So Just Fly With Me

I had woken up suddenly when I felt my ears pop and my head felt uncomfortable. Groaning, I sat up and scooted to appear between the two men sitting up front. I looked through the windshield and saw mountains. “Where are we?”

“About a half hour past Denver,” Craig said. “About to pull off and get something to eat.”

“Awesome. I can take over driving afterwards if you'd like, since I've been sleeping all day,” I said before leaning closer to give Craig a kiss.

Craig pulled off the highway into a small town, stopping at a diner. I grabbed Craig's hand as we walked in and were seated in a booth. After ordering food, Matt went back outside to smoke and to call one of the guys back home to check in. I felt Craig's arm wrap around my shoulders, pulling me closer to him and I leaned against him, my head resting against his shoulder. My mind was wandering to the conversation I overheard earlier in the day, and I wanted so badly to ask him about it, but I knew it wasn't my place to pry.

“Penny for your thoughts, babe?” Craig murmured before his lips touched my temple.

“Just everything.” As much as I began to despise my father, I was really starting to miss my mother and my home.

“Like what?”

“This whole situation. Wondering why my father is doing this. Wondering how close he could be to finding us. Wondering what could happen if he or someone that works for him finds us.”

“They won't find us. I'll make sure they don't.”

“Is it wrong for me to admit that I'm starting to miss my mother at least?”

Craig didn't respond, and in a way, I didn't expect him to. I knew he wouldn't be able to think of the right way to actually respond. Was there even a right way? Even I wasn't so sure that there was. Luckily Matt had rejoined us at the right time. “What's the good word?” Craig asked him.

“Nothing new since the voice mail from Adam.”

I sighed, moving to sit up straight as our food arrived. The two of them talked while I ate in silence. I had become so tuned out of their conversation that I jumped a little when I heard Matt curse loudly. “Matt! There's children around!” I scolded him.

“Damnit!” Craig cursed under his breath. “Look at the TV.”

I turned to look at the TV behind the diner bar. There was a news report on, and I gasped when I saw my face plastered on the screen and quickly turned away, listening. “Wealthy and widely known Chicago entrepreneur Nathaniel Roberts is putting out a nationwide search for his daughter. Twenty-Four year old Lisa Roberts, pictured here, has reportedly been abducted by a man who worked for Nathaniel at his Chicago residence. The man, named Craig Owens is described to be in his mid to late twenties, about six feet tall, slim build, shaggy, sandy blond hair, blue eyes with numerous tattoos all over his body. Authorities are alerted to be on the look out for Craig, last seen in the far west suburbs of Chicago, presumed to be traveling out of the state. Anybody with any information is asked to call this number.”

I immediately turned back to Craig, hiding my face in his shoulder. “Damnit, shit, fuck. My face may as well now be plastered on a milk carton. We're fucked.” I began to panic, running short of breath as I worried about my boyfriend getting arrested and me never seeing him again.

“We'll figure this out. We'll stop at a store and pick you up some hair dye or something. Maybe even something as small as a change in hair color will make you harder to recognize.”

I nodded, but was still having trouble controlling my breathing. His hand rubbed my back soothingly and eventually I was able to calm my breathing. I hovered closer to my food, trying not to look around much because other people around had seen the news report. I tried to continue eating, but had suddenly lost my appetite. “We should leave now,” I muttered.

“She has a point,” Matt said. “Before someone in here recognizes her.”

Craig nodded and signaled the waitress over, asking for boxes for our food. I continued staring down until our food was boxed up and paid for. When we stood up, I rushed outside and right into the car, forgetting about how I said I'd drive. Craig drove to a nearby Walgreens, sending Matt inside to get a few things.

While Matt was inside, I stepped out of the car and started pacing around nervously. Craig had also stepped out of the car to smoke, but as soon as he saw me starting to pace he tossed his cigarette away. “Lisa, please calm down, baby.”

“It's hard to calm down right now. My face is plastered all over the news. Somebody's going to recognize me, you're going to get arrested, and everything is going to be fucked.”

