Page 16 of Stops Along the Way
My jaw goes slack. “How do you not know when you’re leaving? Don’t you have a hotel booked?”
He shrugs. “Nah, on road trips we just stop wherever and find a place.”
“How do you live that way?” I shake my head. “Assuming all the pieces will just fall into place? I could never do that—are you kidding me? What if there’s not a hotel nearby? Or they don’t have a room available? Or—”
But Declan just grins, amused to watch me ramble again. “It always seems to work out.”
I roll my eyes. “Of course it does. Foryou.”
Amelia speaks over my muttering. “We’re driving back to Omaha too! We should caravan!”
“Wait, I—”
Declan is quick to agree. “That could be fun. I’ll ask my brother. When are you guys heading out?”
“Tomorrow morning,” Amelia says.
I continue my halfhearted protest. “I think it’s actually safer to not, like, follow behind another car.”
Wait, why am I against this? If everyone else is on board, then I can go along with it. Yet it dawns on me that this brief encounter with Declan is potentially turning into an entire journey, and I’m not sure I’m equipped to handle that.
“Don’t worry. I drive safe,” he says. “Grady would call it too slow…but I’ll make sure he keeps his foot off the gas when it’s his turn behind the wheel.”
Amelia takes out her phone and types a text. From the vibration in my pocket, I suspect it was sent to me, telling me to chill.
I take the hint. “Yeah, that’s fine.”
Both Declan and I get up from the bench at the same time. I take a few steps backward to physically align myself with Amelia rather than him.
“Perfect,” Amelia says in the kind of older sibling tone that finalizes the matter at hand. “Text Iris and we’ll coordinate a time.”
“Later,” I say, trying to scrutinize his face for any trace of similar apprehension.
“Yeah, see ya soon.” He holds his hand up as a goodbye.
As Amelia and I walk away, I find myself annoyed. This was supposed to be a trip with just my sister and me on the open road, after all.
“He’s calling for you,” Amelia says, nudging my arm.
“What?” I stop and turn around, nearly crashing into Declan as he jogs after us. Amelia stands a few feet ahead, waiting, and I can sense a smirk on her face. One that I justknowwill amount to a comment later.
Why does everything about this feel so embarrassing?
“Um.” Declan’s shoulders shrug up to his ears. “I’ve known you since we were twelve, but I don’t actually have your number…which seems easier than trying to message you on the store’s group chat board.”
“Oh, right.” Without thinking too much, I hand over my cell.
His cheeks burn bright red as he takes my phone, inputs his number, and sends a message to himself. While handing it back, he says, “There was a text from your sister waiting for you to read or something…”
Declan walks off in the opposite direction before I have a chance to discover what my sister sent me earlier.
Amelia:Relax, the drive will be fun. What, do you have a crush on him or something?
I storm over to Amelia. “Oh my god, Lee. Thattext?” She doesn’t immediately recollect, or pretends not to, so I remind her. “The text you sent me thathe just saw.” My voice goes up an octave, and I glance behind to make sure he’s out of earshot. He’s strolling away with his hands in his pockets, not seeming to have a destination in mind. I spin around, worried he’ll feel me staring. I tap Amelia’s elbow to signal that we should start moving again, and quickly. “I most definitelydo nothave a crush on Declan Weber.”
“I don’t know.” She raises her hands, all innocent, as we walk away. “You were acting strange.”
“Because you just invited these guys to drive all the way home with us? That wasn’t the plan.”
