Post by Lady Tatsh on Jun 26, 2009 2:36:02 GMT -6
Don't have a title, don't really have a focus... loosely based on reality rambles, but I thought I could share.
It was good times, I would always say. Remembering back when our journey first started, you and I.
Even though I was younger, I was the one driving. I don't recall if you ever got your license, even though you were well past the legal age to do so without a hitch. You just sat there, my copilot, as we drove the expanse of empty highway.
The heat in the car was unbearable without the windows down. As much as I loved that old Buick for it's faithfulnes, the A/C had cacked about ten years back. Didn't bother anyone much. In Missouri, it's the cold that'll kill ya. At least the old vents would circulate air, just not cool it. It helped a bit in these situations.
Kansas in July... What a dismal place. As if the land couldn't look more dried up and sad, a super-drought-heat-wave-combo had pretty much killed any plant-life that had ever grew in the prairie. I kept thinking to myself that the a misthrown cigarette could be tossed into the brush and the entire midwest would be engulfed within the hour.
Perhaps that was just my imagination.
You played the PSP in the passenger seat, drifting in and out of conciousness between cut scenes. I'd have to call your name to wake you long enough to save the game and recline the seat. The setup reminded me of some song a punk band would sing. Two teenagers leaving home on a whim in an old car. One asleep, one driving, no destination. Except we had a destination: Far away.
"Are we there yet?" You asked sleepily. I can recall clearly how young you sounded when first waking up. Hell, you sounded young period. I would tease you about it a lot, point out if it weren't for your five-o'clock shadow and your shaggy haircut that you'd look like a fourteen-year-old. I didnt' have much room to talk. Afterall, I didn't look a day over sixteen at the time. Not sure if that applies though. Life ages you quickly. Real life, anyway. "Another hour, maybe. We'll get off the toll road soon." I said, getting tired myself. Our first check-point was in a town called Salina, somewhere in Kansas. A friend was letting us crash for the weekend, plan our next route. One can't go completely without a destination, right?
You settled back into your seat, turning the PSP off for the fifth time that day and curling up to sleep. It was painful to see the still yellowing bruise on your cheek, marring your angled face. I tried not to think on it too hard, lest I'd break down at the wheel.
Pulling off the toll road to pay the fee, I fumbled with the semi-broken casette player and my MP3 hookup. I had an FM-Tuner once, but it was taken from my vehicle a few weeks prior to the trip. It irked me to be back in the ****ty casette coverter, but desperate times call for desperate measures, or in this case, ones that liked to stop randomly.
Something quirky started playing, but I kept the volume low for your sake. You looked like you needed the rest after the whole ordeal. I, however, didn't allow myself enough time to think back on my decision. Grandma, have you noticed I'm gone yet? Did you find the note on the parlor table? Have you told mom? "Do your parents know yet?" I asked quietly, even though I knew the answer already. "No, and I don't think they'll care. One less *** in Indiana." He winced at his own words, and I knew why. It's hard growing up in a place where loving someone can get you outcasted from general society. We both knew the pains because we both were something that got us outcasted. He, however, seemed to get more of a rough time. Perhaps it was the stereotype that gays couldn't fight back, but ****s would kick your ass. Never tested that theory, but it's on the to-do list. That, and finding us a place to call home.
"You didn't tell anyone either, did you?"
I shook my head, "'Course not. Do you think my mom would let me near the front door if she knew I was leaving?"
"She'd probably use you as a doorstopper again."
"Don't joke." I glared at him, "That really hurt me that time."
"I know, sis. Relax."
Sis, I liked it when he called me that. He was my big brother, and I was his little sister. We weren't related in any way, but we were close enough to be that way without blood ties. I never had a brother until I met him, anyway, and he had been more family to me than any of my sisters. I had taken to calling him Nii in the last years. Call it a weeaboo tendency, but it was easier than saying 'bro' to me. So he became Nii, and I became Sis. "Sorry, you know how I get when I talk about those times." I reached over and pat his shaggy hair. It was selfish to be so touchy about my living situation given Nii's, but I also felt entitled for the time being. "Don't worry, we're free now. We're gonna find our own place in the world, you and me."
A small smile crossed his pink lips, "Yeah, I know."
Nii pulled his chair into the upright position and stretched, "You think Maria will be happy to see us?"
"Why not? We dated once."
"Didn't you break up kinda suddenly?"
I shrugged, "We grew apart, what can I say? She's dating some guy in the army now."
Nii shivered suddenly, "You guys did things." The way he said this made me laugh, "Please, like you didn't snog Dillan while we were 'doing things'."
"No comment."
"That's what I thought."
I took an exit from the highway and headed into a rural town, one where you could pick out the gas stations from a mile away. Another perk of the flatlands, I guess. Digging into my jeans pocket, I pulled out my cell phone. "Call Maria and tell her we're nearly there, okay?" Nii fumbled with the small keypad and found the number, calling the hopefully not too sore Ex of mine. From the tinny voice I heard a few feet away she didn't sound too upset. I like to think we ended on good terms. We hadn't dated that long, and it was mostly just sex really... I lost interest, she moved on. It's how it goes, I guess. Nii hung up the phone and set it back on the console, "She says she's got the pull-out bed ready for us."
"Us being you and Dillan?"
"S-shut up!" He blushed and buried his face in his jacket. I always thought it was cute how you would hide away in embarrassment. You were like an uke in some yaoi manga I'd pick up because I liked the art, all red-faced and awkward. Then again, that was your appeal, wasn't it? The innocense.
tbc?
