Highways to Nowhere

CW: swearing

"Where are we actually going, Lottie?" Louie asked me. He, Phoebe, Maisie, Evan, and Christian were all in my parents' RV that we'd borrowed for this trip, with my hands loosely gripping the steering wheel.

"Oh my God, Louie, we're just going on a road trip. There's no final destination, that's the fun part. We'll just use Google Maps to find out where we are later," I said, getting more irritated with him by the second.

"Oh em gee, guys!" Maisie squealed, her phone almost bursting out of her hand when we hit a pothole. "Shit, here we go again," Evan mumbled. Maisie shot him a look and he rolled his eyes. Then, he smiled.

"What is it, Mai?" Phoebe asked, laying her legs over Christian.

"Did you see Julia's Insta post?" She exclaimed, nearly bouncing out of her seat. I silently rolled my eyes. Maisie was just being Maisie. I turned onto Lincoln Road, about fifty miles from home, and cruised along the road. I squinted in the sunlight, pulling my visor down.

"No, because you're the only one with a hot spot that can access Insta right now, Maisie." Evan grumbled, still sour from her refusing to give him her hot spot.

Maisie ignored him, then asked for a drum roll, as if her girlfriend's Insta post was that important. I gave in, drumming on the steering wheel. Louie added a beat to the drumming, which made Maisie laugh.

"God, girl, just tell us already!" I said, laughing a little.

"OK- she posted, two minutes ago, that she was going to prom!"

The drumming stopped, and then everybody went quiet.

"With who, Maisie?" Christian asked, Phoebe removing her legs from his lap.

"I dunno, but obviously it would be me, right?" Maisie said, her yellow-blonde hair glowing in the sun. Phoebe glanced at me, and I could see that she was getting uncomfortable.

"Hey, Mai, how about you check the description, huh?" Evan said, cracking his knuckles.

"Evan, shut up, you fucker!" Phoebe whispered to him, and he glared at her. "You shut up," he said back. And then he smiled again, like that was supposed to change anything.

"Okay, I will, then." Maisie said, pulling at her bra strap. I had been friends with her the longest, and I knew that was something that she did when she was nervous.

We all sat in deafening silence for about five seconds, which felt like five years.

"What does it say?" Louie asked, scratching his arms, and picking at a scab that I could have sworn wasn't there yesterday.

"Oh, it's nothing, it just says she's..." Maisie said, her confidence dimming.

"Say what? You need to tell us, Mai. Well, you don't need to, but shouldn't we know?" Evan asked, popping a Pringle into his mouth. He crunched on it loudly, which filled in the silence. I looked into the rear-view mirror, and saw Maisie. There she was, tugging on her bra strap again.

"Uh, Mai? You good?" Phoebe said, getting up a little.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I swear. It's just nothing, really. It's nothing." Maisie said, her voice shaking a little.

"Maisie, who is Julia going with?" I asked, my grip tightening on the wheel.

She muttered something inaudible, and then rubbed her nose with her arm.

I noticed that we were still on Lincoln Road. We'd been in here for a solid five minutes. Around here, though, I assumed, roads went on forever. I shrugged it off, looking at Louie and asking him if he would care to drive. I saw his eyes light up, and he waved his fingers like they were itching to touch the wheel. We made a quick exchange, and then I went over to Maisie.

"Lottie? Who's driving?" Phoebe asked, her body stiffening.

"Louie." I said, nonchalantly.

"Uh, Lottie, I'm right here..." Louie said, in the passenger seat where I'd left him.

What had happened?

Suddenly, the RV jolted, and I screamed at Louie to drive the fucking RV.

"Damn, Lottie, okay," he said, hopping into the driver's seat. I rubbed my temple, wondering what the hell just happened. I thought me and him already did that, and that he was driving? Why did he just sit there when the car was loose?

I stood there for a little while, and then my mind snapped back to normal.

"Maisie- what's wrong? Who is Julia going with?" I asked.

Phoebe was sitting down now, pecking Christian all over the face. I was happy for them. I swear I was.

"Uh, she's... she's going with Christian." Maisie said, almost silently. I had to lean in to hear what she was saying.

My mind froze. Phoebe froze. Christian froze.

Phoebe pulled her face off of Christian and slapped him, no hesitation.

"Christian, you son of a bitch!" She yelled, jumping up off of him.

