She continued to smile through her broken heart, and pretended that the pain was a myth as she fixed her face in her compact. Rebel tears outlasted from the hollow cast of her heart crept slowly from the inner corners of her eyes. Yet she still smiled. She was now only half alive. She knew he was tired, so she waited. She waited for a sign, for a hint, for anything. There was none. His face was blank as he watched the road carefully.
"Are you alright?" Were the only words he could mutter after a decade of silence. She clearly wasn't.
"I'm fine." She lied as she swept the few stray strands of hair from her face. "I'm fine..." She said again, more to herself, as if trying to convince herself that this was the truth. The car came to a hault at a nearby 7-11.
"Want something?" He asked her while he unbuckled his seatbelt. She simply shook her head as he made his way out of the vehicle. She was as now alone with her thoughts. With the car off, she caught herself pulling her sleeves over her hands from the cold. She rests her head against the icy window. It was around 2:30 a.m. The sun would be rising within a few hours. The thought of her warm bed gave her chills. She knew nothing would be the same. A lone tear fell as the thought crossed her mind again. The car door opened and she quickly wiped her face as he entered.
"Here... I didn't know... If-" His sentence remained incomplete as he handed her the 10oz bottle of orange juice.
"Thanks..." She smiled sheepishly as she took the bottle and rested it in her lap.
"Are you hungry?" He asked her as he started the car. The gentile vibration of the engine soon circulated around them.
"I'm alright." She replied.
"When was the last time you ate?" He asked. Silence. She couldn't remember.
"Is there anything you need to get?" He broke the silence.
"Maybe some clothes and my toothbrush." she answered as the car pulled out of the convenience store parking lot. There was a silence in the car, more of a calm than uncomfortable, as they drove to the place the girl once knew as home. He stopped the car two houses down from the destination.
"I'll keep the car on..." He turned to her. "Are you sure you don't need me to come along?"
"No I'm alright. Keep the car running, I won't be long." She replied as she disappeared out of the car into the darkness.
