When I woke up, the first thing I noticed was that I wasn't warm. And I couldn't have been happier. with a smile, and a sigh of relief, I stretched, turning in my bed so I could reach the nightstand.

When I pulled my phone off the night stand next to me and read the time, anger took over my features, instantly dousing any good mood I had kindled not minutes, no seconds, before. Someone was going to die, " Nicholas whatever your middle name is Arson! It is one in the after noon and you never woke me up!"

I was well aware that it was not his responsibility to wake me up every morning, but when it's one in the bloody afternoon, and the person you so graciously share a bed with hasn't woken up yet, you should probably check to make sure they aren't dead. Nick's laughter drifted to the back of the van, muffled just faintly, " sorry Angel. Good morning to you too."

I rolled out of bed, and drug my bag out from under the matress. Dropping it on the bed, I dug around for clothes. Pulling out a pair of jeans and a tank top, I quickly changed into them, and secured my bag back into it's original spot.

I weaved my way to the front of the van, and fell into the passenger seat, " so how's Arson today?" I asked.

He tossed me an apple, which I took a bite out of unhappily, and said, " i'm doing just wonderful. And you, Angel?"

" Starved. Did you make any food?" I asked, as I bit into the apple again. There was no way this fruit was going to be enough for me.

He gave a nod, a sly smile finding it's way to his lips, " yeah actually." The sound of waffles popping out of the toasters met my ears. The little idiot. He grin spread just a bit more, showing off his pearly white teeth, as he continued to say, " i'm one step ahead of you."

" of course." I muttered.

I tripped over my own feet, trying to get out of the passenger seat and to the waffles. Then, I burnt my fingertips trying to grab the hot delights. Manning up, I threw them on a plate and fell onto the couch. I could feel the van moving beneath me. It felt like I was floating while eating my waffles. That's not something you can say everyday. Definately something to check off my non-existant bucket list.

When I finished the second one, my stomach fully satysfied, I rinsed off the dish and returned to my seat next to Nick. I sighed, buckled up, and looked out the window. Then a road sign popped up, and I let out a, " yes!" pulling my fist down in a winning motion.

" what?" He asked, curiously.

" a gas station!"

He arched a brow, " How far is it?"

" A few miles. You can read, right?" I teased.

He rolled his eyes, " yes mother, I can read. But i'm also lazy. What's the point of reading a sign you already read? I could just asked you. Duh."

I restrained from flipping him off. We blasted a few aerosmith songs, and nodded our heads along with a few Guns and Roses hits.

When we arrived at the gas station, I wasn't impressed.

It was easily nothing fancy, and nothing about it struck me as an appealing place to fill my car. or in this case, van. The brick was poorly painted grey, the paint peeling, and the red that stained the roof and gas pumps was faded into a measly pink, hardly a selling factor. Even the words were hard to read at the point of fadement it was attending.

Climbing out of the van, we found that the inside wasn't any more appealing. The shelves were stocked with everything offbrand, the second class soda was fairly overpriced, and the restroom facilities were a horror scene. I didn't think it was possible, but the stalls were smaller than the bathroom on the van.

Nick picked out a few things, buying an icecream, a giant cookie, and a sprite. I looked around a bit, before finding an actual name brand snickers, an icecream for myself, and a bottle of Life Water, another thing I was happy to say was the right brand.

tasch.

I drew my brows together as a sack of off brand chips hit me in the back of the head. Turning around, I sighed, " ha ha Arson, very funny." Shaking my head, I looked down at what I had, then sighed, and dug in my pockets for my money.

I turned to the beaten old register, only to find that no one was currently occupying the station. Another sace connected with my shoulder, making odd crinkling sounds. I growled, and whipped around, grabbing a sack of circus peanuts and chucking it at his chest. he went to duck, only to get hit in the head. I snickered, and set my things down on the counter. Then, I reached for three more circus peanut bags, loading them in my left hand, and grabbing a forth, ready to be launched, in my right hand.

Nick fired an off brand potato chip sack at me, aiming for my neck. I lurched to the right, and sent a bag of circus peanuts flying straight into his shoulder. Reloading, I grabbed another bag before ducking behind the shelf. I squeaked when eleven bags of chips rained down over my head. I looked up to see a laughing Nick.

It was time for payback.

With all the strength in my body, I tore open the circus peanuts bag and threw one. the little orange fluff went flying, landing in his mouth. he gasped, and spit it out, " oh god, that's disgusting!" He said, horrified.

I laughed, and threw another one his way. He jumped, and bolted to the left, rolling behind the cahsiers desk. I threw another behind the desk, and was pulling my arm back to launch one more, when a rather grisly voice yelped, " what are you doing!"

