A/N: I feel like this chapter kind of goes all over the place, but oh well. At least there's finally some excitement. Enjoy; reviews are always appreciated!
"Hey! Wake up!"
Brittany's eyes fluttered open as she struggled to climb out of her deep, dreamless sleep. She expected to see her pretty pink wallpaper and posters of teen idols smiling back at her. Instead she was met by Alvin obnoxiously snapping his fingers right next to her ear.
Reality quickly hit, and she remembered that she was travelling with Alvin to God-knows-where, USA.
Brittany angrily slapped his hand away. She couldn't believe how rude he was! Okay, maybe she could...
"Let's go!" Alvin demanded. "We don't have time to just lay around! What if Dave is driving around looking for us? We need to get out of here."
"Well maybe if you would have taken us to a different state…" Brittany yawned.
Alvin frowned. "Look, I don't have time to chat about this. Just get up, okay?" Then he left the room, probably to get ready in his special bathroom in the other room.
Brittany forced herself out of bed and took a quick shower (she didn't care how much better the bathroom Alvin used last night was; she was not going to copy him.). She carefully applied her makeup and put on an adorable pink sundress and tied a matching ribbon in her ponytail. She decided that no matter how miserable she felt on this trip, she was not going to look like a careless slob.
Brittany was buckling her white sandals when Alvin came back, his hair damp.
"Took you long enough," Brittany observed. "I thought that I spent forever in the bathroom."
"I don't like to rush when I have a nice, warm, spider-free shower," Alvin replied with a smirk.
Brittany rolled her eyes. "So where are we headed?" she wanted to know.
"East," Alvin said, shoving his belongings in his suitcase.
"Could you be a little more specific?" Brittany asked impatiently.
Alvin shrugged. "We could go to Vegas."
Brittany sighed dramatically. "Vegas is in southern Nevada, you idiot. We'd basically have to turn around the way we came."
"I knew that!" Alvin said, rolling his eyes. "I was, uh, thinking we could go back and see if there were any good performing opportunities we missed."
"You'd better be kidding," Brittany muttered. She caught her reflection in the TV set and admired her perfectly long, dark eyelashes.
"I'm just going to drive east," Alvin declared. "We're just going to go where the wind takes us."
"Stop trying to sound all deep and shit," Brittany snapped. "You're not cool."
Alvin just chuckled. "So many people beg to differ with that statement."
"Trust me," Brittany said in the nastiest tone she could muster, "they don't."
"They do," Alvin corrected. "Pack up your stuff and meet me in the car."
"I'm already packed. Everything is still in my suitcase because there's no way I was letting any of my things touch anything in this disgusting room. And they don't," she added.
"Okay, fine," Alvin said. He zipped up his bag and started to head out of the room. He looked back at Brittany and smiled. "And they do."
"No, they don't," Brittany said, picking up her own things and following Alvin outside. "The only one who thinks you're cool is you and only you."
"Tell that to my millions of adoring fans." Alvin locked up the door. He suddenly tossed her the car keys, which she barely caught. "You can get in the car while I check us out."
Brittany blinked. For the first time, he actually trusted her with the keys. "Okay," she agreed, and made her way to the car.
After Alvin checked out, they got an unappetizing breakfast courtesy of a McDonald's drive through and hit the road again, this time with the top of the car down. Brittany was thankful she had worn her hair up.
They drove for a few hours with little communication. They had settled into a comfortable silence, just listening to the radio; whenever a station would start to fade, Alvin would just wordlessly turn the dial until he hit one that came in clearly. Brittany was delighted that he wasn't annoyingly singing along with every song, and realized it was probably because he was finally tired. Alvin was the most energetic person she knew, but driving aimlessly for hours straight would take its toll on anyone. And while Brittany slept hard last night, she had a feeling that Alvin didn't, if the dark circles under his eyes were any indication.
Whatever. Brittany wasn't going to think about it. It was none of her business, and she intended to keep it that way. For real this time.
But she was bored. And nosy. So maybe she could make it her business, just for a little while.
"So how did you sleep last night?" Brittany asked, having to raise her voice above the music and wind.
Alvin blinked a few times, as if he was surprised she was talking to him. "Not bad."
"Really?" Brittany propped her feet up on the dash. "Doesn't seem like it."
Alvin pushed his Ray Bans further up his nose. "Okay, fine," he admitted. "I didn't sleep that great. You're not the only one who has a lot on their mind."
"Oh please," Brittany muttered, rolling her eyes. "Your problems pale in comparison to mine."
Alvin frowned. "What did you say?" he yelled. It was almost too loud to have a conversation.
