Wanderlust

14- The Chase

“Rise and shine!”

“Go away.” I grumbled tiredly at the loud intrusion into my sleep.

“I have food.” The voice that was waking me up offered. I felt an indent on the side of my bed and I could tell that Thomas had sat down beside me.

The aroma of bacon was an instant message being sent from my nostrils to my stomach and it let out a hungry growl. That bacon did smell really good…

I slowly, tiredly, sat up in the scratchy motel bed and looked up to Thomas, dressed and with two plates of food in his hands as he was sitting right beside me.

“Pancakes?” I mumbled, eyeing the plates and sitting up so that my back was leaning against the creaky backboard.

He grinned a very nice grin and then offered me one of the paper plates stacked with food. “Of course. You were still sleeping when I woke up, so I went out and got breakfast from the lobby. They didn’t have waffles though, which I find to be a little racist.”

I laughed softly at that and nibbled on one of the strips of bacon. “How on earth is that racist?”

He shrugged. “I dunno, but I’m sure that in some way, it is.”

“No, I don’t think so.” I told him.

Thomas nodded. “It is, I promise. Anyway, eat and then we need to leave soon, I think we can make it to Utah today.”

My eyes widened at that statement. “Really? But we’re on the east side of Wyoming.”

He chuckled and nodded once more. “Yeah, and I’ve looked at those maps that you have, and Wyoming is right next to Utah, so I think that if we drive all day, then we can get to Utah. Salt Lake City if we really try.”

“You think?” I asked excitedly. “I’ve always wanted to go to Salt Lake City, it seems like such a cool place.”

He gave me a weird look. “Really? What’s so cool about Utah?”

I shrugged. “Well, for one, it’s not Pennsylvania, and in my mind, that constitutes it as a cool place. But other than that, they have some really cool gardens and it’s the biggest city in Utah.”

“How do you know that?” He asked with an amused smile.

I shrugged meekly. “I’m good with geography.”

“Okay,” Thomas laughed. “Anyway, we should watch the news while we eat, so we know what’s going on.”

I nodded in shaky agreement while Thomas leaned over to the nightstand and grabbed the remote, turning on the TV and then switching it to the news station.

“Do you think we’ll be on there?” I asked skeptically.

Thomas nodded confidently. “They’ve been looking for me for months, and now they finally have a lead. It’s huge for the FBI right now, therefore, it’s huge national news.”

“Seriously?” I asked in shock.

He turned to give me a weird frown. “I told you that I’ve done some really bad stuff, Charlie.”

“Yeah.” I sighed, turning my gaze back to the TV. “I know.”

“Well, then don’t act so surprised.” He huffed.

“I just didn’t know that it’d be such a big deal, that’s all.” I defended. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch.”

Thomas let out a soft laugh. “You’re so weird.” He muttered teasingly.