One More Troubled Soul

Two-I'll Be Your Best Kept Secret And Your Biggest Mistake

Pete's P.O.V.

"Goddammit." I whispered as I glanced from the crumpled map in my hand to the tiny, tree lined road. It was like trying to read chinese. All the lines were jumbled about and I swear they were moving on me, like tricky little snakes. Barely any were labeled, and the font was way too small to read unless you literally pressed it to your face.

I gave a frustrated sigh and balled the paper up, glancing around before tossing it at the heap of covers next to me. A grunt came from the pile of blankets and Joe popped his head out, his afro flattened on one side from sleep. Yawning and shaking his head, he asked, "Hey, Pete. Are we there yet?"

I kept my focus on the dirt road as I answered. "Yeah. A couple more miles." I lied. I could see Joe give me a side-long glance before looking at the floor below his feet. He reached down and came up with the crumpled map. Unfolding it revealed the maze of roads. He sighed and shook his head, looking at me with laughter in his eyes. "Pete."

"What?" I asked innocently. Maybe a bit too innocently.

"We're lost, aren't we."

Damn. I forced a laugh. "What? Lost? No, of course we're not lost. I know exactly where we are."

Joe raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. He studied the map, then the outside, and the map again. He did this for maybe ten minutes as I steered around potholes or played eeny meeny miney moe at forked roads before sticking the map on the steering wheel. He pointed to a giant blue deformed oval. "This is where we want to go, right?"

I nodded. "Yep. Still not sure why we're going there. Patrick won't tell me and I'm pretty sure Andy is in the dark." I jerked my head towards him. "Do you?"

Joe's afro bounced back and forth. "Not a clue. But we won't know why if we don't get there, now will we?" I rolled my eyes but kept quiet as he pointed to a thin blue line. "I think this is where we are. The lake is over here." He traced to the blue blob before returning to the line. "If we turn right at every fork, we should find an actual dirt road. And if we follow that road, we'll end up at our destination. I'd say we'll get there in about......forty five minutes. An hour."

I snorted and looked at the jumbled lines. "Where you learned how to read that mess, I don't know. I'm thinking you're just spouting nonsense to sound smart."

Joe looked at me in disbelief. But before he could defend himself, a very loud "Crap!" came from behind and a fedora came flying through the seats to smack the windshield and land on his head. Andy soon followed, saw Joe, and yelled, "Goal!" while throwing his arms in the air.

Joe took the hat off and twirled it around his finger as Andy disappeared to be replaced by Patrick. He plucked his hat from its spin cycle and turned to me, an annoyed look on his face. "Sorry about that. Andy stole my hat and was tossing it around like the jerk he is." He adjusted the brim and sighed, gesturing at the map still resting on the steering wheel. "How long till we get there?"

I glanced at Joe, who glared at me. I smiled and looked at the road. "Oh, maybe another hour or so. We just have to get to this road and we'll be home free." I tapped the blue line Joe had pointed out.

Patrick nodded and stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Okay. Cool. We'll get there early enough." He turned and was about to leave when Joe grabbed his arm, pulling him back. Patrick yanked out of his grasp. "You know you can just say my name and I'll answer just the same."

A bang came from behind and the sound of someone struggling. "Lyrics! I heard lyrics from your mouth! Write those words down before they're lost!" Screamed a woman's voice. Patrick shook his head. "Not everything I say is a song, Jamie." He called back.