Get Your Kicks

Signs flew by as my eyes concentrated on the road ahead; speed limit fifty-five, rest stop ten miles ahead take exit twenty-four. The car was silent, which only made everything seem like a total bore fest. As I checked my speed I heard one of the boys say something about a game.

“What kind of game can we play in a car that barely has breathing room?” I asked, glancing over my shoulder to peek at Zayn.

“I was thinking twenty questions,” he replied easily. It took a lot to keep from rolling my eyes, but I managed. The last time I’d played that game was when I moved to Santa Fe. I hated it then and was sure it would still be horrible.

“Why not?” Darcy said just before the engine made a loud clank. Her eyes were wide as she leaned forward towards me. “What was that?”

“That my friend is what you get with a VW bus this old,” I told her as we continued down the road. It was the first time the bus had made such a loud noise, but as long as there wasn’t smoke I wasn’t stopping. It was likely not to start again if I did.

“Don’t you think we should check it out?” Liam asked from the back.

Waving him off, I just kept my attention on the road. I was sure it was nothing, just the noise of an old vehicle that had past its prime. As we passed by another mile marker, the group started playing their game. Looking over at Ellie, I wonder what she thought of the game going on, but she seemed to be in her own world. She had been quiet since we picked up the boys, but that was pretty typical; she wasn’t really big on strangers.

After an hour or so of driving, I pulled over into a rest stop. There was maybe two hours left of the trip and I needed to walk around. The group groaned about it, but all they got was my middle finger and ‘fuck you all’ for explanation.

Pulling a small pocket map out of the back pocket of my jean cut offs, I looked to see what was on the way. We still hadn’t hit the Grand Canyon yet and I was going to try like hell to get them to go. I’d never seen it and it was on my list. I hadn’t told any of the girls about my list, it was a secret that I wanted to keep to myself.

“Healey,” one of the girls called as I looked at the list. “Come on!”

Folding the thin, yellowed piece of paper, I slipped it back into my pocket before they could see. Turning, I found Brenna walking towards me with a smile on her lips. Clearly she was checking on me.

“Everyone’s ready to go,” she told me.

Sighing, I said, “Alright.”

As we walked back to the car, I bit my lip. I had to bring up the Grand Canyon idea, if I didn’t it would be too late. Taking a deep breath, I turned to Brenna.

“Did you know the Grand Canyon is only a thirty minute drive from here?”

“Oh, really,” she said as we reached the group.

“Yeah, do you think we could stop there?” I asked, but the group only heard the last question.

“Stop where?” Zayn asked, his brown eyes falling on me. I could feel my face heat up and I hoped he didn’t notice.

“The Grand Canyon,” I explained, tucking some hair behind my ear. Maybe the boys would want to go too.

After a short conversation, I had them all convinced and before we knew it we were at the Grand Canyon taking pictures and laughing. The girls insisted on a group picture, so we all stood in front of the rock wall, squeezing together so that we’d fit with the boys as an Asian man took our picture. We got a few, my favorite being the one where I’d screwed my face up so that my tongue stuck out and my eyes were slits. It was kind of hard to choose though seeing as the next one I liked I had licked Darcy’s cheek just as the photo was snapped so her face was just filled with disgust. The whole thing was just priceless.

After our impromptu photo session, I snuck away from the group to a small overhang; its lonely rock wall looking like it wanted company. Pulling out the list, I checked off the neatly written task that read, ‘visit the Grand Canyon’ in fancy cursive. A smile pulled at my lips, it was the third thing I’d gotten to check off and there were a few that I figured I could do in Vegas.

Footsteps crunched behind me, but I heard them too late and the next thing I knew a head of dark hair was peeking over my shoulder. His warm brown eyes fell on the paper as I started folding it to put back in my pocket.

“What’s that?” he asked, a smile on his lips.

“Nothing.”

“If it was nothing you wouldn’t have been so quick to put it away,” he stated, watching my every move like it’d give him the answer he was looking for. He was out of luck on that one. Why would I ever tell a boy I barely knew something that I hadn’t even told my closest friends?

“It’s nothing, just drop it,” I snapped, tucking the paper in my pocket I started walking away, but his hand caught me.

“Sorry,” he whispered. “I shouldn’t pry.”

Nodding, I let him walk with me back to the group who decided it was time to get back on the road. Once again, I was somehow behind the wheel, but this time Zayn had called shotgun and we chatted a bit. He wasn’t so bad, but I still wasn’t about to tell him anything. So, for the most part we were quiet while everyone else started talking about Vegas and what we would do first. I suppose that’s what you get when you add an excitable group of girls and a superstar boy band.