We Could Be Enough - Lams

XXV.

"You honestly have the best playlists ever," Alex says, scrolling through my phone.

"They're not even good, I don't know what you're talking about." I sigh and lean my head back. We're stuck in bumper to bumper traffic because some truck full of gravel thought this twisty-ass road would be good to drive on. Bitch no. GTFO.

"You're lying, they're awesome." He scrolls a bit more before finally choosing something.

"What song is this? I know it but I don't-wait don't tell me." I know I know this song. It wouldn't be on one of my playlists if I didn't know it. It's right on the tip of my brain. It'ssssss- I know it. I swear I know it. It's got to be-NO

"...did you really just put on Despacito." I look over at him. He's a giggling mess. Just a complete mess.

"It's worse for me... at least you don't understand what they're saying!" his head falls back and laughs even harder.

"Why's that a problem?"

"It's just..." he shivers. "I don't know."

"Most people listened to it just because Justin Beiber sang it." I roll my eyes. Yeah, it's catchy. I just don't like it. And not because I'm 'too cool for mainstream music'. Nah. It just sounds bad.

"I think most people listened to it because it played on the radio non-stop and it got stuck in their head."

"This will 100% be in my head for the rest of the summer." I laugh and roll the window down. It's gonna be hot today. The weather app said somewhere in the high 90's.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Alex's hand move towards the dashboard. Instantly, my ears explode.

"Turn it down!" I try to save what's left of my ability to hear and fling my hand to the volume control. He covers the controls with his hands, making the possibility of me becoming deaf quite real.

He cackles and mouths, "I can't hear you!"

That bitch

I peel his fingers off the dash and finally get some peace. "Jesus Christ, Alex! The people in the other cars probably hate us! I'm deaf now, thanks to you!"

"They'll never see you again, so what's the point!" He sinks down in his seat, laughing like an evil witch.

"You're such an idiot." I shove him lightly. Just because he's smart doesn't mean he's not an idiot.

"You're stuck with me..." He says in a sing-song voice. "Ha... ha... ha..."

I unlatch my seatbelt and start climbing out of the car. "I'm getting out of this car-I'm getting out of this car. Bye."

I hear him say something from inside, but I can't really hear him so I'm just gonna pretend I didn't hear him. Didn't I have some chips in my trunk?

I start wandering over to the back of my car. The traffic is dead-stopped, I'm not going to get run over. The truck tipped over only a few cars ahead, so I peak my head around to see how close they are to finishing.

Nevermind. I can't even tell.

Back to my chips.

I open the trunk and look inside. There, way in the back, is a half-empty Lays bag. Heck yeah.

I dig into the bag as I walk back to the car. Slumping back into my seat, I hand the bag to Alex. He must be playing the song on repeat, it can't have been going on this long.

"Where's my phone, I need to change this song immediately."

"I dunno." Alex says, shoveling chips into his mouth.

I roll my eyes and eventually find it on the floor by Alex's feet. By that point, what's left of my chips is long gone. Wow. Rude. Inconsiderate. How dare you.

He notices me staring at him and smiles.

Damn it. My only weakness. Still rude and inconsiderate. How dare he.

"Hey, do you have any water?"

I nod and point to the backseat. He twists around and starts digging for it. I honestly don't know if it's back there or not.

"You wouldn't need water if you didn't eat all of my chips and shit..." I mumble to myself.

His voice pipes up, "What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Yeah, I'm just-yeah, this-this is fine." I look over to see him falling into the back seat.

I take the opportunity to push his legs, sending him toppling back there. An oof and an ow later, I'm the only one in the front and he's found the water supply.

"Did you know that Saturn's rings are different colors because they're made of different flavors of candy?"

As I've said before, just because he's smart doesn't mean he's an idiot.

"Do you think all planets are like that?" He continues, a childlike tone in his voice. "it'd be so cool to go to a planet and just be able to eat the ground."

"You can do that here too, it just won't taste good." I laugh.

"Yeah, but like have the ground be food."

"I bet you could digest dirt if you tried hard enough."

"Yeah-but n-you know what I mean."

"I quite obviously don't."

He groans. "I'm going to strangle you."

"Well, that's very rude and quite illegal."

"Your face is rude and illegal."

"I don't quite understand what you mean."

"If you say quite one more god-damned time-"

"That's quite a threat, and if I call the police they'd be quite disappointed in you."

"That's it. I'm leaving." he tries to open the passenger side door, but quickly turn and lock it.

He struggles with the handle for a moment before giving up. Ha ha, fool.

Alex rolls down the window. Why is he doing th-

"Where are you going!"

Halfway out the window, Alex turns back and announces that he needs to piss.

"I'm still not opening the door."

He shrugs and continues climbing out the window. When he's almost all the way out, his phone falls from his back pocket onto the seat. Apparently, he didn't notice, because he just continued walking off the side of the road and into the forest. What if he never comes back and is just this local cryptid for the rest of eternity. Peggy would love that. Not the Alex disappearing part, but the cryptid part.

Speaking of that, I need to set up a plan for when we go local cryptid hunting in the woods. I could probably buy a flashlight or two in town.

I mean if we ever get there. Why does it take so long to clean up gravel? Just shove it to the side of the road and let us get on with our day. Jesus Christ.

I hear a buzz from the behind me. I look back to see that Alex got a text from someone. Whatever.

A couple seconds pass and I hear the noise again. It's probably Peggy. Though, I should probably bring it up here so it doesn't get lost in the seat.

As I grab the phone, the screen turns on and shows me the texts.

✉️MESSAGES: NOW
Liz💙
I still love you, and I know you love me too ❤️❤️
Liz💙
C'mon baby
Liz💙
Please tell me you didn't go disappear again? Let me make you feel better ❤️

Yep. Kill me now. You guys probably hate me because
1. I haven't posted for like two months? Idek it's been so long
2. Cliffhangers are the best

Yeah. That's it. Enjoy your suffering (i'm so sorry)