broken//matthew espinosa

Chapter 33: "so this is california?"

stephanie
I sit next to Ellie in the back seat of the jeep, and my left arm hangs out the side of the jeep. The jeep has no roof to it, I'm guessing he took it off for the warm spring weather. Jack puts on sunglasses and starts to pull out of the driveway.
"So, where to first?" He asks, making a turn so were now on a main road. Ellie raises her hand.
"Let's take her to In and Out!" She says over the sound of cars beeping.
"I could eat." Sammy says. We all nod.
"Okay. To In and Out!" Jack says in a fake British accent. I laugh and take in California.
"So this is California?" I say, letting the warm sun hit my skin.
"Yep. The O G Cali." Johnson says. Jack pulls up to the drive through for In and Out and everyone decides on what they want.
"I'll take 5 burgers and 5 small fries, also 5 chocolate milkshakes." He says into the speaker thing.
"Woah. Isn't that a lot." I say.
"Eh." He says. I laugh, and they pull up to the window. A girl with long curly blond hair hands him the bag.
"Hold on. Aren't you Jack and Jack?" She squeals. They laugh and nod.
"Oh my god I love your music! Can we take a picture?" She asks.
"Sure babe!" Johnson says. She pulls out her phone and leans out the window.
"Thank you!" She says, and then he drives away.
"Does that happen a lot?" I ask Ellie.
"Yep." She laughs. He gets back onto the highway, as Johnson hands us the paper bag of food. We each take a burger and fries, and then he hands us the cardboard cup holder tray. The wind blows back my hair as I take my first bite if a In and Out burger.
"This is so good!" I yell over the wind.
"That's why we took you there!" Sammy yells back. Jack gets off of the highway, and now were on a road which looks like it got deserted.
"Where are we?" I ask, looking from side to side.
"It's a surprise." Jack says. I look towards Ellie and she shrugs. As we get farther down the road, I start to see letters in the distance.
"The Hollywood sign?" I ask, amazed.
"Aw. You figured it out to quickly." Johnson pouted.
"Well it's not like I had no clue of what it was." I say, leaning on the car. Jack stops the car and they turn on the radio.
"This is as far as we can go." He says, turning so he's facing us. We admire the Hollywood sign for a couple minutes longer, until it gets boring.
"Okay. Let's go." Sammy says. We all laugh, and Jack try's to start the car. The motor runs for a second, but then stops.
"What the fuck..." He mumbles. He pangs his hands on the steering wheel and groans.
"Were out of gas, aren't we?" She says. She rolls her eyes and crosses her arms.
"I could of sworn I filled my car this morning!" Jack says. Johnson groans and leans his head back on the seat.
"How are we going to get put of here?" I ask, starting to get nervous. I can feel a panic attack coming on.
"I..uh..guys?" I stutter.
"We don't fucking know Stephanie!" Jack says, cleat frustrated. I start to breathe heavily, and then everything fades into this blurry filter.
"Are you alright?" Jack asks, getting out of the seat and opening my door. He crouches in front of me as I start crying, and my breathing getting more heavy.
"What's wrong!" He panics. He grabs my hand as my vision is a complete blur now, and all I hear is loud muffled yelling. I hate this. I hate this situation. I hear a bunch of ringing and beeping.