They were flying down the highway.
Farrow knew this was dangerous so she drove as carefully as possible, but she was still traveling at least twenty miles over the limit between towns. Alik had prevented four speeding tickets so far.
“Pull over,” Alik moaned.
Farrow had been so focused on her driving she hadn’t turned to look over at her companion. Alik’s face was literally green.
“Oh God, Alik. You pushed yourself too hard.” Farrow gently scolded as she pulled the SUV to the far-right lane, decelerating as quickly and safely as possible.
“Can’t. Argue. Gonna. Hurl.” Alik was already unfastening his seat belt with one hand and the other was on the handle of the door.
Farrow bit her tongue and pulled the car to a stop just in time for Alik to fling the door open and leap out. He made it a few feet and began retching behind a bush. After several graphic moments, Alik sat back on his haunches and held his still spinning head with both hands. His protein bar and sports drink were splattered all over the wild grass in front of him.
Farrow reached behind her to find bottled water, checked for traffic, then opened her door. She hurried around the car and found Alik trying to stand. She helped him hobble back to lean against the car. The night air felt cooling on his face and neck. Farrow handed him the water. “Here, you probably want to rinse.” She offered with a sympathetic look.
Alik took the bottle, filled his mouth with water and swished the taste of bile off his tongue. He spat in the dirt away from Farrow and repeated three more times. “I brought our toothbrushes and paste, if you’d like.”
“You did?” Alik asked, brightening as much as his aching body would allow.
Farrow nodded and ducked back in the car for a moment before coming out with his old-fashioned toothbrush and paste.
“Seeing you stand there right now, with my toiletries…well, it’s just about the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen.” Alik sighed, taking the items in his still shaking hands.
“Wait, let me do this part,” Farrow uncapped the paste and squeezed a perfect line on the bristles before handing it back.
The look of sheer joy on his face as he started to brush the vile taste from his mouth made her giggle. He spent a good two minutes cleaning his mouth before rinsing with the rest of the bottled water.
“That was one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me,” he smiled weakly handing her back the rinsed brush.
“Oh, I doubt that.”
“I know it wasn’t life or death, but in that moment, having you take care of me—priceless.”
Farrow was pleased, but downplayed the compliment by changing the subject. “You want to tell me what happened back there? You don’t usually have a problem with motion sickness, do you?”
“No, never.” Alik was already opening the door and climbing stiffly inside. Farrow followed his lead.
Once they got back up to the speed limit, Farrow kept pushing the topic.
“Alik, I’ve never seen you get sick before.”
“I’ve never been sick before.”
“Well?”
“It’s not a big deal, Farrow. I just need to take a break every ninety minutes or so.”
“So it’s the scene on scene that causes disorientation?”
“It’s the moving scene on moving scene that’s the problem.”
“Makes sense. You just tell me when you’re ready to go again, and we’re not setting any timer. If you start to feel sick, just tell me and I’ll slow it back to the speed limit. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“We also need to get your stomach settled. We’re coming up on Little Rock. There’s bound to be a twenty-four-hour breakfast place.”
“Faster we get there, the faster we can eat and get back on the road. We still have some eight hours left.”
“Eight hours going the legal speed,” Farrow raised a perfectly curved brow. “We’ve already traveled in two and a half hours what should have taken us nearly four”
“That’s probably not something we should brag about in front of Mom and Theo,” Alik chuckled despite himself.
Farrow imagined the look on the mild-mannered Dr. Andrews’ face and started laughing.
“You have the most beautiful laugh,” his blue eyes sparkled at her unabashedly.
“Yeah, we need to get some food in you quick,” she scoffed.
“Why do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Deflect every time I mention how beautiful you are.”
Farrow shrugged.
“Talk to me. It’s going to be a while before I’m able to retro-cog. We may as well talk.”
“I’ll talk about anything you want…”
“Excellent, why the hang-up about your looks?”
“…except that.”