The White Lie

Chapter 4

Ten minutes later and we were loaded up and ready to hit the road. I settled back into my seat in the passenger side of Indie's car, while she wound down her window to yell out to Nate, sitting in the passenger side of Alexander's car. "Last one to the meeting spot has to pay for everybody's lunch!" The boys in the car next to us cheered, clearly accepting our challenge. Indie started up her car, as did Alexander with Nate riding shotgun, Blake with Austin in his passenger seat, Kai loaded up with Alice and finally Scarlett with Sienna settled in next to her. Indie took the lead, driving down her street, out of town and off into the direction of the mountains. So long home I thought, giving our small town one last look before glancing in the direction of our destination. Indie turned up the music and I smiled, peering out the window. 

We are officially off on our way, adventure of a lifetime here we come.

The drive stretched on until we were speeding through huge open plains, endless fields of greens and yellows, hills dotted with bushes, trees and the occasional sheep. Indie spoke from time to time, chattering on about the trip and about how good it would be to spend some quality time with Nate. I joined in occasionally, but other than that we just enjoyed the serenity, feeling the gentle sway of the car and listening to the soft melodies. Indie and I had always been like that, perfectly comfortable in each other's presence and not always demanding attention from one another. I looked across at my best friend, her long brown hair flowing in the wind coming in from the open window in which her tanned arm leaned against. She had her sunglasses flipped down over her dark eyes, but I could tell she had caught me staring as she took one of her hands off the wheel and playfully shoved me. We both laughed, giddy to be out in the open, out on an adventure.
"What a perfect way to start the year, hey?" Indie mused. "First a week-long road trip out in the bush and then when we get home we can start looking for apartments in the city!"

My stomach flopped, and I forced a smile. I still hadn't even given a thought to what I would do now that I didn't get into uni. Should I still move to the city? What would I do there? Should I stay at home and work for another year? Or maybe... just maybe would I dare to give photography a chance? I sighed, trying to push those thoughts out of my mind, promising myself that I would try to figure out some sort of plan later this week while I had so much time to sit back and think. 

Eventually the open planes turned to fields of thick scrub and bush, mini-forests residing just by the edges of the road. I kept my eyes carefully trained on the window, awed by the luscious, green scenery flying past in a blur.
"Please Indie, we're miles in front of everyone else, can't we just stop for a few minutes to take some photos?" I begged, glancing away from the stunning view outside my window and turning to my best friend, giving her my best pout. She sighed and kept her eyes on the road.
"Reece stop giving me that look, you can take photos when we get to the first sight. The others can't be that far behind us and by the time we get out of the car they'll be zooming past us." I slumped back in my seat, disappointed. I knew Indie was right, there really wasn't any point in stopping, but it was definitely a shame that I was missing out on such great photo opportunities alongside the road. It had been so long since I shot out against a background of greenery, instead my landscape photos were often the red, musty stretches of land and the dried, yellow fields that surrounded our town.

I flipped my sunglasses down over my eyes, hoping that it would dull the beautiful colours we were zooming past and kill the dull ache inside my chest. The photographer in me that was pounding on my chest, trying to escape and capture the first leg of our journey. Well she'll just have to wait until we get to our first site. 

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Our journey continued and I only realised how long we had been on the road when my stomach let out a loud grumble. Indie gave me a quick glance, raising her eyebrows before bursting into laughter. "Oh my God, are you always thinking about food Reece?"
"Only when we've been on the road for about 12 hours" I retorted.
Indie snorted. "More like 4 hours."