For All Time
"do they collide?"
I ask and you smile.
With my feet on the dash
The world doesn't matter."- Passenger Seat by Death Cab For Cutie
Their getaway car had become a temporary home, takeaway food containers littering the back seats and the radio a faint murmur in the hush. But then he reasons that any place could be his home now that she was with him.
He had never felt so comfortable and open with his belly full and adrenaline fading into a tired giddy happiness. They had planed to drive in shifts but she spent longer behind the wheel, the soft waves of her hair dark as the endless night as she concentrates on the road ahead.
It was almost two days since he asked her to leave her life and runaway with him from her hen party. Time had blurred and it felt like only hours ago when she had looked him straight in the eyes, face sombre and thoughtful before taking him by the hand and smiling coyly.
The breeze from his open window cooled his overly warm cheeks and made his hair dance across his forehead. The smell of trees and open air combined with her perfume and lulled him close to sleep as he slumped in the passenger seat.
The silence was textured and safe. When they had first jumped into the car with barely anything more than the clothes on their backs there had been a lot of discussion and arguments about what happened next. That first night they had pulled into a quant bed and breakfast and suddenly it did not matter that they had no idea where they were heading or everything they were leaving behind.
They had made love that night, their first night after devoting themselves to each other. Her skin was soft and electric and it was the beginning of a new eternity. He had awakened with the dawn and spent sunrise watching her breath quietly as she slept. Every barrier that had kept them apart had been removed and the relief he felt did nothing to dampen the wonder and lust he felt for her.
Their lack of a plan seemed only apt. She had smiled a wicked smile as him before picking a direction and driving. They found themselves steadily surrounded by open fields as they left civilization behind. He had made some silly joke involving her designer shoes and endless amounts of mud and she had playfully hit his arm.
There was no place he would rather be.
Away from light pollution the stars were bright and numerous in the velvet sky. He felt like a small child, awed by the beauty that encircled him.
"Don't you go falling asleep on me now Leebugs. It's your job to keep me amused."
He could hear her smile without looking at her.
A chuckle resonates deep in his chest and he rolls his head against the headrest till he is watching her profile. Her eyes sparkle in a passing cars headlights.
"I'm wide awake babe." He yawns and winks when she turns and gives him her best sceptical expression.
"Well you better be I'm a very demanding woman you know."
"So I've heard."
He stretches and briefly squeezes her hand resting on top of the steering wheel.
"We could stop for the night." He suggests.
She snorts, "What, and sleep in Car? It will be your fault when we get axe murdered Liam Connor."
"Any axe murder would be terrified of you. Besides it would be an adventure."
"I've had more than enough adventure for a lifetime. Nah, well keep going till we find a nice four star hotel." The trace of sadness in her tone is something he wants to make disappear forever and he thinks that he has the rest of their lives to make her happy.
He still can not believe she would give up so much for him but he catches her watching him and he sees an open fondness in her expression that dazzles him as much as reassure him. There is an unspoken promise that they would go to the ends of the earth for each other sealed under the steady noise of the engine.
"Yeah sure." He mumbles trying to fight another yawn and wonders how he could possibly be happy to sit in a cramped car for hours on end.
They will keep on going. Together.