Page 112 of Run Away With Me

‘Do you like boys too?’ she asked.

‘I don’t think so.’

Brooke went quiet. ‘Does it matter if I do?’

I stopped walking and pulled her into the shade of one of the buildings lining the street. This wasn’t an ideal conversation to be having on the sidewalk in freaking Nashville, but we were having it.

‘It doesn’t matter,’ I said gently, squeezing her hand until she looked at me. ‘Brooke. You don’t have to put a label on it. You don’t have to figure it all out right now, or by next week, or even next year. If you like me and I like you –’

‘I do,’ she said, interrupting me.

‘Thanks.’ I couldn’t help but laugh. ‘I like you too. And so that’s the most important thing. Okay?’

Brooke gave me a small smile. ‘Yeah, okay.’

I wanted to kiss her, but we were in the South, and though Nashville was a big city, and no one had seemed tocare about us holding hands last night, I didn’t feel like I wanted to be too obvious in the daytime, just in case. Plus, two girls kissing on the street would draw attention to us, and that was definitely something I was trying to avoid.

‘It’s gonna take three, maybe four hours to drive down to Atlanta,’ Brooke said, a hint of regret in her voice. I hadn’t made a secret of how much I loved it here. ‘But we can stay here a little longer, if you want to. I don’t mind getting in late.’

‘Let’s take a long route back to the hotel and then set off?’

Brooke nodded. ‘That works. We can pick up some lunch, too, eat it in the car. That’s better than stopping at a drive-thru.’

‘I like that plan.’

On the way back to the hotel, we found a place to pick up sandwiches and bags of chips – food that was easy to eat while driving – and I tried to ease the little knot of longing in my chest. I really would have liked to stay here for an extra couple of days, but it was more important to keep moving, especially now my face was being flashed up on the TV.

‘I’ll take the next leg,’ I said as we walked up to the Mustang.

‘I’m better now,’ she replied.

‘Brooke.’ I planted my hands on my hips like I’d seen her do.

‘Honestly, Jessie. If I need you to take over, I’ll let you know. I promise.’

I gave her a long, considering look.

‘I just want to be in the driver’s seat of my car again,’ she said, pleading now, and I gave in.

‘Fine, but let me know if you need a break.’

We took the top down and I set everything up in the passenger seat how I liked it, so I had easy access to my backpack, the cassettes and snacks. Brooke had messed up my unofficial glove box filing system, so I worked to get all the cassettes back in order while she drove out of the city.

I let her drive for a couple of hours while we sang along to the stereo, chasing the afternoon that was running away with us. I missed Nashville already, but this was good too: being back in the car, on the road, somewhere no one would be able to recognize me.

‘I need to stop for a minute,’ Brooke murmured when the song ended. We’d made our way through half of yesterday’s album and all of today’s already.

‘Are you okay?’

‘I’m fine.’ She signaled and pulled over to the side of the road and into the scrubby grass.

‘I can drive if you need me to,’ I said as she tipped her face up to the sun.

‘I think it’s the heat,’ she explained, turning her head to look at me. ‘I just want to rest for a few minutes without the sun, like, directly on the top of my head.’

‘I’ll put the top up.’

I was getting better at making decisions. And learning that doing something was most often better than doing nothing.

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