"Nothing," Brittany shouted back, realizing that she almost spilled the beans about everything.
They kept driving until the sky started to turn dark blue. Brittany just sat back and tried to enjoy the wind on her face, trying her best to ignore the fact that it was starting to really mess up her hair, despite the ponytail. They had just passed a big sign welcoming them to Utah when she caught her reflection in one of the side mirrors and cringed at her wispy hairs coming undone from her ribbon. She couldn't ignore it anymore.
"Hey, let's put the top back on," Brittany said, smoothing her hair down as much as possible.
"Hey, let's not," Alvin replied.
Brittany's hands turned to fists, but she tried to keep her voice calm. "We've been driving all day with the top down. It was fun for a while, but the wind is starting to mess up my hair and make my ears hurt. Please it's getting late and it's really cold. Can we please put it back up?"
Alvin tilted his head to the side, as if he was thinking about it. "Nah," he finally said. "I like it down."
"I'm serious, Alvin," Brittany said through clenched teeth. Screw the calmness thing. "Put it up!"
"No!" Alvin yelled.
"Yes!"
"No!"
"Yes!"
Then they heard a siren wailing behind them. Brittany turned and saw a police car behind them, red and blue lights flashing. A groan escaped Brittany's throat and she heard Alvin curse beside her. She peeked at the speedometer. Alvin was going almost 20 miles over the speed limit.
"Way to go," Brittany said when she turned around. "Nice job, Alvin."
Alvin didn't answer. He slowed down, but didn't stop the car.
"What are you doing?" Brittany asked. "Pull over!"
Alvin chewed his lip and stared at the rearview mirror. It was like he was debating whether to stop or not.
"Just pull over already!" Brittany yelled. What was going through that stupid little mind of his?
A few nerve-racking seconds went by before Alvin stopped the car on the shoulder of the road. Brittany let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.
"What the hell was that?" Brittany demanded. The police car had rolled to a stop behind them.
"We don't have time for this!" Alvin hissed. "Plus we'll get a fine that we can't afford! And they'll get all the information off my driver's license and Dave might figure out that we're-"
"God," Brittany interrupted, rolling her eyes. Was Alvin always this paranoid? "What a drama queen."
Alvin glared at her over his sunglasses, which he was still wearing despite the fact that it was dark outside. "I don't think you realize the—"
A flashlight shined in both of their eyes. It was held by a bald cop with a pot belly and a thick graying moustache.
"Good evening," he said in a not-so-friendly voice.
"Hello officer…" Alvin's eyes dropped to the name stitched to man's uniform. "Walters. How are you on this lovely night?" Any trace of worry Brittany had seen on his face a few seconds before was completely gone. He looked as confident and carefree as ever.
"Did you notice how fast you were driving?" Officer Walters asked, ignoring Alvin's question.
Alvin took off his shades and blinked innocently. "Uh, no."
"You're going seventy-three in a fifty-five zone," the policeman said. He didn't seem effected by Alvin's charm in the slightest.
"Oh?" Alvin said, pretending to be surprised. "I had no idea! Well, sir, there's a good reason for my speed."
There is? Brittany frowned.
"There is?" Officer Walters asked.
"Uh, yeah," Alvin said. "You see… my girlfriend here," he pointed to Brittany, who could barely hide the horror on her face, "is pregnant and she thought she was going into labor."
"Excuse me?" Brittany yelped.
Officer Walters frowned at Brittany's flat belly.
"She doesn't look pregnant to me," he observed.
"Duh!" Brittany blurted.
"Chipmunks don't really show their pregnancy," Alvin explained with a laugh that Brittany thought sounded nervous.
Walters shook his head and sighed. "Look, I'm not buying it, kid. I need to see your license and registration."
Alvin sighed and faced forward. He didn't reach for his wallet or the registration he kept in the console. He just stared hard at the wide, rural road ahead of him.
"License and registration," the cop repeated, firmer this time.
Alvin didn't budge.
"Alvin," Brittany whispered urgently. "Give him the license and registration."
"Now!" Officer Walters demanded.
Suddenly, Alvin turned back to the cop and squinted in the distance.
"Hey, what's that?" he asked, pointing. Brittany followed his gaze, but didn't see anything significant.
"What?"
As soon as Officer Walters turned to look, Alvin slammed on the accelerator. The tires squealed against the dirt covered shoulder of the road before the car bolted.
Brittany screamed while Alvin was laughing, saying something about how he couldn't believe that the cop had fallen for that trick. Brittany's heart hammered in her chest as she looked behind them to see a furious, bumbling Officer Walters scrambling into his car.
