We arrived at a motel, sometime around ten that night.
It didn’t look like it was too bad of a place. It was small, maybe a semi-truck in length, and it was two levels high, with all the room doors on the outside.
Cody got out of the pickup, signaling me to follow. He led me to the motel lobby where he booked a room for the night. I noticed that he wasn’t booking two.
“I’m going to go ahead and assume I’m getting you two a one-bed room,” the concierge said, winking at Cody. “That okay?”
I gaped in horror. I glanced at Cody, but all I could see was that signature smirk of his.
“Perfect,” was all that passed through those filthy little lips of his. He took the offered key from the concierge, slid his hand into mine, and then dragged me from the premises.
The hand enclosed in Cody’s started going numb, even as he yanked on it to keep me moving.
We came back out into the parking lot, and then to the pickup. Cody let go of my hand, much to my relief, because my arm was going numb. He opened the door to the backseat and pulled out a duffel bag and my backpack. Then he turned to me, his eyes landing on my hands.
“What?” I asked as he froze, watching my one good hand massaging my numbed one.
“Shit,” he said, dropping the bags and grabbing my numbed hand.
I hissed as he took it in his hands. He massaged it from my wrist to my fingertips, pushing in that one direction.
Slowly, the numbing feeling went away. Once that had happened, Cody released me, locked the pickup, picked up the bags, and headed towards the room booked for us, like nothing had happened.
I stood there for a moment, rubbing the hand that felt like it had died and resurrected. “Hey!” I called, taking off after Cody. I slowed to a walk beside him, but he wouldn’t look at me. “What was all that about?”
“All what about?”
I blinked at him and waved my hand in front of his face. “My hand. What happened? What was all that about?”
He ignored my questions. Instead, he put the room key in a lock and opened the door to a room. He ushered me inside, then shut the door behind me.
I stood there, watching him turn on the lights, then lock the door and close the curtains.
Then he stood, still facing the curtains. He stood there for quite some time. I was going to speak, but then he said, “It’s happening.”
“What?”
He pressed his forehead against the curtains, and ultimately the window. “We all thought that maybe it wouldn’t happen, but I guess it couldn’t be helped.”
“What?” I said again, stepping closer.
He took a deep breath through his nose, finally looking at me, and freezing me in my tracks. “I’ll get this out now. You’re technically not supposed to exist.”
I folded my arms, confused.
“Well,” he said, “what you are is not supposed to exist. A part of me still hopes that you’re not.”
“You’re making no sense,” I said.
“I know I’m not but…” He paused and sighed again. “Just… go shower. I’ll hopefully have my shit together when you come back.”
I pursed my lips, trying to sift through what he was saying. He was making no sense, and was being way to dramatic. As of right then, he was staring into space. One arm was wrapped around his waist, and the other was resting its elbow on that arm, rubbing the stubble on his face.
Decidedly, I picked up my backpack from where Cody dropped it on the floor and headed to the bathroom at the back of the room.
I shut the door and looked at myself in the mirror.
My blue eyes looked back at me, a little red over the whites of them. It looked like I had bruises under them.
It was probably from stress.
Anyway, however I looked, Cody looked ten times worse.
I stripped and hopped into the shower. All of a sudden my waist started stinging. I looked down and saw a red stripe across my waist. For a moment I was confused as to where I got it. Then I remembered Cody binding me up last night. The seatbelt had been pretty tight around my middle.
Tenderly, I touched the spot and hissed. I peered at my fingers and saw a little stain of blood. I had rubbed the spot raw last night.
I grimaced at the thought of any soap touching it.
Carefully, I bent forward to put just my head in the stream of water. I shampooed, conditioned, then made sure to be extra careful in washing my body.
That done, I stepped out and toweled off, then dug through the backpack that Ryan had prepared. I found some sweats and a t-shirt, and put that on. Then I grabbed my hairbrush, slung my backpack over my shoulder, and exited the bathroom… to stop my tracks completely once I laid eyes on a certain black-haired, hazel-eyed male.
He sat on the edge of the ugly-sheet-covered bed, his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. He was a picture of misery.
And he didn’t hear me come out.
I didn’t know what to do.
I stood there awkwardly, my hair dripping water and soaking the cheap carpet.
Cody took a deep breath and looked up, noticing me out of the corner of his eye.
He stared at me, and ran a hand down his face. “How long were you standing there?”
I blinked. “Not long.”
He looked away and stood up, grabbing the duffel bag. He dug around on his way to the bathroom, pulled out some clothes and tossed it to me.
“Change into this… please.”
I stood for a moment, the crumpled clothes in my hand, watching as he went into the bathroom and closed the door.
I wondered what was up with him. I mean, I knew there was a reason we were driving around aimlessly, and it seemed to be pretty important, whatever it was. I just couldn’t think of what.
I put my backpack and hairbrush down, and shook out the clothes Cody gave me.
They were red plaid flannel pants, twice my size, and a freshman football shirt from three years ago.
I thought for a moment. Why would Cody have me wear his clothes? Then I turned the t-shirt over and read DELANE on the back.
These were Ryan’s clothes. But why would Cody have Ryan’s clothes?
I regarded the clothing with wary eyes. Why should I put them on?
