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At dawn the next day, the sextet piled into Chandler's Explorer for an early start at what would undoubtedly be the most eye-opening and soul-clenching trip of their lives until that point. Surprisingly, all six managed to pack extraordinarily light- even the girls.
This trip was not about 5 star hotels (as if they could even afford that) or all-day Caribbean princess cruises. This was not the kind of vacation you take with mom and dad and grandma to the Grand Canyon. It was not about preconceived expectations or itineraries or souvenirs. The only things they'd take would be absolute necessities and the only things they'd bring back would be memories and absolutions. It was about six people taking in the symphonic range of their collective youths. It was about seeing the sun begin to blaze over the horizon of some nondescript dessert at 6 am. It was about everything from lustrous neon lights to dusty, lonely tumbleweeds. Most importantly, though, it was about being young and in love and crazy and stupid and emotional and idiotic and naive and full of potential and life.
It would be their last "hurrah" together.
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"Okay, so the 1 million dollar question is: Do we stop in Indianapolis or keep trucking through until Chicago?" Chandler asked from behind the steering wheel.
The rest of the car was somewhere between sedation and exhaustion. In the middle column, Phoebe and Joey were sprawled out over their seat like two etherized mental patients. Eyelids fluttering open and closed and chests rising and falling steadily, neither of them were conscious enough to muster any sort of insight. In the very back, Ross sat with his back against the window and one leg propped up on the back of Joey and Phoebe's seat. He rested his head against the pane and let the melodic stylings of John Coltrane lull him to sleep. Meanwhile, Rachel sat facing him with her back against the opposite window and her legs lounged across his. Being the only one conscious in the car besides Chandler and Monica , she took it upon herself to answer.
"Let's stop. We've been driving for almost 10 hours."
9 hours and 48 minutes, to me exact. It was now approaching 4 pm and the skyline of Indiana's capital could be seen poking up over the horizon. While quite an enormous city, it was still worlds away from New York. Rachel smiled to herself as she looked out the window. That's exactly what she needed- something worlds apart from New York. She couldn't get far enough away. When they finally hit California, she knew something inside her that had been caught in a groove would finally shift into place and she'd be different forever.
"Hey," she heard him coo from across the seat. She looked over and saw him smiling groggily through half-open eyelids back at her.
"Hey you," she whispered in turn, tapping his foot with hers in recognition and smiling warmly. "Enjoy your nap?"
"I did," he nodded. "Where are we?"
"Almost to Indianapolis. We're stopping there for the night."
"Ah," he replied, nodding and peering through the window at the city's skyline. "Their Museum of Art is supposed to have the best Summer Nights Concert of any other city in the country."
"Ross," she enquired, her mouth agape and shaking her head, "how do you know all this stuff?" He smiled back at her mischievously, exposing his pearly white teeth in a big toothy grin.
"Oh, I have my sources."
"Oh really?" she provoked, sliding across and seat and situating herself with her back to his chest. He slid his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.
