Road Trip

Scroll down and read Dread first, if you haven't already. I broke this one into chapters.

She pulled up and honked. I was busy slamming tequila shots, and lamenting to Cao and Xan, on what a suckass night this was turning into, and trying to figure out a way to make some fun for myself. I took my sweet ass time getting out there too, I lingered over a book selection, had to find my missing hairbrush, count the cash that was in my pocket, double checking all the stuff in my bakcpack, etc.

When I got outside, I noticed that she wasn't in the Durango, she brought her uncle's car, the Merc. Clean, nice, huuuuge backseat, etc. That was the first plus. The second thing was, no kids! Just DJ, her 14 year old nephew, whom I like. He's a good kid, funny, sharp sense of humor, pretty quiet. If I could tune her out, this looked like it would be a decent road trip. I like going for car rides, in general. With the right people, it's a cool way to spend time together, see some sites, etc.

The first 40 minutes, she ranted about having to go out at rush hour, on a Tuesday night, and that she was gonna miss her shows, and it was gonna rain, and how much DJ's dad is a bastard for making her take this trip, blah blah blah. DJ was just like "hey, whaddya gonna do" .

I busied myself making phone calls, ignoring her, reading, joking with DJ, and demanding that we stop for some coffee and food. Since she was on the phone for most of that time, the music was blessedly off. She talks on the phone so much, it's awful. Bitching to her sister, bitching to her husband, bitching to Don, her sister's husband, bitching to her aunt and uncle, that were taking care of the kids, bitching at her kids, bitching to her other friends, etc etc etc. Once she dried up all her avenues of phone calling and bitching at, she quieted down, and the music went up. Bill alternately snoozed, commiserated with her bitching, and chatted with me. He could sleep on a picket fence, I swear it.

We stopped for pizza at a rest stop halfway there, and I insisted on eating in the place. I hate eating in the car, I get carsick. We lingered over pizza, salad, dessert... till she got so antsy, she started pacing. The rest of the trip up there was mostly cool, she finally calmed the fuck down, and settled into a nice driving groove. Stopped being ragey, stopped screaming at everyone, and we were having normal conversation, for once. It was pretty nice. She even put on the radio, to a mix easy listening type station, so that we didn't have to endure one more goddamned Toby motherfucking Keith song.

We weren't driving the kid all the way home, she and her sister visit so often, and take each other's kids so much, that they have a planned halfway point. This gas station smack in between their two houses. That is where we were going, I didn't even know it, till we were almost there. We were supposed to be there at 8, to meet Don, but we got there at 9:15 (hehe, oops). Get there, and no Don. Turns out Don had to work late, and he had only been on the road for an hour. He'd be there in another hour. Shit. So, she started driving all over the area, looking for something to do. Place called New Paltz, turned out to be a little college town, SUNY was right there, and there were tons of cool little stores, sorta like a New Hope, but, in NY. Only, at 9:30, they were all closed. The only thing open was our gas station, a strip club, and a laundromat. We serisouly debated popping into the strip club, and leaving Deej in the car. I couldn't do it, though, shoot, the kid is only 14.

We wound up going back to the gas station, and waiting around till 10:30, for Don to show up. Uneventful. She paced around and whined about waiting, but that was nothing, really.

The trip home was interesting. I sat in the front (and controlled the volume knob ;) It was late, no one around to call, no one to put on a show for. Like, she stopped 'acting' her scary monster persona, and started being a normal, nice person. We had a deep (two way, for once, rather than me listening) conversation about our similar childhoods, she didn't know how similar, till last night. She didn't know that I went through, growing up. I'd heard bits of her story, but now I know more. I think she takes me a little more serious, now that she knows stuff. Bill listened, added his insight to stuff, and it was very cool. We got home after midnight, and I was in a decent mood. The trip went well, I was reminded more of why I choose to be her friend, and it was a productive evening. More on that, later.