I woke up to the sound of silverware clinking on plates. I checked my phone. It was nine in the morning. We needed to leave soon if we were going to reach Oregon at a reasonable time.

I groggily got off of the couch and to the bathroom, wanting to at least brush my knotted hair before seeing everyone else. I heard Cece and Manny laugh from the dining room. I smiled. I was going to miss the friendly couple. I had never been treated with such kind hospitality before, so I was dreading leaving. If I had the option, I would stay with them for the rest of the week.

My phone buzzed frantically in my pocket. I fished through the deep pocket in my sweats. The word "Mom" was flashing on the screen.

I sighed and pressed the green button. It was about time I called.

"Natalie!" My mom didn't hesitate to speak. "Are you alright? Where are you? Why haven't you called?"

My mom didn't sound angry as I had anticipated, just worried. I felt guilty for leaving her scared for so long. "I'm sorry, my phone died yesterday, I just charged it."

"Where are you?"

I had been so confident about telling my parents about where I was. Now that I was calling her, though, I didn't know how she would take it. Would she be understanding as to why I was traveling or would she demand me to come home? I really hoped it wasn't the latter.

"...Santa Rosa."

"Santa Rosa? What are you doing there?"

"I'm going to Oregon, Mom," I finally said. "I'm bringing a friend with me. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you sooner, but I just wanted to travel before..."

She sighed. My mom didn't respond for a moment. I clutched onto my phone tightly, chewing on the inside of my lip. My mom sighed every time she was deep in thought. She must have been contemplating what to say next.

"You're an adult, Nat," she said slowly. "You make your own decisions about your life. If that's to travel, then I'm happy for you. Don't worry about me and your father. Please go have fun."

A smile crept on my face. A lump formed in my throat. My parents had always been understanding through everything. I didn't know how I could ever repay them for the support they have given me throughout my life.

She understood why I was doing this. I knew she did. We never could afford the time or money to go on a road trip out of the state before, so this was the best time to. If it meant sacrificing a little time together, then so be it.

"I promise to be back in a few days. We'll still have time together," I said.

I could practically feel my mom's smile. "Thank you, sweetheart. I love you so much."

"I love you, too, Mom. Hug Dad for me."

She promised she would, then the phone call ended. The phone felt heavy in my hand. The interaction couldn't have gone better, and yet I still felt doubtful. I was doing a good thing, right? Should I be leaving my parents alone for so long?

Then I remembered the promise I made to Cece last night. The determination that had filled my heart resurrected. This was the right thing. Getting Collin up to Oregon would make it all worth it. I could watch all of the movies my parents desired after.

So many promises. So little time.

I fixed my hair into a cleaner bun before heading into the dining room. Manny was the only one still there. He was handwashing the dishes in the sink. He turned when he heard me walk in. "Good morning, Natalie! Would you like a waffle?"

A plate of waffles was sitting next to a waffle maker. I gratefully took one and placed it on a plate. Manny finished washing the dishes and wiped his wet hands on his jeans. He exited the kitchen but stopped before he could get too far.

"I'm going to go talk to Collin before you guys leave," Manny explained. I nodded, my mouth filled with my breakfast. He waved before leaving.

I finished eating and went to clean up the blankets that I had messily left on the couch. However, they were already folded and placed neatly on the arm. Oh, Cece, you're too kind.

The clothes I had worn yesterday were also folded on the couch. I grabbed them and went back to the bathroom to change and fully get ready.

Once I was finished, I went out into the hallway. Collin was standing there and looking around. His eyes seemed to light up when he saw me. He stepped closer. "Hey, I just wanted to see if you were ready to go."

So soon? I guess we didn't come with much, so there wasn't anything that needed to be packed up. It was better to leave sooner than later, unfortunately.

I nodded. Collin tilted his head, motioning for me to follow. We went out the front door. I looked back into the house. Weren't we going to say goodbye to Cece and Manny?

They were outside, actually, waiting for us. Their garage door was lifted open. Inside was an older and black Land Rover. The license place was a Nevada one. Maybe they decided that it wasn't worth getting an in-state one, so they hid it in the garage. They just both drove in the little Nissan that was parked in the driveway.

Manny threw an object to Collin. He caught it with one hand and stuffed it in his pocket. I watched the interaction, visibly confused.

"We're taking their car the rest of the way," Collin explained. "Just in case someone tries to track us again."

"But what about my car?" I sputtered.

"We'll trade on the way back."

I looked at Cece. She smiled kindly. "Don't worry, we'll keep it in our garage until you get back."

I had this car since I was seventeen, so hastily departing with it didn't sit well with me. However, I trusted Cece and Manny. With a sigh, I nodded.

