The Road

The engine made a weird noise and we were soon on the road to wherever Jack was taking.

I eyed at him from the corner of my eyes. He was smiling up at the sight in front of him. First there came buildings and town, suburban streets and abandoned grey buildings, and finally the calm: green fields full of flowers and plants, farms, fences to keep the farmer's animals away from the road, and then just peaceful greenness.

I kept my gaze on him, trying to figure out his intentions or where were driving to, but he only smiled and locked his eyes on the distant, endless road. He looked proud of himself, probably for the fact that he had convinced me of leaving everything behind and decided to accompany him on this insane journey.

It came to my mind that he had wanted to leave for a long time, but just like me, he might have been too scared to do so on his own. Now that he had me by his side, it seemed that a weight had been lifted from him shoulders because we could rely on each other and he could finally do what he had been wanting to do for this extent period of time: leave -even if we were still just strangers to each other.

He turned to me all of the sudden and laughed as he caught me staring at him. I quickly turned to look through the window and he finally spoke up.

"Tell me five things that no one knows about you"

He said turning back to the road.I frowned at the odd question and started thinking about it. I realised that it's very complex to think about things you've never told anyone. You usually end up telling someone about everything you think of or do, so my mind was blank.

"One"

I said holding up my index finger.

"I'm afraid you're doing this just to rape me or murder me when we get wherever you're taking us" I confessed and he laughed.

"Two. I went out to celebrate my fifteenth birthday with some of my friends and we bought twenty five cans of beer. My dad called me at eleven at night and told me that my curfew was at twelve even though it was my birthday. We argued on the phone for a while but I eventually gave up. I hung up and drank six beers before going home and puking all over my living room. I left early the next morning so my parents were left to clean the mess up"

"I bet they had a lovely time cleaning up your guts"

"Three. I hate my face. I've always hated it and no one has ever said anything nice about my appearance"

Jack scoffed and looked at me through the corner of his eyes.

"Are you kidding me? Ya are hot" He laughed slightly.

"Whatever" I sighed. I couldn't think of other two facts about me.

"Come on, two more" He pushed, elbowing me.

"Right. Four: everyone thinks I'm this lanky kid who doesn't eat and doesn't do anything about it but I actually like to control my nutrition and I try to stay as healthy as possible"

"Interesting" He hummed."Very interesting"

"Sure is" I chuckled.

"And five: there's nothing that I love more than staying in bed writing when I'm inspired"

"That's impressive. I like your persona" He said nodding.

"But I still can't fry an egg"

-

"I think we'll have to crash somewhere some time soon. I need to fill the gas tank and buy some food. Want to go to a motel or sleep in the car?" He asked, our sleeping accommodation in my hands.

"Whatever's cheaper" I said and we agreed on sleeping in the car for the time being.

We stopped for gas and Jack bought snacks, he even got some healthy ones for me which was very considerate of him. I thanked him and we drove a little further until the darkness surrounded us and it got to the point where it was dangerous to keep driving.

We parked at the wide side of the road, had a small dinner and went to sleep on our seats. Jack got a blanket for us, and yes, it was big enough to cover both of us. We slept through the night and woke up when the sun was raising. Jack made instant coffee with water, which tasted like shit, and we kept driving.

"Where are we going?" I asked for the third time.

"My intention was to drive until this trashy car died" He confessed. That could happen any second now. We could keep driving for days or months before the car died. I started panicking because I didn't want to spend the rest of the month living in a smelly car.

"Where are we?" He asked, breaking my train of thoughts. I looked over at the billboard and saw the word Kansas.

"Kansas" I said.

"Woah, impressive. I didn't know we could get this far in a day" He said. We stopped for lunch at a 24/7 shop by the main road and filled the trunk with food.

"Can we stop and stay in one place already?" I insisted, getting sick of spending hour in the car doing nothing.

"Do you think we're far enough from home?"

He asked. I nodded vigorously and he drove off the highway.

We saw the same scene as we did when we left. Green lands started to turn into wasteland, farms started appearing on both sides of the road. Suburbs, buildings and more buildings. The last billboard we saw said Hunter, Oklahoma City and I sighed knowing that we were nowhere near our town.

We drove through the crowdy streets until we stopped at a central area. Jack asked for directions to go to the nearest hostel and we walked for a good fifteen minutes towards the one hostel in town. We split the bill for a seven day accommodation at the building and went to the room. We decided to share the bed after arguing over who would be sleeping on the floor. We were mature enough not to be nervous or embarrassed of sleeping in the same bed.

The main room was quite simple for the amount of money we paid: there was a desk with a lamp and a chair, two wardrobes with a lap on top, a big bed and a full-length mirror. Jack looked at me and smiled.

"You've gone days without writing. Why don't you charge your laptop and write?" He asked and flopped on the bed. I was so distracted doing nothing that I forgot to do what I was the most passionate about. I got my laptop and plugged it in. I wrote for hours until Jack told me he was going to sleep.

"Which side are you taking?" He asked me from the bed.

"I don't mind. You're the first one getting in bed so you choose" I said looking back at him from the desk. He got in bed and I took my laptop to bed with me. I sat down and Jack looked at the screen over my shoulder.

"What are you writing?" He asked.

"The story I told you about" I said and looked at him.

"What happens in it now?" He asked again.

"The guy ran away from his town with a stranger he met at a café and they're spending a week together. He doesn't know what's going to happen when that week is over" I confessed and he rubbed his face against my shoulder.

"What do you want it to happen?" He asked looking up at me with those huge chocolate eyes.

"I have no idea. I want to explore and see places, alone or together, but we need to know each other better"

"How about this: we'll get to know each other over this week, then you'll decide if you still want to accompany me on this journey" He suggested smiling.

"Sounds fair" I said closed the laptop. My eyelids felt heavy and I could feel myself dozing off.

"I'm going to sleep. Goodnight, Alex" He said yawning.

"Me too. Goodnight Jack" I said and placed the laptop on the floor.

We laid in the dark until it got too dark to see anything in the room. He was breathing quite heavily and I took the chance to thank him knowing that he was already asleep.

"Thank you" I said leaning over his side and planting a small kiss on his cheek. I realised he was smiling and I quickly went back to my side of the bed.

Shit.