As you can tell I love me some Lana Del Ray.

Krystal's POV

It's hard to pack for something you know nothing about.

It was only one night so I wanted to pack light but I also wanted to be prepared. So I decided on one outfit for cold weather and one outfit for sunny weather. I would also have the outdid I'd be wearing that day.

I made sure I had a toothbrush, toothpaste, and other necessities. Thankfully I was able to squeeze everything into one backpack.

Just as promised Reese was there at two. He pulled up in an unfamiliar truck.

"How many cars do you have?" I asked getting in.

"This is Marcus's and I's road trip truck."

"You bought a truck specifically for road trips?" I raise a brow.

"Everyone knows it's not a road trip if you're not in a beat up truck," he pulls away. "But don't worry she runs perfectly."

"At least it has an aux cord," I plugged in my music.

"Woah woah woah," he said. "Who said you get to pick the music?"

I stick my tongue out at him. "I did," I put on my Lana Del Ray playlist. The first song is Million Dollar Man.

Reese groans. "This sounds so depressing."

"That's her style," I defend my Queen. "And don't you dare insult Lana."

He holds up a hand. "I apologize."

Reese drives us out of town and I start to wonder just where we're going.

"So you know the movie Paper Towns right?" He questions me a while later. We're driving past some mountains on a long stretch of road. The wind whips through my hair.

"You watched Paper Towns?" I snort.

"Okay first of all it Marcus chose it, not me," he says defensively. "And honestly the movie was complete garbage. The ending was total bullshït."

"Can't argue with you on that one."

"Anyway that's not the point. Remember the scene they were driving to New York?"

"Don't tell me, we're going to New York?"

He gives me a quick look before returning his eyes to the road. "Funny. But no. I'm talking about the convenience store scene."

"That was probably my favorite scene," I laugh remembering it.

"Good," he nods.

Um what?

A little while later we finally stop at, wait for it, a convenience store.

"Finally!" I stretch. "I'm hungry."

He pulls out his phone.

"We have a minute to get what we want and continue our trip."

"A minute! But-"

"Go, go, go!"

Laughing I tumble out of the car and run inside. I look around wildly. What do I even want?

"Forty seconds!" Reese yells. He's by the drink section grabbing Arizonas.

I dash over to the chip section and grab a bag of Hot Fries and Doritos cool ranch. Then I zoom over to where the candy is and grab a Crunch bar, Twix, and pack of Trolli gummy worms. I frantically try to think of anything else I want? Maybe some powdered donuts?

"Twenty seconds!"

I dump my stuff at the cash register and hold up my hand. "Give me a minute," I say to the cashier. Then I grab those powdered donuts. I'm forgetting something.....drinks!

"Ten seconds!"

My hands close around the first drink I see which is a big bottle of Brisk. Then I sprint over to the cashier.

"Here," I slap a hundred in his hand. "Keep the change," then I shove all my stuff into a bag I grabbed and run out to the truck breathless. Reese is just getting in.

I grin at him. "Well that was fun."

He grins back. "Our next stop isn't that far."

"I thought we were going where the wind takes us."

"Oh we are," he pulls back out onto the road. "This is where the wind is taking us."

*****

We drive up the mountain side to a lake. The water seems to be an impossible shade of blue, the skies are clear, the sun shines bright, and the trees provide nice shade.

"This is amazing," I get out of the truck.

"Hope you packed a swim suit because we'll be doing my favorite activity, swimming."

Thank God I wore one under my outfit. I hadn't thought we'd be going swimming but wore it because I thought it made my outfit look cuter.

He jumped in and I stood by the waters edge. Reese popped back up.

Gracefully I dove in. The water felt great. When I came back up Reese was shaking his head. 

"Show off."

I only smiled and went back under. I never imagined the water would be so clear without goggles. I turned and saw Reese waving at me. He blew out bubbles. I waved back laughing.

I came back up for air and pushed back my hair.

"So how often do you and Marcus do this?" I asked treading water.

"Whenever we need to get away," he replies. "We don't always come here but we found it on a trip once. It has a great view of the sky at night."

"Are we spending the night here?"

"Yep. Ever slept under the stars?"

"No."

"It's amazing," he explains. "I've really never experienced anything like it."

"Then I can't wait," I smile and he goes back under.

I lower myself back below and swim over to him. He cups my face and kisses me.

After a while we get out of the water and sit on the ground. He puts his shirt over me.

We eat our snacks and talk about the most random things like why cats land on their feet and dogs don't, do bees know they're going to die when they sting someone, and how a person whose birthday is on a leap year ages. Do they ever get older as a year passes even though the day of their birthday never comes? Or do they stay the same age until it's their next birthday?

