Black-Eyed Seattle

A Long Ride

He starts the car as I put his second suitcase in the trunk. I pull the lid down and secure it, then jog to the passenger seat. I've barley closed my door before he begins to pull out of the driveway.

The first few miles we sit in silence. Not an awkward silence, more of a pleasant silence. The car is not completely silent, of course. The frequent pleasant sighs and mumbling of 'I love you's' coming from Chase's mouth fill the air. After another few minutes of this, I decide to grab the aux cord from the floor of the 1993 jeep and play some music.

I try to keep the mood the way it is, so I play the 'If You Were a Movie, This Would Be Your Soundtrack' EP by Sleeping With Sirens. This seems to do the trick, as the 'I love you's' and sighs turn into tapping on the steering wheel and quietly singing along to the song.

As we get to the outskirts of Everett, we begin to see signs reading miles  to Seattle. Chase reaches his hand over to my side of the car and intertwines his fingers with mine. I take my eyes away from the tall pines to take a look at my beautiful boyfriend.

He's wearing that greenish-gray whitewashed sweater of his, the hood of his sweater covering a third of his scalp. His chestnut brown hair is curling out onto his forehead, close to reaching his eyes. His huge dark brown eyes staring intently at the road. His lovely shaped lips that have left hickeys around my neck countless times formed into the most content smile imaginable. His Adam's Apple pointing out to make out what looks like a small mountain range along his neck. I swear, I'm dating an angel.

Chase takes his eyes off the road for a moment to give me a huge dorky smile. This triggers a smile to run across my face as well. He turns back to the road. I'm still sitting there, smiling at him. "I love you so much, you know that?" He blurts out over the music. "Yeah, it's kind of obvious, but I think I love you just a little bit more." I reply. At this remark, he just smiles and shakes his head, mumbling something like 'sure'.

I look down at my phone to make sure we still have enough music to last us all the way to Seattle. Only when I look down do I notice that I've been rubbing my thumb across Chase's hand for god knows how long. This happens too often. Why do I not notice myself doing that? I say to myself in my head.

I add one more song to the playlist, thinking that should be enough. I turn my phone off and glance around to see if the scenery has changed at all in the past thirty seconds. News Flash: it hasn't. I lean my head on Chase's shoulder and rest my free hand on his forearm. He tilts his head to rest it on mine for a second as a sense of recognition.

As the next few minutes go by, the scenery finally begins to change. Tall pines and fat cypresses begin to mold into family owned grocery stores and small houses. The next few minutes bring gas stations and coffee shops into view. Finally on the outskirts of civilization. I think to myself.

"I think we should stop by that small coffee shop with all the plants and that one indie record store, see if there's anything new going on there." Chase begins, breaking the content silence. "Sounds good to me," I say repositioning my head further into the crook of his neck.

I close my eyes for a minute or two, enjoying the warmth of another person. I savor moments like these, because I know it'll be the last time in a while that I'll be able to feel the touch of my favorite person. I reach my head up to plant a soft kiss to his neck. He squeezes my hand, and I can feel the goosebumps come to life on his arm. A low hum resinates in the bottom of his throat. I smile to myself and position my head back to where it was. Teasing him has always been my favorite hobby.

When I open my eyes, I can see our first stop in the distance, the coffee shop. "Thank god we're almost there, I don't know why I'm still tired, but I definitely need some more caffeine in me." I saw while yawning. "That's because you make weak-ass coffee" he retorts back. I can't argue with him, he's right.

The more I watch the road, the more I notice the lack of people. It's a Wednesday morning, there should be tons of people driving and walking to work. I realize that we haven't seen a single human being since we left the house.
"Does something seem off to you?"
"Not really, why?"
"I haven't seen any people since we left the house."
"You're right. We're pretty far into the city, too. We should have seen someone by now."

He slows down and pulls into the gas station up ahead. "Come on. Let's see if there's anyone in here." He says as he pulls into a parking spot. I straighten myself out and stretch a little before I move to open the door. By the time I shut the car door behind me, Chase is already almost at the entrance of the place. I jog over to where he is, and he looks up at me.

"This place opens at 9:00. What time is it now?" He asks. I pull out my phone and look at the time. "7:30," I reply. "Alright, lets go straight to the airport if it's already that time. I don't want to be late for my flight." I nod in a sad agreement and turn back and head for the car. We get in about the same time, and Chase starts the car up again. We pull out of the gas station and make our way towards the airport.