Christian's face went through about fifty emotions in a matter of milliseconds.

"Phoebe, it's all lies! I'm not with Julia! She's fucking gay! Sorry, Maisie. But still. Why would she put that if I was with you, and Maisie was with her? It doesn't make sense." Christian exclaimed, his voice growing colder at the end.

Maisie's shoulders shook, and I enveloped her into a hug. Phoebe joined us too, and we just stood like that for a hot minute.

When I could feel Maisie tensing up, I let go.

"What kind of sick joke is this?" I whispered to the girls, and then I heard Evan snoring. I shot him a side-eye and then called out to Louie.

"Hey, Louie, we off Lincoln Road yet? You still alive?"

He snickered, really loudly in a way that made everybody giggle just a little bit. "Yeah, I'm alive. No, we're not, even though we've been on this road for like 30 minutes. This is legit concerning, guys!" he said, and then Maisie whispered 'no shit'.

"Anyway, Maisie, what other posts does Julia have? Did she talk to you about prom at all?" Phoebe asked, walking over to the mini-fridge.

"She just has regular posts, really. Y'know, just regular stuff," Maisie said, sniffing, "And she said nothing to me about prom except for that if she was gonna go, she would go with me."

Phoebe sighed, and then looked over at Christian.

"You swear to God that you had nothing to do with this? That somebody hacked into Julia's account, or that Julia's shitty brother got into her phone, and posted that you, her ex, was going with her to prom?" She said, pointing her finger in his face.

"I swear, okay?!" Christian said, sitting up straighter.

"Do you swear to God?" Phoebe asked.

"Yes, okay, I swear to God! I love you, Phoebe, not Julia. We broke up because she loves Maisie, not me. And honestly, I don't give a fuck! I just didn't have anything to do with it and I need you to know that, okay?"

Phoebe looked hesitant, but then obviously she went over to him and started practically eating him.

"Oh my God, guys, not in the fucking RV. Get a room!" Evan yelled, waking up from his power nap.

"Yeah, literally," Maisie said, shoving Phoebe. She groaned and then Christian finally pulled himself off of her.

"Good. You guys are done. Now, seriously, how long is this country-ass road?" I said, Maisie grabbing a Pringle from Evan's stash. "Fuck you, Mai," he said softly. She stuck her tongue out at him and then he rolled his eyes. I saw the way he looked at her, though. I saw it.

"Okay, everybody good?" Louie called from the front seat. What came back were yeses of all sort.

Everything seemed to have calmed down, but I couldn't get two things off my mind.

1- We still don't know why or how Julia (if it was even her) posted that. Hopefully it was fake, because Maisie would be so upset.

2- We are still on Lincoln Road. It's getting dark, and we've been just going straight for over an hour. No turns, no winding paths, just straight roads, with grass and some corn fields as far as the eye can see.

I brushed away the thoughts and focused on actually enjoying myself. That was the purpose of this whole road trip.

"Hey, Lottie, where do you want me to pull over? I'm getting tired." Louie asked, and the others grumbled in agreement.

I yawned, stretching my arms out, and told him to just pull over into like, a ditch or something, because there were no fences.

He pulled a little bit far out of the street, and then we shut our eyes. Well, maybe Phoebe and Christian didn't shut their eyes, but we all got a little rest.

**

I awoke to gunshots. I checked my watch, and it was 4 in the morning.

"Shit," I mumbled, rubbing my eyes. Suddenly, the sound seeped into my brain as it rang in the air, and I panicked.

"Louie! Fuuuuck, Maisie?" I said, my eyes were growing more alert, and my hands were shaking uncontrollably. It felt like I was high. "Ugh, Lottie, what the hell do you want? It's literally 4 in the morning..." I heard Louie grumble. I had never been more happy to hear his voice.

"Louie, get up, I heard gunshots. Please, wake up and help me," My voice forced itself as a whisper, to make sure if anybody was watching, that they wouldn't hear us.

"Lottie, what the hell? What do you mean by gunshots?" He whispered loudly, and I shushed him. Maisie woke up, too, her eyes flitting open and closed.

"Lottie, what's going on?" She spoke drowsily. I quickly told her about the gunshots, and her eyes went wide.

Suddenly, I heard one again. This time, it sounded closer.

