Act Naturally [teotfw]

chapter four: let's get outta here

SONG:  ÇA PLANE POUR MOI — PLASTIC BERTRAND

James' p.o.v.

I awoke to quite an anomaly this morning.
Hushed tapping against my window, with hints of urgency.
I knew who it was before I drew the curtains and let the apricot-tinted light fill the room.
Jasmine.

She was hanging onto the gutter for dear life with an enormously bulky hiking backpack slung across her shoulders.
I opened the window to let her in, mumbling "what the hell is going on" beneath my breath as I attempted to rub the sleep from my eyes.

The clock read "5:00" in burning red marks.
"Hi James. Sorry I woke you up, just needed to tell you something. Crucial."
"What?"

She took a pause before she spoke to catch her ragged breaths, before her baby blues began to burn with a lucid intensity;
"Ever thought about Sicily, James?"

Oh shit.

"Sure."

She dropped her bag to the floor and dug through the chaos to find an entanglement of maps, well-used and marked messily with ink blots and unintelligible cursive writing.

"I've got a plan, James. Gonna get out of here. For good."
I watched with skeptical fascination as she traced her slender fingers over rivers and mountain passes with an almost manic enthusiasm. It was infectious.
She described the route that wound down to the ports, across the channel, through France, along the coast and down through Italy, the final destination, Palermo.
She finished, gasping for air, and smiled as bright as the incoming sunlight.
"So, are you coming with me or not?"

Her confidence seemed to shrink, and I knew I was facing a decision that would make or break my chances at murder.
I could shatter her dreams. I had a choice. "I'm going regardless." She added cockily, using the trick of arrogance to hide her uncertainty.
She might as well have been wearing a transparent mask.

Finally, I uttered the one word that seemed to express a whole spectrum of feelings without confusion;
"Ok."

She smiled warmly and pulled me into a sudden embrace, gazing up at me.

She was so small. Precious.

Her moods shifted as quickly as the passing clouds.

Humans; such strange creatures.

She pulled away and started fumbling through her bag, pulling out a crumpled piece of paper. She unraveled its yellowing edges and revealed a list of some sort.
"Get packing then. We're leaving now."

I nodded and glanced over the list briefly, catching a few items. Clothes, money, books, cassettes, toothbrush and toothpaste, and the most random items you could imagine.
She sat on my bed and watched the sun silently rising as I packed swiftly.
I didn't exactly realize the situation, I don't think she did either. I mean, we're about to book it across the channel with almost no plan. Although, it seemed that Jasmine had been acquiring details of this journey for some time.

She avoided looking at me while I changed into my clothes and fidgeted awkwardly. With all her strange bursts of confidence and lunacy, her timidity seemed to outshine on most occasions.

"Well, are we gonna walk?" I asked as I zipped up my backpack. I already knew we weren't. Of course we weren't. She wants the car.

"No. We're taking your car."

"But it's my dad's." Pathetic excuse, James.

"That doesn't make a difference, does it? Come on," she punched my shoulder playfully, "let's ride."
I chuckled, raised my eyebrows, and eventually they settled down in defeat to her demands; "ok."

She took my hand and pulled me to the window, her signature beaming smile clear as day, "ready?"
"Yeah."

We scaled the trellis and collapsed in the dewy grass, laughing, before we scrambled to the car with our bags. I ran back inside to quickly snag the keys before returning to the car.

We pulled out of the drive that crunched beneath the tires, and as I backed out into the street I caught a fleeting glimpse of my father in his dressing gown, standing motionless at the second story window, watching us leave with a look of deep hurt in his eyes, like a puppy that had just been kicked to the street.

My eyes froze on the spectacle in fear and pity, but the feelings quickly morphed into satisfaction and freedom as I sped down the deserted highway, pine trees and a scarlet horizon flashing by in a dizzying blur.

Jasmine was jittering in her seat, the adrenaline rushing to her head, as she popped a cassette into the car's tape player. She sang along to the lyrics blindly and soulfully, dancing in her seat, and encouraging me to join in. We were laughing and singing as the countryside flew by, oblivious to the world. It was just Jasmine and me, blaring music, and the open road.

A wild, adrenaline-laced bliss that soon began to cool off as I noticed the empty sign flashing urgently.
"We're in need of some petrol."
"Ok. Let's stop then. We can get some breakfast too."

Five in the morning. Perfect timing.

"Will your dad call the cops on us?"
"No."
"Good."

My dad might be a lot of things, but above all he is my dad, and he's a simple man. Loyal and ordinary.
A good fit for whatever outrageous acts we were committing.

We pulled into a sensibly deserted roadside cafe, a neon sign flickering temptingly on the freshly cleaned windows.
I filled the tank while she went in and bought us some food.

The morning sun rising effortlessly against the open sky was a symbol of freedom permanently ingrained in my memory.
I drew a steady breath in the blissfully still silence, not a single car on the open road for miles. Not a single person in sight.
Just the lone cashier minding his own business. And Jasmine returning to my side with some paper bags packed full of food.

We pulled into a parking spot that overlooked a field of tall, golden grass and sat in contented silence, eating in peace.

I stared at her and studied her actions carefully, cataloging all of her subconscious habits. This knowledge would be useful in the future, in aiding my plan.
When she looked over at me, I flashed a devilish smile which made her blush and turn away.

Day one of this wild adventure was only dawning upon me.
The chances of two naively stupid seventeen year olds making it to Palermo via stolen car seemed unreachable.
I wondered how the hell this was going to work out.