Dear Universe, Up Yours!

Chapter 14

We were driving towards the west, back on the road. It had been silent ever since he had turned on the engine, driving away from his house. I assumed the silence was caused by the awkward tension in the atmosphere because of the perfervid confrontation we had earlier. I was glad that everything was out, though. We were both extremely vulnerable at the time. I was vulnerable, and I hated that.

A bright red light shone upon Gerard's face and mine as he had come to a stop in front of a traffic light. I heard the light tapping of his fingers on the steering wheel from what I'm guessing is from, boredom. He does this pretty often, which appeared to be the only sound distinct in the car as silence had invaded the rest.

I watched him from the side as he focused on the dark roads in front of him. I took the time to have looked at his rich, golden virescent eyes, the moonlight emitting a warm white luster in them that had created an unexplainable hue. It always seemed to soothe me, his eyes, or just looking at him generally, for two reasons: that there was just something so captivating about his eyes, his sharp nose shape, his disheveled jet-black hair and second, just looking at him, even just a short glance if my attention had ever been pulled away from him now, reminds me that I was maybe worth something. Simply because he was somebody who had seemed to actually care about me.

"It's getting pretty late," His voice had alarmed me, obliterating the piercing silence from just seconds ago. "If I turn back we can check in the motel we had just passed. It's not in the middle of nowhere, thankfully."

I shrugged, pulling my eyes away from his to the window, vehicles all around parallel and organized, despite the chaos of how fast they went. Their blinding headlights reflected on each other and the traffic light hues had illuminated on them each time they'd pass from the right or left.

"Alright," I agreed shortly after, feeling invading eyes on me once I spoke.

There was a rather long audible silence between what he would reply with next.

"Um," he finally began as I watched the various cars in front of us start to slow and lessen in the distance. "Are you okay?"

My head peaked up to look at him once again. He was able to actually face me, as direct eye contact between us in the car was pretty rare. From this angle, I was able to see the fluorescent red glow paint his cheek and show in the black of his eyes. It was an actual, enchanting sight the way I was allowed to see every single detail on his face. And it was wonderful.

I got out of my trance once I had remembered he just asked me a question. That one repetitive, vague question. The question everyone nearly says yes to, no matter the actual answer. "Yeah, I guess," I replied in a rather careless tone, moving my eyes away to the window. But then I turned my head slightly as I watched him again in curiosity. He seemed a little tense. "You?" I asked after, thought unaware of how delicate I delivered the question.

Then, there was a bright green luminescence upon the car and our faces as he lightly stepped on the gas pedal, turning the steering wheel to make a U-turn. Then, he drove straight and looked ahead to find the motel we had passed a few moments ago.

"Gerard," I stated firmly as I didn't get a response. "You okay?"

He hummed rather quietly, though it was the only sound that rang in my ear. "Yeah," he answered. "Fine."

***

I was laying on the bed in our motel room, looking up at the ceiling at its firm white squiggly texture. We had finally gotten another motel room that included two beds and Gerard was already sleeping on his so the only light source that was turned on was a small yellow lamp on my side of the room.