“No.” I croaked to his whispered question, startled that he was even awake and by his close proximity.

"You look scared." He said darkly.

"I-I'm not. I'm just... Surprised."

"Surprised?" Thomas asked incredulously with a cynical laugh. "I told you that this wasn't safe for you. I also told you that I was a felon."

"Well, I was thinking like robbery or selling organs on the black market but murder was beyond anything that I'd imagined." I explained, trying to keep calm as best as I can. I guess I had it coming when I invited a guy who was being chased by the cops into my car.  

"Then stop the car and let me out."

"No." I snapped, squeezing the wheel in my hands.

"Why not?" He asked with  raised eyebrows before leaning over so that his mouth was by my ear and I could feel his breath on my skin, but I continued to drive. "You might be next." He whispered.

"Then kill me." I snapped irritatedly. Now, he was just trying to scare me and it wasn’t working at all. "I don't care."

He was quiet for a while, his eyes following my body and then back up to my face as if he was evaluating me. "I'm not going to hurt you." He sighed, relaxing back in his chair once more and looking out into the night sky. The lights were the only lights that were reflecting on his tan skin.

"I know." I breathed.

“Yeah, right.” He snorted. “Let me out of the car.”

“No.” I snapped. “Why would you want out?”

“Because I am a killer, Charlie.” He told me slowly. “I have killed somebody.”

“Well, you just said that you aren’t going to hurt me.” I reasoned.

“And you believe me?” He snorted with a humorless, grim smile on his face.

“Yes.” I told him bluntly. “So just shut up about it.”

He frowned at my response and was quiet for a long time, leaving the news station the only sound in the whole car. Unable to take another forecast, I switched the channel to a station that was playing country songs. I wasn’t a fan of country, but I liked a few songs, and Taylor Swift, I love her. However, the song that was on at the moment, I wasn’t familiar with.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” He asked me quietly, looking at the side of my head intently.

I shrugged. “I have no idea, but if you want to hurt me then do it, I’m not stopping you, but if you’re not, which I don’t think you are, then just stop trying to scare me away because it’s not going to work.”

Again, he seemed to be at a loss of words, so he didn’t respond. “How much longer?” He asked after a while.

“About an hour and twenty minutes, we’re close to the border.” I said softly.

“Have you seen any cops?”

“You should know, you were awake.” I replied a little bitterly.

He rolled his eyes at me. “The beep of the alert woke me up, I was actually sleeping for most of the time.”

I sighed loudly. “I haven’t seen any.”

“Okay.” He mumbled. “Aren’t you even going to ask me anything about it?”

“About what?” I asked, playing dumb.

“You know what.”

I shrugged. “No, it’s none of my business, I suppose. And in twelve hours, I will never see you again, so it doesn’t really matter.”

“Okay, but-“

“Just drop it.” I snapped. “I don’t care about what you did, why don’t you get that?”

“Nobody ‘doesn’t care’.” He told me.

“Well, I’m different.”

“Obviously.” He snorted. “I don’t think any normal person would do what you’re doing right now.”

Again, I shrugged. “I guess I’m just desperate for an adventure.”

“This isn’t an adventure,-“

“I know.” I interrupted him, tired of hearing him trying to talk me out of this. We hadn’t even made it into Ohio yet. “And why can’t you understand that I don’t care? I don’t care if it’s dangerous or stupid. I don’t care if it I might get arrested or if you might hurt me, which I know that you won’t. I’ve only known you for a few hours, but I don’t think that you’ll hurt me and if you do, then I guess I have it coming but whatever. So just stop trying to talk me out of this because we are already halfway there and I swear to the mother of Jesus, if you ruin this border crossing for me, the police will be the last of your worries.”

He smirked softly. “Well, there’s only one more mile.” He said, motioning towards the sign that indicated that there was indeed one more mile before we were officially in Ohio and I am no longer caged inside of Pennsylvania. After seventeen agonizing years, I’ll finally be free. Maybe if it’s only for one night, it’s still incredibly cool.

“Aren’t your parents or whatever going to realize that you’re not home?” Thomas asked after a short silence.

“No, probably not. And if they do notice, they won’t care.” I muttered, counting down the minute and even speeding a little bit to get to the border faster.

“I could get charged for kidnapping for this, you know.” He told me.

I snorted. “Please, if anything, I’m kidnapping you. Now, be quiet, we’re almost there.”

He laughed- I think that’s the first time that I’ve heard him laugh this whole trip. He has a pretty laugh. “It’s just Ohio.”

“It’s not just Ohio.” I defended, seeing the “Welcome To Ohio” sign in the distance. I started bouncing with excitement in my seat with a huge grin on my face. “I can see it!”