But hey, why shouldn’t I? Ryan is my boyfriend after all… yeah.
I listened to the shower start, and then I slipped into the clothes Cody gave me. They were soft and comfy, and smelled just like Ryan.
I mean, I never purposefully smelled Ryan. It just wasn’t preventable, seeing as we had been best friends. We still were, even if under another title.
I hugged myself, kind of enjoying wearing Ryan’s clothes as I sat on the edge of the bed and took a look around the room. The bed was twin-sized, with green and purple stripes on the blanket. I hoped Cody knew he was sleeping on the floor.
There was a small TV in front of the bed on a dresser, with a small table next to it in the corner holding a coffee maker, and two chairs around it.
It was a standard motel room.
I picked up the remote from the dresser and turned on the TV, not really in the mood for sleeping.
There were two channels. One depicted some kind of soap opera, and the other was a news channel. I opted to watch the news.
The anchors were talking about hurricane season for the USA.
“Yeah Joe,” one of them said. “This one was the biggest one in years! It came right into North Carolina and Virginia. Residents were evacuated just in time.”
I watched on the screen behind the two men, the path of the storm. It was colored in all orange, red, and black.
I noted that Ohio would be hit with a few heavy rains because of it.
The bathroom door opened. Despite the shower Cody still looked like shit.
He dropped his duffel bag by the dresser, and watched the TV for a moment. A look came onto his face. I wasn’t sure what it meant. He ran a hand through his hair, his eyes still glued to the screen. “Shit,” he muttered.
“Yeah,” I said. “It was a big storm.”
He glanced at me, but then returned his eyes back to the television. “No,” he said. “The storm’s manageable. It’s what’s making the storm that we should be worried about.”
I stared at him. “You’re not making sense.”
He watched me for a second, as if deciding something.
Then he walked over to the TV. “Come here.”
I raised an eyebrow, but did as he said.
Cody pointed to the screen, and the animation of the hurricane. “Notice,” he said, “the movement of the hurricane.”
I watched for a second, but shrugged. “What am I supposed to notice?”
Cody pointed his finger, following the movement of the storm, and then curved it, still following its movement.
“See how it’s shying away?” he asked.
“Shying away from what?”
“Well… What was it heading for?”
“Cody,” I said, a warning in my voice.
“Okay, okay,” he said, pointing. “Ohio. It was headed for Ohio. Notice that?”
I watched the animation again, my eyebrow rising at the observation. “Yeah,” I said.
“But then it veers away. Notice that?”
“Yeah. Why do you ask?”
Cody tilted his head, watching the screen. Then he looked at me. “Have you ever considered that there was a purpose to that?”
I stared at him, sure that he was crazy. “It’s the weather, Cody.”
“I know it’s the weather,” he said. “That’s the point.”
“The point to what?”
“Look at this,” he said.
I sighed, getting a little tired of his antics. “Okay.”
“The hurricane was heading for Ohio.”
“It never would have reached it because this is Ohio, Cody. We don’t get hurricanes, we’re too far inland.”
"Doesn't matter," he said, looking at me seriously. "It was heading towards Ohio. Then it veered off because no one was controlling it anymore."
I stared at him, trying to comprehend what he was trying to get across to me.
"Haven't you been wondering where Ryan is?" he asked.
"I don't get what you're saying."
He sighed, exasperated.
"But..." I said. "Where is Ryan?"
Cody just looked at me and tapped the TV with his pointer finger.
"I... don't..." I tilted my head, still trying to understand.
"Ryan," Cody said, "is at the center of that hurricane."
I stared at Cody, not sure I heard him correctly. "What are you talking about?"
"Let's get this straight," he said, moving over to the small table in the corner. "Coffee?"
I said nothing, but watched as he prepared two cups.
Cody glanced at me standing there, and waved me over to take the other seat. "The first thing that you need to know, and you should've already learned, is that you're in danger."
I blinked and sat down. Cody continued making coffee. He got up, filled the pot with water, and then poured it into the coffee maker.
"Cream and sugar?" he asked.
I swear my eye twitched. "Yes please," I said calmly.
The coffee maker bubbled. Cody popped a sugar cube into his mouth and turned to look at me.
The next few seconds were spent in heavy silence as we regarded one another.
Well, I was glaring, and Cody was calmly staring back at me, sucking on a sugar cube.
"What?" I snapped.
He popped his lips. "Sugar cube?"
I took the tiny cube from his palm and threw it at him. It bounced off his forehead.
"What gives?" he said, looking genuinely confused.
"You were explaining something," I said, irritated. "I want to know what you were going to say."
Slowly, he nodded, the confusion clearing up. "Okay. I was just checking to see if I had your undivided attention."
I scoffed and rolled my eyes, bringing them back to have Cody's clear hazel ones staring squarely into mine. From the look in his eyes I knew I had to pay extra special attention to his next words.
"There are four things that you need to understand right now," he said. "One, your mom is safe."
I released a breath through my mouth. My muscles loosened and I felt better than I had in hours.
"Two, Ryan is not who you think he is."
I stopped breathing.
"Three, I am not who you think I am. And four, you are not who you think you are."
And I was confused again.