I turned around slowly, hiding the peanuts behind my back, and looked around at the mess wide eyed, " oh, just chillin', ya know." I shrugged.

The buttons on the front of the man's shirt were busting, straining to keep from popping, due to his not-to-terribly-thin-at-all torso. His manager badge wasn't fairing any better, looking like it was seconds away from flying off of the shirt and into the mess of items around me. I choked down a laugh. His face flushed a bright red, as his words bubbled from his frogging throat, " How dare you come into my store, and ruin all the precious merchandise!"

" For the record, kind sir, this 'store', you're refering to, " I made air quotes around the word 'store', the peanuts still in my hand, " really sucks. And all your supossidly precious merchandise, is offbrand and over-priced."

" you!" He said, pointing a tubby finger in my direction, " you're paying for all of this! all of it!" He shouted. The collar of his shirt stressed against his throat. I honestly had no idea how he breathed. the sheen of five o'clock shadow layered on his almost triple chin was almost enough to make me hurl.

I froze.

Then my face fell. I shook my head, " I-I don't have any money, sir..." I looked around on Nick. His lack of presents made my stomach flip. He had either baled on me, or was still crouched behind the cashier's desk. I didn't want to sick the cost of all this on him, but I did want him to help me escape the big boy in front of me.

" Well, I guess we have a problem then." The manager said, threw clenched teeth.

I was about to reply, when a live miracle happened. The cash register popped open, and all the cash inside when flying. The majority of them were ones, no surprise, but still, it was raining non the less. Nick stood from behind the desk, a smile on his face, as he said, " I'm surprised you can even make this much money!"

I shouted, " way to make it rain, Arson!" We both laughed.

He shot me a thumbs up, then counted the money he had in his hand, " oh shit, a full twenty dollars. That's pretty impressive for a butterball like you, huh." He shot the manager a million dollar smile, and tossed the money in the air.

I swear to you, I was looking at a living tomato. Nick whistled, caught a few more bills, then neatly placed those few extra dollars back into the cash register. Afer that, he placed a credit card on the desk, " The pin number is something akin to 58634, or what not. Just put it on Credit."

Sauntering out from behind the desk, Nick took my hand in his, giving me a look that spoke how much fun he was having. Then, he pulled me with him as he quickly ran towards the van. laughing, we climbed inside buckled up. The manager squeezed his large fram through the door, the whole time his voice was carrying our way. We could hear him over the laughter and the roar of the engine.

When we were on the road, and our laughter had died down, I sighed, " that was awesome. How'd you get it to pop open?"

Nick shook his head, and shrugged, " I didn't. It just kinda, popped up." He made a little explosion motion with his hands, momentarily letting go of the wheel. I gasped, and reached for it, holding it for him.

" or mine." I said, tilting my chin up slightly as I held the wheel.

He chuckled, folding his hands in his lap, " Oh yeah Angel, your luck. I'll believe that when I actually see it."

I punched him in the shoulder lightly, letting go of the wheel, " Hey, it could have been our luck."

" Maybe." He arched a brow, and smiled crookedly. Then the van swerved to the left viciously, into the other side of the road. Nick and I both reached for the wheel, pulling us back onto the right side. Nick smiled, and I snickered softly. Leaning back, I sighed.

I looked out of the window, then laced my brows together, " why'd you throw a bag of chips at me in the first place?"

He grinned, " Boredom."

I gave him one of those, are you serious?, looks, and rolled my eyes, " You amaze me Nicholas Arson."

" Just like how you amaze me, Angel."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

" I spy with my little eye..." I started, scanning the scenery outside my window for something to use. My gaze fell on a lighthouse. It would have to do, " something tall."

" a tree?"

" um." I looked at it, and continued with the hints, " something white." I added, folding my hands in my lap as I averted my eyes from him to the lighthouse.

" Is it long? We better not be talking about my famliy jewels, because Angel I can assure you I do not think of you-"

" Nick! God no," I said, trying hard not to laugh.

" Oh.... I knew that." He huffed, but couldn't hide his slight smile. I shook my head. I couldn't believe he'd just made that referance. It was definately something I didn't want to thing about. No thank you. Cue the shivers.

I snickered, then looked at the lighthouse again, " Something that guides people." I added, thinking that it would be the give away.

" Me?"

I facepalmed.

" It has nothing to do with you."

He nodded, " oh, so the lighthouse."

I slapped a hand to my forehead again, " Really Nick? it took you that long? it's the only white, tall thing outside!"

