Page 8 of October

My heart is still racing as I pull out my phone to check the radar and for any warnings we may have in the area.

“There’s a flash flood warning for this area on top of a tornado watch. They are advising everyone to get off the roads and seek shelter if possible.”

A thunderclap echoes around us again as bolts of lightning spider across the nearly black sky.

That’s the way the ride stays for the next thirty minutes or so. Small talk, lightning, thunder, and traffic. So. Much. Traffic.

The weather is scaring everyone, as it should, and things are nearly at a standstill.

“Are you all right?” I hear him ask as I’m focusing on the sky.

“Yeah. I’m fine. Storms just aren’t my favorite thing, you know? Especially being out in them like this.” I run my hands up and down my thighs, soothing the chills that are popping up.

“Tell me about your favorite song,” he says randomly.

“What?”

“Tell me about your favorite song,” he repeats.

I’m properly confused at first, but then I realize he's trying to distract me from what’s happening outside.

I think for a moment then answer. “That’s a hard question. I don’t have one singular song that’s my favorite. I go through moods. Sometimes I love Hozier and his deep, melodic voice and incredibly haunting lyrics. Other times I am obsessed with Taylor Swift and her incredibly story-driven songwriting… and her dancy pop songs. I love hip-hop and hard rock… classical and I have a soft spot for nineties country. I like everything.”

“Yeah, I feel like I’ve noticed that about you. You wear a lot of altered concert T-shirts from all different genres. Are those all from shows you’ve seen?”

“You noticed what I was wearing?”

I watch him swallow as he ponders a response.

“I notice a lot about you, Wren.”

Before I even have the chance to swoon, thunder shakes the car, pulling a startled scream from my throat just as two police cars go racing down the shoulder with their lights on.

“Oh my God.” I place my hand on my chest. I try to crane my neck and look farther down the road. “I hope everything is all right.”

I twist in my seat to look behind us, seeing many more police cars coming toward us, following the others down the shoulder.

“What the hell?” Ash says, throwing the truck into park, since we aren’t moving anyway and pulling his phone from the cradle on the dash. “I’m going to call the station and see if they’ve heard anything. We are a few hours away still, but if it’s severe enough, they will have heard.”

An hour and a half passes before we are finally told about the flash flood that has made the highway and the surrounding side roads totally impassable.

A nice, clearly very stressed-out police officer took the time to walk down the highway, informing everyone he could that they’dbe carefully guiding us to turn around and go back the way we came.

It’s still pouring, hell, it’s getting worse, by the time we are properly moving in the opposite direction.

“We aren’t getting home tonight,” he says plainly. “I’m so sorry.”

“You should be, because clearly forces of nature are all your fault,” I say with a smile. “It’s okay. I promise.”

“I would say we could head back to my parents’ but that’s two hours back and it’s getting late.”

“We can grab a hotel room?” I offer up. “Somewhere dry and safe for the night then head home tomorrow morning.”

“Are you sure? You’d be okay with that?”

“I think it’s better than sleeping in the car, don’t you? It’ll be like an adventure.”

“Not to mention safer,” he replies as he leans forward to look at the sky. “All right. Let’s find a room.”

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