Motion Sickness

After a few hours of chilling at the beach, we decided to leave. Of course, Ryan offered for us to stay that night at his house. But thankfully, Ape was nice enough to turn it down for me.

"I really like him. He's so sweet, Taylor. What do you think of Clark?" Ape asked as I pulled into a cheap hotel parking lot.

"He's ok." I glanced down at the clock, it was about five. It was weird, thinking that earlier this morning I was arguing with my mom, two states away. Thats freaking awesome.

"Ok? Just ok?"

I looked over at her, with an expression that said Oh please..

"Sorry! Just wondering if there was any sort of 'connection' there," she said with a small laugh, getting out and grabbing one of her bags as I did the same.

"Oh yes. There was definitely a connection. I told him once that if he didnt shut up I was going to blender him."

"So where are we going tomorrow?" Ape asked as she sat down on my bed next to me. I was staring at a map with my hair pulled back. I was lying on my stomach, back in my pj pants and tank top. Ape had just gotten out of the shower and was back in her pj's too, and was gently towel drying her hair.

I stabbed my pencil to Pennsylvania. "Lets go to Philadelphia."

She glanced at its location, "It's right off of 95. Sounds good to me. It looks like its maybe... six hours or so?" she replied thoughtfully. "You wanna stop at some places in between right?"

"Oh yea," I said, glancing at a few of the major cities between here and there. "Yea definitely. I just don't want to get another hotel until we're there, you know? We don't have to, its just a goal."

"Yea yea," she replied, plopping down on her bed. Then she smiled, "So, did you get Clarks number?"

I rolled my eyes, "No, Ape. But he attempted to get mine. I nicely told him no though. I told him about what I wanted in a place? You know, like, what kind of place I wanted to live in? He suggested New Jersey."

She looked at me questioningly, "Really?"

"Yea. He said he had some friends that lived there. Modi or something," I replied, looking back down at the map and chewing on my pencil a little.

She laughed, "It's Lodi, genius." Then she laid down on her back, staring up at the ceiling. "Huh. I've never been to Philadelphia..that sounds awesome.. I have been to DC though. It's not that exciting. I don't wanna stop there. Maybe Baltimore though. Baltimore was fun..."

"I hate you," I said with a smile. Here she was, rambling off all these places shes been to, when I just left my home state for the first time almost twelve hours ago.

She laughed again. "Yea yea. But hey, who would you rather be with?"

She got me there. "Yea. You're pretty much the greatest person in the world," I said with a laugh. Throwing the map on the ground.

"Yup. And trust me T, theres no one else I'd rather be driving to England with," she added, turning onto her side so she could see me. "You know, theres something I didn't like about Ryan.."

"Oh yea?" This ought to be interesting.

"Yea," she replied. Furrowing her eyebrows in thought, her long dark hair barely grazing her pillow. "He seemed too..out there. Like, if I've got the option of all the guys on the east coast? I want a guy thats fun, but a little shy, like me."

I smirked, "Yea, they don't exactly come off as the shy type when they sit there asses down in our booth randomly."

She laughed again, "Yea. Iduno." She leaned up and turned off the light. "I wouldn't mind if he never called."

My alarm went off at 6:30, and as soon as I shut it off, my stomach growled angrily, seeing as we hadn't eaten dinner last night.

I groaned and got up and took a shower. After changing into a pair of jeans, another tank top, and a thin hoodie that said 'Total Beatdown' that had a skeleton beating the shit out of some dude (amazing right? My favourite hoodie), I dried my hair. It was the same old, shoulder length, fake black hair, with a couple short bangs falling in my eyes. I have a low self esteem. Whatever.

It was about seven fifteen when we finally left. We stopped at a convenient store and got some gas. Ape came back out with two huge cups of coffee and a giganto bag of cheddar Munchies.

"Oh jesus I love you," I said, quickly grabbing the coffee from her hand and blowing on it so that it was safe to drink.

Then we were off. I had convinced Ape to drive, since I drove to Virginia Beach first. I was pretty tired. Driving does that to me. Kind of like jetlag, except in a car, you know?

So of course, I did what Ape did when we first started off. I stuck my feet up on the dash, and fell asleep.

"Taylor my love! Taaayyllor!" Ape sang. I opened my eyes. The sun was up, making me squint. Fucking sun. How dare it.

I groaned in annoyance, "Where are we?"

"Baltimore of course! You slept through DC," she answered, bobbing her head up and down to Blink 182.

I leaned my head up to look at the time. It was about twelvish. And the Munchies hadn't held over that well. "Lets eat something."

