Concrete Castle

Even in the rain, John drove like a maniac, but with every mile put in between me and Tempe, I felt better. Less…myself.

We only packed two bags between the two of us, and all I wanted was to get away. John picked the place, I hadn’t even bothered to ask where he was taking me. At this point, I wouldn’t mind if he took me to Alaska. I just needed to get away.

Once we were out of the rain, I settled down into the passenger seat. “Feeling better?” John asked.

“Not totally, but getting there.” I chuckled slightly, leaning my head against the back of the seat. “Thanks so much.” I let out.

“No problem, Daisy. I’m thinking of it as a vacation as well.”

“So…where are you taking me?” I finally asked, trying to decipher road signs.

“San Francisco.”

“Huh. I’ve never been.” I mentioned, yawning.

“Are you tired?” John rested his hand on the gear shift, glancing over at me.

“A little…” I nodded.

“Take a nap, we have a twelve hour drive ahead of us.”

“That long?” I yawned again, leaning on the window once more. I didn’t hear what he said since I was already being lulled to sleep by Death Cab For Cutie he had put in the CD player and the sounds of the car and highway.

….

“Wake up, Daisy.” I woke up to John saying, nudging my shoulder. “Do you want some dinner?”

“What time is it?” I mumbled, rubbing my eyes.

“Around six o’clock. We only have like three more hours to go until we get there. I just figured you might want something to eat.”

Judging by my nausea and shaking, my blood sugar was too low. I nodded, stumbling out of the car. “Easy there.” John chuckled, hand on my back as I leaned against the car. “You okay?” He asked.

“Yeah, just got up a little too fast. I’m fine.”

“How’d you sleep?” He asked, hand moving over my hair in a tender fashion.

“Surprisingly well.” I stood up straight again and continued into the Wendy’s. “If you need me to drive while you rest…” I offered.

“Naw. No offense, but I don’t really like anyone driving my car. Besides family, because I really can’t say no to them…”

“Your choice.” I shrugged.

We ordered, John paid and while waiting for our food, I leaned against his shoulder. “Are you still tired?” He asked.

“Yeah. I haven’t slept like that in so long…” I trailed off, closing my eyes. “I don’t know how to ever thank you for this John.” I wrapped the arm between us around his middle, bringing me closer. He was becoming easier to be around all of a sudden. It was kind of weird.

“You don’t have to, Daisy.” John wrapped an arm around me as well, laying his head against mine. Just then, our order came in, causing us to break apart and choose a booth to sit and eat in. Due to the time, the place was a little crowded, probably other travelers.

“So, how are you feeling now?” John asked, chewing on his burger.

“Like a huge weight has been lifted from my shoulders.” I answered truthfully. “It’s…hard to be there. It’s….it’s….”

“Suffocating?” John finished for me.

“Yeah.” I let all the air out of my lungs with that word, “Suffocating. That’s a good way to put it.” And, yet, he had no idea how much that described it. For the first time since I was eleven years old, I felt like I could breathe properly. My lungs have never been this filled. I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

“It’s good to get away from it all every once in a while.” The look in his eye told me he knew more than he was letting on about me, but that couldn’t be possible. And, since I didn’t want to add paranoia to my endless list of problems, I ignored it.

…..

Close to four hours later, John and I burst through the door of the run-down motel room. Sure, it wasn’t much, but it was all two college kids could afford. It at least had two beds. John went immediately to his, collapsing on a fit of relief.

I chuckled as he stretched and curled up on the bed. “Comfortable?”

“Right now, anything is comfortable.” John groaned. I laid across the other bed, straining my hands above my head.

“I didn’t think it possible, but you’re right.” I agreed, crawling to the head of the bed and grabbing the remote off the stand in between the bed. “I wonder if there is anything worthwhile on.”

“I’m going to sleep.” John sighed, stripping down into his underwear.

“Good night, Johno.” I wished.

“’Night, Dais.”

“Now I have a nickname for my nickname?” I wondered aloud and John only flashed a smile my way while closing his eyes.

As expected, I wasn’t missing much with not having cable at the apartment. I clicked off the television and went into the bathroom, dressing for bed and brushing my teeth. Catching myself in the mirror, I realized I looked terrible. The remnants of Arizona apparent in my features.

Though my eyes weren’t as dark, I could still see nights of no sleep, my hair was tangled at the bottom and my makeup had that day-old look I was never really fond of. I quickly decided against a shower because it might wake John, and washed my face.

Hopefully, a good night’s rest will take all of this away.

….

As I had hoped, twelve hours and a shower later, I wasn’t only feeling refreshed, I looked good as new. “Ready to hit the beach?” John asked, sitting up in bed.

“If you want, but I’m okay with that.” I nodded, going to my suitcase as I had just dressed in the clothes I had worn to bed, digging to find my swim suit.

“Let me pee and we’ll go. It’s only like a ten minute walk from here.”

“So, then, have you been to San Francisco a lot?”

“I used to go with my family all the time. We had the best summer vacations here.” John dug in his suitcase from his swim suit and closed the bathroom door between us. Using quick change abilities, I changed into my bikini while John was in the restroom.

The walk was nice and warm though it was only getting close to ten o’clock in the morning. But, I guess that’s California for you. Of course, it was the same in Arizona. “You look ten times better today, Daisy.” John mentioned, nudging my shoulder with his.

“I feel ten times better.” I agree with a laugh.

“Glad to hear that.” He smiled once again. “What do you want to do first when we get to the beach?”

“I don’t know…I’ve never been the a beach, so I guess—“

“You’ve never gone to a beach before?!” John asked, surprised. I just shrugged. Suddenly, John grabbed my hand and we started running to the beach at top speed. “I’m going to throw you into the ocean, okay?”

“What?” I squealed, “No, don’t do that!”

“Too bad, it’s happening.” He lifted me into his arms as we neared the water. “Don’t fight it.” He joked as I pounded on his chest to get him to let go of me. I screamed as he literally tossed me into the ocean.

“John!” I screamed, sputtering salt water. “I think I just swallowed half the ocean!” John laughed loudly while holding me up.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” John apologized. “I won’t do it again, promise.”

“You better not. Or…or I’ll…”

“Kick me?”

“Yes. Somewhere unpleasant.” I narrowed my eyes at him in a joking manner. As I started to try to swim away from him, I kept getting pounded with waves.

“I don’t think this was a smart idea.” I mentioned, rubbing my eyes free from salt water. “I’m going to go sit on the beach.”

“No, you just don’t know how to ride the waves. I could teach you, if you want.” At my doubting look, John offered me his hand. “It’s not that hard.” He coaxed, “Just trust me, okay?”

I gave a big sigh, debating. “Come on, it’s not that hard of a thing to decide.” He chuckled. Honestly, I wasn’t just thinking of trusting him with teaching me how to swim in the ocean, I was thinking about trusting him with a lot more than that.

I’m talking about my life here. My whole life, even the past. I hadn’t ever opened up to anyone about it, and only Baylee and her parents knew the whole story. But…for some reason John is turning out to be more significant to me than I originally thought.

I hadn’t planned for this.

Things felt…different with him. I could smile easy, laugh without a second thought. I didn’t have any nightmares last night. Though, the no nightmares might have had something to do with complete and utter exhaustion more so than John.

I sighed through my nose and took hold of John’s hand. “You better not let me drown.” I warned with narrowed eyes.

“It’s okay, I know mouth-to-mouth.” He smirked and I just rolled my eyes at him.