Backseat Drivers

Brief Malaise

Cindy had tried to stay awake. Not that she'd admit it to herself why, but it was in vain anyway - her elbow propped against the car window to get comfortable in the passenger seat. Through blurry eyes, she'd looked through the windshield into the darkness, trying to distinguish the fuzzy shapes of the tree leaves sifting in the breeze until she couldn't focus on them anymore. It was around 3AM when she finally succumbed to the nagging of her persistently heavy eyelids, just in time to hear Aika and Roy stumble back in the midst of some psychotropic conversation, their voices hushed with blitzed awe. 

Sean had taken residence outside the car on Roy's camping chair - it was no use taking up space in the car if he wasn't even going to sleep. There was just enough space for Roy, Aika, and Cindy (and Roy's fish-tank) to rest with some mild discomfort, and perhaps get at least a few hours sleep. He already knew Calum wasn't coming back tonight, despite Cindy's wretched smidgen of hope. Somewhere along his track of mind, as he dwelled outside listening to the insects' susurration, he'd remembered something from the Eurostar, just as the shrooms had started to kick in. The absence of two of his friends, the lingering glances, the familiar glint in Calum's eye before he excused himself to the toilets. How romantic. His mind glossed over this only momentarily; he'd be lucky for such a trivial thing to occupy his thoughts any longer, and now he found himself plunged back into the restlessness of insomnia. At this point in his quest for peace he'd usually try to focus on the sights, sounds, sensations of night but what was the point of that when it was pitch fucking black? Admittedly, he could have made more of an effort, though he had no wish to expel the still vaguely - hallucinatory disorientation from his mind. Roy's shrooms had opened a gateway in his brain, one that he'd been trying to bust open for years, and for once, he had an inkling of reassurance that he could harmonise with something. He harmonised with the freedom of thought, the bizarre ideas that flooded his senses. The world wasn't just grey matter anymore, it was humming from the core of its new dimension. 

-

It must have been about 9AM when Calum strolled up to the car, bright and chipper, with a hearty spring in his step. Aika was still groggily arising, dark speckles clouding her vision for the few seconds after her eyes opened, whilst Roy and Sean were talking outside, laughing at something one of them had said. Once she'd sat up and found her bearings, Aika noticed Cindy was still in the front seat where she'd slept last night, only now awake, and twirling the end of her hair in contemplation. 

"Morning lads!" came the cheery greeting, and Aika heard Roy and Sean acknowledge Calum in return. "Feeling fresh?"

"Fresher than you?" Roy quipped back, earning a grin from Calum. 

"Doubt it, if you slept in the fucking car."

"Yeah, like fuck am I doing that again," Roy muttered. "Sean, do we really have no money for a hotel?"

Sean grimaced, releasing cigarette smoke from the side of his mouth into the morning air. 

"Could try scrape something together. We'll pool in a bit, see what's left." 

Still partly disorientated with remnants of sleep, Aika leant across the seat to knock lightly on the window, smiling as Roy caught her eye and grinned. She then shuffled sideways as he leant forwards to open the door, and left it open for Calum to follow. 

"Good sleep?" he asked, as she scoffed lightly. 

"Your snoring lulled me right off," she responded sarkily, and he grinned, apologetically, before his eyes darted to Calum suggestively.

"Good sleep?"

"Barely," Calum winked cheekily, sliding in next to him. Sean's eyes flicked to Cindy, but he merely got into the car, not saying anything as Calum added a smirking comment. "Had a few other matters to attend to."