Everywhere, Everything. ★ STURNIOLO TRIPLETS

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

If I was anyone else, I probably would've been foaming at the mouth to be stuck in a car for five and a half hours with the Sturniolo triplets. One might imagine a road trip with Nick, Matt, and Chris being full of banter and good playlists and a bag brimming with gas station snacks - you know, the stereotypical coming of age film scene where the main character realizes she's in love on a deserted highway and the wind is blowing through her perfect hair.

Unfortunately, that was not happening on this little adventure.

"Nick!" Chris bellowed in the backseat. "If you fucking touch me one more time, I swear to God!"

"You're touching me!" Nick cried, shoving Chris' arm away.

I watched the screaming match unfold in the rearview mirror. Chris was inching his hand closer and closer to Nick until he brushed him slightly, resulting in Nick raising his hand like he was going to hit Chris, and then he actually did when Chris got in his face, sticking his tongue out like a toddler.

I winced at the sound of knuckles on flesh. Nick socked Chris so hard, his arm went dead.

"Nick!" Chris's voice pierced through the car, causing Matt to swerve in the lane.

I reached for the dial and turned down the music. "Enough!"

We were only an hour and a half into the drive and eighty percent of it consisted of bickering over who picked the next song or who was on whose side of the backseat. If I heard one more moan about not wanting to listen to Lana Del Rey or Chris' foot touching Nick's shin, I was going to freak. You'd think they were twelve and not twenty with the way they were behaving.

"He just socked the shit out of me!" Chris protested.

"Good!" I flipped in my seat to face the two of them. "If he didn't, I was going to! Quit antagonizing him. It's a big backseat, and you're big boys, I think we can find a way to keep our hands to ourselves. Don't you?"

I leveled the two of them with my eyes, which I hoped reflected a look similar to the one my mother used to give me as a kid when I'd talk back. Her mossy eyes would narrow slightly, just enough to snuff out their amusement, and she'd set her mouth in a hard, pin straight line. On the days I really pushed it, she'd lower her voice until it reverberated in your chest like a gunshot, and that's when I knew I was really in trouble.

Nick huffed indignantly beside Chris and trained his attention out the window.

"God, you make me sound like my mother," I muttered, turning back to face the road. Matt stifled a laugh behind a cough and Nick followed suit.

"What?" I demanded, though a giggle tried to push its way through the sturdiness of my voice.

"No - nothing," Matt coughed again. "It's just...you really tried to sound serious."

Chris was the first to break, his laugh booming around us like a crack of thunder. I rolled my lips to keep myself from breaking. It didn't work.

"Oh, fuck you guys," I remarked between giggles, "you're so annoying."

Nick wheezed. "You have to admit, you're not very intimidating."

Scoffing, I tossed a crinkled Doritos bag at him and it dropped lamely between him and Chris on the seat. Matt was beaming behind the wheel. Daylight caught on his eyes, making them brighter than I'd ever seen the color blue become. He shook his head at me and I turned towards the window to hide the blush creeping up my neck.

We were surrounded by trees colored in gold and plum and crimson and they went on for miles, lining the curves of the highway and coating the ground in a mixture of leaves and pine needles. We were nearing the Maine border, and as we drove further around the bend, the mountains seemed to expand into the horizon. I pressed my forehead to the passenger window and watched formless clouds break above their peaks.