Santiago Guzman:

"HEY! KID!" I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sudden noise. I opened my eyes, taking note of the boy currently laying across my lap. He looks so soft.

"HEY!" Sitting up I was startled to find an older man banging on the window. Apparently Steph's curiosity took over as she leaned over to roll down the window in order to hear him.

"Holy fuck, are you stupid?" Before I could register what happened, Minhyuk had shoved his way to the front seat, slapping her hand away.

"I just wanted to hear what he had to say!"

"He's probably homeless. Plus we have bigger concerns right now." I reach up to pull the boy back. It's too early in the day to deal with their arguing. Also I'm hungry.

"Here." I rummaged through the bag, pulling out some granola bars.

"These expired already!" I rolled my eyes at Steph's response.

"It's food, and unless you have some secret stash of money, suck it up." The two of them were back at it. It feels like he's more like her brother than I am. "Also move over, I'm driving." Steph and Minhyuk awkwardly switched spots, ignoring the man's incessant yelling.

"I'm calling the police!"

"Fuck." Without so much as a glance backwards, Minhyuk put the car in gear, speeding off. "Anyone know where we're even going?"

"Nope. Heck at this point I don't even know what state we're in." I imagined what the three of us would look like to an outsider. Three teens, covered in filth, one with a bandaged face, another with hair that might as well have been dyed by a three-year-old, all without money or identification. No one is going to believe us. The road before us was empty, and I could only hope we were going in the right direction, at least slightly. A familiar sign caught my eye. Well it was mostly the juicy burger being advertised.

"Get on the upcoming highway."

"What?"

"Trust me." If there was anything I was good at, it would be recognizing the brightly colored advertisements. After all, that's really all I looked at on the road trips. I remember a particularly amusing sign I saw on the way to camp with at least two spelling errors and a misshapen bunny.

I'm fricking tired of this trip.

We were only a few hours in and I was already bored as hell. Staring out the window I tried to ignore the red-head glaring at me. It was her fault anyways for being so thin skinned and stabbing me with a pencil. A particular sign caught my eye, causing me to chuckle. "McLander famly farm. Come vsit us! Next exit." A white bunny was offering a thumbs up, or at least it was supposed to resemble one. It looked more like it was flipping us off. I felt Stephanie stiffen beside me and I glanced at her expression in the window's reflection. Her face was nearly as red as her hair. Whatever, it's not my problem.

It's hard to believe how far we had come from then.

"Kay." Steph had rolled down the window, letting in some fresh air. Her hair waved in the wind and I almost wanted to switch spots with her. Instead, I was stuck in the back, peering out of the poorly tinted windows. If only this was just a fun road trip.

I leaned forward, turning on the radio, switching to the first non-country station I could find. Eventually, we were all singing along, as if it was a normal day. I couldn't help but smile as Steph sung offkey and Minhyuk popped in during the chorus. This is actually pretty fun. Watching the dark haired bou, I took in his expression in the mirror. His eyebrow was furrowed as he squinted, but somehow that only made him look prettier. Dark hair as styled as ever fell across his face, occasionally blowing around in the wind.

"Shit we're low on gas." Shoot. It wasn't like we could just waltz up to a gas station without money. Based on the signs, we were still a good three or four hours away from home.

"We can just call my dad." Steph piped up.

"Trigg literally said they had their memories altered. They aren't going to know who you are." My heart sank when Minhyuk mentioned the woman. I hope she made it out. Deep down, I knew how unlikely that was, but I wasn't going to admit it until I was certain.

"But-"

"He's right. They'll think you're crazy. I don't know if there's anyone I could call either."

"We're near Wake Springs, right?"

"Yeah? An hour or so away maybe?"

"How do you know?" Steph had turned around to look at me, confused.

"There was literally just a sign advertising it."

"Fuuuuck." Minhyuk took the nearest exit. "It's up to me I guess." He pulled into a gas station, and we left the truck in Steph's hands before walking inside.

"Excuse me." Minhyuk got the cashier's attention and I could see her eyes widen at the sight of him. Whether it was from his looks or the bandage across half his face, I couldn't tell.

"What can I help you with?" She was at most a year or two older than us, flaunting her amazingly long eyelashes before biting her bottom lip.

"I was wondering if we could make a phone call?" Minhyuk rested his arm on the counter, making eye contact with the woman.

"Of course!" She was clearly flustered, "What's the number?" I watched her punch the number in before handing the receiver over.

"Hey Nick, it's me. Uh huh. Yup. No, I'm still fucking pissed." Who's Nick? "Well if you really wanted to make it up to me-" I did not like the tone of Minhyuk's voice. It was almost like he was flirting as it dropped in pitch. The cashier was not so subtly listening in, practically all out staring at us, batting her eyelashes. "Really? Alright," he paused, asking the cashier for our exact location and relaying the information. After a little more small talk and a chuckle or two, he hung up, handing the phone back over.

"And now we wait."

"Who was that?"

"No one important." He looked at me, eyebrow raised, "Why? Are you jealous?"

"That's not-" I could feel the heat rising to my face.

"It's fine. He's the reason I ended up at camp, nothing huge." Nothing huge? What qualifies as huge then?

We walked back out to the truck where Steph had propped the door open shoes abandoned on the ground. So much for safety. Minhyuk climbed into the back, shaking off his jacket. He shoved his hand into his pocket before pulling out a brand new pack of gum.

"Where did you-"

"Where do you think?" Great. I fell in love with a thief.

"So how long until this Nick character gets here?"

"With his driving? Probably thirty minutes or so."

"Didn't you say-"

"His family's loaded, he's got a house somewhere nearby that he stays at over the summer."

"Oh." We sat in silence for a moment.

"Also don't take anything he says to heart. He's a jackass."

"Oh." I wasn't sure what Minhyuk meant, but I wasn't going to question it. He patted the spot next to him.

"Come on, it'll be a bit." I climbed in next to him. He rested his head on my shoulder, though with the bandage, I couldn't tell whether or not he was sleeping. At some point, Steph had turned up the radio and I distracted myself by reading the advertisements pasted all over the storefront.

"Hey babe!" I looked at the voice to find a tall man exiting a rather fancy car. He had broad shoulders and sandy hair. Sunglasses adorned his face as he slammed the door behind him. Babe? He has a boyfriend? The man practically exuded confidence as he strolled over. Is that Minhyuk's type? I suddenly felt very self conscious of my dulled skin and disheveled hair.

"Ugh, he's here." Minhyuk groaned before sitting up and turning around.

"Yikes, what happened to you?" The man, Nick, got a little too close to Minhyuk, lifting up his chin. He examined Minhyuk's face, though I couldn't determine his expression with his eyes hidden. "I mean you're still cute but-"

"I almost fucking died because of you." Minhyuk shrugged him away before throwing his arm over my shoulder. Only then did Nick actually look at me. His eyes travelled up and down before he sneered.

"This is who you're hanging out with now? A fucking-"

"Hey! What's going on?" Steph had exited the car, still barefoot. She had untied her hair and tied her flannel around her waist.

"Damn I take that back." The blonde practically whistled, persuading me to step in front of her. This guy's disgusting.

"Just shut up and let us in the car."

"Okay babe." He winked and I felt something in the back of my throat.

"Don't call me that." We piled into the car, and I ignored how Minhyuk automatically chose the passenger seat. What even is their relationship?