Author's note: bruh
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When she got there, Celia was about to settle in a seat by the door when she realized Brooks was already standing and waiting near the middle of the cafe, backpack slung over his shoulder. He waved her over with a bright smile on his face.
"Whatcha sitting over there for?" Brooks greeted her.
"I didn't see you!"
"New things," he commented, taking the plastic bag off of her.
"Yup. Extra heavy."
"Sooo, how was your day?"
Celia could tell he was already trying to prep her for a crazy idea by charm. She gave him a side eye but couldn't help but smile back.
"What? I can't ask you how your day went?"
"Come on, cut to the chase. What is your big idea?"
"Okay. Early summer. You, me, open road. Let's drive to New York. Experience the middle of nowhere in between. It'll be so fun—Actually, no, from the top: You. New books. Me..."
Celia had to take a second.
"Huh. That is a big date." She decided to not immediately strike his hopes down. "And how long would this big date last for?"
"As long as you'd like. But it's gotta be 3 days plus, though. Come on, it can't be a 'big date' if it only lasts for a millisecond!"
"This is a really compelling idea, but I'm going to need a better pitch."
In all honesty, Celia hadn't been on a road trip before, and she had her doubts about going now.
"Have you ever even been on a road trip?" Brooks inquired.
There it is. "No, not exactly," she admitted.
"Good news! Because I'm making your first ever road trip the best one that a person could ever experience. Car music will be your choice."
Celia stared blankly, short-circuiting, torn between her skepticism and growing interest.
"And just consider this: It's not just any typical date. It'll be a ton of dates strung together. It's our chance—your opportunity to check off everything you want to do this summer. And! Just imagine reading in the passenger's seat, warm afternoon sun-"
"Well," Celia finally laughed, "The problem is I don't even have a list of things to do this summer. I don't know."
"Then let's get to making it," Brooks grabbed her hand from across the table, "Come on..."
"...Fine. Good idea," She smiled back at him. Brooks, grinning, pumped his free fist in success.
After getting settled with pastries for lunch, Brooks unzipped his bag and pulled out a piece of paper.
"You already knew I was going to agree," Celia remarked between a bite of her apple pie.
"I told you, it's just too good of an idea to pass up. What's today again?"
"Sunday, April 4th. It's not like I could let you go on a road trip alone. You don't even know what day it is," She joked. Brooks made a face at her.
"Anyways, we have about one month until graduation! And about one month to really get this together. No way anything can go wrong."
"Don't jinx it," Celia interjected with a smile.
"We need ideas," He continued, "This is probably gonna involve a lot of outdoors, since, you know, we're on the road, but we also need a plan once we get to NYC..."
"It makes sense for us to take the 95 along the coast. That'll be the fastest way into the city. Can you believe I've never been there by plane either?"
"Even if you had, I doubt you got the full experience. We gotta make it happen. Uh...more research tonight, because I forgot my laptop."
"And I will be handling the packing list," Celia gave him another nudge under the table.
