say yes. (dwayne hoover)

chapter ten

author's note: fun fact, all the places mentioned in this are real. even the odd little motel.

enjoy this chapter, loves!

Early Wednesday morning, right when the sun was beginning to rise, Ramona pulled up to Dwayne's house. She had spent the entire night packing and preparing, making sure she had every single thing to make this the best possible experience in the world. She would never admit this, but she was nervous. She was practically shaking from anxiety when she got to Dwayne's.

It had been years since she had a friendship like the one she has with Dwayne. When she was around him, she felt comfortable again. She felt like her bones fit correctly into her skin. It was a feeling that had been gone from her for a long time, and it felt amazing to have it back.

But, because of this, she was insurmountably afraid to mess things up. God knows the last time she had something like this, something that made her feel so whole, it ended in the worst shambles ever.

So if she was going to do this with Dwayne, she needed to do it right. She needed to block out all of her other sabotaging thoughts and focus on creating a good time. She had done pretty well so far. She just hoped that there would be nothing to break her shell.

Dwayne came out of his house carrying a brown duffle bug, with his mom and Olive following behind him.

"Be careful, honey. Make sure to call me as much as possible."

He hugged her and nodded about the calling. Two days before, she had surprised him with his own cellphone. A cheap flip phone from Walmart, but still, a touching gift. For some reason, it felt like the biggest symbol of his new independence.

Olive pulled at the bag in his arms. "Are you sure that I can't come with you? I wanna go!"

"Sorry, Olive. I wish I could but you have to be ten years old to enter California."

"I was just in California!" She laughed.

"You broke the law, then." He leaned down and hugged her, kissing her on the forehead as he walked over to Ramona's car.

"You ready?" Ramona smiled and leaned over the center console.

"As I'll ever be." Dwayne smiled and got into the car, already feeling a wave of happiness float over him.

"This is gonna be the best thing ever. Are you sure you're ready?"

"I have never been more ready and more excited in my life. Start driving before my potential energy makes me explode."

"Oh here, before I forget!" She handed him a new CD case. It was just like the other one, with the collage background and magazine letters. "Road trip mixtape! Play it."

He smiled to himself and put the CD into the slot.

Ramona laughed and waved at Sheryl, and then they were off.

The night before, with a taped-together map that she printed at the library, Ramona mapped out their entire drive. She planned to take I40 the whole way and only stop every two hours or so for gas and stretch breaks. They would try to make it to Arizona the first day and find a place to stay for the night there. Thursday, they were booking it to California so they had time to get a room somewhere and prepare for the show on Friday.

So far, only about thirty minutes into the ride, things had gone great. She got off onto I40 near the high school and had been steadily sticking to the middle lane, avoiding as much passing as possible. She had a Sufjan Stevens CD playing on the radio and next to her, Dwayne and a cup of coffee. She thought, albeit silly, that it was all she needed.