The Road That Leads to Us Read online

  “A date?” My eyes widened.

  “Isn’t that what couples do? We haven’t had an official date yet, so…” He trailed off.

  “Oh…okay.” I so wasn’t good at this whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing. It was obvious why I’d never dated much. Well, that and my dad scared most people away, which was hilarious considering he had more hedgehogs than he had kids, and knitted, but most people didn’t know that part of him. He was a drummer in a famous band and that in itself was enough to scare guys away.

  Dean swallowed thickly and turned in his seat to look at me fully. “You’re okay with this, right?” He ducked his head, hiding his sadness. “I don’t want to push you into a relationship you don’t want because you feel obligated.”

  “Obligated?” I lingered on the one word, completely disgusted.

  “Yeah, since we’re friends. I don’t want you to think you’ll hurt my feelings if you say you don’t want this.” He waggled a finger between the two of us. “I mean, I will be hurt, but I’d be more hurt if you’re going along with this because—”

  I grabbed him and kissed him to shut him up.

  Letting go, I sat back and crossed my arms over my chest. “Does that seem like I’m okay with this?” I was a bit miffed with him that he’d ever think I’d be in a relationship with him because I felt bad and didn’t want to say no to my friend. He knew me, and I never held back. If I didn’t want something I made it known, and if I did, well I made that known too.

  He nodded woodenly and cleared his throat. “Mhmm. Yeah. Forget I said anything.”

  “This first official date thing is already going down the sucky path,” I mumbled.

  He chuckled as he put the car in gear. “I’ll do my best to fix it.”

  ***

  We found a quaint restaurant and ordered more food to-go than we needed—Dean would probably eat it anyway. We drove back to the abandoned warehouse and parked on the empty lot.

  We ended up sitting on the trunk of the car with the food between us.

  Since I’d gotten us lost so many times today—that led to some laughs at my expense—it was already getting late and the sun would soon be setting.

  I dipped a handful of fries into ketchup and stuck them in my mouth. So ladylike, I know, but this was Dean and I couldn’t be anything but myself with him.

  He chuckled at me and reached over to swipe ketchup off my lip before sucking his thumb into his mouth.

  “Never waste ketchup.” He winked. “One of the most valuable lessons my dad ever taught me.”

  I snorted. “Did he teach you any other valuable lessons?”

  He ducked his head and chuckled under his breath. “’Course.”

  I took a bite of my burger. “I’m going to gain like fifty pounds by the time we get home.”

  “Who cares?” Dean shrugged, stuffing a handful of fries in his mouth. “You’ll still be beautiful. You always are.”

  I threw a fry at his head. “You’re so cheesy.”

  “Hey,” He grabbed the fry and ate it, “I’m being honest. Not my fault if you find it cheesy.”

  I shook my head at him, fighting a smile.

  “What’s going to happen when we get home?” I asked him softly, half-afraid of his answer.

  He winced. “Your dad will probably try to kill me.”

  I snorted. “He’ll have to go through me first. He’s a big softy,” I said honestly, “he’ll get over it.”

  Dean shrugged and made a face that told me he didn’t believe me.

  “Does Liam know we’re coming?” He picked up his drink and took a sip, waiting for me to answer.

  “No.”

  “No?” He sounded surprised.

  I took another bite of my burger and stared straight ahead where the sun was beginning to lower between the abandoned buildings, bathing everything in a warm glow.

  “Why haven’t you told him? Aren’t you guys close?” He rattled off questions.

  “We are,” I replied, kicking my feet out, “but ever since he moved away things have been different. I didn’t want to tell him we were coming and then have to listen to him feed me some bullshit line about why I shouldn’t come.”

  “What do you think’s going on with him?” Dean’s brows furrowed in confusion.

  I pursed my lips in thought. “I don’t know,” I answered honestly, “but I do know from something he said that the media is really getting to him. At home, they leave us alone, but in Malibu he’s on their turf. So they follow him everywhere he goes and crowd his surf competitions. The media…they all want us to fuck up so they can print it across every magazine and it sucks. In New York they followed me a lot in the beginning and I…”

  I cringed, remembering one particular time where a photographer was being an epic douche. My friends loved the attention and thought it was great when paparazzi followed us. I wanted to kick every one of the assholes in the shin.

  This one guy had been following Lauren, Greta, and I and saying all this nasty stuff, trying to get a rise out of me.

  I’d ended up yelling at him to leave me alone, that I wasn’t famous, my parent’s were, and that gave him no excuse to follow me.

  He laughed in my face and I lunged at him, claws out. Lauren and Greta had screamed like a bunch of little girls.

  He tried to press charges but my parents paid him off.

  I hated that they had to clean up my mess, but I was also thankful not to have the incident splattered across my record.

  “It sucks,” I finally finished.

  He nodded. “I bet. I’m glad I don’t have that problem, but I’m boring so they’d probably fall asleep if they followed me.”

  I shook my head. “You’re not boring. You’re the most fascinating person I know.”

  He grinned at that and wiped his hands on a napkin. “You think so?”

  “I know so.”

  “Even though I’m obsessed with Pokémon?” His lips twitched with the threat of laughter as he waited for my response.

