Counting the Miles

Isabella

-> “Arizona, the Grand Canyon State Welcomes you,” I yelled, as I started getting giddy in my seat. Ace looked at me from the passenger seat and laughed.
“You’re like a small child,” I scoffed and looked at him.
“Take that back!” He smiled and shook his head.
“Nah, I’m good.”
“Sorry that I am excited about crossing the state border. I’ve never done this in a car.”
“We went to Washington last year for the week in January,” Ace said looking at me.
“You know what I mean. That road trip was hell, this one isn’t so bad.”

“Yes mom, we are stopping for gas right now, we are just outside of Glendale, we took the 10 all the way here.” I stopped talking and smiled at my mother’s rants about our safety and shook my head. “Yes, we had lunch about an hour ago.”
My mom kept talking for a few minutes, something she was famous for doing.
“I know mom, we are being very careful drivers.” I smiled and laughed at something and looked over at Ace. “Alright mom, I love you too. Bye.”
“Do I want to know?” I shook my head at him and laughed about what my mom had just told me.
“I know he’s cute, so watch yourself around Jacob too. He could be a little heartbreaker.”
“She’s just being her humorous self, ya know.”

“Ace,” I whined. My legs were so stiff and my back hurt. He had his seat reclined and had his pillow under his head. His eyelids shielded his dark eyes. I looked down at him and smiled.
His dark hair was fallen across his forehead. My fingers ached to reach across and push the soft hair away; I squeezed the steering wheel tighter until my knuckles were white.
“Ace,” I said a little louder.
He opened his eyes and smiled a sleepy smile.
“Hey, what’s up?” He pushed his seat up and rubbed his face. Grabbing his Ray Bans he slid them onto his face. “You need a break?”
I stuck my lip out and nodded.
“Alright, there’s a rest stop in two miles. Can you make it that far?”
“Yes,” I said smiling in anticipation of moving out of the vehicle.

“Sweet God,” I yelled as I jumped out of the vehicle. I walked in circles, feeling my legs stretch themselves. Ace walked around the car and laughed.
“You’re so strange,” he took the keys from me and started walking towards the welcome center.

After using the restrooms, grabbing snacks, and walking for a half an hour we got back into the car. The weather outside was sunny and hot.
“We have to be close to Tucson by now, which means we are kind of almost to New Mexico.”
“Kind of almost to?” She shook her head and looked at the time. “It’s six now, what time should we stop?” I shrugged and she sighed.
“We shouldn’t have been allowed to do this alone, we are both the most incisive people ever.”
“I know,” he said and looked at the GPS. “Want to drive until 9?”
“Sounds good.”

“What’s your favorite color?” I asked as I flipped through my phone’s photos.
“Why?” I looked at him and waited for the answer. “Green.”
“What’s your favorite animal?”
He laughed and shook his head. “Um, how about a tiger?”
“You don’t know?”
“I mean, sure they're cool.”
“Favorite place in the world?”
“That’s tough,” he sat for a moment, as the sky was getting darker over the desert roads. “The lake house.” He finally said.
“Why?”
“It’s our second home,” he said immediately. Ace’s parents split when he was eight, that’s when he started spending summer’s with us. Before we bought our house in New Jersey, we had a lake house in Washington. We used to spend summers there, winter breaks there, and spring vacations.
It had a tire swing that released you to the lake, we had a small boat that would take us across to the small island with the restaurant, and it was always a perfect get-away.
“I miss those days.” He said looking at me.
His eyes shone through the darkening of the car. I nodded and felt myself drawn to him.
“Me too. Everything seemed so much simpler back then. Nothing to stress or worry about.”
“I know, being a grown up is not fun some days.” He looked at me and smiled. “And some days it has its perks.”