Cruise Control

Chapter One

It's early in the morning, far too early for us to be awake and moving around. The sun has not even risen. Leo, Gemma Harper's bright red Nissan Versa, is parked behind Jazzy Blue, Genevieve's Blue Honda CRV. I haul my filled duffle bag and backpack down my driveway to load it into the back of Jazzy Blue. I am riding with Genevieve, Niko, Avery, and Gemma Harper are loading their bags into Leo. We have yet to pick up Nova, she is too busy saying her farewells to her boyfriend, Connor.

After jamming everything into the trunks of the cars in a disorganized fashion, we each claimed our seats in our respective cars. I enable myself to get comfortable in the passenger seat of Jazzy Blue. Setting everything in order, Genevieve puts the car into gear and sets off to Nova's house to pick her up.

We are driving down a short road on the outskirts of the city, singing so loud our lungs feel exhausted and our throats sting. The wind slices through our hair, the strands of black getting caught in my mouth and eyes. I feel so happy we are starting this trip off so strong. I look out the window and watch the buildings, trees, and cars pass everything starts to settle in my mind. It feels real, finally, that we are going on our anticipated road trip. These plans did not stay as a hypothetical conversation. The passing sights start to blur into one and I roll my head against the headrest to my left facing Genevieve. A smile grows on my face at the sight of beautiful, long brown locks soaring in the wind while the music gets louder; along with the sound of the scratchy voice coming from Genevieve. We near Nova's house.

"My foot is getting tired," Genevieve complains, turning the music down so I can hear her.

"Put on Cruise Control," I suggest, slightly pointing to the button on the steering wheel. "The car will keep the same speed and you won't have to do shit." I further elaborate, chuckling.

"I don't know if we are going fast enough..." Genevieve trails off quietly. I turn my head to face the windshield.

"Try it, you never know," I suggest. Genevieve glances down at the leathery steering wheel she is gripping and reaches her thumb over to press the cruise control button. The car continues at the same speed down the country road.

"I guess we are going fast enough!" Genevieve says with surprise in her voice, laughing. She turns the music back up and continues singing loudly. I chuckle with her and stick my hand out the open window to roll against the wind. As the wind slapped against my cold hand and the lyrics flowed from the restraints of my chapped lips. I realize that this is where I am meant to be.

"You guys are my cruise control," I yell over the music to Genevieve, causing her to turn towards me briefly. She smiles widely, facing back towards the windshield. She reaches her right hand to grab my left hand and she interlocks them, shaking our hands up and down.

"You're so cute," she chuckles, then her hand drops my hand, and retreats to the steering wheel. "This trip is going to be so fun!" She raises her voice to an excited yell.

"Oh my God, I know!" I yell, matching her energy.

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Genevieve turns the steering wheel, guiding the car to turn into Nova's driveway. We see Nova and Connor standing at the beginning of her driveway, outside the garage, illuminated by the headlights; the sun has not quite risen yet. They look over at us before Connor grabs Nova's attention once again, saying something to her.

I pull on the door handle, opening the car door. I lift myself out of the car and make my way over to Nova and Connor, Genevieve following suit.

"Hey babe, ready to go?" I excitedly ask Nova. Genevieve says hi to the two of them. Nova chuckles awkwardly and glances at Connor. He reaches out, grabs one of her three bags and heads toward the trunk of Jazzy Blue dumping it amongst the bags already packed in there.

"Is this all?" I ask Nova, gesturing toward her luggage.

"Yes." She replies smiling. I take one of her bags whilst she grips the last of her bags tightly in her right hand. I follow where Connor previously walked and throw her bag into the trunk, Nova copying my actions. The three of us make our way back to where Genevieve is standing, flipping her car keys around her pointer finger. She looks up at us.

"Ready to hit the road?" She asks me and Nova. Nova glances over at Connor and he grabs her upper arm and pulls her into a hug, kissing her head.

"See you in a few weeks Connor. I love you." She says to him. I sneak a sly glance at Genevieve, rolling my eyes subtly. Genevieve snickers.

"Love you too honey," Connor replies to Nova and with that I turn back towards the couple and smile.

"Well, let's get going then!" I suggest eagerly, walking towards the passenger seat and Genevieve walks towards the driver's seat. Nova takes another moment with Connor to share a kiss and then she turns and walks to join us in the car.

Once we are all settled in our seats we buckle up and roll the windows down.

"Nice seeing you Connor," Genevieve says to him through the window.

"By Connor." I bid him my farewell. I've never really felt that comfortable around Connor. Nova hates my refusal to befriend her boyfriend, however I don't see a problem. I'm friendly to him I just can't be his friend. Maybe it's him talking about me and my life as if he knows me, like really knows me. Or perhaps it's his continuous lying to Nova about me being "mean to him". I'm glad she's getting some time away from him, they've been obsessed with each other since they started dating about 5 months ago; she's changed.

Genevieve puts the car into reverse, and we start to slowly roll backwards out of Nova's driveway. We drive further away from Nova's house, further away from the town we grew up in, further away from our lives. This is our escape from our lives in our hometown for a few weeks, our time to explore disparate comfort from what we are familiar with. Our time to slacken our restraints appointed to us from what the expectations of those around us. Our time to be obnoxious, rebellious teenagers. To listen to all the music we want and as loud as we want, to stay out as late as we want, to go anywhere we want. We write our own story from now on, we choose the plot, characters, script, and setting. Our setting is in cars, driving for hours on our way to Banff, Ontario.