The Road That Leads to Us (Us 1)

She still looked doubtful, but finally shrugged and took a sip of water.

Her phone began to vibrate and she sighed. “My dad,” she mumbled. “He’s called me fourteen times today.” She picked up the phone with a cheery, “Hello?” She nodded at what he was saying. “Mhmm. Yeah. We’re getting dinner now. No, it’s not McDonald’s. I ordered a steak. I don’t know the name of the restaurant, it’s some local place. Palatka, Florida. Daaad, you do realize a road trip requires me to leave the state right? You were fine yesterday about this, what happened? No! I’m not going to go to Mexico and join a drug cartel…on second thought, that’s an excellent idea.” To me, she said, “Dean, we should go to Mexico, please tell me you have your passport.” On the other end I heard her dad begin to yell. “Calm down,” she told him, “I was only kidding. You totally set yourself up for that one, so you have no one to blame but yourself.” She nodded at something he was saying. “I love you too. Tell mom and Mascen and Lyls that I love them too. Yeah. Talk to you tomorrow. Bye.”

She hung up the phone and took a deep breath. “Tomorrow I’m going to have to send him a bunch of selfies to remind him that I am, indeed, alive.” She took a gulp of water. “Have you talked to your parents since we’ve been gone?”

“A few times, but I’m a big boy so they don’t feel the need to check on me constantly.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Hardy, har, har,” she intoned, “aren’t you just the special one.”

I eyed her. “I prefer the chosen one.”

She threw her straw wrapper at me. I laughed and threw it back, laughing even harder when it tangled in her hair.

She plucked the wrapper out of her hair and set it on the table. “We act like we’re five.”

“Growing up is overrated.” I shrugged.

“It really is,” she muttered.

She got that far away look in her eyes I hated so much. I frowned. I knew Willow was worried about what the future held for her, but I wanted nothing more than to erase her doubts. I knew the real world was scary, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t still be fun. All she needed to do was find something she was passionate about the way I was passionate about cars.

The waiter appeared and set a basket of rolls on the table.

“It’ll be a while on your steaks,” he said, “so I wanted to make sure you had something to snack on.”

“Thanks,” I told him, still eyeing Willow.

She slowly lifted her eyes and brightened when she saw the rolls. “Ooh! Food!”

I laughed at her exuberance.

She grabbed a roll and slathered it in butter. She took a huge bite and let out a loud moan that definitely wasn’t appropriate for a restaurant.

“Oh, that’s good.” She took another bite. “Dean, if you want any you better hurry or they’ll be gone.”

“I’m quite enjoying watching you eat them, so I’m good, thanks.” I sat back and watched as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she moaned again.

If she kept that up I was going to get a boner in the restaurant and that hadn’t happened to me since I was fourteen and a waitress spilled water all over her white blouse, exposing her lacy bra.

“You snooze you lose.” She shrugged, reaching for another roll.

She started moaning again, and more than a few people turned our way. I waved at them and Willow was oblivious since her eyes had fallen closed.

“I didn’t realize I was so hungry.” She tore off a piece and stuffed it into her mouth.

“Maybe that’s because you skipped lunch since apparently cupcakes and lollipops are sufficient.” I raised my brows, waiting for her response.

She snickered at that. “Okay, so maybe I was wrong, but it was delicious.”

I had to agree on that front. If the cupcake shop was still open on our way back we might have to stop because I could definitely go for another chocolate cupcake. My mouth was salivating at the thought alone.

The waiter stopped at our table with a tray and set down our plates of food. My mouth watered for a brand new reason and my stomach rumbled to life with a renewed force.

“Oh, that smells like heaven,” Willow commented.

“I’ll be back in a few minutes to check on you.” Our waiter said before disappearing.

Willow cut into her steak and took a bite. “That is delicious!” She cried and people stared at us again with disgusted expressions for disturbing the quiet. I didn’t bother shushing Willow. It would only make her talk louder if I did.