“So what’s the big deal?” He asked curiously.

“It’s not that it’s Ohio, it’s that it’s not Pennsylvania.”

“You don’t like Pennsylvania?”

“No, it’s not a bad state, but I’m just tired of it, I guess.” I muttered offhandedly as my grin widened and we were so close to the sign that I sped up just a little faster and we were almost there. “It is at 12:13 on April 17, 2013 that I, Charlie Brikers, become free.” I announced, followed by a girly squeal as the beautiful arch passed over our heads and then we were officially in Ohio. A state that isn’t Pennsylvania. A state away from my mom and my sister and the god awful fashion industry.

“You’re very excited.” Thomas observed.

“Don’t ruin my moment.” I demanded, continuing to savor this wonderful moment a little while until we stopped at a red light and I calmed down slightly. “Okay, we still have about another 45 minute drive.”

“That’s not bad.” He told me. “Let’s see what Ohio is talking about.” Thomas leaned forward and turned on the radio once again and now it was on a top 40 station, which was what I usually listened to.

“They probably won’t be talking about you.” I informed Thomas.

“I wouldn’t be so sure.” He chuckled softly just as a Bruno Mars song was ending. “News travels fast, especially when it’s about me.”

I wanted to ask him what he had done, but then I remembered the announcement earlier and that M word, murder, and I realized that I probably really didn’t want to know what he had done in the past.

“Isn’t public indecency like, running around naked?” I asked curiously.

“What?” He laughed. Another laugh. If I wasn’t passing a semi at the moment, I would have looked over to put a smile with the laugh, but I couldn’t, because semis terrify me, so I couldn’t look away.

“The lady said that you’re charged with public indecency. Does that mean that you were running around naked?” I elaborated.

“No.” He chuckled, leaning against the window as we buzzed through the outskirts of Ohio. “I was high, and I was hungry, so I went to Wal-Mart. I threw a bag of Goldfish at a lady when she told me to leave and then I tried to steal a Barbie bicycle. I was fully clothed, though.”

“High?” I asked in confusion.

“Yeah, like smoking weed.” He told me with an eye roll.

“Oh.” I muttered. “Yeah, I knew that.”

“You’ve never smoked before?” He asked with raised eyebrows.

I shook my head at him. “No, I’ve never smoked anything in my life.”

“Well, you shouldn’t.” He told me bluntly. “It’s stupid.”

“Really?” I asked in shock.

“Yeah, why do you seem so surprised?”

I shrugged. “I’ve never heard a pothead say that weed was a bad idea.”

“I’m not a pothead.” He defended. “I’ve just smoked it a few times.”

“Do you do other drugs? Like lean and stuff?”

He let out another laugh, but it was so fast and beautiful that I couldn’t look over quick enough to see the smile that was associated with it. “How do you know what lean is?”

I shrugged sheepishly. “Macklemore.”

“You listen to Macklemore?” He asked me.

I nodded. “Yeah, sometimes.”

“You’re just full of surprises.” Thomas mumbled. “Anyway, no. I’ve never done lean. Marijuana is really the worst thing I’ve done more than once.”

“And marijuana is weed, right?” I asked him.

He nodded with a small smirk at my innocence. “Yes.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know this stuff.” I apologized sarcastically.

“It’s okay.” He chuckled. “Your innocence is adorable and… comforting.”

“Comforting?” I asked in confusion.

“Yeah, I guess.” He sighed.

I didn’t ask him to elaborate, even though I didn’t understand why he’d said that my innocence was comforting. It didn’t really make any sense to me as to why I would be comforting. Without me responding to his comment, we drove for about ten minutes in silence before I realized that the street names were incredibly hard to read in the dark and I was barely making the turns that I needed to make and it was getting harder and harder.

“Can you see the street sign there?” I asked Thomas, finally succumbing to asking him for help.

He looked up, squinting hard, but eventually, he shook his head. “No, it’s too dark.”

“I can’t get to the house if I can’t read the street signs.” I informed him.

“Well, then what the hell should we do?” He asked exasperated.

I grinned at him. “So it’s we now, is it?”

He rolled his eyes. “It is when neither one of us have a place to stay tonight, unless you want to drive all the way back to Pittsburgh.”

“No.” I sighed. “We’re almost to Cleveland, we can just get a motel or something.”

“I don’t have any money.” He told me.

“I do.” I admitted softly. “And it’s really our only option right now.”

He opened his mouth to try and refute my decision, but then clamped it shut again when I assume that he realized that I was right and getting a motel for the night was our only option left other than sleeping in my car somewhere, which would be stupid if I have the money to get a motel.

