Ok so I feel terrible for not updating in a while, especially considering how I was updating so often for the first few chapters. I've been really busy the past couple days and once I did finish the chapter there was a power outage that lasted a long time so of course no internet to post! Anyways I am SUPER DUPER sorry!

I wanted to say another thanks to those who take the time to review/favourite/alert this story. You're the bestest!

Enjoy!

CHAPTER 10: Carefree Highway

The next morning Dwayne knocked on the front door bright and early. I was already up and ready to go by then, I had been up before the sun had risen; once I finished my last minute packing I sat down on my bed and stared out my bedroom window watching the sun come up since my room was at the back of the house facing east. Shortly after, Dwayne had come to fetch me.

When I came out front with my small duffel bag, the Hoovers were finishing packing their bags into the back of the VW bus and began pilling inside it. I placed my bag in the back then climbed into the bus. Dwayne was already sitting in the very back so I decided to go sit down beside him.

Once everyone piled into the bus we pulled out of the driveway and headed out towards highway. There was a long drive ahead of us, so we decided to get breakfast after a bit of driving. Dwayne leant his head against the window. I leant back in my seat and stared across him out the window at the rolling scenery outside the car. I would have done the same as Dwayne, had I not been sitting in the middle of the back seat. I was stuck between Dwayne and Edwin, his step-grandfather, I was not a big fan of him.

"Jesus I'm tired," Edwin started up. "I'm so fucking tired. Y'know how tired I am? If some girl came up to me and begged me to fuck, I couldn't do it. That's how tired I am."

Richard protested at this saying that he should watch his language, but Edwin only countered that Olive was listening to music so she couldn't hear. Deeming this conversation appropriate for the rest of the car. He proved this by offering Olive a million dollars if she turned around, which she was oblivious to.

"Hey can I give you some advice?" he said to Dwayne, who was of course unresponsive. I was starting to get uncomfortable so I scooted closer to Dwayne. I never enjoyed it when Edwin went on one of his rants since they usually involved him talking about sex and drugs. I was hunched up, leaning right against Dwayne trying to get away from his step-grandfather.

"Dwayne. That's your name right? Dwayne?" Edwin continued on, always forgetting how old Dwayne was, as well as his name. He basically told Dwayne to "fuck a lot of women", which of course nobody else in the car wanted to hear that. Finally Richard interjected, asking to change the topic which was probably one of the only times I have ever agreed with him and was happy for him to interrupt.

My face was turning red and I was eventually able to tune out the conversation. I looked over at Dwayne who was staring straight ahead with no emotion in his shadowed eyes. His ears were slightly pink though.

We eventually reached a diner for breakfast where we all ordered various dishes. Olive ordered waffles with ice cream, which meant that Richard had to go back to being considered an asshole in my books again.

Frank started to explain what "a la mode" meant in French, so everyone sat and listened intently. We were all squished into one booth; I was between Frank and Dwayne. I was really tired from waking up early and driving, so I leaned against the back of the bench, only to snap up a second later to glare at Richard when he told Frank to shut up. He then started telling Olive how ice cream would essentially make her fat. Meaning that once her ice cream came she didn't want to eat it.

The whole table, besides Richard, began to dig into her food when she offered it up, all of us mentioning that she was missing out. I chimed in, hoping to cheer her up.

"Too bad Olive doesn't like ice cream anymore. I love to eat it all the time"

This got Olive back to eating her ice cream, which made me happy she wasn't listening to Richard's crappy advice. The rest of breakfast was uneventful.

When we returned to the car, Sheryl decided she wanted to try diving the bus, which led to the breaking of the shift. We went to a nearby garage where they took a look at the bus.

I followed Dwayne as he found a patch of grass amongst the dusty auto parts, and flopped down beside him. We both lay side by side staring up at the blue sky with the occasional cloud breaking the expansive, clear blue. After a few minutes our hands found each other, and our fingers intertwined.

I looked over at Dwayne, who turned and smiled a genuine and bright smile at me. I could tell that he was actually enjoying himself on this trip so far, even though he hated his family. He almost seemed to be saying that he was happy that I was here with him.

As soon as I thought that though, I mentally slapped myself. I was just imagining things that I wanted to happen. My feelings for Dwayne were getting into the way of my thoughts.

We sat there in complete silence, as was usual, our hands still tied together until we noticed that everyone was heading back to the van. When the reached the rest of the Hoover family we found out we were going to have to push the VW to get it going.

We established the order to get into the bus with Olive and Edwin first, then Sheryl, Frank, then I, and finally Dwayne.

There was lots of shouting of instructions from Richard as we began to push the bus, while Frank announced that he wanted everyone to know that he was the preeminent Proust scholar in the United States. I grinned, it seemed I enjoyed being around Sheryl's side of the family, as well as Olive, whereas the rest of the Hoover's in this family were jerks most of the time.

We all sprinted and piled to the van one at a time, though by the time it came down to Frank, Dwayne and I the bus was plowing along and it was next to impossible to try and keep up. Frank was finally able to make it in, then Dwayne barely touched the small of my back with hands to give me a gentle push so I could hop in. I turned around and grabbed his arm to drag him in beside me to return the favour.

I was sitting again between Dwayne and Frank in the back seat and decided since no one was paying us any attention I nestled down beside Dwayne to take a short nap as I was already so exhausted from the events of today. I gently rested my head on his shoulder, and as I began to drift off I though I felt him weave his fingers in with mine.

Thank you sooo much for reading! Please let me know what you think and give this story a review :)

I know this chapter wasn't super exciting but I promise the next one will have more happening ;) And while I'm making promises, I promise chapter 11 will be up wayyyyy sooner than this one was!