"OH MY GOD!"Brittany shrieked, gripping her leather seat for dear life as they zoomed at an insane speed down the dark road. "WHAT THE HELL, ALVIN?"
"Relax!" Alvin yelled over the wind, laughing like the maniac he was. "We're just—oh, shit."
Police sirens sounded behind them and Brittany saw the red and blue lights in the rearview mirror. Their car sped down the road, coming up on another vehicle, which Alvin didn't hesitate to pass.
"ALVIN!" Brittany screamed as a pickup truck appeared in the left lane, coming right toward them. "LOOK OUT!"
The truck's horn sounded, but Alvin swerved back in the right lane in the nick of time.
"Alvin!" Brittany wailed, her knuckles turning white from holding on to the seat so hard. And her hair looked worse than ever! "Stop the car! Please!"
"Don't worry!" Alvin assured her, making a sharp turn left as they came to a four way stop. "We're losing him!"
"WE'RE GOING TO DIE!" Brittany yelled, as Alvin took another sharp turn, landing them in a thick cornfield. Brittany shrieked as they drove in further, Alvin hitting the breaks hard as soon as they were completely covered by plants. He slapped a hand over Brittany's mouth.
"Shut up!" he hissed, turning off the headlights.
The two sat there in silence as they heard the police car whiz by. As soon as the high-pitched sirens faded away and the flashing lights were no more, Brittany started slapping the idiot next to her.
"YOU'RE! SO! FUCKING! STUPID!" she yelled, hitting him with each word. "Don't you ever do that again!"
"Hey! Stop!" Alvin put up his hands, trying to push Brittany's away. But Brittany kept swinging. "Knock it off!" Finally he was able to grab both her wrists and pull them off of him. "You're crazy!"
"OH!" Brittany actually laughed. "I'M the crazy one? EXCUSE ME? But I didn't just have a high speed chase with a cop over a little speeding ticket! I'm not the one who almost got us killed! But yeah! I'M THE CRAZY ONE!"
She ripped her arms away from Alvin's grip and turned away. Her whole body was shaking. Her face felt wet, and she realized they were tears.
Alvin must have noticed too. "Are you crying?"
"No!" she snapped, wiping her face. "The wind just burnt my eyes a little, that's all."
"Oh, okay," Alvin said, probably actually believing her. He sighed and looked pleased with himself. Brittany wanted nothing more than to punch his smug little face. "Man, that was so badass! I wish the guys at school could have seen that!" He leaned back in the seat, and that stupid smile of his just widened. "That was probably the coolest thing I've ever done! And I've done a lot of cool things."
Brittany wanted to die. Here she was, stuck in a Utah cornfield (she didn't even know Utah had cornfields!) with the dumbest person on the planet who almost got her killed just so he didn't have to pay a stupid speeding ticket.
"You know that all the cops in this town are probably looking for us now," she pointed out, not bothering to hide the anger in her voice.
"True," Alvin agreed. "We need to get far away from here fast." He backed up the car and got on the road, going the opposite way the police car went. "I don't think we should stop anywhere for the night then. We need to get as far away from here as possible."
Brittany just nodded, only half listening. She suddenly felt extremely tired.
"Alvin," she croaked. Her throat hurt from screaming so much. "Can we please put the top on the car?"
Alvin looked at her, and Brittany couldn't be sure since it was so dark, but she thought she saw a hint of sympathy pass through his face. "Yeah, sure," he agreed, pressing the button that made the hood cover the car. "You know, all you had to do was say please."
"Whatever," Brittany muttered.
"You know, you say 'whatever' a lot."
Brittany narrowed her eyes at him. Where they really going to get into this now, after all he had put her through in the last twenty minutes?
"You do too," she pointed out.
"Not as much as you," Alvin said. "I mean, you should start thinking of more comebacks."
"You're an asshole and I hate you."
"That was weak."
"I don't care."
Alvin said something else, but Brittany ignored him. She was too tired. She was tired of sitting in this stupid car. She was tired of driving for miles and not getting anywhere. She was tired of being bored all the time. But most of all, she was just tired of Alvin. Especially after this stunt he pulled tonight.
Brittany stared at her reflection in the dark window. She looked sad and exhausted; very un-Brittany. She reminded herself that she could do this. She wasn't going to get Alvin get to her. She was too strong for that.
Brittany's breathing slowed and her eyelids started to feel too heavy to keep open. She felt something drape over her. The material made a swish sound when she moved, and she realized it was Alvin's red and black windbreaker.
Brittany wasn't sure why, but for a split second, that stupid jacket made her feel the most comfortable she'd been on this entire trip. She snuggled deeper into it and allowed herself to fall asleep.