โWhat do you mean?โโ
Oliver got up from the boothโthank God, Red was freeโand walked the four strides to the front, nudging Simon out of his way.
โLet me see,โ he said to Arthur, holding his hand out for the phone with the directions.
Red was free and she wasnโt about to sit at this table any longer. She sidled along and out, moving toward the congregation at the front, perching on the corner of the sofa bed. Oh yes, now she remembered.
โMaddy, which sideโโ
โโNo, itโs ๏ฌne.โ Oliver spoke across her, swiping his ๏ฌnger on the screen. โItโs redirected us. Just keep going down this road, it takes us past a small town called Ruby. Then it should be a left turn and we go south for a bit, toward theย Carolina Sandhills National Wildlife Refuge,โ he read from the screen. โCampsite is right around there. We should be just over ten minutes, everyone.โ
โPerfect,โ Reyna said, taking one hand o๏ฌ the wheel to rub at her eyes. โYou getting tired?โ Oliver asked her. โI can take over?โ His voice was
di๏ฌerent when he spoke to Reyna. Softer at the edges.
โNo, Iโm good,โ she said, shooting him a quick smile over her shoulder, stretching wide across her light brown skin. It seemed almost a waste, that a smile that nice was meant for Oliver. That was a mean thought. He meant well. Everyone always meant well.
โYou okay?โ Arthur asked Red, vacating the passenger seat so Oliver could take it and coming to stand beside her.
She nodded. โRV feels smaller when youโve been in it for ten-plus hours.โ โI hear that,โ he agreed. โWeโll be there soon. Or we could both get shit-
faced like Simon and we wonโt care anymore.โ
โIโm not shit-faced,โ Simon said from behind Arthur. โIโm a very comfortable-amount drunk.โ
โIโm not so sure Tomorrow Morning Simon will agree,โ Red said.
โIโm not sure Now Maddy agrees either,โ Maddy said, turning around and perching on her booth so she could see them all. โYou donโt want to peak too soon. We have a whole week ahead of us.โ
Simon ๏ฌnished o๏ฌ his beer in one large gulp, eyeballing Maddy as he did
so.
โIs it this left turn here?โ Reyna asked, slowing down. โOliver?โ
โSorry, umโฆโ He stared down at the phone in his hands. โThe GPS has
gone weird. I think Iโve lost service. Iโm not sure where we are.โ
โI need an answer,โ Reyna said, idling to a stop just ahead of the intersection, hand hesitating over the turn signal.
A car horn sounded behind them. And again.
โOliver?โ Reyna said, her voice rising, the knuckles bursting out of her skin like bony hilltops as she held the wheel too hard.
โUm, yes, I think so. Left here,โ he said, uncertainly.
But it was all Reyna needed; she pushed o๏ฌ and took the turn, the car behind screaming its displeasure as it zipped o๏ฌ across the intersection.
โAsshole,โ she said under her breath.
โSorry,โ Oliver said. โYour phone isnโt working.โ โNot you, the car,โ Reyna clari๏ฌed.
โI canโt get the map to work,โ Oliver said, swiping furiously at the screen, closing the map app and reopening it. It was blank; a yellow background and
empty grid lines and nothing else. โIt doesnโt know where we are. Zero bars. Hey, does anyone have any service?โ
Red had left her phone over there on the table. But if she had zero bars, it could mean she had no signal, or it could mean that AT&T ๏ฌnally cut o๏ฌ her service after the last unpaid bill.
โIโve got a bar,โ Arthur said, his phone cupped in his hand. โWhoโs your provider?โ Oliver looked up at him.
โVerizon,โ he said. โHold on, Iโll get the route up.โ He tapped at his screen. โAlready had it loaded from when I was directing Red. Okay, so yeah we took the correct turn. You keep on this road for two miles, then itโs a right down Bo Melton Loop.โ
โMy phone is struggling too,โ Maddy said, holding it up and shaking it, like that might spark some life back into it.
