The Man on the Moon (The Man Duology)

Chapter 14

"Well, here she is." Briona gestured to her car -- it was a large, burgundy Kia, with more seats than I'd had hot dinners. "I mean, she might as well be put to good use. The useless old thing just sits out here, collecting dust," Deion looked at her, still with his puppy dog eyes. "Go on, take her."

Rubbing his hands together, Deion hopped into the driver's seat. Harvey and I followed, shortly after his mother. The interior of the seats was so soft I could have fallen asleep there and then. On the dashboard, the petrol light was dimly lit. The steering wheel's rim was also burgundy, with the middle Kia logo in silver. Next to it was the radio, with a billion buttons to play with. There were many temperature options, but nobody decided to play with those ones just yet. As expected, the boot was huge. In fact, the three of us could all fit in it. The car was bigger than we needed, granted, but that just meant more room for us to be able to sleep. Since nobody could afford to keep paying for hotels, this was the perfect mobile home.

"Are you all set, baby?" B was almost in tears, clutching the door frame of her back door and peering from the step.

"Yes, mum," Deion replied, slightly breathless from lugging his bags into the abnormally large boot. "I will be back as soon as I can. You have my number, yeah?"

"Yes baby I do," At this point, she grabbed one of his hands and brought it up to her chest. After a few seconds of caressing it, she kissed it and gave it back to him. "Call me at every stop, okay? Drive safe."

"I love you, Mama. I'm so glad I found you," He smiled.

Without any more words, Briona passionately grabbed her son and planted several kisses on his forehead. A few tears rose to my eyes. Is this what a mother/daughter relationship should be like too?
Stupidly, I imagined what my mother would be like in a situation like this. Although, it was hard because I didn't exactly know what she looked like, but I imagined an older, prettier and more experienced version of myself. The day dream was hazy -- cloudy to say the least. But it played in my mind over and over again, continuing to make me feel warm inside, even when Deion's mother was disappearing up the road, while we drove away. Of course, he was blubbering like a baby.

Once we swooped our things from the hotel room, we were on the road again. With Deion! Weirdly, that excited me. Of course, we had to fill up the tank with petrol. But we were back on the road -- the three musketeers. When we came to an empty petrol station on the outskirts of Bristol, we filled up the tank and payed for it using some of the money Briona hid in Deion's wallet. There was even a note. It read: 'have a safe trip. i love your British friends. They are much better than your gangy ones. Anyway, see you on the other side, sugar, i love you', which made him begin crying a river again.

"Well," I had tried to smile at him, rubbing his arm to make him feel safe. "At least she likes us."

The motorway looked dark, and it dawned on Harvey that he would have to tell his Dad about the truck. He began banging his head on the seat behind me -- quite violently.

"Woah, woah, woah, man," Deion ushered, trying not to take his eyes from the road. "No head banging in my car unless it's to the music."

"You're right," Wow, Harvey really had changed. "This is your car. And we're both really thankful."

"Does this mean I can call you Harv now without you throwing a fit?" Deion flashed a cheeky smile to Harvey through the mirror.

"Sure, sure," Harvey dismissed, putting his head in his hands. "God, I don't know what I'm going to tell my Dad about the truck."

"The truth, man," Deion shook his head, clutching the steering wheel. "Why would you do anything else?"

"Damn," He looked up to him, resting his fingers on his chin. "You are right a lot, aren't you?"