The Case of the Missing Little Sister

Chapter Two

I sit here on my bed, it's one o' clock in the morning. It's Saturday.

Mandy has gone to her friend's place. May has gone to her family. Ethan... sits right beside me as I scroll through a website showing all the airplanes taking off for my hometown.

I grunt. This is the festive season and all the tickets are expensive. I'll have to drive.

I slam the laptop shut. And face-palm myself.

"What's going on?" Ethan asks.

"I'm driving to New York."

He stares at me like I'm crazy.

"Are you nuts?" he asks, serious, for once.

"You can't go alone!" he states, furiously.

"Are you suggesting that you want to come along with me? For like a six day max, trip?" I ask.

"Yes, I'm coming." He states firmly.

"No, you can't. It's a personal issue." I reply. Not believing him.

"You're my friend, I'm going to help you no matter what. I'm going to start packing. At ten today, tell the office you won't come for a while. They'll understand." He says and walks off.

I stare at him in utter amazement.

Did the most annoying guy on Earth tell me I'm his friend? And force me to take him along? I managed to smirk. "Let's see how long you last." I mumble. 

"I heard that!" Ethan barks back.

+++

I walk back into my dorm room, with Ethan buzzing around in it.

"You told the office?" he asks. I nod.

"Hmm... Let's get to your car and start packing up?" he asks. I nod again. I'm way too exhausted to say anything anyway.

We begin putting our two suitcases in the trunk and two blankets and pillows and a big cardboard box stuffed with wafers and water bottles.

My car is a convertible, so it's pretty comfortable.

"I'll drive first." I say and remove a map from my dashboard. I marked the route.

"Fine," Ethan smirks. "Just don't kill me while I sleep." He returns to his mischievous self.

I snort and begin driving.

As Ethan predicted, he's asleep in a matter of minutes and I know that, through his distinctive snoring. I smile and drive on. The weather is refreshing but changes soon.

I drive on and on, finally we are out of Los Angeles. I like the greenery and the quiet, calm of the nature.

We stop in a drive-through and I fill gas up till my petrol tank is full then through one of the drive-through restaurants, I grab two large cheese burgers and soda, and some French fries. I park the car.

I poke Ethan and he jumps up. I laugh. He looks around. "What's the time?" "It's lunchtime, that's all I know." I reply.

I sit in the back with Ethan, and as the hood isn't covering us, it is pretty pleasant.

I hand him a burger and the other food and we eat hungrily. "I drive next!" Ethan says as he sips on the soda. I nod.

I'm tired at the moment. After we finish, we drive off again, this time, Ethan's the driver. He's okay. Not too good, not too bad. He switches on the radio and it starts playing some techno beat. I can't complain as the rule is, 'The Driver owns the Radio.' And I can manage that. Next time, I'll annoy him with some girl song.