The Man on the Moon (The Man Duology)

Chapter 16

After sleeping in another hard shoulder, which always made my neck bend in weird places, we were just over 10 miles away from Nottingham. Unaware of the time, my eyes opened to the sun rising over the hill. Although the light blinded me, it was beautiful. Absolutely incredible. As the trip to Nottingham went on, Max and Deion got along better and better. So much so that I woke up to them being asleep next to him in the passenger seat. It kind of saddened me that they weren't attached to my hip, but it gave Harvey and I some breathing space.
Yet again, I had left a small patch of drool on Harvey's chest. Every single night we seemed to gravitate towards each other. Even when I was somewhat mad at him, I would always end up lying on him the morning, in my little patch of drool. Not that he minded.

"Hey," Harvey grumbled from his sleepiness. "How come you're awake? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," I closed my eyes again, readjusting my head so that it wasn't in my own drool. "Are you?"

"Yeah, I'm juuuust fiiiine," He smirked, playing with my hair. "What's with Max anyway, what's her story?"

"Their story," I grumbled, snapping my eyes open. "They were bullied because they are gender fluid."

"Okay, okay, I get it. They are a they." He rolled his eyes. "Look, I don't want to fight."

"I don't want to fight either,"

"Gooood mooorning campers," Deion sang, stretching his arms. Suddenly, he noticed that Max was still asleep and instantly felt bad.

Max grumbled, crossed their arms and faced the window, still keeping their eyes tightly closed. Clearly they didn't want to be awake at sun rise.

Abandoning Harvey, I decided to sit up and watch the sun for myself. He was slightly offended for a few seconds, but dismissed it with falling back to sleep. His sweet snores filled the entire car, and soon enough Deion joined him in falling back to sleep. Like a child, I stretched my arms across the window pane and rested my chin on them. The sky's flames seemed to dance along the horizon, reflecting on each individual, fluffy cloud and making them all a peachy colour. Sighing, I fully immersed myself in the natural phenomenon. Every so often, the redness of the sky would gradually disappear, and the normal, grey sky would appear, peaking through the sleepy clouds. It reminded me of two lovers. At the start of their relationship, they ignite the sky and reflect on everything around them. Their happiness makes everybody else feel warm. Then, over time, they gradually fade. Be distant towards each other. Other clouds come onto the scene. And finally, the romance goes back to being the same, grey average love story that winds its way into Hollywood and repeats itself in every cliché RomCom ever.
Looking over to Harvey, I wondered if I could trust him not to hurt me again. Trying to think about what Julia would say about this situation, I kinda missed her. Although she wasn't my biological mother (let's be real, I won't ever see her again), she was my guardian. To soothe me, I imagined Julia's voice in my head. In her sooth, angelic tone, she would tell me to give him a second chance. Definitely. Since she gave Dad so many chances, Harvey probably wouldn't be an exception.

Quickly, I pivoted myself around to face away from the window. Bending down, I rummaged through my bag in order to find my phone. Missing Julia made me want to ring her -- just to make sure she knew things were okay and going to plan. Although, we didn't account to pick up this many friends, it's something that didn't have a negative impact. I hope Harvey thought it that way too.

Eventually, I found my phone. Devastated, I clicked the home button several times. Dead. Extending my arm, I reached for the charger cable, which was plugged into the cigarette lighter. Patiently, I waited for my phone to turn back on. The white background with the apple logo on it infuriated me the longer it was on the screen, making me want to throw it out of the window. But I couldn't. I had to speak to Julia.