I Want To Be Free

41. Good to be Back

CHAPTER | FORTY-ONE

We arrived in Missouri four days later.

It had taken longer than I thought due to traffic and the rest stops, most of them coming from Danny and Lucas. I knew Danny couldn't sit still for more than a few hours. But Lucas was hard to read. Some of the stops made sense, but there were some that wasn't really necessary.

I had a feeling he was dreading to come back. As we drove towards the address Lucas had written on a napkin, he shifted in his seat and wanted to stop by fast food restaurants to take a bathroom break or used the excuse that he was hungry.

I frowned, resting my chin on my palm as I waited for the boys to come out of the McDonalds for their fifth bathroom break.

"He's probably scared to face Jasper." I thought aloud, watching a couple of snowflakes land on the neatly trimmed bushes of a medical office.

I sighed, my breath coming out in clouds as I brought my knees up. My stomach twisted itself in knots as I thought of my brother and uncles. How was I supposed to greet them, anyway? I hadn't seen them for five months and to put the cherry on top, they thought Danny and I were dead.

How were they going to react when they see Danny and me walk through their front door? Were they going to smile and hug us? Were they going to cry and faint? Were they going to think they had gone insane and throw holy water at themselves?

The latter would be interesting, but I doubted that was going to happen. And not to forget seeing Joselyn and Hunter would also be interesting. I had a feeling Joselyn would burst into tears and give me one of her death hugs and Hunter... well. He'll be something. I sighed again, rubbing the side of my head.

"I guess there's only one way to find out..." I trailed off, turning to look at the window.

Lucas and Danny were running out through the back exit, each carrying a happy meal. I slapped my forehead as they rushed inside. Lucas cranked the heater on, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Hey, Kelly! I got some food and an apple juice box. I drew the shorter straw, so we got to share—unless you want me to go buy you one. You know, I think I am going to go buy you one. There are no napkins and I totally forgot to get some ketchup—"

"I don't want apple juice and here are some extra napkins from your last trip to McDonalds." I interrupted, handing him the napkins.

Lucas ran his tongue over his bottom lip. "You got some extra ketchup?"

I rubbed my temple and titled my head. "Lucas, I'm just as scared to see my family as you are scared of seeing Jasper, but you don't see me trying to fatten myself up with cheap happy meals and Subway sandwiches."

Lucas scoffed, sputtering stupidly. "I-I am not scared. And I'm not trying to fatten myself up either."

"Lucas, you brought yourself a sandwich just twenty minutes ago and you didn't even finish it because before that you bought a happy meal. And even you didn't even finish that." I deadpanned, crossing my arms over my chest.

Lucas sputtered some more before he gave up and blew me a raspberry, making me roll my eyes at his childish side. "I just feel really, really hungry. You got a problem with that?"

"No," I sighed, watching as Lucas bit into his chicken nugget, "I have a problem with you wasting the money."

Lucas swallowed down his food and took a sip from his energy drink. "For you information, chica, I earned that money."