Mile Marks

We’d switched roles later in the day, and I was driving. We’d been driving for seven hours and were now in Columbus, Ohio. It was about noon, and we parked in front of an ice cream shop. Alex had been bugging me that he was hungry, and I decided Leatherbee’s Creamery was as good a place as any to stop and get some food.

I parked the car, and we walked into the diner. There was a sign at the front that told us to seat ourselves, so we chose a table in the center of the room. The place was full of high school seniors that were having lunch away from the school cafeteria. Some of them glanced up from their food and friends to look at the new faces.

I suppose we stood out because we were still in our pajamas. We hadn’t bothered to change since we’d been driving all day.

“Hi, my name is Lucy, and I’ll be your waitress today. Can I get you something to drink while you look over the menu?” A girl, maybe a little older than I, came up and stood at the table with a big smile on her face. She was eyeing Alex. He looked up and smiled at her. I couldn’t help but notice that she was pretty, with brown hair and bright blue eyes.

I cleared my throat and spoke up, trying to get her attention. “Can I have a chocolate milkshake?” She barely acknowledged that I said anything, responding with only a short nod.

“I’ll have a strawberry milkshake,” Alex told her, still smiling. She told us—scratch that, she told him—that she’d be back in a minute with our shakes.

I looked down at the menu, going over the various foods. I had the option of burgers, sandwiches, chicken, and more. I decided on just getting a small order of fries. I was afraid we might run out of money.

“What are you getting?” I asked Alex. His attention was still on the waitress. She was over at a table across the room taking someone else’s orders. When he didn’t reply, I was saved the awkwardness of having to ask the question again by my phone. It started to play Blink 182’s All The Small Things.

I looked down at the screen to see “Mommy” was calling. Oh no. She was up, and she was probably furious that I’d left. I pressed the answer button, and hesitantly said, “Hey, mom, how are you?”

She wasted no time answering, and started to yell, “Roman Laurel James, what are you doing leaving in the middle of the night to go on a road trip? With a boy no less?”

Alex finally looked away from Lucy long enough to mouth, “Your mom?” I figured he could hear her shouts, nodded, and excused myself from the table to step outside and take the call.

“Do you know how worried we were when we saw your note? What were you thinking? That you could skip your senior year of high school to go travel around the country with a boy? I am so completely disappointed in you.”

“Mom, mom! I’m not skipping the entire senior year! I’m just taking a mental break from everything. You were the one that decided we had to keep every problem in our family a secret! I needed to get away from everything for a while! It’s hard you know,” I was almost yelling as loud as my mom. “It’s hard having a family that cares more about image than the actual people. You just sent Jess off to some clinic in Los Angeles, not bothering to tell anyone the truth!”

“So you’re going to see Jess?” She got quiet at the thought that I was driving across the country to see my sister, and possibly not finishing my education.

“I don’t know, mother. I might go see her. But I just needed to get away from you guys. It’s nauseating to be surrounded by you guys all the time. Look, mom. I have to go.” I hung up the phone, sighed, and walked back into the shop, sitting back down in my chair.

Alex looked like he was about to say something, but Lucy, the waitress, decided that was an appropriate time to bring the milkshakes and make idle conversation with Alex.

“So,” she started, still smiling as though she were taking a picture advertising a dental office. “Are you new in town? Because I can show you around sometime.” Woah, I thought, forward much?

Alex smiled and gave a small laugh, “No, we’re just passing through. We’re on our way to…” He trailed off, not knowing actually where we were going.

“Los Angeles,” I finished for him.

He looked at me. “Yes, Los Angeles. I’ve always wanted to see Hollywood.”