Reversal (Camren/Norminah)

Chapter 30: Like Lightning

XXX. 

With that, I felt her arm wrap around my shoulders and hand press to the back of my head, pulling me impossibly close. "Honestly Camila?" She whispered. "At this rate I'm more scared of you surpassing me."

Three days later, Lauren and I left Nashville with a heavy heart. She drove while I relaxed in the backseat, diverting my attention between lunch and my journal, both of which were sprawled in front of me. After a refill for gas and a quick driver switch, I navigated us across the border into Kentucky.

Turns out the bluegrass state was very flat, and if I hadn't seen enough horses before, I definitely had now. The drive was quick, seeing as the first major stop we made was in Louisville to stock up on supplies and get a lowdown of the locals. Lauren hopped out of the backseat when we were docked at a downtown brewery and (after insisting that my baby face wouldn't help her cause) disappeared inside for a few minutes. I took the time to arch over the backseat and examine her drawings. Almost all of them were done in a black fine tip, and featured some kind of farm life.

"The derby isn't until May." She informed me, sliding back into the car with a paper bag on her arm. "Sorry Camz, you'll have to watch sweaty men trot around on horses some other time."

"What did you get?"

"Bourbon." Lauren lifted a sealed bottle of dark liquid out of the bag. "Apparently this city is known for it."

"Why?"

"For fun." Lauren shrugged. "And it can help sterilize weapons and wounds."

I shivered. "Is it going to come to that?"

"You never know." Lauren packed the bottle back inside its bag and slid it underneath the mattress, wedging it beside one of Dinah's coolers. "It's better to be safe than sorry."

"How did you get them to sell you alcohol?" I questioned, noting that this had to be the tenth time she had pulled something like this off.

"You just have to bat your eyes the right way." Lauren explained. "And pull the shirt down to the side a little bit to show some shoulder."

"I thought they only did that in the cartoons."

"You can learn a lot from cartoons." The girl replied, crawling up in between the seats and planting herself in the one next to me.

"I suppose." I leaned back in my seat. "I guess Smokey, Woodsy and McGruff did teach me nearly everything I know."

"Who?" Lauren frowned.

"Never mind." I brought the engine to life, starting off through downtown Louisville. "So what do you want to do? Should we stick around here for a while, or keep moving?"

Lauren turned to look at me, hesitating for a few seconds before slumping down in her seat. "Let's hang out here for a little bit, it's only about an hour and a half more to Cincinnati, and I think you need a break."

"Hm?" I glanced at her. "What do you mean?"

Lauren just shrugged. "I don't know, you seem... twitchy."

"Twitchy?"

"Just trust me on this." Lauren whipped her phone out. "Apparently the Ohio river is just on the other side of town. Head over there and we'll find a nice place in the sun to relax."

I did as instructed, meandering through the city and stopping at a public parking lot full of families enjoying their weekends. The waterfront was pretty; speckled with different coloured ducks and pigeons waddling around the docks. After locking up the car, I went and found a quiet, shady place in the waterfront park to set up camp, while Lauren disappeared down the boardwalk and returned a few minuets later with two tall cups of a semi clear, beige liquid.