Wonderlust

Shark. Dork. Shork.

    Dylan made a smart decision and drove the rest of the day, even though there wasn't much left of it. There were some things left, like my newly acquired knowledge of how to drive and to get yourself killed if you're a smidge unluckier than I am. There were our snacks. There was Dylan's pack of cigarettes.

    We eventually hit a small town and stopped for gas and a road map. Now we were nearing the edge of Olympia National Park. It's just a few hours until we hit Oregon form there. Currently we found a semi-empty parking lot near a Wendy's that was in better shape than most of this town. Sitting on the roof  of the car you could watch the sun set. You could also eat as much chocolate as you wanted.

    "We're really doing it." Dylan sighed as he snapped off a
Hershey's rectangle. "Man, it's been a wild day, I don't think my heart will ever recover from the surprise you gave me."

    I smiled thinly, looking down at my shoes hanging off the edge of the car. "Psh, it wasn't that cool."

    I still felt pretty cool though.

    "Sure it was. Moving on, I think one of these days we're going to have to eat actual substantial food, instead of junk." Dylan sighed, leaning back so that he was staring up at the sky.

    "Agreed."

    I leaned back with him, the stars were just starting to peek out. There weren't a lot, and the few that did reveal themselves were quite dim, but it was nice. It was quiet for a bit; the air was brisk with a slight chill. Washington was like that, always chilly and wet in the colder months. You either liked or you didn't. I liked it. Just then I felt something brush up against the edge of my hand, I looked over at Dylan. He was turned the other direction and fiddling with his hands. Must have been the wind.

    "What're you thinking about?"

    "Huh?" Dylan replied, as if what I had asked was startling.

    "You're all quiet over there. Anything interesting going on up there?" I smirked at him, stretching.

    "Uh... oh you know, the usual. Songs, the fact that we're actually doing this, " his cheeks turned a little red. "Sharks."

    I frowned in amusement, but just then a buzz from the front my front pocket in my hoodie. I pulled out my phone to discover someone was calling me. The number seemed familiar but I couldn't place it. It wasn't anyone I knew because I blocked all my family's numbers early on. Out of curiosity I answered it.

    "Allie?" It was a man's voice.

    "Who is this?" I immediately went on the defensive, Dylan shot me a look of concern.

    "Hey Allie, thank goodness. Look your mother has been trying to reach you and she won't stop bugging me so if you could just call her or something-"

    "Who are you?" I demanded again, feeling the creeping and cold hand of suspicion grip my chest gently.

    "It's me! Your father-"

    I hung up and shoved my hand back into my pocket, my head was spinning. That was his voice. I wasn't ready for that. I wasn't expecting my mom to be so desperate that she called him. What if she somehow found out about our plans?

    "Who was it?" Dylan asked, sensing how freaked out I was.

    "My... dad." I clenched my teeth.

    His dyed eyebrows flew up in surprise. "What did he say?"

    "He said my mom told him to call me. I hung up. I didn't ever think she would call him. She either cares too much, which is unlikely, or she's really angry." I was rambling and there was an uneasy feeling in my stomach.

    "Hey." He insisted. "It's going to be fine. Did he sound angry?"

    "No." I admitted.

    "You still want to head towards California?"

    I hesitated. "Yeah, yeah I do."

    Dylan nodded firmly. "Okay. Then that's what we'll worry about right now. "

    My phone dinged again, this time it was a text from an unknown number. I read the first few lines before exhaling shakily and showing to Dylan, because he was all concerned again.

    I don't know where you've gone off to now you little sh*t, but don't even bother coming back now. I hope you feel bad for forcing mom to contact that deadbeat...

    "Is this your sister?"

    "Probably."

    Dylan frowned deeply before messing with my phone and handing it back. "How about you just turn that off for a while?"

    I nodded. "Yeah, good idea."

    I leaned down over the car and slipped it back into my duffle bag. Away from my clothes because I didn't want those two things mixing with each other. Hoodies were a good vibes thing only.

    I still felt kind of bad, and on the verge of tears, but if nothing happened in the next few minutes I could probably forget it. Dylan must have picked up on this because he opened up his arms and I accepted his hug gratefully.

    "It's going to be fine." He promised, patting my back gently.

    "What if they track us down? Won't we get in trouble?" I questioned.

    "Nah. I'll be a legal adult in a week in a half, they won't catch us before then." Dylan promised, letting me finally. "I mean it won't get us out of all trouble but it helps a lot. And that's not going to happen, because you're super strong and you're going to get through this. You're like... a shark."

    "A shark?" I surprised myself by huffing out laughter that I didn't expect, it just caught me so off guard.

    "Yeah." Dylan nodded, absolutely sure in his metaphor, and pointed towards my hoodie. "Shark. Super scary and fierce."

    I kept forgetting I was wearing the thing. "Most sharks are actually pretty gentle."

    Dylan flailed his hands and laughed. "Okay, well you're that too."

    I thought about it then smiled along, moving past the insecure feelings for my blood relatives. Dylan saw that and pointed at my face, grinning with satisfaction.

    "There's that toothy shark smile."

    "Stop it." I laughed. "Dork."

    "Shark." He replied, over-pronouncing each syllable as wrongly as he could. "Sherk. Shrek. Shark. Dork. Shork."

    "Shork?"

    "Shork."