Maisie's eyes started welling up, and then she reached for my hand. I held it for a little bit, and then a noise from where Phoebe and Christian were spooked us all.

Louie groaned loudly, and then put his finger over his mouth, zipping it up and throwing away the key. Somehow, though, he found the key and somehow told Phoebe and Christian to stop screwing around because we were in a serious situation, and that there were gunshots, and that he really didn't want the last thing that he saw to be them, no offense, so to stop screwing and just get in the now.

They instantly came outside of their room, Phoebe's hair all messed up and Christian racing to put back on his shorts. "Get a grip," I said under my breath, and then my heart rate spiked as another gunshot echoed in the RV.

"I'm gonna go look outside the window," Louie said.

"I'll look out the front, because that's where I've been hearing it lately." I said.

We looked out, seeing nothing. A shiver went down my spine.

The silence thundered in the RV. It was so loud, and we couldn't say or do anything to stop it.

"Louie, how good of a reckless driver are you?" I asked, grinning a little, despite myself.

"Oh, Lottie dot, it's like you don't even know me," He drawled, and I rolled my eyes.

"Guys, what are we all doing up at 4 in the morning?" Somebody asked.

"Oh, shit, Evan!" Christian exclaimed. We brought him up to date with the gunshots, and I could swear I heard him mutter that he should've stayed asleep.

Louie hopped into the front seat, in his plain boxers and an over-sized T-shirt.

"Are we ready to rumble, guys?" He asked us, and didn't even wait for a reply before pressing on the gas - hard - and getting the hell out of that place. The gunshots became quieter, and we kept going down Lincoln Road.

Sunlight began to creep through the horizon, and we were still steady on Lincoln Road.

"Y'know, Mai, this road could be the end of the earth. It really seems like it. But hey, at least there's no more gunshots! That was such a fun way to wake up!" Evan exclaimed, and Maisie rolled her eyes.

"Hey, Maisie, you trying to give me your hot spot now that we've survived a potentially fatal shooting?" He tried. Maisie stuck her tongue out at him again, but reluctantly agreed.

"Yess!" Evan yelled in triumph, "Now I can play the fatal shooting card with y'all! Woo-hoo!"

"Shut up, you dick," Maisie said, laughing. She playfully pushed Evan, and then her phone buzzed.

A text from Julia.

Hey Mai, I deleted the post. I don't know if you saw it, but if you did, you know what I'm talking about. It was my brother. He hacked into my account, and then posted that. I am going to prom, but I wanna go with you, okay? So here's my pathetic way of asking you:

P!

R!

O!

M!?

Maisie squealed with delight.

She replied instantly, her excitement buzzing through the RV.

Yes, of course I'll go with you (ugh, that sounded so cringe)!! And, that's not pathetic at all. Did you see the way Christian asked Phoebe? Talk about cringe. Oh, they are gonna shoot me for saying that, LOL. Miss you! I'll see you as soon as I get back from this road trip. Oh, and btw, we've literally been on this same road for like, 6 hours. It's bananas!

We all laughed as we kept driving down Lincoln Road.

Suddenly, Louie screamed with joy.

"There's a new road up ahead!" He shouted.

Everybody was silent for a little bit, and then Evan crunched on a chip, and we erupted into cheers. It was an odd thing, cheering for this road trip to come to an end, but you wouldn't understand.

**

When we got home, I nearly fell onto my front steps. I was this close to kissing actual ground, but I'm not that gross. "Land!" Evan and Christian yelled at the same time. They dabbed each other up for creating the perfect harmony together, and everybody was back to normal. Well, what's normal anyways?

"Mom," I said later that night, telling her about the trip, "we were driving down this insanely long road, about fifty miles from here, near where Aunt Charlotte lives, and we were on it for like, 6 hours or something like that."

"Oh, really? What was it called?" She asked.

"Lincoln Road, a road name that I honestly never want to hear again," I replied.

"Honey, there isn't a Lincoln Road anywhere in a fifty mile radius from Aunt Charlotte's house."

"What do you mean?"

"Lincoln Road does not exist. There's a legend that extra weary travelers haunt the fields surrounding this 'Lincoln Road', and they apparently try to shoot the passengers? I don't know, it's just an urban legend."

"Well, I might have just lived that urban legend,"

"No way!"

I put my finger in front of my mouth, zipped it up, and threw away the key.

But somehow, I found that damned key again.