Fortunately, I was driving this time. I hopped into the driver's seat and adjusted it so that I was closer to the wheel. The Land Rover was slightly different from my Prius, but it wasn't something that I couldn't adapt to. Collin rolled down his window and waved to Cece and Manny. I shouted a thanks out of my window before starting the car. Manny moved their other car so that I could back out and get onto the road. Soon enough, we were driving again.

The silence in the car surprisingly didn't last long. After a few minutes, Collin asks me, "Did you like Cece and Manny?"

"Of course, they're so sweet." Though I didn't get to spend time with Manny as much as Cece,  they had both been incredible hosts. Especially so last minute. Admittedly, I wish we could have stayed with them for at least one more day. Time was so precious, though. Especially if I was planning to go on this trip and spend time with my parents before the ten days were over.

He nodded. "I'm glad."

The interaction ended after that. Fortunately, though, this car had Bluetooth so that they can listen to music. I put on my playlist when we reached a stoplight. '80's pop music filled the car.  I mouth the words, feeling too embarrassed to sing with Collin in the car. After five or so songs went by, I heard Collin chuckle. I looked over at him with a raised brow. Then I turned my attention back onto the road.

"What's so funny?"

He stopped laughing. "It's just," from the corner of my eye, I could see a small smile creep on his face, "you didn't want to listen to that R.E.M. song, but, at least last time I checked, that's from the '80's, too."

I felt my face grow red. "It's not that I don't like the song," I stammered. "It just wasn't a good time to play it, you know?"

"Right."

His sarcasm made me feel slightly frustrated. "How about you control the music then."

I put in my password then handed him my phone. Collin hesitated. He slowly scrolled through my playlist. Then, I saw him swipe off of it and type in a song. A slow melody played through the speakers. I was surprised by how mellow and soft the singing was. For some reason, I assumed that Collin would like rock or rap. All of my assumptions of him had been wrong up to that point, though. I shouldn't have been surprised that I was incorrect about this, too.

I actually really liked his music taste. It was different from what I usually listened to, but I could definitely get used to these songs. They sounded like they were released around the same time as my music was, maybe a decade or more later. It definitely wasn't newer music. Artists only seemed to dip their toes in electronic-sounding songs lately.

"You don't have a phone, right?" I asked. Collin said no. I gave him a confused glance. "Then how do you find music?" His taste, especially because he was looking up all of the songs, must have taken awhile to develop. He couldn't have just listened to music inside stores.

"My friend introduced me to a lot of it," he explained. Friend? Could he mean Harvey, the guy that Cece was telling me about last night? It was bold of me to assume it was him. Surely Collin had more friends than just the one Cece had told me about. I shouldn't have even known about him, anyway.

We switched between both of our playlists. There were some songs of mine that Collin would admit to liking. "Only because I swear I've heard them before," he insisted. I laughed every time he made that excuse. Sure, that's why.

I looked over at a car. "Hey, Kentucky!" I had seen many other states, but I wasn't sure whether I had gotten them already or not. I was sure I hadn't gotten Kentucky yet, though.

"I saw another one a while ago," Collin said.

My brows raised. "How long ago?"

"I don't know, an hour or so."

"Why didn't you call it?"

"I already told you, I'm not playing."

I snorted, rolling my eyes. That was such a lie. He had pointed out at least half of the license plates in these last two days.

After an hour of driving, Collin instructed me to stop at a store-packed area. He explained that we were going to need a couple of things if we were going to keep going on our trip.

"Gas stations are going to be closing quickly," he pointed out. "We need to store as much as we can."

He was right. If Tracy could shut down our gas station during the first day, then surely others would close down quickly, too.

We parked in front of a Home Depot. There was a Target next door. We agreed that he would purchase supplies from Home Depot while I went into Target for other fundamental items.

I was surprised to see that Target was incredibly crowded. People were scrambling to grab random objects off of the shelves. The main things people seemed to be getting were games and clothes. Each cart was filled with different and unique items. It was weird. Out of all stores, I never expected Target to be the go-to for splurging.

I grabbed a shopping cart and made my way through the aisles. I scanned and picked specific things, such as toothbrushes, toothpaste, hairbrushes, and other basic toiletries. I also picked out a couple of pillows and blankets. We were going to need those if we were going to keep sleeping in the car.

I finished my shopping trip by picking out a few items of makeup and water bottles. Though only one of those was essential, the other was for me. I wanted to at least feel decent these next few days. I didn't know Collin well enough to look like a total mess in front of him.

