The Story of us

Chapter 5: Don't trust sketchy gas stations either

Tallahassee, Florida - 1312 miles

I wasn't exactly sure how long I had been asleep for, but by the time Harry had woken me up, it was five 5:27 PM and we were still in Florida.

I wasn't stupid. I knew that it took a long time to get from one state to another, especially since a) we had been traveling from Miami, which was at the bottom of Florida, b) Harry was the slowest driver known to mankind and finally, c) my car was so shitty that we had to stop for gas multiple times.

"You fell asleep," Harry pointed out once I had managed to open my eyes and actually engage in a proper conversation. I'm sure that I've mentioned this before, but I don't really like being woken up when I'm resting. I'll come around when I want to, which was something that I was hoping had been instilled in his brain by now.

"Thanks, Captain Obvious," I responded dryly as I grabbed a tube of lip balm from my bag and began to apply it to my lips. Which weren't really even that chapped, but I was addicted to the smell of Burt's Bees, so I just tried to use it any chance that I got. "Please tell me we're not still in Miami."

He shook his head as he smiled over at me, looking very pleased with himself. "We're in Tallahassee," he informed me. "If everything goes according to plan, then we'll be in Thomasville in around forty-five minutes."

I wanted to point out to him that that was exactly what I had said about reaching Georgia earlier this morning, and things had definitely not gone according to plan, but I was a lot more shocked by the fact that we were that close to Thomasville. Which, just in case you didn't know, is in Georgia. "How'd you manage to read the directions while I was asleep?" I asked him, clearly stunned.

Harry began to hum under his breath and then, dimples on full display, he grinned, "I figured it out. I'm not as stupid as you think I am, Lexi."

"Okay, whatever you say," I nodded. 

"Believe what you want to believe, but I'll have you know that I'm currently attending an Ivy League," he shrugged. "And where do you go? Miami Community College?"

I rolled my eyes at him. "Okay, first of all, I never explicitly stated that I thought you were not smart. And second of all, there is no such thing as Miami Community College. Also, I go to Florida State University, so I'm not exactly stupid myself. Although, I will admit that it may not be as good as your fancy Ivy League college," I drawled out in exaggeration, "FSU is a pretty good school as well."

Harry glanced at me for a long time and I could see the corners of his pink lips curling up into a smile. I didn't like the way he was looking at me like he had finally managed to figure me out. I wasn't some puzzle that he should be trying to decipher. I was just Lexi, possibly the most boring person in the entire world, and I didn't deserve to be treated as if I were some Mystery Girl with a capital M. People care about Mystery Girls; people write stories about them or they fall in love with them. They spend their entire lives trying to figure out the paradox. But I am a human being, not an enigma. People never care about plain girls like me, because there is nothing romantic or beautiful about simplicity. No one ever wants to settle for ordinary, so they don't.

"Don't worry, Lex," he finally said after what seemed to be like hours of silence. "I think you're pretty smart." 

I blinked at his sudden words and nodded my head slowly. "Um. Thanks." I paused and took a minute to regain control of myself. Why was I being so weird today? What the hell was wrong with me? "I guess you're pretty smart yourself, even though you have no idea how to read directions." Just act normal, the voice in the back of my head ordered. Although that's clearly hard for you.

Obviously. Since I currently had voices in my head telling me what to do. Although that makes me sound a whole lot crazier than I actually am now that I've said it out loud.