Dear Rory,
I'm sorry about what I said.
I'm leaving for LA in two days.
Can we talk before then, please?
We can just drive around as usual.
I don't know how to do this if
you're upset with me.
Call me please. I'm staying at my
parents' house...
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Dear Rory, So, I moved to New York last week. It's weird being in the same city as you after all these years and knowing that there's a chance we might run into each other. Unless you're not in NYC. I did look you up once. I honestly have no idea where you are these days. I just hope you're happy wherever you are. Love, Taylor
———
November, 2022
Cas helps me take our bags down to my car, including Zorro and his dog belt. I'm going to be dropping them off at their parents' house in a suburb about an hour away from the city, a small detour, before driving for about fourteen hours to Nashville, split over two days.
I prefer driving to flying whenever I'm back home mostly because I usually miss it when I'm travelling and especially this trip. It's very special to me. I do it the exact same way I used to do it with my parents every single time we went to visit Nana. Two days to Nashville, two days back to New York. Stop for the night just past the halfway point at The Lodgers' Inn. Get breakfast burritos from a little truck in town in the morning before driving the rest of the way, six glorious hours, to Nana's house.
I love it.
I let Cas drive themself to their parents' house only because it's still six in the morning and I would much rather catch up on a little sleep before my really long drive.
"Can you hand me the AUX cord?" They ask as they wait for the engine to warm up before they can start driving.
"No," I respond, plugging my own phone in and scrolling through my long list of perfectly curated playlists for every occasion.
"What happened to driver picks the music?" They ask in a slightly mocking tone. I've used that sentence on them multiple times. Any time I let them drive, they use it right back on me.
"I still get to veto your decisions since it's my car."
"Asshole," they laugh and start pulling out of the parking spot. "Can you at least play the playlist we made together for this exact occasion?"
"Yeah, sure!" I tell them, putting that playlist on shuffle. It's called 📼CAS AND RORY'S ROAD TRIP MIXTAPE 📼. Nothing too special. It's only a mix of all the songs we both like. I do cheat a little though when they're too focused on the road to notice and put the songs that I want to listen to on queue. I have enough songs queued up to last us close to an hour which is perfect.
"You wanna stop by somewhere and get some coffee?" They ask me before we get to the highway and I shrug, adjusting the pillow that I got with me to try and nap.
