They handed us a receipt with our order number and we waited off to the side after we’d gotten drinks since there were no empty tables.
There still weren’t any free tables by the time we got our food so we headed to the car and Dean drove around, finally pulling into an empty field.
“Aren’t you afraid someone will yell at us to get off their property?” I teased him. I knew Dean hated to do anything that might get him in trouble or make someone mad.
He shrugged, rifling through the greasy paper bag. “You must be rubbing off on me.”
“’Bout time.” I reached into the bag and grabbed a fry, shoving it into my mouth.
Who cared about manners? Certainly not me.
Glancing around, I pointed and laughed. “Look! A cow!”
Beside me Dean’s head lolled to the side and he groaned. “Enough with the cows.”
“I can’t. They’re my spirit animal.”
Dean chuckled at this and unwrapped the foil from his burger. “What’s mine?”
I pondered his question for a moment—choosing a spirit animal was a serious matter.
When the perfect animal came to me I let out a cry of delight. “A sloth!”
Dean choked on his bite of burger. “A sloth? I remind you of a sloth?”
“Sloths are cute, and friendly, and you never hear of them doing anything bad. So yes, you’re a sloth.”
He rolled his eyes at this. “I don’t want to be a sloth.”
“Too late.” I poked his cheek lightly, the thick stubble there scratching my skin. “You asked me what yours was and I answered. Accept your fate.”
He groaned and playfully nipped at my finger. “A sloth,” he said with a shake of his head, “humph.”
I smiled over at him and grabbed my burger from the bag. I wiggled around, trying to get comfortable, and finally sat with my legs propped up on the door.
I hated to leave Liam, but I couldn’t take another moment of being there. It wasn’t good for me, and I didn’t think it was good for him either. I hoped he got his shit figured out, and soon. I didn’t want to see him go down a path he couldn’t come back from. It would tear me apart.
“He’ll be okay,” Dean whispered and reached over to rub his thumb over my forehead in order to smooth away the wrinkles that had formed there. “Maybe your aunt and uncle should go visit him. They’re his parents. Maybe they can shake some sense into him.”
I shook my head doubtfully, but said, “Maybe.” With another shake of my head, like I was trying to erase an etch-a-sketch, I added, “I’m dismissing Liam from my mind for the moment. It makes me sad to think about and I want to enjoy our last few days on the road.”
“Yeah,” he shrugged, taking a large bite of burger and chewing, “your dad still might kill me.” The words were muffled by the food in his mouth, but I still heard.
“I think he’s okay…I hope.”
I guessed it was one thing for him to accept our relationship when he couldn’t see it. Once we were right under his nose? Yeah, that could be a whole different story.
But I wasn’t worried about that.
Instead, I was worried about telling them about my decision not to go to college.
I knew they’d be okay with me dropping out, but they’d want me to have some kind of plan for my life, and right now I had a big fat nothing.
I only had a few more days to figure it out, and that thought filled my body with a rare burst of anxiety.
“What am I going to do with my life?” I whispered softly to Dean.
I grabbed a fry, nibbling on the end of it.