Chapter 3

I suddenly wake up, startled by the chatter around me. I stretch out my sore arms and legs and yawn, looking around for Alice or Nick. I notice we are at some sort of bus stop or resting area. I look at my phone, surprised to see it is past eight. I walk out of the bus, and look at the old beat up restaurant in front of me: Wild Coyote Saloon.

“Hey, sleepy head!’’ Nick yells from the door of the restaurant. I smile and jog up to him. “Finally awake, I see. I can’t believe you didn’t wake up once! This is like, our third stop.’’

“I’m a heavy sleeper, what can I say?’’ I chuckle as he pulls me in for a kiss. I quickly pull away, a weird feeling in my stomach. “Do they have a bathroom in there?’’

Nick gives me a strange look, but nods and points to a door inside the restaurant. I clutch my bag and walk into the bathroom, locking myself up in a stale. My chest feels tight and I feel a pull in my stomach. What is wrong with me?

I try to slow down my breathing. ‘I need to eat something before I pass out’ I think to myself. I walk out of the stale and turn on the faucet, leaning in to get a sip of water. I reach into my bag, grabbing my Seroquel bottle. As I swallow the pill, I hear the door open behind me.

“Holy shit, Sophie!’’ Alice whisper-screams. “Since when do you do drugs? Can I have in?’’ I quickly put back the bottle in my purse, shaking my head.

“I swear it’s not what it looks like.’’ I feel myself start to panic. Alice cannot learn about my pills. And neither can Nick.

“Yeah, okay,’’ she winks at me knowingly. “I’ll pretend I didn’t see anything... You’re more fun than I thought, Soph. How did I not know this after almost two years?’’

I laugh it off. Her thinking I was into popping pills was better than her knowing the truth. I run my fingers through my straight light brown hair, trying to unknot them as I walk out of the bathroom, hoping Alice would drop the conversation once we got to the table.

“Why do girls always go to the washroom together?’’ Nick asks, letting out an overdramatic sigh.

“It’s our way of exchanging secrets’’ Alice winks at me again. “Besides, how else are we supposed to talk behind your back?’’

Nick complains a little as I eat a bite out of his omelet with a nervous smile. Anything to distract him from what Alice said works with me.

“Whatever!’’ Nick rolls his eyes and looks at his watch. “We should head back to the bus before the bus driver leaves without us.’’

“You mean mister ‘go back to sleep’?’’ Alice asks innocently. “Oh, sorry, I meant to say Grant, the kind gentleman who is driving us all the way to New Chicago. At least he’s hot!’’

They both laugh and I follow along, guessing it’s something they talked about when I was sleeping.

Nick looks around, trying to catch the waitress’s eyes. Impatient, he snaps his finger to get her attention and I can’t help but to be a little bit embarrassed. With an annoyed look, she comes over. Nick handles to check after arguing with Alice a little and we get up to leave.

I’m about to step on the bus when something stops me. It’s that strange pulling feeling in my stomach again. I look out to the woods, searching for the reason behind this feeling. I feel my heart start to pound again and regret not having had the time to order something for myself. Nick pushes me a little and I climb onto the bus, still a little shaken by the sensation I was forgetting something.

Alice and I start talking about a guy she thinks is cute. “I swear he was looking at me like a piece of steak though.’’ Nick laughs at her remarks.

“I saw the way you looked at him to,’’ he comments. “I’m pretty sure he was mirroring the way you stared at him.’’ Alice gasps dramatically and punches his arm.

“Well, he was almost as hot as the bus driver.’’ She says un-ironically.

As we continue to chat, Grant sits down in his seat. I hear him turn the keys and swear under his breath. I turn to look at what is making him upset when I realise something is wrong. The driver gets up and clears his throat.

“Well, it seems we have a problem,’’ he says in an irritated voice. “The bus won’t start and we’re still three hours away from the next stop.’’