'Til Sun Beams Find You [COMPLETE]

Thirty-four (Part 1)

This is not a fairytale, I already know how you like it...

Drake's 'Views' album played on shuffle over the car speaker softly. It was the perfect sound to go along with their road trip, as soft beats and memorable melodies of the aged album accompanied them on their drive.

"..they don't need to know all of our business," Carter rapped along under his breath. "You wildin, you supa childish.."

"Carter.."

Nico took a sip of her latte and stared at the trees out the window lining the highway. Tree after tree appeared and then disappeared. After a while, she turned her gaze towards the driver seat.

"Mama is a saint ya she raised me real good.. all because'a her, Ion do ya like I should.."

"Carter."

"Don't make me gi' you back to the hood.. don't make me gi' you back to the hood," he rapped along as he pointed at her.

"Carterrrughh," Nico whined.

He finally turned the music down with a laughed, and the volume became so low all that could be made out was the beat and a few faint words.

"What's up?"

"Where are you taking me?" Nico asked and took another sip of her hot coffee.

He glanced away from the mostly empty interstate ahead of them to look at her. She had a pout on her lips as she held the Starbucks cup to her lips, looking at him over the brim of it with tired, curious eyes.

"Somewhere," he answered with a smile, reaching for his own cup of coffee. It was no longer hot the way it were when they picked it up an hour ago, but it worked the same.

Where she ordered some sugar-filled latte, he got straight black to keep him awake for their near 3 hour journey. He picked her up at 5 that Saturday morning, and after grabbing breakfast and coffee, they hit the road. It'd only been an hour so far, but it felt like forever to Nico.

"You're taking me out into the woods to kill me, I know it," Nico muttered as she hugged the hoodie tight around her and pulled her knees to her chest. "I've never been this far out into the country.. where are we? West Virginia?"

She hadn't been paying attention to any of the signs, just that they were on I-66, and she knew that led to no-mans-land Virginia.

"You think we getting to West Virginia in an hour from the east coast?"

Nico shrugged as she glanced away from the window and looked towards him. "Is West Virginia far or something?"

Carter put his cup back in the cup holder and chuckled. "You ain't do too well in geography class, huh?"

Nico frowned at him. "Mean."

"I'm playing," Carter said as he poked the frown on her face. "We're not going to West Virginia."

"Where are we going, then?"

"I told you... somewhere."

Nico sighed and figured she might as well give up on finding out. It wasn't so much the secretiveness surrounding the entire trip, it was that she didn't know what to expect. He wasn't using any GPS either, so it all confused Nico a bit.

They were going to be away until Tuesday, but he just told her to pack a few things to wear, which was unsettling to somebody like Nico that was a serial overpacker. He also mentioned that they wouldn't really have great service so she was sure it was somewhere outside the city. When she asked if she should bring any dresses, he said 'no', but when she asked if she should bring a swimsuit, he said 'sure'. Still, she packed loungewear and enough activewear to last the four days, brought two swimsuits instead of one and packed a floral dress anyways, despite his words.