Okay, so here I am. I didn’t end up sleeping very well and now my mind was the equivalent of high school cafeteria mush on mystery meat Monday. I couldn’t help my thoughts from running laps around my skull at lightning speed. What had I gotten myself into? What had I gotten ALL of us into? The mere thought of Brian and AJ being in danger, because of me, was stressing me out, to no end. I lay on the bed staring at the ceiling letting my mind be consumed with worry. Taking a glance at the clock I knew I should wake Steph…I mean, Chelsea…up so that we could get on the road but I couldn’t bring myself to move from that spot.
Those stupid gang members are the criminals so why do I feel like I am the criminal? I feel like I have lost…no…I HAVE lost all control over my life! Here I am glued to a hotel bed next to a fake wife who is really just a friend, using some one else’s name, dying my hair, and pretending to be someone that I am not. I don’t mean to seem snobby or stuck up but I miss my life…the fame, the touring, my house, my cars…damn it, I LIKED being rich!
So what was I supposed to do? Were we really going to go down to Florida? And, what would we do when we got there? Ugh, boy, am I frustrated! I rolled over to look at the woman next to me, she really was putting herself on the line for me and I couldn’t understand why. We hadn’t been really GOOD friends, but yet, she acted like we had been best friends for years.
“Why would she do this for me?” I questioned softly to myself with my eyes fixed on the ceiling again.
“Because, everyone needs a friend,” she answered softly. I flinched not realizing that she had even woken up. She sat up on the bed and stretched out her arms above her head.
“I have friends,” I noted.
“Yeah, and the last time you spoke to them waaaaaaaas…” she looked at me with raised eyebrows.
“I chatted with AJ the night before they were taken hostage,” I said matter-of-factly.
“WHAT?!?!” her eyes practically popped out of her head.
“We have been talking ever since I moved to Michigan,” I said softly hanging my head.
“How? Are you crazy?”
“He doesn’t know where I am,” I explained. “We created a secret language and code when we were younger that no one else knows about. We used that to talk on instant messengers and stuff.”
“Oh. But you never told him where you were?”
“Nope. No personal information AT ALL.”
“I see. So what is the plan for today?” she asked with a sigh.
“You’re asking ME? YOU are the one who decided to take this little trip.”
“You’re right. We should head down to Florida and find out where the guys are being kept. My friends Erika and Kelly live down there. I haven’t seen them in a while but I am sure they would let us crash at their place. Erika said that the house they are sharing isn’t too big but they HAVE to have a couch,” she shrugged. “Then we can come up with a plan to take the gang members by force,” she jumped onto the bed and flexed her muscles again. “I could take them, and you could help!” she was now beating the living hell out of my pillow.
“Riiiiiiiiiiiight,” I snickered and she plopped next to me laughing. “Do you REALLY think that you could take ANYone by force?”
“I was trying to cheer you up, but you never know what I may be capable of,” she shrugged. Well it had worked at least some. It didn’t take us long to get our butts ready and back into the car. We had done our hair before leaving and I couldn’t understand how AJ could handle the smell. Luckily, there was a pawn shop right on the corner before we hit the interstate and I was able to find a ring that looked like a wedding band. It only cost $100, so it wasn’t too bad; then I took the first turn behind the wheel as we got back onto the interstate. Silence surrounded us as the car was filled with soft music from the stereo. So, of course, my mind began to swirl again.
“What’s wrong, Nick?”
“Huh?” I shook the thoughts from my head. “You know, it is really getting confusing with you calling me a different name every time you talk to me.”
“I know,” she giggled. “I was just seeing how long it would take you to say something.”
“Okay, let’s get one thing straight…” I glared at her briefly. “I am the annoying one, okay. No one is allowed to be more annoying than me.”
“Um,” she looked at me funny, “I can be annoying if I damn well feel like it.”
“Whatever,” I waved my hand in the air.
“Seriously, though…talk. I know it’s like against the ‘guy code’ to open up and tell a chick about your emotions, but it will help you feel better and deal with it, if you just blow off some steam. Go ahead, yell at me! Let it aaaaaall out.”
“Let WHAT out?”
“You aren’t blonde anymore, so don’t play dumb. Come on, I know there are a lot of things bugging you.”
“Way to state the obvious,” I rolled my eyes. There is no possible way that I could just…tell her. I mean, I can’t even make sense of half the things going on in my brain. How am I supposed to form my thoughts into words? Emotions are a WHOLE ‘nother story. I really hope she didn’t expect me to pour my heart out to her and cry or anything because it was NOT about to happen!
“Scared? Worried? Stressed? Confused? Upset? Guilty? Nervous? Tense? Not sure what the hell is going on or why we are doing this? Am I close?”
“Actually…” I was a bit stunned.
“All of the above?”
“Damn.”
“I can understand, Nick,” she laid a hand over mine. Okay, what the fuck was that? How the hell…that was just weird! Women creep me out when they do that kind of stuff; it’s like they can read minds or something. I shuddered at the thought of ANY woman being able to read my thoughts. “Nick?...Nick?...JR? Elliot?...” I could hear her calling me but was too spaced out in my thoughts to respond. “CARTER!!!!!”
“What?” I asked softly.
“Let’s stop off at the nest rest stop. I have to use the bathroom, plus a few minutes of stretching and fresh air would do us both some good.”
“Ok,” I shrugged. Looking at the clock, I was amazed to see that we had been driving for about three and a half hours already. There must have been a longer silence than I originally thought. I chuckled to myself causing me to receive a confused look from Steph…Chels…I’ll get it right eventually. Anyways, I pulled off the interstate so that we could take a break. It was pretty nice out, the sun was shinning and the sky was pretty clear. I quickly used the restroom then sat outside on a cold metal bench. Closing my eyes, I tried to clear my head…not that it worked. Wrapping my arms around myself for warmth I just sat there.
“Elliot? Are you ready?” she spoke softly as she sat next to me and placed a hand on my shoulder.
“Yeah, Chels, are you?” I responded as I tugged myself back to reality.
“Yes. Come on,” she smiled warmly, “I will take a turn driving.”
“Okay,” I nodded as we stood and headed back to the car. Chels didn’t say a word as we started back on our journey. She tuned the radio to a soft rock station and I reclined back in my seat as we drove. With the low music and the humming of the tires filling my ears, I found myself relaxing and soon dozing off.
~~***************~~
Chapter End Notes:
Thanks for reading, everyone! Enjoy the 'down time' in the story because it won't last long! *wiggles eyebrows*