I would have been worried about the cost of all of the items if it weren't for the crazy sale Target was putting on. The crowd of people made sense now. The prices were ridiculously generous. I left the store with all I needed while not feeling guilty.

Collin came back to the car with less than I did. He got three gas cans and a few tools in case something happened to the car. "Never know if we need to deal with another flat tire," he said.

We finally got back on the road, though stopped again a few hours later to eat. Our goal was to go through a Burger King drive-thru and continue driving again. It was already two, so we needed to keep going if we wanted to reach Oregon at a sensible time.

However, the Burger King we stopped at was next to a series of outlets. There was a large sign over the stores in bold letters: SALES UP TO 70% OFF. APPLICABLE FOR THE NEXT TEN DAYS.

I immediately thought about my bucket list. I swore one of the numbers was about purchasing new clothes. I checked my phone for validation. It was number six. I looked over at Collin excitedly.

"Can we stop again?" I asked.

"What for?"

I pointed at the outlets. He gave me a confused look. "Please? Not for long. I just want to scratch it off my list."

With a sigh, he nodded. I drove into the Burger King drive-thru excitedly. After ordering our food (a whopper for me and an Impossible Burger for Collin) we parked in the crowded parking lot. I scarfed down my food as quickly as possible. I was filled with excitement. I hadn't gone clothes shopping in a long time. A majority of my clothes were hand-me-downs from my cousins, who were all much older than me. Purchasing new clothes sounded exciting.

Collin reluctantly followed from behind as I snaked through the parking lot and into one of the stores. There were racks upon racks of jeans and shirts. I quickly flipped through the articles of clothing, only stopping when I found something that caught my eye. Sometimes I would find two shirts I liked. I would turn to Collin, one of the shirts pressed up against me. "How does this one look?"

Every time, he'd just shrug. "Just like the other twenty you've shown me."

With a huff and an eye roll, I'd put them back.

Finally, I found a couple of things that I thought would look good together. I went to a dressing room to make sure everything looked fine since Collin wasn't being helpful. I couldn't help but laugh as I watched Collin sulk behind me. He was acting like a child being dragged by his mom. He seemed totally out of place compared to all of the other people in the store. While everyone else was well-kept and flustered, he appeared relaxed and careless. I probably looked ridiculous (with my arms filled with hangers) compared to him.

I put on a pair of jeans and a shirt. I looked in the mirror, smiling uncontrollably. It was probably a really silly thing to feel excited about. It was such a little thing that everyone has done. I have done it, too. But in this moment, where I didn't care about the cost or who was going to see me in these clothes, I felt really, really good.

I walked out to show Collin. I knew that he didn't care, but I needed to share my excitement with someone else. I tried to hide my big smile.

"What do you think?" I asked.

Collin looked like he was going to make a dismissive comment, but he stopped when he saw my face. His expression softened. He gave me a closed-lip smile. "Yeah, you look good."

I tried on everything else within the dressing room. A majority of the other things didn't fit as I had hoped. I ended up with two good outfits, though, which is more than I could have asked for.

I also picked up a summer dress that I had found hanging next to the jeans area. It was as if someone had thought of buying it then just threw it elsewhere instead. I wasn't going to pick it up, but the floral design was so pretty that I had to at least try it on. It was fairly loose, but I still thought that it looked stunning. I couldn't think of a time that I would wear it, but I still kept it. Even if I never wore it, it was still nice for me to look at and to know that I had it.

I came back out with fewer clothes than when I came in. However, I was satisfied with everything I had found. Collin got out of his chair when he saw me. "Alright, are we ready to go?"

"What about you?"

He raised a brow. "What about me?"

"Well, we need to find you something." I looked up and down his figure. I was almost confident that he had been wearing the same solid-colored tee and baggy pants for the past two days. I assumed that was all he had, too. "You at least need a jacket or something if we're going up to Oregon."

It was apparent that he wanted to tell me "no." I didn't give him the chance, though. I was already making my way to the men's section.

"Natalie, wait—"

"Try this." I pressed a flannel against his chest. He reluctantly grabbed it. I looked through a couple of other things, looking back at him once in a while to make sure that I was picking the right colors for him. After picking a few more flannels and a jacket, Collin refused to take anymore. I moved on to jeans.

"Natalie, I don't need—"

"Pants size?" I asked. He shook his head. "Oh, come on. Just one pair."

Collin sighed in defeat. Delighted, I found him well-fitting pants that weren't too skinny but certainly weren't nearly as baggy as what Collin already had.

I led him back to the dressing room. He gave me a look before going inside to change. I sat down and waited excitedly. Though Collin wasn't overjoyed by our shopping trip, I was sure that he'd be happier with a little more variety. Besides, he wasn't obligated to wear any of it. It would just be available if he wanted it.

