Adventures in Cat-Napping

Chapter 8

Silence had filled the car ever since the pair had left for Inverness. Nora had only stalled once, just at the roundabout, and she easily blamed the driver that had failed to notify her of his sudden left turn by lack of use of his indicator. The blinker was there for a reason! Still, Nora knew Ali wasn't the sort of person to make small talk, and so she couldn't quite overtly complain, leaving the quietude to churn her gut.

Nora despised the silence, and when she pressed her thermos to her lips, only disappointment coated her tongue, as she acknowledged no hot chocolate remained.

They'd passed Birmingham just under half an hour ago, and she'd thanked the heavens that they'd missed the traffic that was directly heading into the city, in the opposite direction. They'd also filled up on fuel, and as Ali had promised, he'd covered, but now came the hardest part of the journey; the drive that was mindless and straight for at least sixty miles. The part that didn't require any other thought processes except to be aware of the cars in front and beside her.

Ali was currently fiddling with the phone in his hands, but his angst was likely linked to Billy instead of the suffocating silence. He'd sighed several times, and watched as she'd consumed a packet of ready salted crisps yet hadn't made any comment regarding the salt on her fingers and the crumbs that had fallen on her khaki green sweater.  She supposed he'd learnt it was better not to say anything than display his disgust but Nora would have preferred a  quarrel over the strange, awkward tension that coated them.

The motorway seemed to stretch on for miles, and with each passing moment, her boredom increased. The clouds speckled across the blue sky, but the darkness gloomed, bringing the promise of early April showers. The sun was bright enough for Nora to need her sunglasses however, and when the next song played, she forced herself to turn up the volume and immerse herself into the music, seeking escape. The tune was one of Leo's favourites after all and so naturally she knew all the words, having sung it dozens of times, during their youth.

"... It's going down, fade to Blackstreet. The homies got at me, collab' creations, bump like acne" She rapped along, her volume increasing as she bobbed her head and enjoyed the beat. Her words died however, the moment she felt Ali's gaze, and she failed to hide her amusement as she lowered the volume and expressed a humoured apology.

Ali only nodded, and she chuckled harder, watching as the trees grew larger and the minutes ticked by. This time, she wasn't going to allow the silence to consume them once more.

"So," She began, adjusting her seat belt so that it wasn't tight against her, before squaring her shoulders and conjuring a question. "I guess rap isn't in your area of music?"

"Not at all," he confirmed, "I was never much of a music listener...my parents preferred folk songs from our village, in India when I was growing up, and those are hard to find on the YouTube," He shrugged, only giving a hint to a past Nora was slowly growing curious about.

"So what do you listen to?" She probed.

"Podcasts occasionally, and I've slowly grown fond of audiobooks...I never liked books in school but audio books are different. My sister was fond of Bollywood though, so perhaps a touch of that, but usually I quite like the silence," Ali expressed and it was perhaps the longest he had spoken, for the entire duration Nora had known him.
She also realised that perhaps Ali hadn't detected the awkwardness she had found, tainting their drive but decided not to discuss it further, instead latching onto the phrase that had truly gained her interest.

"I've never watched a Bollywood," she mused, "but there was a girl on my street I used to go to school with, she was obsessed with the music, I'm assuming your sister is the same?"

"She is," Ali answered, not disclosing the details she sought.

Still, Nora refused to give up and after taking some much needed gulps from her the litre bottle of water she had brought, she decided to ask a less closed question. "So what sorts of things do you like to do now then?"