Luke Jackson: My Story

The Trip to Washington

Lauren, Marcus and I met outside Lauren's cabin at five o'clock sharp, just before the sunrise would color the black sky. "Ugh, can we make a Starbucks run? It's too early." Marcus groaned.

Lauren stiffened her laughter before answering, "sure, fine Marcus, besides I'm in the mood for a frappé."

"Who's basic now?" Marcus bumped her shoulder.

"Alright, we can make a Starbucks run when we reach the city. We've got a long way to go till we get to D.C. Should we take the cab with the creepy ladies again?" I shuddered at the thought of them, last we took the cab we almost died...several times.

"No, I don't want to go through that again. Let's hitch hike this time." Lauren suggested, as we shouldered our backpacks and walked out of the camp.

"Sure, how bout the bus into the city then we'll get some mortal money." Marcus added.

"Cool, let's do it." I said as we plopped down on a park bench awaiting the bus. The three of us didn't say anything, but it was fine, it was early and the silence was comfortable.

When the bus came, the three of us lugged ourselves on to find a seat towards the back. Marcus took a seat by himself on the right and Lauren and I took the left, she got the window seat and soon enough both of them were sound asleep. The orange glow from the sun's rays outlined Lauren's shiny brown hair, laying loosely down at her shoulders. Her breathing was steadied and calm, her shoulders were relaxed with a peaceful expression on her face. I wanted to put my arm around her and feel the weight of her head on my shoulder and hear a small sigh as she scooted closer to me.

But something held me back, I think it was nerves. Also I didn't want to disturb her, she usually doesn't sleep that much. And I certainly didn't want to wake her up for the long day of travel ahead of us.

---

I must've dosed off cause Marcus was shaking me awake, "you two wake up, we're getting a weird look from the driver." He loudly whispered.

Lauren and I jumped up and darted off the bus in Marcus' wake in search of the nearest Starbucks. "I've got the app on my phone, it says there's one .4 miles from here."
Marcus picked up the pace in pursuit of the coffee shop. Lauren rolled her eyes and the two of us trotted after him.

Marcus was first to order, he probably ordered the most caffeinated drink on the menu, Lauren and I went next, before she could even open her mouth I ordered for her. "I'll do a tall latte and she'll have a tall mocha frappé with two pumps of espresso and a warmed buttered croissant." The lady gave me a strange look, but it didn't match the baffled look on Lauren's face.

"He's right," she added, the life drained from her voice. I paid for the drinks and Lauren pulled me aside, "how did you know that?" She whispered, her eyes wide with bewilderment.

"You always order the same thing every time we come here. How could I not have it memorized? It's so specific, and it's cuu...quite funny." I caught myself. For one moment I thought I saw blush sweep across Lauren's cheeks, I know mine turned red too. Seconds later, she shrugged it off and gave me shy smile, since when did her shy smiles get so cute?

"Luke, your order is ready." I heard a voice call. I grabbed our order and we joined Marcus at the table.

"So, I think we should take the bus through Pennsylvania as much as we can before we stop somewhere for the night." Lauren suggested just before she bit into her croissant.

"I agree, but we are not staying in a hotel, that was not fun last time. I still can't believe the lady didn't even let us in." Marcus added, taking a long sip of his drink. The last time we'd stayed in a hotel hadn't gone well. Turns out we'd picked the one crawling with monsters and we'd been ambushed. We trashed the room because of the fight and it turned out that the front desk lady was a fury. We'd been skeptical about hotels ever since last year.