Take Me Home | ✔

Chapter Twenty-One

       It was seven o'clock in the evening by the time we'd finished our fourteenth round of the licesne plate game, where we tried to spot different license plates from different states. My butt cheeks were threatening to fall off from the numbness and most of the states we'd seen were from the one we were in right now; good 'ol Texas. We'd been driving west for two hours now, and the nighttime traffic was just beginning. It was funny. I had crossed into so many states, so many invisible borders, and yet I felt no different. Distance was a funny thing. 

    "Texas," Elliot pointed to a glimmering license plate of a Chevy SUV.

    Eli nodded to another car, "Texas." 

    "Guys, they're all Texas license plates," I said, sandwhiched between the two boys. The map in my hands, I tilted the pages to see it in the red backlights of the cars in front of us, the only source of light in the darkened interior of the car. 

    "Clearly, we're winning, and you're losing," Elliot said to the left of me, merging into the right lane for reasons unknown. "You haven't even pointed out any states at all -- Oh look, there's one from Texas!"

   "Because this game is repetitive and clearly serves no purpose since we're in Texas and every car has --" 

   "Alabama," Eli broke me off, looking once at a car zoom past us before turning down to his iPod again, swiping at the screen and picking music from his playlist. The phone illuminated the darkness of Uncle Terrence's Ford pickup, which looked and smelled like it hadn't been used since the early 90s. Dust coated a good portion of the dashboard, and the seats felt stiff and rough, a piece of broken leather jutting out and poking my thigh. 

    I gave up the futile mission of trying to be the Navigator, shoving the map into the the cupholders and leaning back. Elliot hummed along to a tune from a country song that was murmuring softly from the static radio. Eli slumped against the window, face eternally plastered to his iPod screen.

   "What are you listening to?" I asked him,  peering over his shoulder at the screen. He shied away from me. 

   "Nothing, really, just some...El-vehn." He murmured the last part faintly, so quietly that I didn't hear. 

  "I'm sorry, what was that?" 

       He waved me off, and I wasn't sure if it was the from the red tailights or the actual reddening of his cheeks, but he shrugged before saying, "Nothing. Just music." 

   I would kill for some music right now, something to get me away from the reality. If I was bold enough, I would've asked Eli to share a headphone, but I was sure I'd get my hand bitten off by his snarky attitude. Sure, he wasn't the most pleasant guy around, but he was my personal mission, something I owed to his dad. Besides, he shut up most of the time and that was perfectly fine by me. 

    The urban Texas scenery whizzed past us in a glittering blur, as Elliot accelerated to keep up with the interstate speed limit. 

   "Just tell me when you want to switch drivers," I said to him, "I'm totally game." 

 He chuckles softly, uttering a laugh that was more sarcastic than anything. "If by switched drivers, you mean let Eli drive, then yes, I'm game." 

   I let out an annoyed groan, "Are we gonna do this everytime? I am perfectly capable of driving, Elliot."  

   Without taking his eyes off the road, he grinned, "I know. Just an impulse."

In the periphery of my vision, I saw Eli take out an earbud. "Oh, uh, I don't really drive."