Chapter 46 - Distracted

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I wince at the summer dawn's bright assault on my eyes as I haul my backpack into the backseat.
My mom stands next to me, hand on my shoulder. "You sure you got everything?"
"Yes, mom," I nod patiently, though she went through my luggage earlier, displacing everything just to check if I had packed my toothbrush.

James, Hana and Sky's camping trip presented a perfect opportunity for my mother to tell my father we were leaving. She would talk to him with a male coworker in the other room, just im case things got violent. Though I insisted on being there, she said their divorce was none of my business: it should never be my concern or responsibility whether or not my parents stay together. She said I was her kid, and wouldn't expect me to be an adult any longer.
I held back tears and pulled her to me.

So off I'm supposed to go, to leave my troubles behind and spend some time with my extended family.

Hana was the second person to look through my luggage. It was sweet, the way she spoke to my mom as she unzipped it in the middle of the sidewalk, my face flushing with humiliation.
"She packed underwear?" Hana asked.
"Yes, and bras."
"Toothbrush?"
My mom smiled. "I made sure."
I groaned loudly, covering my face, and when I whined 'mom', I wasn't too sure who I was talking to.

"Be careful, alright?" she now strokes my hair. "Don't forget your mosquito repellent."
"Mom," I say. "It's one night. Just one."

And once I'm back tomorrow night, hopefully one less ghost will haunt my house. Our house.

I shake the thought away, because I shouldn't worry about it. It's none of my business. But still:

"Hey," I take her hand, "be careful, too."
She nods, eyes dry and bright. Because her marriage isn't crumbling; it's crumbled long ago. "Don't worry about it," she murmurs, and I smile, because I'm grateful.

Once she's fully reassured, she walks back to the house, hands tucked together at her belly. I watch her go.
She turns at the door. "Oh," she adds, a hint of a smile on her lips. "I added something in your bag. In the small pocket at the front." I raise my brow at her. She answers with a shrug: "You might need it tonight."

She enters without giving me further clarification.

And two hands rub down my arms, sending shivers through me, followed by an actual swoon when a kiss lands sweetly on my neck. "Ready to go?" Sky says lowly, voice still raspy from the early wake up, and I turn to face him with a smile.
"Ready," I whisper, with a kiss right at the corner of his lips, just because.
He pouts at my teasing as I climb into the car, James entering at the same time as I do.

A few seconds later, we begin the long drive the camping site.

I fell asleep about an hour into it, the red stains in the sky bordering my blurring vision. When I woke up, it was blue again, and the car was speeding through an empty, clean road. The sight of the sun hanging high and white above, its light cascading downwards and gracing Sky's sleeping face; all of it was peace. Quiet happiness.
When James asked me to wake Sky up for breakfast, I did so with multiple pecks on his lips, to which he didn't respond to until I pulled away: he whined and pushed me back down onto his chest as the car stopped.
"Did you just want me to—"
"Keep kissing me?" he rasped, opening a sleepy eye. "Duh?"
I giggled, and pushed off of him with a teasing pat on his shoulder.

Breakfast was had. Teeth were brushed in the rest-stop bathroom. Kissing was also done in the rest-stop bathroom. It went on long enough that my phone buzzed with a concerned call from Hana. Sky groaned as I slipped away from between his body and the wall to answer the it, telling her we'd be out soon.
I attempted to fix his now-ruffled hair before we left, though my fingers had really done a number on it, and we pretended nothing happened as we embarked for the rest of the trip. Back onto the endless and happy road, the sun getting brighter and brighter as we got further and further from home.

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