a subtle power

“True. I can stay though, I don’t mind, and I’m not really in the mood for exploring.”

“I mean, so long as you think I’m decent company.”

Always anxious to get off the van and finally stretch his legs, Donnie often found himself eagerly hopping out, but as it was now, he rarely wandered until he had a good view of the area. He turned to Leigh-Ann, mildly humored but not apparent on his features. “Leigh-Ann, your mother is showing. Why don’t you go explore too?”

“Isn’t it always showing? I didn’t know it ever had a chance to hide.” She smirked, looking at Donnie pointedly. “I’m fine, really. Someone should always stick by the van.”

Cody never wasted any time getting out of the car, always in need of fresh air and newer surroundings. Not that the van wasn’t fun, but its interiors had grown stale over the past several weeks, both literally and figuratively. He was pacing about nearby when he heard Leigh-Ann’s voice, glancing up and flashing a grin. “Such shenanigans,” he agreed, mostly teasing. “C’mon, Leigh. It’s not like the van’s gonna drive away on its own — nobody’s ever loved it as much as we do.”

“Fair point, but you can never be too careful.” The toes of her shoes were pressed against the surface of the ground, keeping her unmoving as ever. “Hey, I don’t mind — go run off and do whatever it is that you guys do. I can never really figure it out, to be honest.”

"You say that like it’s a bad thing that I put my own well-being over my potential criminal record," he replied, a joking tone in his voice. He followed the line of her gaze outside the window, eyes looking on what appeared to be the same line of trees that he’d been staring at for the past hour and a half. "You count the trees? I knew you were crazy, Leigh," he replied, shaking his head, "But yeah, okay, I’ll try it. Thanks."

“Oh, you know I don’t mean it like that,” she admonished, though she knew he was joking. “It’s really weird, I know — but I like that the scene never changes. The highway is never-ending, and so are the trees. I’m sure it doesn’t make any sense, but it comforts me to count them knowing that I’ll never have to stop. Keeps me preoccupied.”

It’s just a scratch. Just hand it over and I don’t have to talk to you.

Yeah, of course, but I was only trying...to help.

With anyone else, he might have drawn back. But not with Leigh-Ann - he’s always sort of trusted her. “It’s entirely possible,” he mused, a joking smile on his lips, “though I’m surprised, Dramamine is essential. You could have potentially risked letting us all down.” He nodded, “Yes, ma’am.” Louis finally took his full attention away from the car window, focusing on Leigh-Ann, “Yeah, okay, hit me — but not literally, this time.”

"I have Tums! And Pepto Bismol. All over the counter stuff — nothing swiped from St. Clair's, thank goodness." She bit her tongue for a split second, afraid of sounding as if she was admonishing him. "I mean, good on you for bringing it." Once he agreed to hear her out, she pointed towards the window to the right of them — to the endless line of trees across from the road. "I start to count them. It's a little dizzying to begin with, but if you breathe through it, it'll slow down. It's good to focus on something consistent; it'll distract you from the nausea."

While the mothering tone to Leigh-Ann’s voice — and her presence in general — often seemed to more than irritate the others (Devin and Imogene especially, but her efforts with them were futile anyway. Theirs were fires not dampened by the wet blanket of reprimand) Danika found it sufficiently comforting. It was nice knowing someone cared. “N-no, it’s probably just something from outside,” she said, one hand gesturing behind them towards a window. “If there is, we’ll know about it pretty soon anyway.” A tease, accompanied by the mischievous grin she wore too often lately.

"No — what if it's serious?" Leigh-Ann's neck darted from side to side, looking about for any sign of trouble — though Danika seemed to think it a joking matter. "We may be near a forest fire, or something. I'd rather figure that out sooner rather than later in case we need to turn around."

Fuck, does anyone have a bandaid?

Yeah, of course — what's wrong? How badly did you hurt yourself?

Danika was sat slouched with legs outstretched across two seats, book in her hands hiding her face from view until she lowered it, brow furrowed and nose in the air, sniffing for something. “Does… does anyone else smell burning?”

Even with Danika's slow intonation, Leigh-Ann was immediately startled by her inclination, her head whipping in the girl's direction. "Uh, no. Burning? You think there's a fire somewhere?" Her mind went elsewhere, tabulating the amount of possibilities and tragedies in her arsenal.

He heaved an overly dramatic sigh — “Oh shut up,” he chuckled, “I’m sure you’ve got a whole pharmacy in your bag.” They could always count on Leigh-Ann for that kind of stuff. She was always taking care of anyone. “…If Devin keeps driving like this? No promises.”

"Maybe. Maybe not. What's it to ya?" She smirked, gently pressing her fist into his shoulder. "I like to fill in all the gaps. Sue me. Dramamine wasn't on the checklist, though — maybe you're just smarter than me. And I guess I'll rub your back if it comes to that point, but let's not test that theory, alright?" Though she was concerned about how evident her cheeky tone was, she hoped her smile would compensate for any misunderstanding. "Hey — do you want to know my secret to avoiding carsickness?"

Louis’s pale complexion has always made it damn near impossible to hide any sort of embarrassment. It’s a curse, really, because a deep red blush doesn’t compliment his brightly-colored hair in any way. “I, uh,” a sheepish grin crossed his face, “I’ve been carsick before, but it hasn’t happened yet. I actually nicked some dramamine from St. Clair’s before we left, just in case.” 

"Hey, relax. I promise that it's not a big deal. It's not like you woke me up or anything." His blush was more than slightly adorable, but Louis was more prone to embarrassment than most of the group — and so she was always driven to placate him. "Look at you all prepared. You're making me feel like a slacker. Hopefully we won't actually need it. We hardly need anyone vomiting in the van."

Louis hadn’t been paying attention to who was driving (Imogene? Devin? Jane?), but regardless, the ride is bumpier than usual. He gripped the edge of his seat, sucking in a breath as they made a sharp turn. However, the turn was punctuated by a bump, and it seemed his grip wasn’t tight enough, since he wound up jostling the person next to him. “Fuck, sorry,” he laughed, scratching his head, “I’d say I wish we could get there sooner, but that means we’d have to go even faster.”

Leigh-Ann always wished to be lulled to sleep while they were on a drive, but she knew there was no making that happen — she was always on high alert, constantly concerned about whoever was at the wheel and exactly how capable he or she was at navigating the road. Quite frankly, they were all crap drivers, but the van was kind and took the constant rumblings as a norm. When Louis rustled against her, she broke out of a trance, having been too focused on the winding road. "No worries," she replied with her usual mega-watt smile. "I'm at least thankful that I don't get carsick. Don't think I could have survived this trip otherwise."