Page 40 of Stops Along the Way
“The one I saw on your phone yesterday.” No further implications about what the question at the core of his statement is, however.
That feels like way longer ago. “That was only yesterday?” I ask.
Declan nods, serious. “I thought that was maybe something we should also discuss?”
I let out a short nervous laugh.
“I can’t believe my sister sent that. She teases me all the time. I never know what she’s going to say.” My heart is beating so loudly I can’t hear my own thoughts. “And I definitely didn’t guess what she had texted or I would’ve checked my phone before handing it to you. I was just trying to ignore it, but you want to talk about it, probably because you’ve been thinking that I have some big secret crush on you. I’m sorry if that’s made anything uncomfortable.”
I move over to the right lane, driving slowly, then turn my shoulders ever so slightly so that Declan and I briefly stare each other down, waiting for someone to make the next move. The way we’ve done across the table hundreds of times. Yet this tension is charged in a way I never expected.
“You think I’ve been thinking that?” he asks.
We’re stuck at a stalemate, again.
I sigh and admit, “Declan, I have no idea what you’ve been thinking.”
He arches an eyebrow. “Really?”
“No.” I shake my head, trying to overplay my confidence. “But I suppose we can clear things up and say thatno, I don’t have a crush on you.”
“I see,” he says, nodding, taking in my response. I know I’m giving off mixed signals. “Because it has been a little awkward.”
“Right,” I say, doubling down on laughter again, trying to disguise how my brain is reeling. I’m not sure what I expected him to say, but he seems relieved by my lack of an admission, and it’s more of a letdown than I’d care to admit to myself. “Sorry about that. The last thing either of us needs is some random crush when we’re about to go off to college and meet a million new people.”
“Exactly,” he mumbles. “However, those are some odds I feel very confident stating.”
“What?”
“That there’s a zero-percent chance of one of those people being another you.”
“Or you,” I add, breathless, feeling my very real crush squeezing the air out of my lungs. “Good thing we’re friends, then, isn’t it?”
Chapter Eleven
For our final rest stop of the day, with the hotel only an hour and a half away from this gas station, we refill the tanks and I rejoin Amelia in our car, offering to drive the next stretch. The only other thing at this off-ramp is the golden arches, so Grady walks into the adjoining parking lot to grab some burgers for the road, but Amelia and I are fine to dig into our shared snack stash.
Though it’s not too exciting driving with my sister again, because Amelia falls asleep almost immediately as we pull back onto the highway, leaning against the headrest with her mouth wide open and drool dribbling down her chin.
The road stretches ahead, miles and miles of sameness where the view has truly only been changed by the passage of time, thesun now disappearing behind the tree line and a jarring ultra-religious billboard.
We meant to keep our travel during the daylight, but this mid-May sun will be fully set by eight, and our estimated arrival time at the hotel is 8:43 p.m. The remaining light keeps dimming until it’s very dark.
In the distance, there are red lights, high in the sky, flashing in sync.
My eyes have adjusted to the darkness, but on the vast horizon, beyond the glow of nearby traffic, I can’t detect the source of this eerie sight. It’s so out of place. Daunting and widespread, like some sort of alien invasion.
“Whoa,” I say. “Uh, Lee?”
My sister mumbles something but doesn’t open her eyes.
Even as we’re flying down the road at seventy miles per hour, the lights are still all encompassing, but now there are some closer, and I can truly get a sense of their height.
Then I remember exactly what they are: safety lights to alert airplanes to the windmills.
That doesn’t make this scene any less fascinating. They’re so bright and flashing in such rhythm. Maybe this is the unique angle that a road trip game would require.
Aliens.
