Chapter 11
AJ glanced over towards where Nick sat
sleeping in the seat beside him, his head tilted awkwardly upon the glass, a
sweatshirt pulled up around his shoulders. He hadn't changed positions much in
the past five hours except maybe to ask what time it was, or to see if AJ
needed a break.
AJ had been pretty shocked when he'd
been somewhat rudely awakened at around 6 am by the sounds of his best friend
beating on his bedroom door telling him to "get his ass out of bed."
Their flight wasn't scheduled until 11:00 and he was pretty sure they would
have ample time to get to the airport without waking up at the crack of dawn.
He'd dragged out of bed and shuffled to the door to find Nick standing in the
hallway, fully dressed, car keys in hand.
"What the heck's going on
dude?" he'd asked, rather alarmed thinking something horrible had
happened.
"We have to leave right now.
We're driving and we have to go now!"
Nick's face shown an expression of
anxiousness and worry. He hadn't really given AJ a choice, and quite frankly AJ
was happy to see the sudden change in attitude. He ducked back in his room
quickly and threw on some clothes. His suitcase was already packed for the
flight they were supposed to be taking in a few hours so he slipped on his flip
flops, brushed his teeth, went to the bathroom and they were out the door
within 15 minutes.
The hours since had passed rather
quickly. AJ driving along the interstate listening to his favorite songs on the
radio while Nick stared out the window at the passing cars or slept curled up
in the passenger seat. He'd said very little on the drive and AJ was more than
willing to leave it at that. He was making a step in the right direction,
headed towards Kentucky on I-75 and he wasn't about to be the one to say
something that would change his mind.
It was 11:30 now, they were halfway
there.
"No turning back," AJ said
to himself as he looked at his friend one more time.
"If you really love her dude...
there's no turning back."
~~~~~~~
Nick squirmed in his seat, stretching
his feet out in front of him. He couldn't get comfortable regardless of what
position he sat in.
"Aje?" He said turning
towards AJ who was bopping along to the music on the radio, focused intently on
the miles ahead of him.
"Yeah man?"
"You mind taking the next exit? I
could really stand to stretch my legs."
"No problem, I gotta take a leak
anyway."
Nick couldn't help but laugh, AJ had
such a way with words. He focused his gaze back out the window, they were in
West Virginia now and the scenery wasn't bad to look at. The road bumped
beneath them and his mind wandered back to the dream he'd had the night
before...
He sat on the beach soaking up the
last of the days sun. He'd spent the day surfing and boogie boarding in the
waves as relaxed as he'd been in a long, long while.
"NICK! NICK!"
He heard the screams come from behind
him and turned quickly to see AJ running frantically down the beach towards
where he sat waving his cellphone over his head.
"Dude slow down," he said
standing and walking towards AJ, "Where's the fire?"
It wasn't until AJ came closer that
Nick had noticed the tears trailing down his cheeks, his sunglasses covered his
eyes, but the tears were definitely there. He stopped dead in his tracks as AJ
reached him.
"What's going on? Why are you
crying? What is it?" he'd spilled, unable to stop questioning long enough
for AJ to answer.
"She's gone." AJ had said
taking him into a hug...
"It's over Nick, she's
gone."
"NOOOOOOO!"
He'd woken up in a cold sweat, tears
streaming down his face and made the decision right then and there that he was
going to Kentucky to be with Grace. The fear of losing her was bad enough but
the dream had awakened a whole new fear and it was one he wasn't about to face
head on. He'd jumped out of bed and showered quickly trying to erase the memory
of the dream from his mind, trying to ensure himself that it was, in fact, just
a dream. He'd gotten dressed and packed his bag and banged on
AJ's door hoping beyond all hope that
AJ would be up for a long drive.
Now they were approximately three
hours away from Kentucky and the dream was still haunting his mind.
***