The sun starts to set painting the sky in beautiful hues of red, orange, pink, and purple

"Will you tell me something?" I whisper.

"Mhm?"

"How was your brother um- how was he killed?"

I feel him noticeably tense up next to me and immediately regret my question.

"I'm sorry, you don't have to answer that," I rush out.

It's quiet I and pull my knees up to my chest and rest my chin on my knees. It feels nice being enveloped in Reese's shirt like this. It smells like him. A lingering trace of axe and something else, his own personal scent.

"It was cold," Reese suddenly says and I turn to look at him. "So cold especially since I was on concrete floor. There was this constant dripping sound, like something was leaking."

I don't move a muscle or dare breathe as he talks.

"My brother was a honor student. Good grades, star baseball player, and overall popular guy. He got into Chico State. Said he wanted to go because it was a party school," he chuckles but the sound is sad and empty.

"But he got involved in some bad stuff. Made a few regrettable decisions. And so...." he pauses. "First they beat him. God they beat him up so badly I thought he would be dead after that. But he wasn't. And I had this tiny sliver of hope that the worst was over. So he had a few broken bones. Broken bones could heal."

I feel my eyes tearing up and blink. One slips down my cheek.

"But you know what can't heal? A gun to your head."

My heart hurts so bad for him. To watch his brother killed right in front of his eyes and not be able to save him. I can't imagine living with that guilt.

"Somehow they made it look like a car accident. Fückers were smart."

"Reese I-" my voice cracked. "I'm so sorry."

He shrugs. "Not your fault. Just life I guess." He stands up and brushes dust off his pants. Then he holds out his hand to help me up and pulls me in for a hug.

I wondered who needed it more, him or me.

Reese's POV

After Marcus and I discovered this place I got really interested in astronomy and the stars.

Yes I have my nerdy side too.

I studied up constellations. Good thing too because Krystal had no idea what she was looking up at.

"See those three stars connected? That's Orion's Belt. It's a pretty common constellation."

She squints up at the sky. "I think I see it."

We were laying side by side on multiple blankets in the bed of the truck, staring up at the sky. It was a warm night and there were owls hooting in the distance.

"And over there is Ursa Minor and Ursa Major," I point in their directions.

"It's so pretty," she says quietly.

"Yeah," I agree. There's something relaxing about staring up into infinity. Like if you stare long enough it can suck you into forever.

"Thanks," Krystal breaks the silence. "For taking me on this trip. When I imagined my summer I never thought it would be like this."

"What did you think it would be like?"

She rolls over to lay on her side and I do the same. "I'm not sure. But I know I wouldn't change anything that's happened."

She entwines her fingers with mine and we just stare at each other. There's so much more to Krystal than I originally thought. She just hides herself really well.

I guess we're alike in that aspect.

*****

The next morning we packed up and drove out to a nearby beach. I always enjoyed the beach in the mornings. It was usually quiet and peaceful.

Good for thinking.

"Look seagulls!" Krystal points out excitedly. I laugh.

"Have you never seen seagulls before?"

"Let's chase them!" Krystal runs off.

She whoops and waves her hands wildly while running. Her hair is blowing in the wind and there's this look of pure happiness on her face, like she could take off and fly because there's nothing weighing her down.

I aspire to become that happy. 

"Run faster Reese!" She calls out.

So we sprint after the birds who keep flying away from us, so it's basically equivalent to running down a never ending hallway but it's still fun.

I end up running ahead of her and stop waiting for her to catch up. She changes direction and starts running straight towards me. I have a feeling I know what she's going to do so I'm prepared when she literally throws her arms around my neck in a hug. I catch her and spin us around until we're both dizzy.

"I think you're starting to gain a little weight," I say teasingly setting her down. She gasps and punches me in the arm.

"Rude."

I chuckle. "You hungry?"

"Starved."

We drive down to a small diner. It's the type of diner that you know has good food because its family owned.

We sit down in one of the worn red, leather booths and a waitress comes over to us.

"Good morning and welcome to Daisy's diner! Would you like some coffee?"

"Yes please," I nod.

"Alright then I'll be right back with your drinks and to take your order," she leaves us with menus while going to fetch our coffee.

"I think I'll have breakfast combo number one,"'Krystal muses staring down at the menu. "It comes with waffles, eggs, bacon, and sausage."

I order the stack of pancakes with bacon and egg. As I already predicted the food is delicious. We're the only two people in the diner besides an old man nursing a cup of coffee and reading the newspaper.

"Where to next?" Krystal asks when we finally leave.

"Anywhere."

And for the next few hours we drive around carefree with Krystal in the back and her Lana Del Ray music blasting.

I can honestly say it's the happiest I've been since everything went down. She makes me happy.

And I don't know why.

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