Coast to Coast

Coast to Coast Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Riley

Tristan had always been big into road trips. He loved to wake up at the crack of dawn get in the car and just go, most of the time there wasn’t even a destination. He’d come by my house while the light was still gold and gray and drag me out of bed all bundled up in my comforter with the promise of coffee and adventures. I wouldn’t really even be awake until we’d passed the city limits. Just as the Lake Port sign wizzed past us I would have the urge to stop everything and turn around, to crawl back into bed, to hide but it was already too late. So I’d sit next to Tristan and watch the steam roll out of the Styrofoam cup he’d picked up at the corner store and try not to think about anything or else it would all come crashing down. It always did.

Honestly I was sick of riding shot gun while he played Jack Kerouac. I was sick of being the puppy that followed him, but most of all I was angry. The feeling had been growing and festering inside of me since the minute I’d climbed in the car and found a Styrofoam cup filled with coffee sitting in the passenger’s side cup holder. I could feel it eat me up, I could feel it fill the car and strain against the windows. The only thing that I wanted my red hot unquenchable anger do was burn Tristan but I knew it never would. I knew it would never even touch him or his stupid pompous intellect or his bright shiny dreams. This time when the Lake Port sign flew past us I didn’t want to run home I wanted to throw my coffee at the sign and curse the whole damn place into the ground. I just wanted to forget, but I can’t not with him sitting next to me looking just the way he always did: sensitive, and intelligent, and perfect. I had wanted to throw my coffee at him too but I decided not to waste it. I drained the last sip crushed the cup and jammed it back down into the cup holder. I turned my back to Tristan trying to pretend he wasn’t there. I pulled my knees up to my chest and watched the rain drops slide down the window. The world around me suddenly slowed down and shifted to the right as Tristan pulled off of the highway. I tried to seem uninterested as the tires crunched across the gravel parking lot. Tristan parked and there was a long moment of nothing.

“Come on.” He said as he collected the trash between us and opened his door.

“I’m fine actually.” I said still facing the window.

“No you’re out of coffee. Which means that soon you’ll grown another head and start spouting satanic verses.” He said leaning over me and opening my door for me.

I pulled my hood over my head so he wouldn’t see me trying to fight a smile. It’s the strangest thing in the world to have someone right in front of you who knows you inside and out and yet you might as well be strangers. I shook off this thought as we entered the gas station. Once inside it wasn’t hard to distract myself. The place was bright and warm. There was a long lunch counter at one end with a few booths behind it. The floor was red and white checkerboard and the walls were a crisp clean white, the curtains were red and white gingham it was so comforting I never wanted to leave. I felt like I had walked into my grandmother’s kitchen. This was just the kind of place I loved to stop when Tristan and I went on car trips. He hated it we would stop at a little place for a pee break and I would want to spend all day. I sighed knowing I would never get to sit on one of those spinning bar stools and made my way towards the row of steaming coffee pots in front of the window.

“Hey” Tristan said from behind me.

 I turned around to see him making his way towards the counter. I put down the Columbian supremo in my hand and hurried after him.

“What are you doning?” I asked as he took a seat on a stool.

“Having lunch because I’m hungry.” He said curtly opening a menu and blocking his face from my view.

I couldn’t help but beam as I took the seat next to him and excitedly opened a menu. I peaked over the edge of my menu and watched the flurry of action going on behind the counter. The cook stood with his back to his at the flat top flipping burgers and drumming out a beat with his spatula. The two women behind the counter were clearly career waitresses. You could tell because they were performing a complicated ballet of refilling mugs and taking orders with ease and grace. The smells and sounds were familiar and comforting; I had already forgotten the rain outside and the long road ahead. I was in paradise.

“What’ll you have to drink sweetie” asked one of the waitresses. She was standing at attention in front of us with a thick pad in one hand and a blue pen in the other. She snapped her gum and glanced at me impatiently. Her name tag read in plain letter “Grace”.

“We’ll grace I’ll have the biggest cup of coffee you can give me. Regular please decaf isn’t really even real coffee if you ask me, just brown soulless water that’s impersonating coffee.” I paused here to take a breath, so far she didn’t seem entertained by my antics. “My driver here will have a coke with either grenadine or maraschino cherry syrup which ever you have.”

She looked at Tristan skeptically. He was busy staring at his menu and didn’t comment. She glanced back at me and poped her gum once again.  

“And to eat?” she asked, I noticed, dropping the sweetie.

“Oh that’s easy” I said wiggling in my seat and pulling myself up straighter. “I’ll have the biscuits and gravy” I said.

“Toast or home fries?” she asked looking up at me. The Wild West music started in my head and I knew we were about to engage in the classic diner shoot out.

“Home fries.”

“Fried or scrambled eggs?”

“Scrambled.”

“Cereal or fruit?” she asked pen pressed to the page, eyes narrowed, lips pursed.

“Neither.” I said narrowing my eyes as I delivered my final blow handing my menu over in triumph. The music in my head faded and I smiled at her dropping my character.

“He’ll have a BLT but hold the T on dry toast with fries not chips and a side of mayo to dip his fries in. I know it’s gross but his moms Scandinavian, the do that there, so he can’t help it. He’ll also have a pack of those camels from behind the counter. Terrible habit isn’t it, breaks his mothers heart really.”

 I finally stopped talking and blinked up at her with doe eyes. She wordlessly snatched his menu off the counter and walked away as if she were afraid that if she opened her mouth to reply I would never stop talking.

“You always have had a way with people.”  Tristan said sarcastically.

“I know people love me.” I returned “It’s so flattering.”

“So I see you still remember my standard order” There was a mysterious tone in his voice as he said it. When I turned to look at him there was an ever more mysterious twinkle in his eye. I suddenly felt my heart wrench like it had been flung into the depths of an engine and was being dragged through the gears. I felt myself swallow hard and clear my throat before replying.

“I remember a lot of things”