Sorry I took so long updating. Things have been kinda crazy as of late. Um…I really don't have anything of importance to say, except no MCR quotes this chapter. (winces) Sorry. But I'm running out of them, and I have a few saved for the upcoming chapters. So, instead, I bring you…Panic! At the Disco quotes
And also, I'd like to note that after this chapter, there will only be (at MOST) three chapters left in the story. Just a note for the curious.
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Disclaimer: NO I DON'T OWN THEM.
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"And I am the queen of this summer hotel
or the laughing bee on a stalk of death."
-Anne Sexton
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The next half-hour or so was spent driving down the highway in silence, with both its occupants too tired and too preoccupied with their own thoughts to talk to each other. With Jackson behind the wheel, Lisa allowed herself to lean her forehead on the passenger-side window. Feeling the cool glass against her skin, she let herself close her eyes and succumb to sleep, even as she hoped no nightmares would greet her.
Her slumber met an abrupt end when the car suddenly swerved and a long honk sounded as a truck sped past them in the next lane.
"What was that?" Lisa asked, heart pounding from being startled.
Jackson, appearing on edge, muttered, "The car…meandered a little into the next lane, which may or may not have been cutting that truck off." Cursing under his breath, he rubbed his eyes with his free hand.
"…did you fall asleep?" Lisa asked incredulously. Jackson chose not to respond to her inquiry, instead shooting her a dirty look. Lisa chose to take that as a "yes".
She sighed and began to rub her own eyes. Shit, when was the last time either of them had gotten a good sleep? "How far is the next exit?"
"Five more miles, assuming we don't crash by then," Jackson stated with a high dose of irritation. "We'll stop as soon as we can get to a motel or something."
"Good." Staring out the window at the passing signs and billboards, Lisa wondered, "Where are we?"
"I don't know."
"Well, we must have reached Georgia by now, right?"
"I don't know." Jackson gave her a look before adding, "I haven't exactly been noting every road sign that we pass."
Leaning back against her seat's headrest, Lisa shut her eyes and sighed in annoyance. "Wonderful. So we're not only in a stolen car and running from both the cops and your employers. There's a good chance that we're also lost."
"We're not lost," Jackson insisted. Rubbing his eyes once again, he added, "I'll figure out where we are in the morning. There's probably a road map in the car somewhere."
Lisa shut her eyes, too tired to get into an argument. "Whatever you say."
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About ten minutes later, Lisa could feel a hand shaking her shoulder and a low voice harshly insisting, "Leese, wake up."
Sitting up before opening her eyes, Lisa looked over to see Jackson leaning over her through the passenger-side window. Seeing that she was awake, he stated nonchalantly, "I found a motel."
Glancing towards the windshield, Lisa could see that they were, indeed, in the parking lot of a strip motel. A faded neon sign proclaimed 'VACANCIES' to anyone caring to look, and the walls were a faded pink color with an even more faded green pattern. The place seemed somewhat tacky and run-down, but as long as it had rooms, Lisa didn't care.
Reaching over to the handle of the car door, Lisa waited for Jackson to extract himself from the window frame before exiting. "What time is it?"
"About four AM." As Lisa got out, she could see he was carrying that briefcase from before, the one stuffed with more money than she would've earned in a lifetime. Before she could feel envious, though, she came to the sudden realization that one of her legs had fallen asleep. Wobbling slightly, she leaned against the car for support, hoping that the feeling would wear off in a minute or so.
Not seeming to notice Lisa's imbalance, Jackson shut the car door quietly. Then he extracted his wallet from his pocket, and Lisa could vaguely make out the 'JR' emblazoned on the side. All business and stern attitude, Jackson turned to Lisa and said, "I'll go in and get us a room. You just wait here."
The prospect of staying alone in a parking lot at four AM did not appeal to Lisa in the slightest. As Jackson started to walk away, Lisa called out, "Wait!" Limping slightly because of her sleeping leg, she walked as quickly as she could to catch up with him. As soon as she had reached him, she stated as firmly as she could manage, "I'll come in with you."
Jackson stopped walking and turned to look at her. "Leese, you're currently one of America's Most Wanted. Your face was plastered across the latest edition of every newspaper. Do you really think that it's a wise idea to risk someone recognizing you?"
Lisa didn't respond. On the one hand, what he was saying was true. But deep down, she was terrified of having to wait out there alone. She wouldn't feel safe in the least. Following him inside meant there'd be at least one other person with her, even if it was Jackson Rippner.
