The Traitor Panther

Chapter Fifteen

We've been driving for six hours now.

We still had seven to go, and I don't think I could make it another minute.

Nate insisted on driving so all I'd been doing this entire time was sitting over here staring out the window. Nate was weirdly quiet, just staring at the road and announcing we were stopping every once in a while.

"Are we going to drive until we get there?" I ask Nate after a few more minutes of simmering in the silence.

"I was planning on it, yeah." I groan out loud and throw my head back on the headrest dramatically, stifling a giggle when I see Nate jump a little at my outburst. I'd been mostly quiet this entire time. I'd peppered him with a few questions that he'd answered, but that was it. And all I'd found out was his favorite color is orange (funny), he hates fish but loves cow, can't roller skate, and hates country music. What am I supposed to do with that information? But I had no idea what to talk to him about. I'd only asked questions pertaining to signs and buildings I saw as we drove.

Was it always this awkward?

Or was this in my head?

"Are you unhappy?" He asks, glancing at me quickly.

"Not so much me, my panther however, is going insane." It was true, she'd been itching to get out and stretch the last couple of hours. If I thought having to sit still in an office all day was boring.

"Thank fucking God." Mutters Nate as he switches on his turn signal and exits the freeway almost immediately.

"What?"

"I've been wanting to stop for a couple hours now. I just didn't want to be the one to slow us down even more." His eyes search everywhere for something, though I'm not sure what yet.

"Oh, you wanted me to be the one to ruin it?" I tease, looking out the window with him. It looked like a normal "beside the freeway" town. A couple average hotels, lots of rest stops and gas stations, a grocery store, a few small businesses, and a couple decent looking places to eat.

"This will do. Do any of these restaurants catch your eye?" I hum to myself and eye the places I can see. Mcdonalds, no. Burger king, definitely no. A steak house... not really what I'm in the mood for.

"Ah! I want that!" I point at the bright lite up restaurant standing by a rundown looking gas station. He shrugs and pulls into the parking lot.

"Not what I thought you'd pick." He looks up at the building through the front windshield. "Dennys, huh? I guess I could go for a Moons Over my Hammy."
"A man after my own heart." I fake sniffle, unbuckling my seat belt and moving to get out of the car.

"Wait." Nate suddenly exclaims, leaning over me quickly and jerking the door I had just opened a crack back closed. His face was centimeters from mine. I could smell the minty gum he'd been chewing this entire time and see his gorgeous eyes boring into mine. How was he so handsome and pretty at the same time? It wasn't fair. "There's a car." I pulled myself out of my trance and looked to my side and saw he wasn't lying, a red minivan full of screaming kids was now unloading next to me.

"Thanks." I mutter as he slowly backs away, still staring at me. I swear I heard him swallow before moving to get out of the car. Could he feel the tension between us too? I thought maybe I was just making it up in my head but the entire drive all I could think about was the blue balls I was getting from just sitting in the same car as him. Sleep with him and you won't have blue balls anymore, you know. Horn dog. Aren't you supposed to be the romantic here?

"Are you coming?" I shake my head and focus. Nate is holding my car door open for me.

Inside it looks like every other Denny's I've ever been in. Vinyl booths that stuck to bare skin, glass tile partitions between tables, old retro sounding music playing.