CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

"Are you ready to go?" Noah asks as he takes my small bag filled with clothes and other essentials to his car. Opening the trunk, he rearranges some things to open more space. Stuffing a couple of water bottles and snacks that Aphrodite handed him into a small space, he finally closes it and looks at me, awaiting my answer.

Even though it's only a few seconds, it feels like an eternity as I process the question and answer slowly. I don't know if I'm ready to go. Until now, it felt like I was on a cloud, observing what was going on from up above. It doesn't seem real, that I'm actually going to be seeing my father who I thought was dead for fourteen years.

"Y-yeah. I think so." I stutter as I'm brought back to reality. I open the back seat and step inside while Didi says goodbye to her parents.The engine ignites as Noah inserts the key in and we remain in a comfortable silence.

"How did you convince your parents to get you go to a city two states away?" I finally ask Noah as the curiously gets the best of me.

"I'm nineteen, my parents don't really care what I do as long as I help pay rent." I'm confused for a second before I remember what he told me a few months ago. In fourth grade he got left behind so he's graduating a year later.

Didi steps into the passenger seat and opens her purse. Grabbing two white small pills, she plops them into her mouth, her thyroid gland moving as the pills move down her throat. Noah catches me staring at her, so he lightly pinches Didi in the arm. She immediately realizes what she's done and she gives me a guilty smile.

"I'm sorry. I should have taken my antihistamines before I got in the car."

"It's all right." I say, my throat suddenly dry. I take the bottle of water Noah gave me and take a large sip, trying to quench the dryness. Didi scrunches her eyebrows in concern before turning back to the front. I lean back in my seat and close my eyes, wishing that this car ride would be over soon. I hate getting motion sickness.

~*~

"I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Okay, okay, I'm stopping the car. Please don't throw up on the seats." Noah urgently replies before stopping the car at the side of a freeway. I step out slowly, thinking that I might be able to hold it in for once but the nausea overcomes me and I rush to the nearest bush. The sound of me Noah's footsteps could be heard by the crunching leaves and he awkwardly pulls up my hair with one hand. Why does he have to keep seeing me at my grossest moments?

"Why do all of my friends get motion sickness?" He says quietly under his breath. It's the only ounce of a complaint that I have heard from him and he didn't even say it in a menacing way. Feeling guilty, I cough one more time and stand up, wiping myself with the napkin I got.

"Sorry, this was the last time. I promise."

"Yeah, you said that last time. Either way, I think we're probably going to shop one more time before we get to the motel for the night. Just look at Aphrodite."

We both turn our heads to the passenger seat window. Aphrodite is looking straight ahead, completely still with her hand against her mouth. I guess those antihistamines are starting to wear off.

I sheepishly smile as Noah reaches into his back pocket and grabs a mint. Handing it to me, he explains.

"Look, you're awesome and one of my closest friends but I have to be honest with you; your breath fucking sucks."

I laugh before grabbing the mint and plopping it into my mouth. We get into the car and start to drive again. It only takes one hour to get to the motel that we're resting in for the night. We would have gotten there faster but we did have to make one more stop for Didi who couldn't hold it in any longer.

As we exit the car, Didi slams it especially hard saying, "Thank God. I couldn't have handled another four hours of driving."

She's right, we've been driving for eight hours and I barely made it out alive. Noah opens the drunks and grabs our lighter bags before we all head inside the motel. While he signs in at the receptionist, Didi gets a dollar out of her wallet and goes to the vending machine."

"Doritos or Lays?"

"Lays." I respond quickly. Lays are far superior to boring Doritos. She inserts the dollar into the machine and by accident two bags of Lays come out. We look at each other in wonder as we grab the bags and run away to avoid suspicion.

When Noah looks at our excited faces, he gives us a weird look but gives us our keys. 

"I'm in the room across from yours. Let's meet at eight, get breakfast when start driving again."

I nod and we start to head to our respective rooms.

The first thing I do as I enter the room is get my toothbrush out and brush my teeth, how I desperately wanted to do that for hours. Didi jumps on the bed that we share, we can't afford anything else, and makes herself comfortable.

"Aren't you going to get ready?" I ask after I spit my toothpaste out.

"Yeah, after you're done."

As I close the door to change into my pajamas, I hear her ask, "Are you excited for tomorrow?"

I don't respond until I'm done and open the door. "I don't know. I'm mostly nervous. What if he doesn't believe me? Or worse, what if he doesn't want me in his life anymore?"

Didi puckers her lips as she think about what she's going to say. It's a high possibility that it might happen, considering that I haven't seen him in fourteen years.

"I'm not like Noah," she starts, "I don't know what to say to ease your doubts but I'm certain that isn't going to happen. I saw the Facebook post that he wrote on his profile. He misses you. Sure, he might be sceptical at first, who wouldn't, but he's going to believe us. Everything is going to be all right."

I wasn't sure about the all right part but I choose to accept her words. I step onto the bed and wrap myself with the cheap cotton blanket. Didi gives me a side hug, a little too tight, before she releases me.

"I'm going to get ready, but remember what I said. A little optimism goes a long way."