"Colorado."

I watched the surrounding cars attentively. I smiled victoriously as another one whizzed by.

"Illinois!"

"What are you doing?" Collin asked. I looked away from the window, my cheeks reddening. I had been so invested that I forgot that he was listening.

"The license plate game." I looked back at all the cars. "Look, Washington."

"Why are you doing that?"

"Because I'm bored. Come on, play with me."

"No. I'm driving."

I scoffed. That was a terrible excuse.

The traffic was gradually starting to congest the closer we got to the Bay Area. I looked at the time. It was almost evening. We had chosen to do this trip far too late. We would have to find a place to stop and keep going tomorrow.

That was so many days. My parents (who had expected me to be home by now) were going to be worried. I had already gotten plenty of calls from my mom in the past few hours, but I hadn't told her that I wasn't going home yet. How was I supposed to tell her that I was going to Oregon with a guy I had just met last night? How was she supposed to take that?

The next time she calls, I'll tell her. I promise.

I looked at my phone and sighed. I had first been excited to go on this trip, but Collin hadn't spoken much. The silence in the car had become beyond awkward. Even if we had small talk every once in a while, it would have been fine. But never? This was going to be a long car ride.

I adjusted my seat back. Feeling uncomfortable, I lifted it back up. I did this a few more times, more because I wanted something to do than anything. Collin sighed and pressed the radio, assumably trying to help. I turned it off. It was only going to play the same song over and over, and that would have driven me crazy. Collin raised his brows, but he didn't comment on it.

It was quiet again. We stopped. A line of cars stretched for miles ahead of us. It was going to take forever to break out of the traffic.

With a sigh, Collin leaned back in his seat and took his hands off the wheel. It was clear that he knew that the traffic would take time to disperse. He was the calmest driver I had ever met. Even within the craziness of Bay Area he managed to keep his cool. I didn't know whether to be impressed or afraid, for a man who could keep his cool in traffic was one not to tamper with.

I searched my head for conversation starters. We couldn't just sit in silence the entire car ride, after all. What would happen if we reached Oregon without saying a single word? Would we just quietly go sight-seeing and then head back home? Seemed like a huge waste of a trip to me.

Collin, surprisingly, was the one to talk first. "So, why did you decide to bring a stranger to Oregon with you?"

He was looking straight ahead, and yet it felt like he was gazing straight through me. He knew that I hadn't spontaneously decided to go to Oregon for myself. What he was really trying to ask was 'Why did you do this all for me?'. I couldn't bring myself to tell him the truth, though. That I felt so bad leaving him alone, and I knew this was the only way he'd get back in the car. That I was so invested in figuring him out that I couldn't bring myself to let him leave. No, that's way too creepy sounding. I would have sounded naive and dumb—though this probably was. He would find the nearest rest stop and get away from me as quickly as possible.

I spit out the best excuse that I could think of. "Uh, well, you see...I have this list of things that I plan to do before the asteroid hits—if it hits. And, well, traveling is one of them. I thought that this was the perfect opportunity to check that off my list."

"How many things are on your list?"

I thought that Collin was going to find my list to be dumb, but he actually seemed interested. I was pleasantly surprised. However, I didn't expect the question, so I fumbled through my phone to find the blog entry where I had posted it.

"Twelve."

"And how many have you done?"

I read through my list, shaking my head at a few that I had put on there. Swimming and dancing? Those were my last wishes before I died? I really had low ambitions at three in the morning.

"I've done three," I finally answered. I had met someone new (Collin, of course), been nice to someone (I agreed to drive Collin, that was nice, right?), and I was traveling. I was impressed with how much I had done in so little time. I hadn't expected to do any of them, admittedly. I was supposed to be staying inside with my parents, drinking hot chocolate and binging TV shows. A wave of guilt settled in my stomach. I hoped they weren't too worried. There would still be time for us to watch every pre-recorded game show and Disney movie. This felt right, though. My parents didn't want me to be cooped up in a house for the rest of my life. They would have wanted me to use these next few days to travel. I just needed to tell them.

