Sunshine City (Petekey)

II.

~

Upon being asked on what to bring, Pete just gave me a small, knowing smile.

"You just have to bring your imagination, Storm. And of course some toiletries," he winked. "I'll take care of everything else," he promised. He squeezed my shoulder, gently, before chuckling and hopping in the front seat of the car. I sighed rounded the car to sit in the front seat of the car.

Pete had an old car. It was his father's old one. The one Pete begged him not to get rid of him. He promised me that he knew it had a use, and he'd find it one day. I always thought perhaps he'd take it apart and make some sort of invention. Now, I understood that it would be our home for a while.

Pete grinned at me from the driver's seat.

"Ready to go, my fellow explorer?" He raised an eyebrow at me, questioningly.

"Of course I'm ready," I nodded, buckling my seat belt.

And with blankets, pillows, clothes, credit-cards, and other certain toiletries, we were on our way, driving down the Jersey road, away from the place we called home, and into a new territory.

And we were both scared, shitless.

"Just think, Storm," Pete grinned, turned on the radio. "We'll be the first kids in our town to get to New York. How do you feel about that?" He grinned.

"I feel like I've accomplished the biggest feat in the world," I winked. He reached over and shoved me, gently.

"This is no time for your silly jokes," he rolled his eyes at me. "We've got nothing but the big open road and purple skies ahead of us," he grinned. I watched his fingers relax against the steering wheel and begin tapping lightly  to the beat of the music on the radio.

We drove in silence for a few minutes, just listening to the music and jamming out together, before I pulled out my cellphone. That got me an annoyed look from Pete, who sighed.

"What?" I asked, defensively. "Don't be a baby, Pete, I'm just checking to make sure everything's okay at home."

"Turn it off when you're done, Mikes, we haven't even been gone three hours. The universe can wait for a little bit. Can we just enjoy the beautiful scenery we're going by?" He grinned, motioning out the window.

"Ah, yes," I nodded, sarcastically. "Fields of flowers. So exciting," I joked.

Pete suddenly pulled over, and I let out a gasp of surprise, and my phone when tumbling from my grip and on to the floor of the car. It landed next to my bag that was stuffed under my feet.

"Pete!" I protested, reaching down to try and grab it. The seatbelt kind of held me back, but eventually I managed to grab it, and turn it off. I turned to face Pete, annoyed. "What was that for?" I brushed a strand of hair out of my face.

"Get out of the car," he demanded. I could see a playful twinkle in his eyes, so I knew he had something planned. "Come on!" He urged, unbuckling his seat-belt and opening the door, making the music immediately turned off, and I opened the passenger door and threw my phone on the seat.

I followed him out into the field, shaking my head as his child-like behavior. He suddenly let out a squeal of delight and threw himself down into the grass and flowers and rolled around in the grass.

"Pete, isn't this like, private property or something?" I raised an eyebrow and looked around, nervously. Suddenly, my leg was yanked out from underneath me, and I fell into the grass, letting out a shriek. "Pete!" I protested, as he began tickling me. I tried hard to escape his grip, and writhed around, laughing hysterically. Finally, he let me go, and I lay there, gasping for a second to catch my breath.

"Think flower fields are boring now?" He leaned back onto his knees and gave me a challenging stare. He was out of breath too, and finally sat up, wiping the grass from my back.

"No," I laughed. I picked a flower from the roots, and breathed it in, gently, before sneezing. "I think I'm allergic," I admitted, gently.

"Uh, hey Storm," Pete's voice suddenly got a bit more serious, and lost his childish smile. "I wish we could stop and smell flowers forever, but unfortunately, we might have to cut it short," he gave a small chuckle.

"Wha-?" I dropped the flower, and turned around, to a very scary sight. A large, Italian man was bumbling towards us, shouting and waving his arms. "Pete! You said this wasn't private property!" I gasped.

"Actually, I didn't, but let's argue about that later, shall we?" He grinned, taking my hand and dragging me up towards the road. I ran with Pete, till we reached the car. I hopped into the passenger seat and waited anxiously for Pete to get in.

"Drive, drive!" I exclaimed, as soon as he put the keys in ignition. Pete stepped on the gas, and we sped away from the flower field, both breathing heavily.

"Whoo!" Pete yelled, letting the window down on my side. I grinned and leaned out of it, grabbing the hood so just my legs were in the car.

"Good-bye, New Jersey!" I shouted as soon as we passed the sign, that told us that we were leaving New Jersey, and entering New York, and I returned to the safe position inside the car.

"Storm, we did it!" Pete laughed, gleefully. "We're in New York! We're just starting our journey, and already I can smell that sun-kissed skin," he grinned.

"We'd have to go the opposite way. Towards Florida," I replied. "That's where there's a lot of sun." I corrected him.

"I didn't mean in New York, you undercooked bagel. I meant Sunshine City!" He countered my remark. We're going to have the time of our life," he promised.

"Well, I can't wait," I grinned. "Now that we're in New York, we can do just about anything," I added.

The sun had begun to set over the New York horizon, and I could honestly say I'd never seen anything so beautiful in my life. The way the sun's rays cast over the clouds made it seem like some sort of Heaven that you'd think of. Pete pulled into a crappy drive-in place and asked me what I wanted. I told him, and he ordered for himself. After the few minutes it took for the food to get ready and after paying, Pete got back on the road, and  drove onwards until we reached a large forest, not unlike the ones that were outside Pete's house.

Pete turned the car off, but kept his CDs playing, and we sat there, enjoying our dinner, and sort of trying to get over the fact that this would basically be our life until we found the city that every kid searched for. When we were done, we watched the sun set before Pete got out and grabbed the sleeping bags from the back. He spread them on the back of the truck so they were facing the sunset.

"We can sleep here tonight. I'm not sure how safe rural New York is, but I can promise you a bed tomorrow night, Storm," he grinned.

I nodded and thanked him for a great day before settling in my sleeping bag, in the back of the truck. I'd barely closed my eyes before I felt Pete reposition himself in his own sleeping bag. I prayed that Pete wasn't a restless sleeper in unfamiliar places. I knew he was fine in his own house because of the sleepovers we had when we were younger.

Luckily, that was the only time Pete seemed to move during the night.

-

I don't even really know what I'm doing, but hopefully it goes well, lol.