" Don't forget, It guides people." He teased, waving his finger at me like a wise old man. He was such an odd duck.

I shoved him slightly, " Shut up. That's what it took for you to get it."

" Hey! Don't harm the driver."

" You could have said that a long time ago." I raised a brow at him. Or tried to. It wasn't really my forte.

He chuckled, then arched an eyebrow, seamlessly, I might add. It was obvious that he was showing off. I frowned, as he said, " jealous, Angel?" His harmless teasing made me cross my arms, and lean away from him.

" Of you?" I huffed, " God no."

He grinned, and looked back at the road. It's a miracle we haven't crashed yet. My luck. There wasn't a way on god's green earth that he had luck. I wouldn't believe it.

I looked out my window at the ombre in the sky. It started off as a yellow, fading to an orange, than a light pink, than a purple, before finally fading into a beautiful dark blue. It was kind of like a bruise on the sky, a beautiful bruise, not an ugly one that looked like a nebula formed on your skin.

The tree line was silloutte against the horizon, dimpling the bottom of the scenery like a border. It was such a beautiful scene, watching the cloudes brush against the sky in beautiful, seamless white strokes. And the stars just barely visible at the top of the scene sent shivers down my spine.

I pulled out my phone and took a picture.

Nick laced his brows together, " What are you doing?"

" Remembering, I guess. You never take pictures of anything?" I replied, looking over at him. He was watching me like I was an idiot.

He shook his head, " No, I usually don't."

I raised my phone, and took a picture of him, " Well you should. It helps me remember all of the things I enjoy in life." I set my phone in my lap, looking at the picture at the horizon, then at the picture of him. In it, his eyebrows were creased faintly, a small smile hinting at the corner of his lips.

" So you're enjoying this trip with me?"

" Just the scenery." I sighed.

" So you're enjoying this scenery." He said, with a seductive smile, flashing a gaze down at himself.

I rolled my eyes and punched his shoulder lightly, " hardly."

" Don't deny it, Angel. You know i'm sexy."

I let out a shrill laugh, " sure, keep telling yourself that."

" Oh i will, and I'll also know it's true." He winked.

I shoved my finger towards my mouth, indicating a gag.

I smiled, and he chuckled. Looking back over the trees, I took a final picture, just as the sun was dropping over the horizon. It was something I couldn't see from my house in New York. That struck me hard. I wouldn't be seeing scenery like this for a while after I got back, " hey Arson?"

" yeah?"

" will you miss this?" I asked.

He took a minute to reply, " come again?"

" the scenery. The views, the things you wouldn't normally see in New York."

" Angel, are you afraid I won't miss you?" He tried to tease.

" I'm being serious, Nick."

He sighed, " yes, Angel. I will. But I know better than to worry about that. I'm just going to enjoy it while I can, and have fun, even if you can be a bitch at times."

" thanks."

" just being honest."

" mmhmm."

We found a place to park, a small grove in the trees just fit for the van. The tops of the trees barely brushed the top of the van, craddling like a blanket craddles a child.

I moved to the bathroom, and brushed my teeth, and raked my fingers through my hair. He brushed his teeth, spitting first. His luck, I was feeling nice and didn't spit on the back of his beanie. With a sigh, he ran some water over his face, and leaned back, grabbing a towel to dry his skin.

I yawned, and shuffled to the back of the van. We turned our backs to each other as we changed. I put on a baggy long sleeved shirt, and a rather very short pair of shorts. When I turned around, He was just pulling his shirt over his torso. A grey shirt with even darker grey sweats. And of course, black socks. Who would have guessed. I fell onto the bed, and he sat on the edge. His lean figure was leaned over his thighs, elbows rested on his knees. He pulled off the beanie, and examined the batman logo.

" Do you ever read books, Nick?" I asked, staring at the ceiling while I pulled the covers over myself.

" all the time." He answer, throwing his beanie atop his boots.

I shot a side glance towards him, " Why haven't I ever seen you read?"

" Because i'm either driver, or you're asleep." He teased, laying under the covers next to me.

" Oh." was all I could say back.

He yawned, and stretched his arms over his head, " I've only seen you read once."

" I get motion sickness when I read in a car."

" This is a van."

I rolled my eyes, " i'm sorry, vehicle. automobile. piece of metal on four wheels."

He smiled slightly, " So I guess that means you can real on planes."

" oh shut up." I huffed, and punched him in the arm.

He chuckled while I laid down on the bed. Pulling the covers up, I turned to face my back towards him. I turned off my lamp and closed my eyes.

It was a few minutes before I heard him say, " sweet dreams, Angel."

I didn't answer for a second.

" Good night Nick."