𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗲

20. 𝗦𝗮𝘆 𝗜𝘁

Frankie's POV

Our original assigned room at the motel had a strong smell of something sour. I remember trying to keep down the two bites of enchilada from earlier.

I also was hoping my mom wasn't serious about staying overnight but signs pointed otherwise as we stood in front of the doorway with suitcases in hand. The room wasn't kept up to date renovation wise but I seemed to have an even bigger problem. There was only one bed. The fickleness from me that night never seemed to end as my mom would say.

I expressed my distaste about the bed situation. I even suggested that I would be okay with sleeping in the tub.

We decided on just trying to get a new room altogether. However that didn't happen when the second room smelled just as bad and had an addition of a dead mouse in the bathroom.

That's when my mom decided for us that we were sleeping in the car.

In our car that would be parked outside of our house with mama sleeping inside.

The idea seemed dumb at first but I also wanted to try being more open like my mom suggested. I remember questioning the whole time in my head on if it was legal to sleep in your own car in your own driveway.

I thought my mom and I would grab our suitcases and bring them inside. Then change into our pjs and maybe grab a little snack on the way to the car without waking mama. But my mom was persistent on the idea of sleeping in the cloths we were wearing.

After some more convincing from her, it was settled. We ended up getting the seats pushed down and also moved our suitcases to the side along with anything else that happened to be in the back. My mom made us makeshift blankets and pillows out of our clothes while I grabbed the junk food from the center council. There were some really good snacks she had gotten us. I was still surprised how she managed to sneak it all past mamas radar.

With ourselves propped against the trunk door and snacks spread around us, our next excursion began. I felt a little bit tired but I was willing to stay up if it meant some of my questions would be answered. I knew my mom wasn't tired because of her job. She often times had to work weird shifts so her body never got into a scheduled pattern.

My dad was the same way. Often times when I was at his house, I would wake up in the night and find him watching a show in the living room. Or he was playing a game of solitaire by himself. Sometimes I would play a card game with him when I woke up but most of the time I was far too tired and just went back to bed. We even pulled out twister one time and played it for three hours straight. It was definitely more difficult since we didn't have a person spinning the spinner but it sort of made it more fun.

Other nights, we would have snacks when I woke up, or whole meals that we would cook together at 3:00am.

My thoughts got interrupted by Stef's phone lighting up the whole car. She hadn't turned the brightness down from earlier and now we were suffering the consequences of her actions.

I squinted harshly while also trying to get a good look at what was happening.

"Sorry love, mama just texted me." I heard her say as she slid the bar down that controlled the brightness. Once my eyes got a bit adjusted, I saw Stef begin to type something back.

"Wait she's awake?" I asked. So much for Stef's plan on not waking mama. We're we really that noisy? We hadn't even gone inside the house.

"She heard the car pull up in the driveway."

"Oh. You think she is gonna allow it? You know, us sleeping in the car?" I questioned.

"Mmhhh I guess we will just have to see what your beautiful mama says." My mom said as I saw her fingers busy typing away.