“There’s a lot of stuff in my DNA. Doesn’t mean I should just go off and do whatever.” She snatches her hand away from mine and stands quickly, gathering up the books and reaches for her shoes. “It’s all nice in theory, but …”
I stand too and take a step back to watch her wage a war within herself as she weighs the options I’ve presented. “But, what? Come on. Run away with me, Audrey.”
Her stare is unwavering as she chews on her lip. “And Cline. Unless you plan to leave him here.”
It deflates the situation a little bit, but I don’t care. “And Cline. It’ll be fun. Let’s go where your mom went. We’ll start with tonight. Are you in?”
Her hand slips into mine, and it’s the only answer I need.
“We’re gonna get caught and go to jail and die.” Cline is whispering from the backseat like we’re on a stakeout.
“You can speak in a normal voice. We’re inside the car.” Audrey is pretending not to be nervous, but the waver in her voice belies her false bravado. “Also, that’s not how it works. You don’t just go to jail and die. If anything, it would be a holding cell and your mom would have to come bail you out. You’d pee in front of a few guys. Like on TV.”
“That’s how I would die. I’d hold my pee until it retracted back into my body and I died of sepsis.” Cline hisses the last s at her.
It’s nearly midnight, and we’ve seen a couple patrol cars ride by as well as a local with a flashlight looking for crap left on the beach. But I’m bound and determined to do this simply because it almost feels like we can’t stop now. I didn’t drive all the way to Alabama to get my dad’s old camping gear and then into North Carolina to steal books from an old lady’s house just to stop now.
We wait another fifteen minutes, and once we’re sure everything is clear, I make a motion with my fingers in the dark. Audrey leans over the console and slaps my hand.
“The hell are you doing? This isn’t some kind of Black Ops mission. Plus, the sleeping bags are in the back, so we have to open the car doors and stuff.”
“For once I agree with her. Don’t be a douche.” Cline reaches behind him and wrestles with a sleeping bag before sliding it forward and pushing it between the seats. “Here. Wait. Are there only two bags?”
I look over my shoulder at him and raise my hands in question. “Did you not bring one? What did you pack?”
“I packed clothes! And snacks. A phone charger. My pillow. I thought we’d be sleeping in the car or a hotel or something. Don’t give me that look, Elliot. I wasn’t exactly invited.”
“Then you don’t exactly have a sleeping bag,” I counter.
Audrey sighs and rubs her face with her hands. “He can have mine.”
“What are you going to sleep in?” I’m all for chivalry, but I was kind of counting on having something to sleep in tonight, and I’m sure Cline won’t reject her offer which means I’ll give her mine and be left without.
She grins in the darkness. “Jet pack time in a sleeping bag?”
My mouth drops open, and I slide away from her to the car door. “What kind of heathen do you think I am?”
“We brought an extra blanket. Relax. I’ll give you space. Jeez.” The look in her eyes tells me she’s lying.
Cline opens the door and starts to scoot outside. “I don’t even want to know what kind of weird-ass code that is.”
We all meet at the front of the car and wait to see if anyone is around. When I’m sure the coast is clear, I whisper for them to run, and we all take off at the same time, headed straight for the dunes, white sand spraying up around our feet as we dash toward a dip in the beach. The light doesn’t shine as bright there, and a fence blocks the area off just enough that if we’re sleeping on the ground, it would be hard for anyone to see us.
Breathing heavy and laughing quietly, we slip off our shoes and unroll the sleeping bags. Cline is in his quickly while Audrey and I unzip ours and open it to flatten it out on the moonlit sand. She lets the blanket unfurl, and the wind from the ocean makes it fly out of her hand, so I catch it and bring it back, settling it over us as we lay on our backs beneath the stars.
She stares up at the sky, her chin jutting out from the edge of the blanket and her eyes reflecting the clear constellations above. I wonder for a moment what she’s thinking. If she’s glad that she’s here. If I made the right choice. When her hand finds mine between us and she smiles as she closes her eyes, I have to believe that she’s thinking about her mom and that I did the right thing after all.