โWeโre deep in the country now, folks,โ Simon said, leaning on his words in an atrocious Southern accent, spliced with a touch ofย crazy old man.ย Sober Simon was normally quite good at accents. He prided himself on them, in fact, always guaranteed a part in the school play. You should hear his upper-class English gentleman.
Red watched out the wide windshield, a panoramic view of darkness, the two headlights carving up the night, bringing it into existence. There was no world anymore, only this RV and the six of them, and whatever the dark brought them.
Arthur made a small noise: a groan in the back of his throat as he stared down at his screen. Red stood up, looking over his shoulder to see what it was. He glanced back at her and cleared his throat. Maybe she was standing too close.
โLooks like I just lost service too,โ he said, right as Redโs eyes registered the zero bars at the top of the screen.
โShit,โ Oliver hissed, tapping Reynaโs phone again, like he could make it work through sheer force of will. If anyone could, a Lavoy could.
โItโs okay,โ Arthur said to him, โI still have the route up, just canโt see where we are on it. Weโll have to look for road signs.โ
โOld-school navigation,โ Reyna commented.
โLet me help,โ Simon said, shu๏ฌing over to Arthur and Red, crowding them. โIโm good at maps.โ
โYou say youโre good at everything,โ Red said.
โIย amย good at everything,โ Simon answered. โExcept being humble.โ
There was no one else on the road. No passing headlights, no red glow of brake lights up ahead. Red stared out the windshield, concentrated.
โWhenโs the turn?โ Reyna asked.
โNot yet,โ Red answered, her eyes now following the highlighted road on Arthurโs screen, no blue dot to guide them, trying to match it with the darkness outside.
โWouldnโt trust Red with directions,โ Maddy said. โHey.โ
โWell, I mean, itโs not like youโre ever on time, is it?โ
Red leaned back to look at Maddy perching on the booth, head resting on the bed of her knuckles. โIโll have you know,โ she said, โthat everyone else was later than me this morning. I was ๏ฌrst by like ten whole minutes.โ
Maddy looked sheepish, biting one lip. โWhat?โ
โNothing.โ
Red knew it wasnโt nothing. โMaddy, what?โ
โI, um, I told you we were meeting at our house at nine. But I told everyone else we were meeting at ten.โ
โYou told me a whole hour earlier?โ Red said, and why did it sting that she had? It was a lie, yes, but it was a considerate lie. Maddy knew Red would be late: she didnโt know all the reasons why, but she knew the end result and that was the same, wasnโt it?
โSo technically, you were ๏ฌfty minutes late and everyone else was on time.โ
โI missed the bus,โ Red said, which wasnโt true: she spent the last of her change on her dadโs favorite cereal and then walked the whole way, bag wheeling behind her.
โHa, look, that roadโs called Wagon Wheel Road,โ Simon snorted, pointing at the screen.
โIs that the right I make?โ Reyna asked, hand darting to the turn signal, though there was no one to signal for.
No, it wasnโt here.
โNo, no, no,โ Arthur said quickly. โItโs the next one. I think.โ Reyna sped up again, following the road as it curved around. โWagon Wheel.โ Simon was still chuckling to himself. โHere, this right,โ Oliver said, taking charge. โTurn, Reyna.โ
โIโm turning,โ she said, the faintest trace of irritation in her voice. Too many cooks. Which made Reyna, what? A spoon? The Lavoys had fancy spoons at their house: pearly handles and no stains.
There was a new sound, joining with the wind as it rushed against the sides of the RV: a rasping noise beneath them. The road was growing rougher, gravelly, the RV lurching as it rolled down. There were no more yellow markings, no moreย my laneย andย your lane,ย and from the light of the high beams Red could see rows and rows of trees standing either side, silent sentinels on the dead-of-night road.
She felt watched, which was stupid; trees didnโt have eyes. But neither did doors, yet her mom used to stick googly ones on Redโs so she felt safe in her bed in the darโ No, stop, she needed to concentrate on where they were going.
