Page 48 of Bonding the Band

“If we die, I’m so going to haunt your ass.”

Arlo only laughed and buckled himself in while Beckett appeared to be praying behind us.

“You’re so fucking funny, Becks,” I growled.

“Please don’t kill us.”

“O ye of little faith,” Arlo said with a laugh. “Phin is going to do great.”

I actually did, to everyone’s surprise. Arlo might be a chaos goblin, but he wanted us all to get there safely, and he was a ruthless dictator with navigating. Every little bend in the road was accounted for well in advance so I was prepared. He fed me snacks, held my water bottle for me to sip, and chattered away to keep me focused and relaxed.

“You’re doing fucking awesome,” Arlo praised. “That’s, like, five hours down. We’ll be coming up on Boise city limits in about twenty minutes. If you want to pull over whenever you feel safe to do so, we can swap. I’ll get us through, and then Beckett is gonna take a turn.”

“God help us all,” Beckett muttered.

“You’ll be just fine,” Arlo promised him. “The second you feel unsafe, I’ll take over.”

Beckett was a nervous wreck when it came to his turn, and even though he had a white-knuckle grip for the two hours he drove, he didn’t make a peep of complaint.

By the time we finally got close to Seattle, Arlo was rocking out while he drove, Beckett was passed out for a nap, and I was stuffing my face with fruit snacks. We hadn’t wanted to riskstopping, so we relied exclusively on what we had brought over from the old bus, which wasn’t much. I messaged Hendrix.

Phin:

Order us some road snacks

We’re going to be cleared out by the time we get there

Hen:

On it

Phin:

How was your road trip?

By my calculations, he, Meadow, and Clover had been in Seattle for at least a couple of hours already, unless they had made significant stops.

Hen:

Pretty good??

I think…

She didn’t hit me when I held her hand, so I’m taking it as a win

I snorted. Compared to how she’d reacted before, that was definitely a win.

Phin:

Feeling better being that close?

Hen:

YES

HOLY SHIT

I forgot what it feels like to not want to hurl my guts out

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