IN THE SHADOW OF OBLIVION

Chapter 7: Road Trippin'

Anntonia huffed as she attempted to shove the last of her bags into the back of Michelle's Mustang. She groaned as she leaned her entire body weight against it and pushed. Still, it didn't move.

"Daniela!" she called, uselessly pulling on the straps to try and dislodge the now stuck bag from the trunk. "Michelle Daniela, help! Your stupid car doesn't want to stack my bag in!"

Michelle saw her best friend flailing her hands and had to laugh before she even think of helping. When it came to anything in which organization or planning was involved, Anntonia was lost. It was one of the things that she loved about her best friend, though. While she wasn't good at being on time or remembering things, Anntonia was always quick on her feet and exciting. There was never a dull moment with her. Ever.

Finally, she made her way over to the woman and stopped a few feet away, her mouth gaping when she caught sight of her car.

"Dear God! What the heck did you think you packed Toowns!?" She then motioned to the Mustang's backseat, which was crammed to the top with stuff.

Anntonia just shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

"We'll you gotta have options in life, Dani. Gotta have options."

"Yeah, well do I still have the option of leaving you here? Because I'm either taking you or all of your stuff." She said rubbing her eyes and sighed. "How about you try and downgrade? Like say, a bag or five. You do that, and I'll try and figure out how I'm gonna get this thing out of my trunk without the Jaws of Life."

"See if you can cram that one in there, though. I definitely need that one." Anntonia said, tossing another small bag at her feet while rolling her eyes.

Michelle responded in the same manner, rolling her eyes and turned her attention back to the trunk, while Anntonia disappeared behind the mountain of luggage in the backseat. After a few seconds, she'd managed to dislodge the bag and the latter had managed to toss almost everything from the backseat onto the pavement. She emerged from behind the door with something silver and shiny in her hands.

"Anntonia!" Michelle shouted, staring at her incredulously and in disbelief. "Tell me that's not a fucking toaster in your hand."

Anntonia looked down at the appliance in her arms and smiled sheepishly.

"It is a fucking toaster, Dani Boo! Because what if we stayed at some place and I wanted to eat it and they don't have a toasters?" she said, shaking her head as if she should have known.

"No! Give me the toaster. Now really, what the hell is in all of these bags?" Michelle said after a loud sigh, ripping the toaster from Anntonia's hands

"Well, I guess technically the only thing I really need is..." Anntonia stopped and plucked two bags from the ground. "My clothes and my paints..." She then turned around and picked up two more bags. "Oh! And my craft bag and my undies." She added as she held up the giant blue duffel bag and wiggled her eyebrows.

"What?! Art craft? Are you serious?! If I remember right, you had no heart to come in this road trip and now you're more like a camper. And do you really need an entire duffel bag for your underwear?"

"I'm just kidding, you idiot. No one has that much underwear." Anntonia then tossed the bag down and punched Michelle lightly on the arm. "Now chill out, Ms. Grouchy Pants. No one likes a party pooper!" Then she smiled up at her best friend and skipped off back to come up in their apartment, undoubtedly to find more crap to cram into the back of the car.

"ANNTONIA!" Michelle shouted after her. "You forgot the toaster! Keep it back! Goddamnit!"

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