The File

The File ~ Chap. 19

Tate

What was wrong with me? Had I all of a sudden gone soft? I just lost every bit of respect that Cole had for me, now that I had gone and let out all of my emotions in tears. I knew I had cried before, but this time was different. I wouldn't be able to ever talk to him again without him feeling pity for me.

Argh!

What was going on? I was so lucky that I had my monthly PMS before going on this trip or my breakdown would've been ten times worse, and I didn't even know where Cole and I would be.

Crap! Now I had another thing to worry about! What was I supposed to do when PMS came back again? I couldn't worry about buying hygienic materials when we had to save that money for food. Could life get any worse?

After my crying fit died down-and I had processed what had just happened-I was repulsed with myself and tore out of Cole's arms. I rushed into the bathroom and locked the door behind me.

I just leaned on the door for a minute before doing anything. What I then did was take a shower-well, I washed the clothes I was wearing first, then took the shower, hoping to clear my mind.

I let the hot water run over my body for several minutes, just enjoying the heat and the fact that I could still feel it. When I finally began to wash myself with the soap and shampoo, I felt a lot better and rejuvenated.

It took a lot of willpower to turn off the water. It was just so nice that I wished I could stay under it forever. But I finally turned the knob off and stepped out. I wrapped myself in a towel and was about to grab my clothes when I realized that all of them were still soaked and drying. I growled to myself, then turned the knob and stepped out of the bathroom.

Cole looked at me from his new position on the bed, and jumped in surprise when he processed my state of clothe. Then his face turned bright red and he looked away. I wasn't feeling too happy either.

"I'm only going to be like this until my clothes dry," I grumbled, walking over to the bed and sliding under the covers. Cole tried to inconspicuously scoot the opposite way. "Oh, relax, Cole. I know you won't try anything, and there's no way I would either."

He stopped moving, and changed the channel of the TV with the remote. When we realized the show was the news, he immediately went to another channel. It was a soap opera, and we just left it so we could simplify our lives a little.

"Hey, Cole?"

"Huh?"

"Could you go see if you can find a map of...the U.S.?" In all the madness, we had lost the other one we had.

"Sure." He stood up from the bed and walked out the door, grabbing the key on the way out.

I waited patiently for him to return, and he was back in less than a minute, holding very thick map.

"What do you want to see?" he asked.

"Where we are."

"Okay." He unfolded the map to Iowa. "We're in Dubuque, right?"

"Yep. So," I glanced at the map and found the city, "we're right at the border. Illinois is next."

Cole found the pages dedicated to Illinois. "Galena is the next city...unless we should go to the next town we find on the highway."

"Galena's fine, I guess. We're going to Virginia, so...." I flipped through the pages as carefully as I could and found the full U.S. map. "I think we should take the easiest looking route and go across Illinois, into Indiana, go diagonal to Kentucky, then enter Virginia."