Step By Step

the long haul, part one

Tuesday
August 1st, 2023

"I have to go pee!" Ollie cried out, crossing his legs together and bouncing in his booster seat. "Right now?" Chris asked, looking in the rear view mirror with a sigh. He nodded quickly, "I gotta go!" Mars groaned, "Seriously, little man?" The Duckworth family had only been on the road for an hour, and they had already stopped twice. Each stop took ten to fifteen minutes, so they had really been stuck in their car for nearly two hours. It was so annoying. "Couldn't you have gone fifteen minutes ago?" The fourteen year old inquired. "I didn't haft to go then!" The toddler exclaimed, holding his private area. "I'm pulling over now." Chris explained, her voice loud enough to carry to the back row. It had been a long day already. Castor had already had two blowouts, and now this would be their third pit stop. Not only that, but she had to give her brothers and sisters assigned seats in the car because they wouldn't stop arguing. She drove, of course. The three younger children sat in the middle row with Ollie on the left, Cassie on the right, and Cade in the middle. All of them were in some kind of car seat, so they weren't allowed to be in the back row for safety reasons. Plus, having Cade in the middle meant that she could give Cass his bottles without stopping the vehicle. That would hopefully help with their time. In the back row was Mars on the left, Nessa on the right, and Andie in the middle. She wasn't exactly sure if it was the best placement, but they'd been relatively quiet, so that was promising. Chris parked the blue minivan at an empty gas pump. Since she was at a gas station, she may as well fill up the tank.

"Big kids." She announced, turning back to face the rows behind her. "I want all of you to go in there and try to use the potty. If you want a snack and something to drink, I'll give you some cash when I'm done filling the tank. Sounds good?" She was met with some nods and shrugs, but that was good enough for her. She clapped her hands together, "Break!" The twin girls flung their seatbelts off, practically jumping out of the car. Cade quickly helped her little brother out by undoing his buckle for him. Ollie ran off towards the gas station, Andie and Nessa following closely behind him. Chris had already hopped out of the car and begun the process of paying for gas, but she had to wait until everyone other than Cass had left. Unfortunately, the other two liked to take their time getting out of the vehicle.

There was only one bathroom inside of the gas station, meaning that, with just the five of them, there was a long line in the hallway outside of it. "Hurry up, Ollie." Vanessa groaned, knocking on the door. "You've been in there forever." "No, it hasn't been forever. It's only been a couple of minutes." Cade corrected the older girl, rolling her eyes. "It's a figure of speech, smartass." The primadonna glared down at her little sister. "No, it's an exaggeration, dummy." The small girl argued. "You want a swirly?" Vanessa inquired, pointing towards the bathroom door. "'Cause I'm more than happy to oblige." Cece shook her head quickly. "Yeah, that's what I thought." The seventeen year old spat, licking her index finger and shoving it in her younger sister's ear. She gagged at the feeling, squirming away from the older girl and swatting at her hand. "Stop itttt!" She whined. Van scoffed, flicking her forehead. "Then don't annoy me." She warned, looking up at the bathroom door as it swung open.

"I got clean hands!" Ollie smiled wide, showing off his soaking wet hands. "Yeah, that's great; get out of my way." The shorter of the twins shoved the toddler, locking herself in the bathroom before anyone else could beat her to it. Ollie pouted. "Don't worry, squirt." Andie reassured the young boy, ushering him over to her. She took the bottom of her giant t-shirt and took his hands, drying them off. Mars raised an eyebrow at her, confused. "Wait... Are you actually being nice?" He wondered, somewhat genuine but also teasing. "Shut up, a-" Andie stopped herself, remembering her little brother was beside her. "Buttwipe." Ollie giggled, "You said butt."