“This is ridiculous.” Thomas muttered under his breath.

“What is?” I asked him curiously.

“You, for starters.”

“I’m ridiculous?”

“Yes, you’re ridiculous.” He insisted.

“Because I’m helping you, right?” I guessed.

“And you’re buying a motel room just so that I can get away from the cops. Why do you want me to get away from them so bad?” He asked.

I shrugged. “I think that you’re a good person.” I admitted stupidly.

This made him laugh, but I was so embarrassed with what I’d said, I couldn’t look at him to see his smile this time. I thought he was good? Everything in the universe was telling me that he was bad, why on earth would I think that he’s a good person? I don’t know why, but I just did. There was just something about him that I trusted.

“Why on earth would you think that?” He asked incredulously.

“I don’t know, I just do.” I told him, honestly just as I saw an exit coming up that held at least six motels. I turned off of the highway onto the exit and started searching for the motels, deciding to pull into the first one that we came across.

“Can we stay at one that has waffles?” Thomas changed the subject.

“Sure.” I chuckled softly. “Why do you want waffles?”

He shrugged. “I dunno, I like waffles.”

“Okay, well here’s one.” I said, pointing to the Red Roof Inn that we were approaching on the dark and nearly deserted road. I could see why it was deserted, it was one o’clock in the morning, for crying out loud. “And the sign says that they have continental breakfast.”

“That means waffles?”

I nodded with a small smile. “Yes, there should be waffles.” I pulled into the parking lot and I could see that the lobby light was on, so they were open. “Stay here while I go get a room.”

“Why can’t I go with you?” He asked.

“Are you stupid?” I asked incredulously. “They have you on all news stations on the eastern half of America.”

“I thought you said I wouldn’t be in Ohio.” He countered.

“Not on the radio, but you’re probably smothering the TV media. Just stay here, I’ll be back in a minute.” I informed him, grabbing my keys and wallet and stepping out of the car for the first time in hours. My knees creaked slightly and I took a moment to stretch- it felt nice to stand up.

I finally walked through the dark parking lot and then into the lobby where an oldish lady was behind the counter, half asleep. When she saw me come in, her eyes widened slightly before she sat up and gave me a subtle glare.

“Welcome to the Red Roof Inn, would you like a room?” She asked in a gruff, mechanical sounding voice.

“Yeah, I just need a room with two twin beds.” I said sweetly, standing at the grimy counter.

She nodded and then slowly typed at the creaky computer for a moment before feeding me a price. I handed her the stack of bills from my wallet and when she asked for my ID, I nervously handed her my fake ID that said that I was 19 so that I could get a room. She gave me a suspicious look when she saw that I was paying in all cash but I just flashed her a small, innocent smile and she carried on.

Luckily, she bought it and handed the ID back to me before handing me a key card for the room. “Room 39, you have to be out by 11 tomorrow morning.” She informed me as she handed me a receipt. I thanked her quickly before leaving the lobby and returning outside, since the doors to each motel room were outside.

“We have room 39.” I informed Thomas as I got back in the car.

“Okay, so why are you getting back in the car?” Thomas asked me slowly.

“We’re driving closer to the door, it’ll be less risky for anybody seeing you.” I explained, since room 39 was close to the end of the line of motels.

“Oh, alright.” He agreed softly as I parked right in front of room 39 and then exited the car. Once Thomas was out, I locked the doors with the fancy button on my key chain and then used the key card to open the door to the room.

“Which bed do you want?” I asked him as we got inside and locked the door behind me.

“This one.” Thomas declared, plopping down on the bed closest to the door.

“Okay.” I yawned, now feeling extremely tired from probably one of the biggest and most exciting days of my life. “I’m going to bed.” I announced, crawling under the covers of the other small bed that was closest to the open door to the bathroom. It was a basic small motel room with two small beds, two nightstands, a bathroom, a TV, and a mini fridge. That was it, but it was cozy, I suppose.

“Alright, I guess I’ll sleep too.” He told me.

“Okay, and can you do me a favor?” I asked him, leaning on my elbows to prop myself up and look at Thomas, who was lying in the other bed with only the lamp between us illuminating his face.

“What is it?”

“If you wake up before me, wake me up before you leave.” I told him.

“Sure, why?” He asked.

I shrugged meekly. “I just want to say goodbye.”

He was quiet for a moment before speaking. “Okay, I’ll wake you up.” He said quietly, laying down and turning off the lamp between us, leaving us in complete darkness since the heavy curtains were drawn completely shut, not letting in any of the city lights. “I’m going to miss you, Charlie.” He said in the darkness.

I smiled softly at that. “I’m going to miss you too, Thomas.”