“Lisa, Lisa, Lisa.” He caught up to me and wrapped his arms around me. I struggled in his grasp, but as quickly as I began to struggle, I gave in. “I need you to trust me on this. My friends and I have spent so much time on the streets, running from cops, running from whoever. We're not going to let them find us, and I will never let anything come between you and I.”

I sighed. “Craig, I don't want to lose you,” I murmured into his chest.

His hands embraced me in a more comforting manner. “You won't.”

“I hate my father. I don't want to go back to that.”

“Baby, listen to me, please. I'm here for you, forever. I will keep you protected. You have my word.”

I nodded and watched as Matt exited the store and rejoined us. Being more calm, I finally did take over driving. We didn't drive much longer through the mountains, stopping in a town called Rifle for the night. There weren't many choices for hotels around and the cheapest one we found only had one room left which contained a single king-sized bed. I was uneasy with the idea of sharing one bed with the two of them, but I didn't want to complain and have us go to a more expensive place.

I stayed in the room while the two of them took off to the gas station to fill up the car as well as check up on it to make sure it was still good for long distance driving. I reached into the Walgreens bag to pull out the box of hair dye that Matt picked up. My eyes widened when I saw the color. It was an auburn shade that looked nice, but I became nervous. I had never dyed my hair before, and was always used to to my boring brown hair. I was scared that I would mess it up, and I was scared that it would turn out looking horrible.

Shrugging, I tore open the box and read the directions on how to prepare the mixture. The smell of it was interesting. It was a pungent smell that tickled my nose and made my eyes water, but something I had mixed in it had given out a sweet scent so the chemical smell wasn't so overpowering. After I had shaken the bottle, I noticed that the mixture remained white. Nothing in the directions mentioned this and I was worried that it was going to ruin my hair. Before I chickened out, I began squeezing the liquid into my hair using a gloved hand to spread the dye around. As time progressed, I noticed the mixture turn almost a fire-engine red. My eyes widened, but I knew it was too late to turn back now. My hair was completely saturated with the goo, already starting to turn red, so following the directions, I bunched up my hair and stuffed it into one of the hotel supplied shower caps.

“Holy hell, what is that smell!?” Craig shouted from the door.

“The sweet smell of hair dye,” Matt replied.

I stepped out of the bathroom, holding the empty box. “I know it's too late for me to wonder about this, but why did you choose this color?”

“I never pegged you for a blond, I think black would look too intense for you. So a red shade was the next best thing. The burgundy shades wouldn't change the brown a whole lot, so yeah...I've dyed my hair so much I just know what'll look good on people and stuff. And wow, I sound so gay.”

Craig laughed as he grabbed the box from me. “That's a hot color,” he said, winking at me. “Can we hurry and wash it out?”

I laughed. “Don't be so eager. I still have twenty minutes to wait.”

Craig disappeared into the bathroom to take a fast shower while I turned on the TV. “Once upon a time, Craig had a huge thing for red-heads,” Matt whispered, nudging me.

I raised an eyebrow at him. “Used to?”

“Yeah, used to. He then fell in love with you. Which is great. It's fucking awesome to see him finally content to be in a real relationship. The red hair is just going to make him more nuts over you.” Matt smirked. “You can thank me later.”

I wasn't really sure if I should've been offended by what he said. More or less the fact that he said Craig used to be attracted to red-heads, and then he met me. I didn't really know what to think about it, nor what to say in response to it. “Well...okay then.”

By the time Craig was out of the shower, it was time for me to wash out my hair. I started off running it under the shower, but it was making a huge mess all over the walls, so I resorted to kneeling down and rinsing my hair out with the tub's faucet. Once my hair was washed properly and I was showered, I stepped out, wrapping my hair in a towel while wrapping another around my body. I proceeded to blindly blow-dry and style my hair, still afraid to see the end result. Through my peripheral vision, I could see the crimson locks falling over my shoulders. I knew then that my hair turned into a pretty intense auburn. After dressing in my sleep-wear, I ran a brush through my hair to smooth it out, then put on my glasses as I turned away from the mirror and opened the door.

“Well?” I timidly asked the two men who were both laying across the bed.