32

I wasn’t sure at first what the idea of Emma sleeping with Nick did to me. On one hand I’d seen in one night how he’d managed to open her up to talk about her past and even managed to cuddle with her. On the other hand, I knew better than he did how fragile she was and I was worried about her. I didn’t want him falling for her and ending up scaring her away from me in the process. I would be lying if I said that I didn’t think Emma was attractive. She was a beautiful girl and quite regularly I found myself stealing glances that lasted a little too long. Part of me was jealous that Nick had slept with her. Mostly though, I just wanted to help her. I wanted to be her friend and help her be happy, no matter what had happened to her in the past, and I didn’t want Nick getting in the way of that.

Our road trip started out a little odd. I could tell right away that Emma and Nick weren’t sure how to act around each other. They’d crossed a big line and then were going to be stuck in a bus for hours on end with each other. It would have made anyone nervous. After a while though, as well as a lot of caffeine, things went back to what I consider normal, at least for the three of us.

“Think fast…” Emma called out and ended up hitting Nick in the head with an orange that she’d thrown at him.

I cracked up, Emma did too, while Nick rubbed his head and pouted while trying not to laugh. “New rule, no throwing food at each other that can cause injury…”

“That’s a lame rule…” Emma laughed and sat down next to me peeling her own orange. “I veto it.”

“Me too…” I agreed and took half of her orange. We’d been making up rules for our road trip the entire time we’d been on the bus, but if two of us vetoed the rule, it wasn’t added to the list. So far on the trip, we’d made five rules.

1. If you’re going to be a baby about losing, no video games for you.

2. When smoking on the bus, open a window so not to ruin Nick’s voice.

3. Don’t leave your big ass heavy shoes in the middle of the walkway for Emma to trip over.

4. When throwing Koosh balls, never throw them toward the front of the bus where they might hit the bus driver in the head and piss him off.

5. Everyone must be referred to by his or her special road trip nickname when on the bus.

Seventeen other rules had been successfully vetoed.

“I don’t think a rule about avoiding injury is lame…” Nick said with a whine while he peeled his orange.

“I told you to think fast. You asked me for an orange… it’s your own damn fault you got biffed in the head. Had I thrown the orange at you without any warning or without you asking for it… that would be another issue all together. Your rule is lame, and vetoed.”

“Nicely put, Miss Monkey Tits…” I laughed.

Emma smiled at me and nodded, “Thank you, Sir Smokes A Lot. Although Mister Elephant Dick doesn’t believe our veto was warranted, I appreciate your support.”

Like I said, the bus trip was normal for the three of us, not necessarily normal for anyone else.