A Plan
Chapter 4
Last Chapter:
"Wait, there they are!" Casey pointed to the old trailer which was getting on the 141 South.
"Finally." Derek stated, following the trailer.
Meanwhile Nora, George and the family were driving on the 141...North.
XOXO
After Derek and Casey had been driving on the road for less than 5 minutes, awkward silence hit incredibly fast. The radio wasn't on for the first time, since this morning and they could each other breathing.
Casey glanced at Derek, who was fully concentrated on the road, and turned back to face the window.
She glanced over at him again, and he was still concentrated on the road so she turned back to the window.
She looked at him one more time and then he turned his head so fast, that she was surprised it didn't snap.
"What?!" he yelled.
"Nothing!" she yelled defensively.
"If you have a fucking question to ask me, then ask me the fucking question."
"Fine! Why did you pick that tattoo to get?"
"Why do you keep bringing this up? It's just something I wanted to do."
"Derek, you must have had a reason for getting it."
"Listen, I have no reason to answer to you and I'm not going to."
She went silent for about a minute and turned back to him.
"Did it hurt?"
"Oh. My. God, Casey. It's really going to hurt when I shove you out of the car." She gave him "the shocked face" and crossed her arms before turning her body away from him.
After a few more minutes of awkward silence, Derek finally decided to speak up.
"I got the tattoo, when I was in Quebec with Sam's family."
She turned and looked at him.
"It was a birthday present to myself. Happy?"
"Not entirely. Did it hurt?"
"I was in the stupid tattoo shop for about 3 hours. Yes, it hurt." he said aggravated.
"Then, why would you sit still and take that pain."
"It's not like child birth, Casey. It was just a little irritating. Kind of like you."
"I could never sit through that. I'm terribly afraid of needles."
"Well Casey, the things you're scared of, are usually the most worthwhile." and Derek left it at that.
XOXO
"Mom! Edwin keeps throwing paper balls at my head!" yelled Lizzie.
"Edwin, knock it off!" yelled George who was driving.
"I'm bored! We've been in here forever and I am going through video game with drawls!"
"Are we there yet?" asked Marti.
"We're about two and a half hours away from the Michigan border everyone."
Groans were made all throughout the trailer.
XOXO
Casey had fallen asleep against her window, when her cell phone beeped a few times. She slowly opened her eyes and looked at her phone.
Low Battery.
She groaned and watched the phone shut off.
"Derek. I have to pee." she said drowsily.
"Are you kidding?" he asked. "You just went."
"No, actually that was about two and a half hours ago and I didn't have to go then. Jeez, Derek.
"Not my fault, Casey."
"Please. There's a rest stop 5 miles from here."
"Then we'll get far behind Nora and my dad."
"Just call them."
Derek reached for his phone after he gave Casey an annoyed look.
"I have no signal."
"Are you kidding?"
"Do, I look like I'm kidding? Just use yours."
"I can't. The battery died. We'll just use a pay phone there. Now just please pull over at the stop."
"Ugh, fine."
When they finally came across the exit, Derek parked in the cars only section. They walked in and went there separate ways. Casey walked out of the bathroom a few minutes later and Derek was standing there, with a cheesy grin n his face.
"What do you want now?"
"I'm really thirsty and Starbucks is right there." he pointed. "If you get my drift."
"I want your drift away from me. Derek, I'm not just going to give you money whenever you want it."
"But it would be really helpful if you did."
"Well, too bad."
"Casey."
"No."
"Ugh, you are such a bitch."
"Excuse me?!"
He just walked away mumbling.
XOXO
"Stop being such a baby." said Casey as she walked up behind Derek at one of the tables. He didn't look at her.
"Would it really hurt you to help me out?" he asked turning around to look at her.
Instead he came face to face with a Starbucks logo.
"Your welcome." she said holding the coffee out for him to grab. "See, I'm not always a bitch."
Derek got up and followed her to where the payphones were. There were four phones. The first one had the entire phone missing. The second one was covered in sticky gum that was spread all over the talking portion of it and the third one said OUT OF ORDER. The last one, was currently occupied.
"Let's just catch up with them." said Derek.
"Awe of course! Why didn't I think of that sooner? I should have remembered that I know exactly where they are and hey I can even read their thoughts too. Oh, hey watch out for Edwin. He's a pistol" she said cockily.
"Blah, Blah, Blah, he's a pistol blah, blah, blah." he said mocking her. She glared. "What do you suppose we do then?"
"Go and ask that kind man if we can use the phone, because its an emergency." she said hopefully egging him on.
"Are you living on Unicornicopia? I'm not going to ask that dude to hurry up."
"Don't even pretend that you have manners Derek. Please, we have to do this."