Then she gasped, "Have a Nice Day Cafe!"

All of sudden, she spun the wheel and we were parked in front of some huge building. I leaned up and sure enough there was a mere door with smiley face sign hanging over it. "Agh. Cafes haven't made the greatest impression on me since the last one."

"Oh calm down. Just because some guys wanted to talk to us at the last one doesnt mean everybodys like that."

"They were so..confident. Even after I told him to leave he just sat there. What a dumbass," I mumbled.

She just smiled. "He liked you."

"Fuck that," I muttered to myself, finally deciding to lean up, seeing as she was getting out.

When we got inside, we sat ourselves at a bar along the window so we could people-watch as they walked by on the sidewalk.

"Somebody got paid yesterday," she said, gesturing toward the lady walking down the sidewalk with six or eight shopping bags.

I smiled. "That or she has too many credit cards."

She just shrugged, "I'd take either."

"Can I get you ladies something to drink?" the waitress put all her weight on one foot and popped her gum in annoyance.

We ordered our food and I just gazed out at the people walking by. Everyone seemed so..wealthy. So...perfect. "I don't like this place."

"You don't?"

I shook my head. "Not at all. How about we eat and just hurry up and get to Philadelphia. I'll drive."

She stared at me in disbelief. We had just gotten here, and I didn't like it.

"Sorry, I just..it doesnt feel right. I don't feel like I fit in. And if I'm scoping out the entire east coast, I want a place that makes me feel like home as soon as I get there."

After a second, she just shrugged. "It's ok. We're looking for a place for you to live. If you don't like it, then on to the next city!"

I gave her a smile, and she smiled back, "Thanks."

We got our food and ate, and jokingly criticized more people walking by, and then we finally left. We had used the rest of our cash at the cafe, so I made a mental note to find an ATM before too long.

I hope Philadelphia has more to offer than Baltimore. I know its judgmental of me, but I just didn't like the vibe. You know?

Ape fell asleep fast. She must get car-lag too. I focused on ever detail of everything that passed by. Searching for something that seemed homey.

After two hours, we got to a tiny little town right outside Philadelphia and my gas light came on. "Shit," I muttered under my breath, since Ape was still asleep.

I drove around until I finally found what must've been the only gas station in the whole freaking town. There were two other cars there. One was an old beat up black one, and the other was a white van that looked like it'd been spray painted all over. Wow, what if I get shot?

After filling the car up with gas I went inside and grabbed some skittles and went to pay, just as some other guy walked in.

The cashier was an old, braless women, with frizzy brown hair pulled back in a nasty bun. "Thirty-two fifty, hun," she said in a husky voice. Not only was she braless, but also toothless...

I pulled out my debit card and handed it to her, but she didnt take it, "Sorry. We don't take credit cards. Cash only."

I looked at her like she was stupid.

"It's not a credit card. It's a debit card."

She rolled her eyes, and said very clearly, "Cash..only."

I sighed, "Do you have an ATM?"

"If we had an ATM, we would prolly have a lil machine for cards too now wouldnt we?" she replied in an annoyed tone.

"Well, I don't have cash..."

Her eyebrows shot up, "Well then I'd suggest you get to callin' somebody."

"I'm from South Carolina," I replied, matching her bitchy tone.

"Here," some guy said, handing her two twentys. "I got this. Just don't tell my mates," he replied with a smile.

Wow. I'm not gonna lie, this guy made Clark look like shit.

He had dark hair, which was kind of short, but was partly behind his ear, you know? Like there was one long strand and whatnot. And he had on a pair of aviator glasses, and a dark jacket, which was odd, since it was summer and all. I noticed that he had a lip ring on the left side of his mouth, and he was just an inch or two taller than me. He had a cute nose though, and a pleasant smile.

But mainly? I was grateful that he had paid for my gas. I swear if that lady spoke another word to me, I was tempted to just drive off without paying. "Thanks. Uh, if I find an ATM around here anywhere I'll pay you back, I swear."

He just waved it off, "Seriously, as long as you dont mention it to my bandmates? Don't worry about it."

I nodded, then I caught something, "You're in a band?"

"Yea," he replied as he paid for his stuff and we started walking out, "We're actually from New Jersey, we're just touring in Philadelphia for our first album."

"Awesome, what'd do you play? Like, whats the band called?" I asked, happily. I love music, and he seemed like he had the same style as me, so maybe he has the same music taste as me.

He gave me another smile, and replied proudly, "I'm the rhythm guitarist for our band, My Chemical Romance."