Seeing that Lisa wasn't going to listen to him, Jackson sighed. "Here." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. "Be glad that I'm too tired to debate this further."
Lisa accepted them gratefully. She unfolded them and pushed them onto the brink of her nose, thinking how silly she must look wearing them at night. Jackson seemed satisfied, adding, "If we're lucky, that'll be enough to keep the desk attendant from realizing you're the woman who launched a missile." Turning to glance at the motel, he added, "And you need to come up with an alias for yourself."
Lisa thought this over. After a few seconds, she decided to settle for her mother's name before marrying her father. "Jill," she said. "Jill Bouvier."
"Well, good, Jill, nice to meet you." Jackson answered. "You can call me Jim Crane. Let's get going, shall we?"
Lisa nodded, and they began to walk towards the lobby of the motel.
Inside was a bored-looking receptionist behind the front desk and not much else. The girl at the desk was in the middle of reading a magazine as they entered, her head supported by a propped-up forearm as she silently pored over the pages. She didn't even look up at Jackson and Lisa's entrance, too absorbed in her periodical to hazard a glance.
Striding up to the desk with a casual smile on his lips, Jackson sweetly said, "We'd like a room, please."
Without looking up, she blandly asked, "Single or double?"
"Double."
As she continued to stare at the glossy pages, the hand not propping up her head reached underneath the desk to retrieve a set of keys. In one fluid motion, she brought them over the desktop and dropped them into Jackson's awaiting palm. And even as she did this, she continued speaking. "You can pay when you check out. If you lose your keys, you'll need to pay for a replacement set." Flipping over a page, she finished by adding, "You're in Room 23. Have a good night."
Jackson nodded his thanks, stuffing the key into his jacket pocket. He turned to Lisa, and without a word they both began to walk away. Lisa, still limping slightly, had to marvel at how easy that had been. It wasn't until Lisa's hand was clasped on the lobby door handle that she heard the receptionist's voice again.
"If you fuck while you're in there, be quiet about it. We've already had some noise problems from other couples."
A muscle in Jackson's cheek twitched in annoyance, and Lisa turned cherry red while desperately trying to hold in the urge to laugh. She managed to suppress it until they reached the door to their room, where Lisa let out a small fit of chuckles.
Jackson did not seem to share her amusement. Unlocking the door stiffly, his tone was stern and completely lacking humor. "Get in." Lisa obeyed, but not before she'd subsided into a series of giggles.
By the time Jackson had followed her in, turned on the lights, and taken off his jacket, Lisa was calm again. She could see the seriousness of their situation, and the solemnity of everything that had happened that day. But still…what a strange thing to tell your guests! If she made it out of this, she'd have to tell Cynthia.
Before she was lost to another set of hysterics, Jackson had begun addressing her the way that a commander does to his troops. "We shouldn't stay here too late tomorrow morning. At the very latest, we should be ready to go by 11:30." Running his fingers through his hair with a harried anxiety, Jackson added, "And we need to steal one of the cars in the parking lot."
Lisa frowned. "Why?"
"Assuming the police have found Ray and Laurence's bodies, they'll figure out pretty soon that whoever killed them took off with Ray's car. If they find us with his car, we're in deeper shit than we are already. We'll have to keep stealing different cars every time we stop if we don't want to get caught."
Lisa bit her lip. "But what about your SUV? We left it with the bodies. Won't they check its registration and figure out it belongs to you?"
Jackson shook his head. "They can't. I stole it from a dealership. It's not registered to anyone."
"Oh."
Jackson, still seeming anxious, stated firmly, "With that in mind, I say we get some sleep."
"Agreed."
With that abrupt end to their discussion, the two of them walked towards separate mattresses. Lisa felt uneasy, partly because of the direness of the day's events, and partly because of the strangeness of the situation. As she kicked off her shoes, she had to wonder at how she managed to end up sharing a motel room with a man she hated and who'd once wanted her dead. But Fate was strange sometimes, and here she was.
Glancing over to the other bed, Lisa could see that Jackson was already settled in, eyes shut in preparation for sleep. Shaking her head at their bizarre circumstances, Lisa lay down on her mattress and pulled a comforter over her, and within a few minutes she was fast asleep.
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"It's these substandard motels on the corner of 4th and Freemont Street.
Appealing, only because they are just that un-appealing
Any practiced Catholic would cross themselves upon entering.
The rooms have a hint of asbestos and maybe a just dash of formaldehyde,
And the habit of decomposing right before your very eyes.
Along with the people inside…"
-"Build God And Then We'll Talk"