What a Boy Needs (10 page)

My head drops back and I groan.
"
This is all me
,
B
,
okay? It
'
s just something I gotta do.
"

He shakes his head
,
but then he pushes to his feet.
"
Whatever. Then let
'
s make a pact
,
right here. Let go of all that other shit on this trip
.
Your
parents
,
y
ou and Pris
,
and let
'
s make this the most
kick-
ass road trip in history. Just like graduation
,
we
'
re not getting out of here without doing it in style.
"

I hold out my fist and he hits it with his.
"
We
'
re going to own this trip.
"

***

I
'
m leaning against Sebastian
'
s Explorer while he says goodbye to his mom. Courtney
'
s sobbing all over the place just like Aspen
'
s parents are doing with her.

"
You have the itinerary?
"
Courtney asks Sebastian.

"
Yeah
,
Ma.
"

"
And you know where you
'
re staying every night
,
right?
"

"
Yeah
,
Ma.
"

"
And you know you
'
re supposed to call at least twice
a
day
,
remember.
Once in the morning and once in the evening.
"

Sebastian doesn
'
t answer
,
but pulls her into a hug. They
'
re like that for an eternity before he pulls away and looks at Roger.
"
Take care of her
,
man. Remember
,
I
'
m only a phone call away. You hurt her
,
I
'
ll—
"

"
You
'
re a good son
,
Sebastian. I promise
,
I
'
ll be good to her
,"
Roger tells him before they shake hands.

The next thing I know
,
Courtney is standing in front of me.
"
I can
'
t believe you boys are leaving me.
"

I try
to
smile at her
,
but I
'
m not sure I pull it off.

"
I
'
ve known you since you were five years-old
,
Jaden. I want you to know
,
you
'
ll
always
be a son to me.
"

I can
'
t help but compare her words to my mom
'
s when she asked me to leave. I look toward the ground
,
about to try
to
say something stupid
,
but she grabs my face
,
so I
'
m looking at her.
"
I
'
m serious
,
.
Always
,
okay? You ever need
anything
,
you get on that phone and call me. There is nothing I wouldn
'
t do for you.
"

Her tight hug nearly takes the wind right out of me
. I lean into it because
,
I might sound like a pussy
,
it
feels good.

"
I love
you
,
kiddo
,” she
whispers in my ear.

I swallow the golf ball in my throat.
"
Yeah
...
I love you too.
"

***

The car is silent as we pull away. Aspen will see her parents in a few weeks when they come out
,
but I
'
m not sure about the rest of them. Pris
'
s parents are always going somewhere so I
'
m sure she
'
ll see them a lot
,
too
,
but you can tell
,
it
'
s still a big deal.

Sebastian is driving and Aspen
'
s up
front
with him. Priscilla is stiff
,
sitting as far away from me as she can. She
'
s got on a pair of shorts. Her legs are killer.
Always have been.
All curvy and creamy brown.
I shift in my seat. Yeah
,
this is definitely going to be a long trip.

"
You okay?
"
I ask her. Her only reply is a nod.

The quiet thing is going to make things even worse.

After about forty-five minutes into our drive through Southern Oregon
,
Sebastian pipes up.
"
Okay
,
this drive is way too low key. We
'
re free. Do you guys realize how cool that is?
"

"
I
'
m sure you
'
ll inform us
,"
Aspen
says
and that
'
s all it takes for the two of them to get going.

I look over at Pris to
make commentary
about them
,
but it
'
s like she
'
s on the other side of the continent or something. Yeah
,
this is my fault and I get it
,
but I hate it
,
too. I want to tell her something
,
find a way to pull her back to me so we can be like we always have been—the four of us
,
but is that an asshole thing to do since things aren
'
t the way they used to be? I don
'
t know.

"
Let
'
s do something. Who wants to play I Spy?
"
Sebastian asks.

I thump him in the back of the head.
"
Are you five?
"

"
I don
'
t see you throwing out any suggestions so stop trying to ruin my fun.
"

"
Okay then
,
what about the fact that once you see something
,
we
'
re past it
?
How are the rest of us every supposed to guess?
"

"
He has a point there
,
Bastian
,"
Aspen
says
. This is where Pris would usually have something to say
,
too. She
'
s good at those smart comments
,
but she still hasn
'
t said a word.

"
Hey
,
you
'
re supposed to have my side!
"
Bastian tells her.

Aspen laughs.
"
Only when you
'
re right.
"

I nudge Pris
'
s leg.
"
What do you think we should do?
"

"
I don
'
t know.
"
Pris pulls out her iPod and puts the buds in her ears.
Oh-
kay
.
Guess she really doesn
'
t want to talk to me.

She
listens
to music while Sebastian
,
Aspen
,
and I keep talking. We go through a few CDs
,
this and that
,
and she
'
s still being all quiet and I swear it makes me feel like I
'
m going to explode. I can
'
t stop myself from playing with the piece of paper in my pocket. I
'
ve had it with me ever since Mom gave it to me at the graduation. I
'
ve looked at it a million times
,
but
haven't
done anything about it. What a surprise
,
huh?

We stop for lunch. Afterward
,
Bastian and I decide to switch up so I can drive a bit. Pris and Aspen are over by the diner and I can tell Pris is pissed. Whatever
'
s going on she
'
s about to blow her lid
,
and finally she stomps back over to the SUV
,
jumps into the front seat and slams the door.

"
Shit
,"
I groan
,
and Sebastian shrugs as if to say he doesn
'
t know what her problem is. I do. It
'
s me. Yeah
,
I don
'
t even have to say that doesn
'
t feel good.

About fifteen minutes into me driving
,
Sebastian and Aspen pass out in the back seat. They
'
re all cuddled up together and this is where I
'
d usually blurt out something stupid to make
fun of him. I kind of want to
,
but it doesn
'
t feel right anymore either because where he
'
s sitting is definitely better than where I am.

"
You wanna listen to anything specific?
"
I ask
,
flipping through the CD case while I drive. The GPS on the dash is telling me where to go.

"
No.
"

My eyes dart to hers
,
which makes me sort of run off the road a little.
Nothing major.

"
Jaden!
Watch where you
'
re going!
"
She rolls her eyes at me.

Take a deep breath. Chill out.
I
'
m trying to remind myself she
'
s not usually like this. That she
'
s still pissed at me because of way too many things to count
,
but this isn
'
t what I wanted. This isn
'
t the way this trip is supposed to go.

Instead of saying anything
,
I just keep driving. Eventually she falls asleep and everyone in the dumb car is
out cold
except for me.

Unfortunately
,
there
'
s not even anything
interesting
to look at. The road trip idea is cool and all
,
but
there isn't much to look at along this route we chose.
We have some stuff planned for Salt Lake and Chicago
,
but that
'
s about it.

A soft snore comes out of Pris and I can
'
t stop myself from laughing. I
'
ll definitely have to give her crap about that one. But then I remember I can
'
t. The old Pris and Jaden could have done that. How did things get so screwed up? Oh yeah. Me.