Tonight it's Fate

Part Ten

Louna glanced over at David as he reached for his iPod to pick a new album to listen to. They'd been in the car for an hour since leaving the hotel that morning, and according to the GPS they still had another hour to go before they reached the town they were heading toward. The music started again and David settled back in the seat, humming quietly along. They hadn't talked much during the drive, and Louna had noticed that David had seemed a bit withdrawn at breakfast with Seb and Laurence, but she'd figured he was still tired from the night before. For as much as he'd said he was exhausted, he'd tossed and turned an awful lot, inadvertently waking her up a few times over. Still, she couldn't help wondering if something else was wrong because it definitely felt like a different mood of his that she hadn't experienced. She looked over again, her thoughts spinning as she tried to keep her attention on the road and her driving; the last thing she needed was to crash his car because she was worried about nothing.

David stopped humming as she looked back to the road and he turned to gaze at her. "You keep looking at me like you want to say something... what is it?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Just wondering if everything's okay... you've been quiet this morning." It wasn't a lie, but what she didn't ask about were all the little things she'd noticed that were slowly fitting together and creating a picture in her mind of what could have been wrong. She also hadn't questioned his request for her to drive that day, again thinking he was maybe still tired and wanted to sleep on the way to the cabin, but so far he'd shown no sign of doing that. If something was bothering him, she hoped she was about to find out what.

David dropped his gaze from her, looking to the road ahead and offering a slight shrug. "M'fine. Just tired."

The words were a clear dismissal of the topic and she frowned, hearing the same note of avoidance in his voice that she sometimes used when faced with a hard question. The tone sent her worries higher, knowing for sure that something was wrong and David was keeping it from her. Why? What was so wrong that she couldn't know about it? She glanced at him again, vague intuition flashing through her mind about what it could be, but was it her place to call him out on it? Or did she just have to wait for David to come around and tell her the truth on his own time? If things got any worse he wouldn't have a choice about telling her. She mustered a smile for him. "Why don't you try to sleep the rest of the way? We have an hour to town and who knows after that... I can get the groceries we need if you're passed out."

He shook his head. "Nah, I'll just nap after we get there if I need to."

She gave him a sidelong glance. "Your choice," she replied after a moment.

An uncomfortable silence fell over the car then, and she noted the irony of the song that had come on; a lyrical tale of a couple's car trip that had an ill-fated outcome because of an approaching curve. However, before the song even reached the second verse, David skipped to the next track and discarded the music player back to the small nook below the dash display.

He fixed his gaze out the window and held in a sigh. He knew he was being stubborn and distant, but he didn't want to acknowledge what had happened the night before, although he couldn't maintain that forever. Louna was too smart and had definitely figured something out already, but stuck in the car together was not the place he wanted to have the discussion. He'd save the truth and explanations for when they were finally at the cabin and he had the physical space he needed. Random confessions were much better suited to outside the confines of a moving vehicle; band confrontations on tour buses had taught him that several times over.

Slowly the tension between them lessened as they continued along the highway and David relaxed back into the seat as the sun finally broke through the hazy clouds. Warmth filled the car and Louna reached down into the console to retrieve her sunglasses. She slipped on the frames, keeping her eyes on the road. A few minutes later she noticed the sign for an upcoming rest area and she glanced to David, readying to ask if he wanted to take a break or use the bathroom. She paused though, seeing him pick up the bottle of water from the cup holder. Her gaze went back to the road, knowing they had a few kilometers to go before she needed to ask. Or maybe he'd seen the sign too and didn't need to stop, because he would say something if he wanted a break, right?