AllFreeNovel
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“I’ll make a final judgment call after the trip ends.”
Several hours pass where we sit in comfortable silence, listening to a 2000’s punk rock playlist, when Devin turns down the music. “What are you always drawing over there?”
“Nothing, really. Just scribbling random things to keep my hands busy.”
“So, she’s a dancer, an artist, and a Takis junkie,” he says to himself as I pop another rolled chip in my mouth.
“My dad’s the artist.” I chuckle. “I’m just a doodler.”
“I don’t know. I’ve seen some of the things you’ve been drawing. You seem like a pretty decent artist. And isn’t doodling just another form of art? My scribbles definitely don’t look like that.”
Heat blossoms in my cheeks as I keep my attention on my spiral pad. “Thanks.”
“You’re also a roller coaster lover and list maker. Tell me something else weird about you.”
My pen stops doodling. “Excuse me. None of those things make me weird.”
Devin grins at the dark road. “I didn’t say you were weird. I said, tell me something weird.”
Dang him.“I’m perfectly normal. Nothing weird to share.”
“Ohhh, no. The lady protests too much,” he teases. “There is definitely something weird you’re keeping secret. What is it, a third nipple?”
“Ha! Wouldn’t you like to know.” The way his smile drops as he steals a glance at my chest shoots heat up my spine. I slap his arm resting on the center console. “Seriously.”
“I’m not blind, Spitfire.” He shrugs.
“Fine, you want to know a weird quirk? I never rip the wrapping paper off my gifts.” Confusion scrunches his face, and I explain further. “Ever since I was a toddler, I’ve unwrapped my gifts to preserve the paper. I don’t know why. Mom says I liked pretty things and would cry when it was ruined. My parents started using like three pieces of tape after a while because more than that would take me so long everyone would complain.”
Devin breaks into light laughter. “Nova’s a freak.” His hard annunciation of the ‘k’ is like an exclamation point.
“Whatever.” I hide my embarrassment, looking out the window. “Your turn. Tell me some weird secret quirk you have.”
“Sorry, I’m normal.”
“Oh, I highly doubt that, Devin Hawthorne.”
“Pulling out the last name, huh? Okay, when I concentrate, I stick my tongue out the side of my mouth.”
“I already noticed that when we played those arcade games at Mall of America.” I level a frown on him. “Give me something that makes you a freak.”
His deep inhale fills the car, and he scoots around in his seat, rearranging his hands on the steering wheel and stretching his neck side to side. “Hey, have you ever been to Iowa?”
“I have not, and don’t think I’m not taking note of the subject change, Hotshot.”
His huff is the only indication he heard me. “It’s like a thirty-minute detour from here. Why don’t we stay the night there and knock another state off your list? Maybe we can find a place to visit in the morning so it counts as a real stop.”
“Look at you helping a girl check off her bucket list.”
“What kind of co-pilot would I be if I didn’t?” He smiles. “How many states have you been to?”
“Before this trip?” It takes a minute to count them on my hands. “Twenty-one, I think?”
“Wow. And how many are you adding on this trip, again?”
“Nine. Ten, including Iowa.” I rest my bare feet on the dash and decide to drop my curiosity about his freakish quirks. “And what about you?”
“Ha. Not twenty-one. Um, let me think. Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Vermont, obviously. Uh, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York.”
