American Vacanza

i find out what love is • siena

My fit of giggles after or great escape from the Glass Orb museum, or whatever it was, did, in fact, help the overall mood in the car. Before, we were screaming and arguing; now, there was just a strange sustained silence.

I wouldn't call it an awkward silence, more like the calm after the storm. We both had something to say, but we didn't want to disrupt the peacefulness that had fallen over us.

I, deciding to be the bigger person, finally turned around and like Madison in the eye. "I'm.. I'm sorry. For what I did back there."

"Don't worry," she replied, cracking a devilish smile. "It was kind of funny. Did you see that woman's face?"

"No, not that. For everything I said. I was so rude to you." I swallowed the lump in my throat, as well as my pride. Apologies were not my strong point. "I really hope you can forgive me."

Madison, looking straight ahead --she must have been bad at apologies, too-- replied, "I guess I'm sorry, too."

For once, I wasn't going to rag on her for having a crappy apology. I was just glad that we were both forgiven. It was a new day (figuratively) and we were going to be fine.

"I'm pulling over at this motel," she decided as we passed a place--- very similar to the Paradise Motel in Nevada-- before we even got onto the highway.

I took one look at its dingy concrete walls, and, as much as I hated to contradict her opinion at this point, said, "No. No way. Get this car back on the highway and find a quality hotel, because I am NOT staying in one of these again, much less alone."

"Calm down," she replied, laughing as a scarlet color flushed to her cheeks. "I was just joking."

Now it was my turn to blush, seeing as I had no idea she was joking and had been absolutely terrified. "Oh. Good."

"Plus," she continued, "we're also almost to Pennsylvania. Don't you want to get there before we stop?"

"I guess," I replied. When we did those map tests in fourth grade, Pennsylvania and New York were next to one another. We were going o be in one of New York's border states. That made us close, right'

But from what I could recall from my memory, we'd be entering on the Ohio side of Pennsylvania. To get to New York CITY, we'd have to go the long way across Pennsylvania and maybe cut through a corner of New Jersey.

And that was assuming that there was a road that would take us there. I had been thinking about a political map, not a road map.

So we still had a ways to go, but driving from the Ohio-Pennsylvania border to NYC was a hell of a lot easier than driving from Cali to New York.

I didn't realize how much time had passed, how long I'd been thinking, until Madison said, "All right. Welcome to Pennsylvania! Now, we can turn in for the night."

I breathed a sigh of relief when she pulled into a nice little Hampton Inn on the side of the highway. Would it be noisy? Yes. Did I care? No.

By now, it was only six-thirty, but both my brain and body had been exhausted from sitting in the car all day (and all week, for that matter)

"Can you just check us in so we can get into the room and go to sleep?" I asked.

Madison, whose eyes were crusty, red, and dark-circled, replied, "I'm thinking the same thing, sister." Even though it'd felt like a whirlwind of sketchy hotels, weird characters, and bumps in the road, this trip had taken a physical toll on both of us. If we wanted to make it to NYC tomorrow, we had to bring our A game. We had to rest up for the big day.

Our oil-desperate brakes squeaked as Madison pulled the car into the parking lot of the hotel.

We both tiredly trudged into the hotel, dragging our sandal-clad feet through the thick carpet. Madison quickly walked up to the front desk, like she always did, and got us our room.

After a period that seemed like forever in the elevator, the doors open and we were able to lumber through the hallway into our room.

As soon as I saw the two queen beds, I picked out mine and flopped all the way down. "So, you up for Slumber Party II?" Madison asked, with a half smile that made me unable to tell if she was joking or not.

"I hope you're kidding," I replied, flashing her a matching smile and feeling my head hit the pillow. Ugh, it felt so good. I felt sleep rapidly approaching me.

"I am. Kind of. Anyway, the sequel's not that good. It's more of a comedy parody kind of thing than a horror movie."

Noticing that the conversation topic was in danger of drowning, I quickly asked, "Are you as tired as I am? I actually highly doubt it."

"How long have we been on this trip, anyway?" she replied. "A week or so? I've kind of lost track of time. It's like it doesn't exist when we're not at home. When we're out in our old car, traveling the country."

I nodded. "Exactly a week. Not bad timing, for a three thousand mile trip, right?"

"I guess not." My bed was feeling rapidly more comfortable. Even if it was some trashy hotel with a squirrel's nest in the bottom of the mattress, I still would have fallen asleep just as fast. I could be sleeping in a bed of thorny roses and I still would be drifting off.

"I googled it on my phone a few days ago, and it said that if you drive nonstop from San Francisco to New York, it should take forty four hours. It's taken us, like, twice as long as that, but we've done fine. I mean, a week. That's not bad."

"Whoa," she replied. "Hold up. We've still got a state and a half to cover. It'll take another day or so, maybe even two. Do you think..."

"We'll be fine!" I replied. "But let's get up early tomorrow so we can make it in one day. Do you still have the note that Mom and Dad left us? I think it had some sort of instruction on how to call the plane once we got close, right?"

"It did." Madison turned over in her bed, facing away from me. "It's in my purse. I'll get it out for you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow, then."

"Okay."

I turned over and faced the large window on the room's wall. The lights of the highway rushed by in long, bright streaks. It was barely dark out, this being a June day, which would make sleep even harder.

It was a good thing I was already as tired as hell.

I shut my eyes, but thinking about how our trip was almost over kept me up. When we got to New York, when we finally made it to Italy, would we still be friends, or would we drift apart, as we had been for the six months we'd been under the same roof?

I really hoped we'd still be speaking, because I didn't speak Italian, and I wasn't close with anyone else in the household. If I didn't have Madison, I would be completely alone for the entire summer.

And suddenly, I understood love. I understood why Madison wanted to hang on with Ethan for so long. They both knew each other, they both understood each other. The reason she was having second thoughts about leaving him was just that being alone was a scary thought.

Also, being more self-oriented became stupid. It might just be because it was just night, and strange thoughts always ran through my head at night, but I suddenly wanted a tan Italian guy who took showers.

I soon fell asleep, dreaming of all the surprises that tomorrow would bring.

And there would be many of them.