After a few long minutes, Collin reappeared. My eyes widened. He was wearing the pants and a red flannel I had picked out. Covering it was a brown jacket. He looked at me awkwardly, his hands shoved deep into the front pockets of the pants.

The way I felt right then was the same as I had when he had gotten a haircut at Cece's house. He looked like a completely different person. I tried comparing him to the man I had been scared of two days ago, but I couldn't. All I could see was Collin.

"That," I cleared my throat, my cheeks growing warm, "that looks great."

Collin shrugged. Without a word, he walked back into the dressing room. I stared ahead, breathless and confused. Why was I so flustered? It was merely a new outfit. I had picked it out for it to look good, so why was I so surprised?

I decided to dismiss it. I was happy for him, that was all. There was nothing else to it.

He came out with the outfit he had just put on. I took the hangers from his arms and went to the check-out aisle to pay. Collin insisted on paying, but I refused. "Think of this as a gift," I said.

I reached the front of the line. Collin waited by the door. A woman scanned through all of the clothes. My eye caught on a display next to the register. It was filled with different colored beanies. I figured that we would need them, so I grabbed two, a gray one and an orange one.

The woman raised a brow. "Cute," she commented. She scanned the two beanies. "For you and your boyfriend over there?"

She bobbed her head in Collin's direction.

"Brother, actually," I said with a tight smile. Though we didn't look anything alike, the woman really wasn't in a place to call my bluff. She looked at me, slightly taken aback and flushed in the cheeks. I took the bags, said thank you, and left. Though it really wasn't a nice thing to have done, it still felt pretty good to say.

Should just mind your own business.

I met up with Collin. He grabbed a couple of bags, a smile creeping on his lips. I looked at him, confused.

"What?"

"Brother, huh?" Collin shook his head. I rolled my eyes, internally hiding my embarrassment. I didn't think that he was going to hear that.

"Whatever. Let's just go."

We exited the store. I checked my phone, surprised to see that it was already three o'clock. Did we really stay in the store for that long? It didn't feel like it. I guess I was having so much fun that the time flew.

Outside of the store, I saw a dog with his leash tied to a pole. He was looking at all of the people excitedly. He tried to approach people, though the leash restricted him from going very far.

There was a sign taped above the dog's head. Curious, I stopped to read it. "This is Bohden. He is a blue merle Australian Shepherd. My wife and I have taken good care of him for three years now. However, due to the asteroid, we have decided to spend these next ten days across the country to visit family. We can't bring Bohden with us. I hope that someone will take care of him while we're gone."

I quickly turned. I was surprised to see Collin right behind me. His eyes scanned the paper. Once he was done, he looked down at me. I looked at him pleadingly.

He shook his head. "We can't take him."

"What? Why not?" I looked down at the dog. He was sitting next to my legs, looking up at us. I pet his head. He licked my hand in response. I laughed and kneeled down next to Bohden.

"I don't want anything to happen to Manny's car," Collin replied.

"We could stop often for him, and it doesn't take much to take care of a dog," I insisted. He looked away. I threw my hands in the air. "If we don't take him, who will?"

"There are plenty of other girls like you who will want the dog."

I huffed and looked away in defeat. Collin started to walk away. Suddenly, an idea popped in my head. "My list! Getting a pet is on my list."

Collin stopped. He turned. "You're lying."

I shook my head. I slipped my phone out of my pocket. My fingers were shaking anxiously. I managed to open my phone and open my list. I showed him the screen. He read through the number of things. He stopped at one and sighed. I smiled. Bingo.

"Alright, fine, he can come," Collin finally said.

An overwhelming smile overtook my face. I unknotted the leash and held it in my hands. Bohden seemed wary of coming with me, but once I started walking, he excitedly followed. I looked down at my new pet, love swelling in my chest. I had always wanted a dog. I never could get one because my mom was allergic to dogs and cats. Now, though, my dream was coming true.

Collin reached the car before I did. He had the trunk open with bags in the back. I placed the ones I had in there, too. And, though it took a couple of tries, we also managed to get Bohden in the back, too.

Collin hopped in the driver's seat. I sat in the passenger seat. He started the car and looked at me. "Okay, are we ready to go?"

I looked in the back. All of our essentials, new clothes, and new pet were packed behind us. I looked back at Collin. "Yep, let's go."

They are officially ready for their trip! Sorry that this chapter is so long, do you like it this lengthy, or do you think that I should cut it in half? Let me know!

If you liked this chapter, try voting with an article of clothing. Stay magnificent!