Page 28 of Road Trip

I stared at the screen, transfixed.

Matt peered over my shoulder. “I like it. Send it to me?”

I sent the pic through, then gave it one last look and shoved my phone into my pocket. There were plenty of other pictures of us—hell, Matt had been front and center at every birthday party I’d had since I was six—but there was something special about this one. It was unscripted and messy, just like our friendship, and it was kind of perfect.

Except this time next week, that picture would still be on my phone but Matt would be gone. My eyes prickled and I blinked rapidly. Matt glanced over and his worry lines appeared. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I said, my voice catching. And then, because I never could lie to Matt, I said, “I’m just—I’m really gonna miss you.”

Matt’s throat clicked as he swallowed. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “But I’ll bet my dad will fly me out if I ask him.”

I nodded. “Maybe.” Except we both knew it wouldn’t be thesame. But I wasn’t gonna drag Matt down, not when he was so excited to be spending time with his dad. And who knew? Matt’s dad had already agreed to let Matt come and live with him, so maybe he’d become more responsible in the ten years since he’d left. The adulting bar had been set pretty low when he’d disappeared when Matt was eight, but hey, the only way was up, right?

We got back on I-40 and Matt settled in for the drive, a lot more relaxed and confident than he had been the first time he drove, his long fingers tapping on the steering wheel in time to “Party in the USA” as he sang along—badly.

“I thought it was ‘driver picks the music,’ not ‘driver murders the music,’” I muttered.

“Shut up. I’m awesome,” Matt said, laughing. He stopped singing, though, and settled in to drive.

Traffic was light, and before I knew it we were halfway to Albuquerque. I was tense for the first part of the drive, part of me still waiting for Matt to bring up the fact I’d used him as a human humping post. But either he’d still been half-asleep and hadn’t noticed or he was pretending it hadn’t happened because he never said a word about it. Which was fine by me. More than fine. Excellent, even.

We made a pit stop a couple of hours in, and as we took off again, Matt wondered aloud if Tanner and Charlie had gone on a date yet, how Kennedy’s parent had reacted to finding out a tree had got set on fire during her party, and what kind of shit Luke was getting into without us.

We drove for a while longer, talking trash and making dumb jokes. My phone buzzed with a text from Mom asking why I hadn’t checked in the night before.

Shit. I texted her back and told her we were fine and we’d just fallen asleep early. I also sent her some of the zoo photos as proof of life. I didn’t mention that we hadn’t called because we were being held hostage by a skunk. I wasn’t stupid. If I gave my mom that kind of ammunition, I’d be hearing about it for years.

The miles rolled by, and while Matt watched the road, Iwatched him. He’d pushed his hair back from his face in a dark, messy cloud, and my fingers itched with the inexplicable need to smooth it down and tidy up the stray curls that stood out in stark contrast against his pale skin.

I suddenly understood why that guy in Goose Run had given Matt his number, because Matt was beautiful.

Wait, what?

I jolted in my seat and Matt shot me a narrow glance.

“What? I wasn’t anywherenearthat semi!” he said just as a truck roared past us, making the RAV4 rock with how close it was.

“I didn’t say anything.”

Matt scowled, his shoulders creeping up to his ears. “Not with your mouth, but your face is saying plenty. You’re staring at me like you’re waiting for me to fuck up.”

That wasn’t why I was staring, but there was no easy way to say I’d just figured out Matt was hot without it coming off as creepy. Girls could get away with shit like telling their friends they were beautiful, but it didn’t work like that for guys. Matt would laugh his ass off—or possibly shove me out of the moving vehicle. It could go either way with him. So instead of complimenting him like I so desperately wanted to do, I said, “I’m not staring. I’m zoning out because I’m tired as fuck.”

Matt let out a long breath and some of the tension left his frame. “Sorry. Me too. Tired, I mean. I slept like shit.” The corners of his mouth curved up and he said, “That was pretty funny, though. Trapped in our car by a skunk.”

I grinned back at him. “Thank fuck it wasn’t a bear or they would have peeled the doors open like we were a can of tuna.”

“We’re just lucky it didn’t turn into a slasher movie.”

“What?” I blinked. That was a hell of a U-turn, even for Matt.

“Think about it,” he said as he switched lanes and we passed a sign telling us we were eighty miles from Albuquerque. “Alone in the woods, two city slickers without a clue?—”

“I don’t think we count as city?—”

“—hearing a weird noise,” Matt continued, raising his voice and ignoring me. “But instead of staying in the tent, what do they do? They grab a flashlight and go to investigate like the idiots they are. Only it’s not a skunk. It’s hook-hand-car man!” He waved a hand wildly. “Boom! Dead! Classic slasher fic.”

I stared at him, then burst out laughing. “You’re so fucking weird!”

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