,” I said, trying to divert the conversation. I really wanted to get off the topic of hot girls. It’s not like I wasn’t used to it, having been best friends with four of the five guys for years, but for some reason there was a lot of push on their side and not so much shove on mine, so it got kind of awkward when the topic of ‘liking’ the other gender came up.

“Aw, look at Laurel getting all embarrassed about our conversation.” John laughed as I stuck my tongue out at him.

“Seriously, though, guys. It is kind of awkward when I’m sitting right here.”

“Don’t worry,” Garrett said. “You’re still our number one girl!”

“Yeah!” everyone chimed in. “And you’re pretty hot yourself,” Kennedy added.

I blushed. “Well, uh… thanks. You guys are quite attractive as well.”

“Now I feel awkward,” Jared said.

“So… pizza? Good? Yes?” Garrett took his fourth slice off of the pan and began eating it.

“The best I’ve ever had,” I agreed.

“Definitely,” said Pat.

“So where are we staying tonight?” John asked.

“I booked us three rooms at the Motel 8.” I wiped some cheese off of my face with my napkin. “I hope you guys don’t mind having hard beds and cold water.”

Garrett shrugged. “We’re guys. As long as we have a bed and a shower we’re good.”

Kennedy nodded in agreement. “We don’t even need the shower if it’s one night.”

“But,” I said, “you have a meeting with record execs tomorrow, and if you haven’t noticed, we drove six hours from Arizona today.”

“Yeah,” Kennedy stated. “We need the showers.”

I laughed. “That’s probably a good idea.”

“So, you guys all done?” Everyone nodded. We got up, pushed in our chairs, and piled back into the van, Garrett still in the driver’s seat.

“Where’s the Motel 8?” Garrett asked, putting the keys in the ignition.

“I think it’s a few blocks north. Go out of here and turn right.” Garrett did as I said. Soon, we were parked in front of the Motel 8 and we were piling back out of the car. After we checked in, we went to our separate rooms: Jared, Kennedy, and John in one; Garrett and Pat in another; and me in the third.