  “That makes you a little dorky.” I held my thumb and forefinger up a smidgen apart. “But I still love you.” It didn’t feel weird to say the words now that we were a couple. I’d always loved Dean, and I always would, but the love that had once been the love of a friend was beginning to become more. So much more.

  We finished our food and Dean gathered up our trash.

  Hopping off the car, he pointed at me. “Stay there.”

  I hated being told what to do, but for once I listened.

  He tossed our trash in the back of the car and grabbed his guitar.

  Sitting beside me again, he began to play.

  I didn’t recognize the song, which was unusual, but it had a folk vibe to it.

  Dean began to sing and I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, leaning into him. I closed my eyes, letting the lyrics wash over me.

  I tapped my feet in time to the beat and began to hum since I didn’t know the words.

  I turned my head so I could watch him and saw that he had his eyes half-closed as he sang.

  There were people who played music.

  And then there were those who felt it.

  Dean, he felt it, deep down in his soul.

  I leaned my head against the side of his face and closed my eyes as the last notes of the song hung in the air.

  When he finished he set the guitar in his lap and cupped my chin in one hand, drawing my lips to his.

  He leaned his forehead against mine, and his breath feathered across my cheek.

  “Six days, Willow. That’s all it took for me to fall irrevocably in love with you.”

  He lifted his green eyes to mine, waiting for a reaction.

  I had none beyond shock.

  He smoothed my hair behind my ear and swallowed thickly.

  “I’ve always loved you, but now it’s a new kind of love, one I never knew I could feel so strongly or that could come so soon, but I should’ve known. You’ve always been a bulldozer, you never do anything ha
lfway, so why should falling in love with you be any different?”

  I gaped at him, at a loss for words, which was rare for me.

  “You don’t have to say it back,” he whispered, smoothing his fingers down my cheek.

  I stared at him for a moment longer, trying to form a coherent thought. Finally, I said, “I know I don’t have to, but I…I think I want to.” His face brightened as I stretched up and whispered in his ear, “I love you too.”

  His arms wound around me and he held me tight, like he never wanted to let go.

  And I hoped he never did.

  Dean

  I didn’t mean to fall in love with Willow so fast, but I did. I should’ve expected it, considering we never did anything half-assed.

  I hadn’t meant to lay it all out like that, but suddenly the words were there, on the tip of my tongue, and I couldn’t swallow them.

  I held her to me now, wanting to keep her close after the words we exchanged, but I knew it was getting late and we needed to find a hotel.

  Even still, I wasn’t quite ready to let this moment end.

  I let go of Willow and she sat up.

  I hopped off the trunk of the car and put my guitar away.

  Willow still sat on the trunk and I held out my hand to her.

  “Dance with me?” I bowed dramatically and she giggled.

  She took my hand and nodded.

  I helped her off the trunk and into my arms.

  There was no music, but we didn’t need it.

  I took both her hands in mine and stepped back so there was a large gap between us.

  She laughed when I pulled her forward so that we were chest to chest. We swayed awkwardly like two kids at a middle school dance, but I loved it and couldn’t keep the goofy smile off my lips.

  This girl.

  She loved me.

  I loved her.

  And that was that.

  ***

  I was getting used to waking up with Willow sprawled across me like some sort of slime monster.

  I needed to get out of bed, but she had an arm and leg thrown across my body and her head was snuggled into the spot where my neck met my shoulders.

  As slowly as I could I slid out from underneath her so I could shower and pack my bag.

  There wasn’t much in Cullman, so we’d be heading on today without lingering to explore the town.

  I’d showered last night, but I chose to shower again to kill time until Willow woke up.

  When I finished in the bathroom she was still sleeping and didn’t look like she’d be waking up anytime soon.

  I grabbed my packed bag and went outside to put it in the car.

  My stomach rumbled and I groaned. There was no way I could wait until Willow woke up to eat.

  I chose to head down to the nearby fast food drive-thru and ordered a bit of everything. As hungry as I was Willow would be lucky if there was anything left for her.

  I took the bag of food and rummaged through it before pulling out of the lot. I found what I’d been looking for, a hash brown, and stuffed it in my mouth.

  Oh sweet sustenance.

  My phone buzzed on the passenger seat and I saw Willow’s name flash across the screen.

  I reached over and grabbed the phone off the seat and pressed the flashing green button.

  “Y’ello?” I said, my standard greeting of Yeah and Hello combined—true, it sounded more like the color yellow, but it was my thing.

  “Dean?” Her voice was panicked on the other end and I automatically pressed harder on the gas.

  “Yeah? What is it? Are you okay?” I rattled off the questions one right after the other.

  “Where are you?” She sounded near tears and out of breath.

  “On my way back to the hotel. I got breakfast.”

  “Oh.” The sound of her breath whooshing past her lips echoed over the line. “I woke up and you weren’t there and I saw your bags gone and I know it was silly, but—”

  “But you thought I was gone,” I finished for her. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think you’d wake up.” And if she did I hadn’t thought of what she’d think of my missing bags. “I wanted to get a head start on loading the car and then I was hungry, so…food.” I shrugged even though she couldn’t see me. “I’m pulling into the hotel lot now.”