As if on cue, my phone turned black. The empty battery symbol popped up. I searched for a charger, but I didn't have one in my car. Great.

I looked over at Collin. He hadn't spoken for a while. He stared ahead, seemingly lost in thought. After a moment he snapped out of it and looked at me.

"I want to help you complete your list," he said.

I blinked, taken aback. "What?"

"You're helping me with my bucket list, so I want to help you with yours."

A smile nonconsensually overtook my face. That was one of the nicest things anyone had ever offered me, though I hadn't expected it to come from him. I didn't know what to say. "Thank you."

"Yeah, sure."

The conversations following were fairly minimal. We talked about things that were on my list and how we could achieve them. We discussed areas in Oregon that we planned to see. Though Collin always kept his responses short, I could tell that he was excited about this trip. He didn't know many places besides Shore Acres, but he did know the popular areas such as Salem and Portland. We didn't know how close those places were to Shore Acres, though. I would have to check once I found a charger. I asked to use his phone to look, but he didn't own one.

Eventually, the traffic started moving again—slowly but surely. I cheered as the car in front of us started driving. Collin smiled, amused. He explained to me that he had been in the Bay Area when the traffic was much worse—this was nothing. All traffic looked the same to me, though. I was used to silent roads and bikers, not multitudes of vehicles with impatient and angry drivers.

Now that we were moving, I could see a new variety of license plates. I seemed to list new ones back to back. "Alaska, and there's Wyoming—oh, Indiana, too!"

Collin looked over at me, though he didn't look annoyed like he had the first time. He would occasionally point at a car with a different state so that I could call it. I had managed to get at least fifteen while we were driving in the Bay Area.

We were finally able to stop at a gas station. I got out to stretch my legs. Collin went inside to pay for the gas. I had insisted on paying for it since it was my car, but he just shook his head and went inside.

I leaned against my car and sucked in the air. It was warm in San Francisco, but it felt far cooler than Modesto had. Though crowded, I really liked it here. I hadn't really done much traveling when I was younger, so this felt like an exhilarating adventure. Though worried, I knew that my parents would be excited for me, too.

I went back inside the car. Collin came out of the gas station with a handful of bagged chips and candy. He placed them in the back seat, winked, and then went to pump gas. I grinned. That was one more thing off of the list.

It had only been a few hours since we had eaten so I wasn't hungry, but I was curious as to what he had bought. A few bags of Doritos, Reese's Pieces, and mini Milky Ways were scattered across the back seat.

Collin hopped back in the driver's seat. He turned on the car immediately and drove off. I had planned to thank him and insist that pay him back, but I stopped myself. Collin was continuously looking through the mirrors, checking behind him. At some point he turned his head back to look, nearly causing us to drive into the nearby lane.

"Jeez," I said through my teeth. My heart leaped as Collin swerved us back into the correct lane. "What's wrong?"

Collin was quiet as he passed a few cars, going much faster than necessary. Cars honked as he nearly hit them. My stomach flipped. Is he crazy?

"Paige and Esme have been following us," he finally told me. I tried to pinpoint why those two names sounded so familiar. I turned my head to see if I could find who Collin meant. It took a second for me to spot them, but once I did, I knew exactly who they were. The two girls we had seen last night were in a black Toyota. Both were wearing shades and hats. Even so, I could recognize them from a mile away.

"How long have they been following us?"

"Assumably all day. Apparently Vito found our visit to have been cut too short."

We finally made it out of traffic and into a more open road. There were still cars, but there was enough room for Collin to drive faster. I checked behind us. Paige and Esme were still following.

Collin sucked in a breath. "Hold on tight, okay?"

I clutched onto my door handle. Collin looked through the mirror one more time before pressing harder on the gas.

Oh no! What do you think Paige and Esme want? What do you think is going to happen next? 

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