I check my phone for the fourth time since I've woken up, now sitting at the back of Omar's car. I push the phone back in my pocket and resume to counting today's earnings. Michael's probably not awake yet so I shouldn't expect him to reply for at least a couple more hours.

"You finish counting?" Omar asks from the front.

"Recounting them."

"How much was it the first time?"

"Three thousand and fifty five," I say which causes both of them to smile a little.

That makes $8,385 for each of us.

I sit with that number for a while. My stomach twists, threatening to throw up breakfast. I'm done recounting and the anxiety creeps its way back in. Eight thousand dollars isn't nearly the amount I had in mind for Michael. And while Omar and Lib are giddy about their allowance, I want to make more money. I have no idea how but I need to do it fast otherwise I'll be in Maryland, wasting my time on a guy who might not even exist. And dying before doing right by Michael.

But how exactly do you make such a large amount of money when your days are numbered like mine. If the answer was simple, the entire human population wouldn't be struggling the way they are. Some people do know though. I'm not one of them but it gives me hope that there's a possibility I just haven't figured it out yet.

"Ben? Did you hear what I said?" Lib asks, the leather making an awkward prolonged squeak as she turns.

"What?"

"The greyhound leaves at two o'clock. You good with that?"

"How much is the ticket?"

"Around eighty dollars," she says.

"One way?"

"Yeah. Travel time is twenty hours," she directs her attention to Omar now. "Why don't we just fly there, I can't sit in a bus for twenty hours."

"How much are the flights?" I ask.

After a second, she smirks, "Same price but it's a round trip."

"Fine, book the flights," Omar gives her the green signal.

"Whose card are we using?"

"Venmo me the money, both of you. We can use my card."

I hesitate but Lib gives me his code and I scan it, pausing once more before hitting send on the amount. Ever since the stag mail, I can feel the heaviness of each dollar slip my out of my wallet and into the gutter. Every dollar I don't need to spend. Every dollar I keep wasting on my short life.

"Are you done?" Lib asks, taking Omar's phone back from me.

"Yes."

Lib's curious gaze lingers for a moment before she turns back around. We stay in the parking lot for about twenty minutes more while Lib books the flights for us. I want to back out so bad but how do you when you're in the backseat of someone else's car? Maybe this is meant to be, maybe I'll get lucky in another state. The money is out of my account and into his. It's safe to say, I think it's a little too late to be thinking about all of this.

Panic rises in me and my own unsaid words are starting to feel like heavy chains around my neck. I swallow them, choosing to stay silent- like every god damn time. I thought things were changing for me, I really did this time.

"Nobody needs anything from their places, right? We can head to the airport straight from here."

"What about your car?" I ask.

"I'll leave it at the airport," Omar says, coolly.

"I need to pick up something," Lib announces.

"I texted everyone so we wouldn't need to stop anywhere," Omar complains, slightly agitated.

"I'm going to Maryland, aren't I?"

I sink back into the seats. These two always manage to get into some kind of argument and it is starting to get a little old. There's a sharp sigh and I'm not sure who it came from. 

"Your house is in the opposite direction to the airport," Omar states after quickly checking on his phone.

"You better get driving then."

  "Is it absolutely necessary?" he asks, itching the top of his brow.

"I forgot my phone charger," she replies, sharply.

"You can borrow my iPhone charger. We don't need to go back for it."

  She looks at him blankly but I've watched them both enough to know it's not peaceful. There's a strenuous pause before she adds,

"I also forgot my box of tampons."

Omar is quiet. It's like they have a semi-stare down before he replies.

"Are they available at Kroger?"

"Probably."

"Great, there's one on the way. We can go there. Anything else, your highness?"

"Wonderful, are you paying for them?"

"Are you paying for gas?"

I guess this shuts her up for a while but I can see her shake her head, mutely.  Her annoyance, coming off her like heat waves is like a car standing in traffic in July. Omar finally starts the car and we're off.

When we stop at Kroger, I go to the bank to deposit the cash in my account. I hate carrying cash on me. And I can't risk losing any of it during this trip. Omar joins me to make his own deposit, too. 

  When Lib arrives, she's hugging a big brown bag to her chest. A blue box peeps out of the bag, or maybe it's purple. I always get those colors mixed. She looks between the pair of us before turning to the car.

"We ready to go?" she asks, sort of like an announcement going  'I'm here- let's go.'

"Are you carrying the cash on you?" I ask her, a little dumbfounded.

"Yeah, why?"

"That's a lot to carry," I reply. "Are you sure you want to carry that much? There's a bank right over there and it's practically empty."

Omar joins in agreement, "He's right, it'll be risky. Someone might jump you."

"They can try," she says, wiping her tongue across her top teeth. It's then that I notice the fresh coat of pink lipstick. Did she reapply in Kroger? Why am I looking at her lipstick? Maybe because it's a little too bright in the daylight. 

"You're worried about them flagging your account," Omar says in slow realization.

"They might block my cards," she sighs. "I don't know about you but I'd like to have my money on hand."

"Alright, fair enough," Omar brushes past her, key ring rotating around his finger, ready to unlock the car. 

Lib glances at me and I fill the silence with a, "You good?"

She walks with me, "Never better."

When we get to the car, she asks if she can switch seats with me. I look over the roof of the car to see if Omar heard her. Judging by his scowl, I'm assuming he did.

"Sure," I tell her. It makes no difference to me but I'll admit, sitting in the back alone can really make you feel like a third-wheel.

We lug our bags out of the car with us. All three of us carry backpacks since nobody wanted to pay extra for a carry-on. For a trip between strangers, this is already panning out to be awkward as hell.

"Thanks," Lib says under her breath as I let her walk in front.

We get through security with almost no problems, only to come to the final post and have Omar's backpack sound the alarm.

"What did you pack?" Lib asks, her shoulders slumping.

He answers her with a heavy sigh, walking over to the TSA agent to have his bag manually inspected. When the navy blue backpack finally rolls in and Omar unzips it, Lib and I wait patiently, both curious to see what it was.

"What's this?" the agent holds up a bottle for Omar to look at.

"Body spray" Omar replies.

The guy points to the board that explicitly says, no aerosol sprays. Omar takes a minute reading it when he adds, "What are you doing with that?"

"I'm throwing this out, we have to re-scan the bag. Please stand  aside, you're blocking people."

Lib takes a seat on the steel bench and I do, too. It takes a while before his bag rejoins the queue and we're allowed to leave.

"You brought an aerosol spray with you to an airport?" I ask him.

He shifts his annoyed gaze sideways at me, "I didn't know they had a problem with it."

Lib pulls out her head phones once we get to the gate and Omar is on his phone, sitting wide-legged on the seat opposite us. So I text Michael again, hoping I'll get a response before the flight.

Half an hour later, they announce boarding and we get our things together.

"What seat do you guys have?" I ask them.

"8A," Lib says. "You?"

"10C."

"That's the aisle seat, lucky," Lib nudges my elbow.

"I got 8B," Omar pulls his boarding pass out on his phone.

"Hope you like the middle seat, buddy," I pat him once on his shoulder before moving ahead in the line to scan my boarding pass.

"Have a wonderful flight," the lady with a scarf around her neck says.

"Thanks."

Behind me, I hear Lib calling my name to get me to slow down in the tunnel. I already know what she's going to ask and what my answer will be.

I pretend I can't hear her and board the plane.