With the sun gone to bed and the moon high and glowing, it was much easier to drive. Everyone was slowly getting tired and they weren't fighting as much. In fact, Vern had consoled Cale with some Pez. Pez apparently was another one of her loves.
This was what Chris had always wanted. He was driving without a destination with a calm, dark night surrounding and cradling him. The drivers passing him did not know who he was. Anonymity was something he could never have in Castle Rock, but right now he could, and he would settle for it. The only thing wrong with the moment was that he knew what he was running from, and he would eventually go have to go home to it.
All remnants of Gordie and Cale's Twinkie fight had disappeared, and Gordie was sleeping with his head on Cale's shoulder, and she was breathing with soft, deep rhythm as she dreamed. Chris looked away, focusing on the road again.
"Chris," Teddy called from the backseat. "Does this old heap of metal get the radio?"
"Do not refer to my truck as a heap of metal, you heap of shit," Chris told him pleasantly. "And yes it does." Fiddling with the dials, eventually, he got some fuzzy sound to come from the radio. A distorted Joan Baez song was playing.
"I'm hungry," Vern complained.
"You'll have to wait till morning. Sorry, Verno," Chris told him.
"But I'm hungry now."
"And you'll be hungry then too," Claire said. "Go to sleep. The time will go by quicker."
"But I'm not sleepy," he murmured, but his eyes were struggling to stay open.
"It's even more boring when everyone's sleeping," Teddy mumbled when Vern began to snore.
"You didn't have to come along, Teddy," Chris reminded him.
"Hey, I can live with being bored. I didn't say I was having a bad time." Teddy slumped in his seat. "It's just that it's times like these that I really wish a tank would come along and start firing at us."
"Yes, that would fix your boredom issue," Claire said.
"Probably." He rested his head on his hand. "Anyway, I'm going to get some sleep. Night, guys."
After a long silence, Claire asked, "You gonna drive all night?"
Chris jumped slightly. He'd thought she'd fallen asleep too. "Um, yeah, probably. I don't really need that much sleep time." He turned down the radio. The static was annoying him. "What about you? Do you sleep? It's past two."
"I can't sleep in the car," she said, shrugging. "I've never been able to. But I'll be pretty grumpy in the morning."
"It's okay, I won't be able to tell the difference."
"Between what?"
"Grumpy Claire and Non-Grumpy Claire."
She laughed softly.
"Listen, I'm sorry that you got dragged along."
"Whatever," she said indifferently. "It's not that bad."
"You're having a good time?" he asked, shocked.
Grinning, she replied, "I never said that."
"Oh."
"But I'm not having a bad time either. I'm being entertained."
"You're being entertained? Fuck, I can't tell the difference between Bored out of her mind Claire and Entertained Claire either."
Claire laughed again. "Besides, I probably wouldn't have anything else to do this weekend anyway."
"Yeah, I don't see you outside of school much. Actually, I don't see you inside of school much."
"That's because you haven't been looking for me." She smiled her distantly nonchalant grin. "So, are you jealous?"
"Of what?" he asked, confused.
"Of this Teddy guy."
Chris glanced back momentarily. Teddy was sleeping with his mouth slightly open, and he was snoring. He knew what she was talking about.
"It's okay though," she said. "I don't think he likes her back."
Pretending to not know what on earth she was talking about, Chris asked, "Likes who back?"
She scoffed. "I wonder."
"I don't know what stuck it in your head that I like Cale," he muttered.
"Uh, you did, dumbass," she said. "You're so blatantly obvious about liking her."
"Then why doesn't anyone else in this truck know?" he demanded. "I think you're just trying to get a rise out of me."
"The only other people in this truck are boys!" she exclaimed. "Do you know how stupid boys are?"
"Cale's also here and she's a girl."
"Cale's also stupid."
"You're a bitch," he told her.
"Thanks."
"Anytime."
She sighed dramatically. "Sorry. But I know you like her, so don't pretend that you don't."
Chris shrugged, and wished that she would just go to sleep so he wouldn't have to keep talking to her. "Fine. But if you tell her, you're walking."
"Why don't you just ask her out?" she asked, ignoring his obvious annoyance.
"Because she doesn't like me back. She doesn't notice me. I wouldn't have a chance."
Her voice suddenly turned friendly and gentle. "I think you'd have a chance."
"I have more of a chance with you than I do with Cale.'
She laughed at the way he said that with such disgust. "Oh baby oh baby."