โLooks like weโre in the middle of nowhere,โ Maddy commented from her perch, cupping her hands around her eyes so she could look out the side window.
โAs is the campsite, so weโre good,โ Oliver replied. The RV staggered as it hit a pothole.
Arthur was chewing his lip, eyes narrowed behind his glasses. โI think itโs left here,โ he said, not sure, not loud enough to reach Reyna.
โLeft, left here!โ Simon didnโt have the same problem. But Reyna didnโt listen, didnโt trust the drunk one.
โItโs left,โ Red said.
โYou sure?โ Oliver asked her, but Reyna had already pulled the RV into it, and the road wasnโt even paved anymore, just dirt and rocks, dust kicking up into the headlights. โThis canโt be right, let me look at the map.โ He snapped his ๏ฌngers for Arthur to pass his phone over. โReyna, turn around.โ
โI canโt turn around!โ she said, more than a hint of irritation in her voice now: a full underlayer. โThis road is way too narrow and this RV is way too big.โ
โWhere are we?โ Red asked Arthur, leaning across to see, like it made any di๏ฌerence.
โI think weโre here somewhere.โ He pointed at the screen. โMcNair Cemetery Road. Maybe.โ
โThatโs de๏ฌnitely wrong,โ Oliver said. โWe have to turn baโโ โโI canโt!โ Reyna shot him a look.
โIs there a turn?โ Red nudged Arthur.
โWait, I think thereโs a left soon,โ he said, zooming in to the mouth of the small road on his phone. โMight circle us back to that other road.โ He glanced at Red and she nodded.
โFor fuckโs sake,โ Oliver said, one of his knees rattling against the dashboard. โWe wouldnโt have gone the wrong way if I was directing.โ
โThis is stressful,โ Maddy said, her hands buried in her loose hair. โWe should have just ๏ฌown and rented a condo like everyone else from school is.โ
A ๏ฌush in Maddyโs cheeks as she realized what sheโd said, their eyes meeting for half a second. Red was the reason they didnโt ๏ฌy and rent a condo like everyone else. That was why Maddy came up with the RV idea.ย Way cheaperโjust gas and spending money. Come on, it will be fun.ย It was all Redโs fault.
โJust keep going,โ Red said to Reyna, blocking everyone else out.
โI donโt see a left turn.โ Reyna leaned closer to the wheel, straining to see. As they followed the corner around, the headlights got lost in the woods, recoiling as they bounded o๏ฌ some body of water: a creek hiding somewhere
behind the trees.
โWhereโs the left turn?โ Reyna pushed forward.
โThere!โ Simon pointed out the windshield. โItโs here. Go left.โ
โSure?โ
Red glanced down at the map in Arthurโs hands. This was it. โYes,โ she said. โDown there.โ
โDoesnโt even look like a real road,โ Oliver said as they peeled down it, dirt and gravel loud against the wheels.
It was narrower, tighter, the trees pressing in on them, barring the way with low-hanging branches that scraped the top of the RV.
โKeep going,โ Red said. Her fault that the others were here and not on a nice plane tomorrow instead, with all their other friends.
โIโve lost the map,โ Arthur said, blank grid lines taking over his screen. โKeep going,โ she said.
โNot like we have a choice,โ Oliver retorted.
The trees broke away from the road, cutting their losses, giving way to low-lying scrubland and long grass on either side.
โIs it a dead end?โ Oliver asked, staring out the front. โKeep going,โ Red said.
โPretty sure itโs a dead end,โ Oliver decided, though none of them could see. โReyna, itโs wide enough here, you can turn around and head back.โ
โOkay.โ Reyna gave in, pushing her foot against the brake. The RV slowed, rattling against the barely-there road.
A sharper sound, like a crack, splitting the night in half. โWhat was that?โ Simon asked.
The RV hitched, drooping down at the front left side, Red stumbling into Arthur as it did.
โFuck,โ Oliver said, staring at Reyna over there on the sunken side, slamming his ๏ฌst into the dashboard. โI think we just punctured a tire.โ