  “Okay,” she said and hung up.

  I grabbed up the food and drinks and headed inside the building. It was a normal chain hotel with maroon colored floors and yellow-gold walls—were they Gryffindor or something?—and the signs that boasted it as a Non-Smoking establishment. The lingering stench of cigarettes suggested otherwise.

  Stopping in front of Room 102 I grabbed the credit card like key from my back pocket and went to slide it into the metal slot. However, the door opened before I could.

  “I smelled food.” Willow grinned and held out her hands in a grabbing motion. “Gimme! I’m hungry!”

  We both acted like we never ate.

  She took the bag of food from me and stepped aside so I could enter the room.

  We ended up sitting on the bed together, the food spread out between us, while we watched some old kid’s TV show.

  “I can’t believe I used to love this show as a kid,” Willow commented.

  She lay on her side, using her elbow to hold herself up.

  She tore off a piece of hash brown and stuck it in her mouth.

  “I mean, seriously, a magic rock that takes them to Dragon Land or whatever the hell it’s called. And that old dragon guy is seriously creepy. When I was little I thought he was so smart, but I really think he smokes pot or something. I mean, listen to the way he talks. High? Amiright?”

  I shook my head, laughing under my breath. “Maybe we should change the channel.” I reached for the remote.

  “No!” She grabbed my hand and stopped me from grabbing it. “This is far too entertaining.”

  I laughed harder. “Okay then.”

  She let go of my hand but kept her eye on me in case I decided to make a mad dash and grab the remote anyway.

  When the show ended she cried, “That’s it?! What a rip-off,” and threw her sandwich wrapper at the TV.

  She continued to grumble as she gathered up the trash and tossed it in the bin underneath the small table in the corner or the room.

  She’d already packed her bags while I was gone so I grabbed them up and we headed out to the car after checking out.

  She picked up the map from the floor and unfolded it, spreading it out in front of us.

  “Your turn,” she told me as she smoothed out the wrinkles, “I picked the last two times so we’re not dueling for it.”

  I shook my head, but didn’t argue with her.

  “You better close your eyes like I did.” She pointed a finger at me in warning.

  I slapped a hand over my eyes. “That good?”

  “No peeking,” she warned.

  With my other hand I reached out blindly and jabbed at the map.

  “Careful!” She cried and the paper rustled as she grabbed the map. “You’ll put a hole in it if you poke it that hard.”

  I found that doubtful, but I didn’t argue with her.

  “Do you know where I pointed?”

  She nodded and a slow grin spread across her face. “Roswell, New Mexico. Excellent choice, my friend.”

  “That’s gotta be a what…” I tried to do the math in my head. “Twenty hour drive?”

  “Just about.” She nodded. “You better giddy-up cowboy.” She slapped the dashboard like it was the side of a horse.

  Tipping my head, and faking a deep southern drawl, I said, “Yes, ma’am.”

  Willow

  “We’re lost,” I cried. “So, fucking lost.”

  I glared down at the stupid map in my hands, wishing it would magically come to life and tell me which way to go. You know, like a navigation system would.

  “We’re not lost, Willow. We’re just struggling to find our way.”

  Dean. Ever the in
sightful one.

  His words did nothing to appease me though.

  “Go fuck yourself,” I muttered.

  He merely tossed his head back and laughed like I was the funniest person alive.

  I was about a second away from killing him. Seriously. This was his fault after all since he insisted we use a map, and so far he’d done the majority of the driving which meant he got to avoid the tedious headache of trying to decipher all the teeny tiny routes.

  “You’re extra feisty today.”

  Day Seven of our road trip had included a lot of driving and goofing off. Today—Day Eight—however, sucked with a capital S. I was over it.

  “I guess you could say I’m a little pissed off,” I muttered, glaring down at the map.

  If I had a lighter I would light that sucker on fire without hesitation.

  “Seriously, where are we?” I hadn’t seen a sign of life for miles. We were driving along some random country road in the middle of no-fucking-where Shreveport, Louisiana…or at least that’s where we’d been an hour ago. We could be in Texas now for all I knew.

  Meanwhile, Dean sat beside me, completely calm.

  So unfair.

  I tossed the map on the floor of the car and crossed my arms over my chest.

  Dean spared a glance in my direction and from the corner of my eye I saw his lips twitch with the threat of laughter. It was like he wanted me to punch him or something.

  “I don’t think we’ll find our way with the map on the floor.”

  “That map is the devil,” I pointed a forceful finger down at the map where it laid crumpled on the floor like a sad puppy, “and it’s full of lies.”

  Dean bit his lip in an effort to contain his laughter, but it was pointless. It bubbled out and filled the air. I was too mad to find humor in this situation.

  Yes, we’d gotten lost plenty of times already, but I’d reached my breaking point. This time was one too many.

  “Pull over.” I declared, already reaching for the door handle.

  “Wha?” He glanced at me with wide eyes.

  “Pull over!”

  He paled with shock but did as I asked. The car hadn’t come to a complete stop when I tumbled out and started walking.

  The brakes screeched behind me and the door slammed closed.