Chapter Eight #2
The exit ramp to the rest stop veers off the highway, bringing us to a grassy area with a small building that has bathrooms and vending machines, as well as a short walking path that loops around the building among tall trees.
There are only a couple other cars here, but they’re all parked close together right by the front entrance, with only one bigger truck parked farther down in the rows of empty spaces.
Grady parks a few spaces to the left of our car and immediately leaps out to do a set of jumping jacks. Amelia and I turn to look, and Declan notices her driving glasses as he climbs out of the SUV.
I expect Amelia to do the same dismissal of this as she did on campus, but she holds them in her hands as she steps into the parking space, giving me a pointed expression, like Happy now? and she holds them up toward the guys. “These are just my driving lenses.”
Declan nods politely while Grady steps closer to ask, “Huh, I was gonna say, what are those? I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
“They’re telescopic lenses,” she explains, pointing to the components at the center. “To see certain things zoomed in because of my vision loss.”
“That’s interesting,” Declan says.
“Can I try them on?” Grady asks. “Sorry, you probably get that question all the time.”
Amelia shakes her head. “Uh, I don’t want to stretch them or anything.”
“Then I definitely shouldn’t try them on.
I have been told that I have a big head,” Grady says proudly.
He leans forward to look at the lenses in Amelia’s hands.
“We should get some for Pops,” he says before explaining, “Our grandpa has his trusty binoculars that he brings when he goes out for most anything.”
Amelia puts them back in the case and slides them into the sunglasses compartment in the car before we head toward the restroom.
“You didn’t have to do that,” I tell her as we wash our hands in front of the mirror.
“We’re going to be driving with them for this long, might as well rip off the Band-Aid. It was easy enough.”
“Yeah, you did a good job.”
She rolls her eyes. “Ooh, thank you…”
“Just saying.”
We emerge outside again, where Grady is doing a few unsteady lunges up and down the path through the trees. Declan is around the corner at the little vending machine hut.
“Do you want any candy?” I ask Amelia.
“No, that’s fine. I’ll try calling Mom and Dad.”
“Okay, I’ll be right back.”
As I step away, Grady jogs over to chat with Amelia. An old lady walks past them on her way inside the building and says something that makes them both erupt with laughter.
“What was that?” I ask, approaching Declan, curious if he overheard.
He’s staring back at our siblings with an amused expression. “She said they make a very cute couple.”
“Oh.” I laugh, because Amelia seems to revile Grady.
Declan points to the machine. “Want to split some chocolate? A3?”
“Looks good to me.”
We silently watch the machine dispense the bar, which he retrieves and hands me. “We can divide it later?”
“Sure, thanks.” I wave it back in the direction of the cars. “Well, I should, um, go see if Amelia called our parents. And maybe you should get in a lap or two…” I tease, gesturing toward his brother, who is now sprinting up and down the path.
At first, I doubt Declan is going to, but he shouts after Grady, “Race you!” then disappears down the path in the opposite direction, with a significant head start, but his brother wastes no time trying to catch up.
I walk over to Amelia, who’s meandered down the sidewalk and is standing about a driveway’s length away from the car, texting something on her phone. “Hey,” I say, startling her.
“Iris?” Her eyes go wide.
“Uh, yeah?” But she isn’t in a goofy mood. Now she seems genuinely afraid. “What’s up?” I ask.
“If you’re there…who’s in our car?” She points to the sedan, where I realize someone is sitting in the passenger seat.
At first, I stand behind my older sister, grabbing onto her arm.
There’s someone in our car. Who seems to be sitting there, not really doing anything.
This person must have gotten in while I was distracted at the vending machine.
Except that doesn’t explain why they’re in our vehicle.
They’re not hiding in the back or messing around with anything.
“What’s happening?” Amelia asks me, trying to keep her voice level but obviously shaken.
“I’ll walk closer,” I say in a hush.
“No, wait,” she says.
Grady and Declan head over to us at a normal but cautious gait, still breathing heavily from their impromptu race.
“Everything all right?” Grady asks. Amelia flicks her finger quickly toward the lot.
It only takes them a second to follow our gazes and discover the problem. “Is that someone in your car?”
“Yeah,” Amelia whispers, even though there’s no one else in earshot.
“It’s fine,” I insist, though not feeling very fine about it at all. “It’s not like they’re in the driver’s seat. I’ll go walk by and check it out.”
“No,” Amelia says, but seems to be running calculations in her head and follows up with, “Not too close.”
“Sure.” I take a deep breath and walk down the sidewalk, turning to move perpendicular to the row of parked cars, with a not-so-discreet turn of my head to stare directly through the windshields. But then I realize the mistake and shuffle back to my sister, shoulders relaxed.
“Okay, you’re never going to believe it,” I say, building suspense.
Declan looks toward the lot and seems to come to the same conclusion before I announce it. “Ah, I see it.”
“What?” Amelia asks, eyes wide.
I clasp my hands together. “That’s not our car.”
In the row of parked vehicles, our silver sedan with Nebraska license plates sits right between the white SUV and another silver car, the exact same make and model, also with Nebraska plates.
She scrunches up her face. “Are you sure?”
“Yep.” I gently nudge her arm to tilt her so that she’s facing the vehicle one parking space over. “That one is.”
“You’re sure?” she repeats.
“Yep,” I say, reaching out my hands to take the keys from her. I hit the unlock button, and our empty car to the right lights up. “We’re all good.”
But Amelia’s face remains contorted. “I was sure.”
“It’s fine,” I try to reassure her.
“Yeah, we all thought the same. Easy mistake to make,” Grady says, hand on her shoulder, which Amelia doesn’t shrug away from, though she cringes at the word mistake.
Not something my sister is fond of. “You know what.” Grady’s good at trying to recalibrate a drop in energy.
“Let’s switch things up for the next stretch.
Do we want to do some passenger swapping here? ”
“What? Like go in different cars?” I ask, instinctively glancing toward Declan.
I’m pleased to find him looking my way as well. “That sounds fun,” he says.
Amelia is staring off into the distance, still shaken—and I’m not sure whether it’s from the initial fear of someone having gotten into our car or from having gotten concerned about something that turned out to not be a problem at all.
But really, she shouldn’t feel too bad; it wasn’t an impossible mistake to make, but I’m sure she’s still stuck feeling a certain way about it.
My sister crosses her arms and speaks to Grady. “But you and I just drove. If those two pair up, one of us has to drive again.”
“Really, I’m good to drive another stretch,” Grady says to Amelia, bouncing on his heels like he’s warming up for sports practice. “All right, perfect. So I’ll go with Lee, and Iris can drive with Dex?”
“Works for me!” Declan says.
“Sure,” I agree before realizing that Amelia is shooting daggers my way.
My sister turns to Grady, accepting her fate, but not going down without a fight. “It’s Amelia,” she corrects.
Grady isn’t put off. “I get it. Nicknames have to be earned. I’ll get there.”
She crosses her arms. “Let’s just drive to the next stop. I’m keeping my music on.”
I don’t move from where I’m standing. Should I offer to just stick with Amelia? She seems better by the second, however, and driving home with the guys was her idea, after all. She can’t be too upset about getting stuck with Grady for a bit.
Declan grabs the keys from his brother and gestures to the SUV. “You good, Iris?”
“Oh, sure, yeah.” I reach into the car and grab my bag, which is when I remember I’m still holding this chocolate bar. “Easier to split this.”
“Exactly.” But his brow is furrowed. It makes me question the change of seating arrangements. It’ll be nice to have time to brainstorm on the drive with Declan, but I was supposed to be spending time with my sister this week.