Almost Home

Chapter Twelve

Open your eyes
And know you're free to come alive
You gotta live it while you can
We only get one life
Look to the sky
Don't ever let it pass you by
You gotta live it while you can
You only get one life
One life

The music of Boyce Avenue fills the van as we ride in silence, tired from the journey and out of things to talk to each other about. My sense of adventure had long since depleted with the hours that had ticked by and I was more than ready for a hot shower and a comfy bed to lie down on, sick of sitting up in this rigid seat.

Tom's leg was bouncing up and down in front of me and I could tell he was feeling as restless as I was, having swapped with Jamie yet again and still ignoring my pleads to take a turn at driving.

Me asking had led to over an hour of the boys teasing me, their jokes of me attempting to drive on the other side of the road had kept them entertained as the scenery changed from cityscape into the vast countryside and although I'd pretended to be offended by them at the time, I wasn't. I'd actually enjoyed watching their playful rapport from the back seat, trying to conceal a grin as they reenacted me mounting the curb only to be shouted at by a furious Frenchman, their terrible attempt at the accent almost bordering on offensive but you know what, I wouldn't trade it in for anything.

Sitting here behind them I watch the pair converse, all the while pinching myself that this was actually real and not just some fantasy I'd concocted during the boredom of my mundane adult life and even though we had been locked in this campervan for what felt like an eternity today, I still couldn't quite believe that we were all back together again. We'd slotted back into place as if no time had passed and I loved it.

I find myself gazing sleepily out of the window after another hour crawls by until I catch a glimpse of something that makes me sit bolt upright in my chair and emit a tiny gasp of appreciation. Barely visible due to the top of the hazy orange sun just skimming the horizon, the first sighting of a snow-covered mountain has got me bouncing in my seat and when I turn to see if the boys had spotted it too, I was surprised to find a pair of warm brown eyes peering back at me through the rear-view mirror, the corners of them crinkled in a smile.

Jamie...

We stare at each other for a moment, both of us startled to find the other looking back at them and I instantly forget what I was about to say to him. Whatever it was, it doesn't seem important now. And although only a few seconds had passed since we'd locked eyes, I couldn't help feeling a thrill of excitement course through me. It felt a bit taboo, the pair of us gazing at each other like this with Tom sat only a foot away from us but if I'd been able to tear my eyes away from Jamie's I'd have seen that Tom was completely oblivious anyway. He was currently leant forward in his seat, staring out of the window as if trying to locate something despite the darkness that had taken over, the last remaining colourful hue of the sun now sunk out of sight.

'Right pull over,' Tom suddenly blurts out, making me snap my attention back to his and breaking the lengthy silence at last. 'I can't take it anymore, I need to take a leak.'

'We're not that far away, can't you just hold it?' Jamie looks over from the driver's seat but Tom ignores him, his nose was pressed up against the glass, leaving the window fogged up with every deep exhale he expells.

'Nope,' he jumps back in his seat, making to grab the steering wheel only to get his arm batted away. 'There! Pull up over there!' He screams, causing Jamie to have to steer off to the left too quickly, making me veer to the right, smacking my head against the window painfully.

'A bit more warning next time if you wouldn't mind!' Jamie pulls the car up in a gravelled enclosure and Tom jumps out, not bothering to respond, instead racing to the nearest bushes and disappearing from view.