He sighed and walked over to the man and tapped him on the shoulder. When he didn't turn around, Derek continued to tap him on the shoulder until the dude flipped and gave Derek the Yes-I'm-in-a-suit-so-I-must-be-better-than-you-and-I'm-a-very-loud-and-obnoxious-talker-who-never-shuts-up-look.
"Can I help you?" he said rudely.
"Yeah, we need the phone."
He looked Derek up and down.
"Are you sure you could afford a pay phone?" Derek was ready to tackle the guy but Casey grabbed his arm and pulled him away.
"Okay, maybe not the best idea. It's fine Derek. We'll be fine. Next stop, we'll call them."
XOXO
Casey was looking at a map of directions and she looked up when she heard a few raindrops hit the hood of the car. He hit the gas pedal harder and she looked at him.
"Okay, when did this become Need For Speed?"
"When we lost track of our parents." he said matter of factly.
He stayed in the fast lane and kept driving until he caught the back of a huge trailer that was maybe a mile or two ahead of them.
"There!" he said pointing. Casey smiled and felt comforted again. "See, no reason to freak out and throw a hissy."
Derek weaved over and was 2 cars behind them. An hour went by and he followed them in and out of cars and lanes. Casey had fallen asleep and was resting her head against the window. She let out a soft sigh and Derek looked at her and then back at the road and then looked back at her and slightly grinned. His attention went back to the road when he realized what he had done and he turned the music on lightly, to drown out his thoughts.
He eventually just shrugged it off and concentrated on the road. The trailer started toward the closest exit that read REST STOP.
The trailer drove over to the lot that said Trucks and Trailers and Derek drove into the car lot. He parked so that he could still see the trailer. He turned the car off and looked at Casey. He gently shook her. She moved around a little bit, but didn't wake up.
"Casey." he said softly shaking her again. "Casey."
"What the hell?" he thought.
"Casey!" he yelled shaking her hard.
She woke up quickly.
"Derek! What?" she said aggravated.
"Were at a rest stop!"
"Oh." she said rubbing her forehead. She yawned and looked out the window. "Where are we?"
"I guess were about another three hours from the us border. For some reason, we're heading over into New York, even though, my dad said we're supposed to head straight into Minnesota."
"Maybe, they just want to go to New York first." said Casey attempting to stretch in her confined space. "But ugh, 3 more hours?"
"Yeah, it's painful I know."
He opened his door and got out of the car. It started lightly drizzling. Just a misty drizzle. Derek threw on his leather jacket and Casey put on her favourite sweater. Casey crossed her arms like a pretzel and Derek came around the other side.
They started walking over to the trailer when they saw the man driving get out. Derek looked at the man stopped walking, then looked around.
"Oh, fuck!"
"Derek…Derek please tell me, that's George." Casey said. "Derek?…Derek?" He didn't say anything. "Oh, God! Derek that's not our family!
"No really?" he said putting his hands on his head and bending down.
"Oh My God! Who knows where we are? We're lost forever! We'll never see our family again!"
He leaned back up and snapped his fingers twice.
"Casey, snap out of it. We're going to be fine. We'll just call our parents, explain what happened…then again." he thought for a brief moment.
"Oh no! I know that look. Derek what are you thinking?"
"Since we've made it this far on our own…I'm sure we can handle ourselves a bit longer.
Casey looked at him with furious but curious eyes.
"Derek, what exactly are you implying?"
"Let's make this a vacation we'll remember. Let's keep driving and go on a vacation…without the family.
"What? Derek, no!"
"Come on Casey. How many times will you be able to say that you went across America without any supervision? After all we are 18. We're going off to college. Maybe our parents will be impressed on how we handle things ourselves."
"Or…they don't trust us ever again and decide to not let us go off to college.
Derek grabbed Casey's shoulders and shook her lightly to get the message through to her.
"Come on. Just try being spontaneous at least once in your life."
"Why should I? Derek, we can't just blow everyone off. Not to mention we have like no money."
"We have credit cards."
"You mean our parents emergency credit cards?"
"Either way, it's money."
She shook her head at him.
"Derek, we're not stealing if that's what your thinking."
"Pshh…stealing? Ha!…ugh fine. How much money do you have then?"
"I'm not giving you my money either Derek. This is supposed to be a summer family vacation. Not Derek's ultimate spring break extravaganza."
"Casey."
"Derek."
"We can meet them in California in like a week or so. It won't be that bad. You also won't have to sit in that grody van."
He made a point. It could be fun. A chance for her to find out who she really was. She stared at the ground and then lifted her head once she gave into temptation.
"Fine! But your telling our parents!"
A/N-Sorry all. I was travelling like a lot these past two weeks. Going to a wedding and then just visiting some family. Anyway, it's so great to be typing again. I always type wherever I go, even on my phone at school because I have Word Mobile on it, so yeah…lol. REVIEW PLEASE!!