Rubbing my eyes, I let out a yawn and looked around to find Abby. She wasn't usually an early bird so it surprised me to spot her walking back and forth near the car and talking over the phone. I pushed the door open and pulled myself out to get closer. It was six in the morning, I noticed when I looked at my watch.

The closer I walked to her the more coherent her words became. The clouds in my mind cleared out once I figured out she was talking to her father in an annoyed tone and I even dared to smile since her back was facing me. "No, I'm not coming back," she hissed, tossing a stone forward. "I'm broke, Dad. Broke. I need money. Fine, I won't spend too much." I just couldn't hold my laughter in when she crossed her finger on the back. "Thanks."

I paused when she turned around and met my gaze. "I'll be safe, Dad. Love you." After she ended the call, she shoved the phone into her pocket and looked at me. "He's asking me to return because he misses me—duh."

Passing on her comment, I asked, "Is he going to activate his card?"

"Said he will but I don't really trust him."

"Well, he has his reasons not to trust you." She just rolled her eyes, then smiled at me. "He probably misses you, Abby," I assured her. Her anger mostly stemmed from her father's uncaring attitude toward her, especially after he'd gotten married to Sandra. She was ready for any signs of care coming from him. Spending his limit on his credit card was her way of punishing him. "He's just so busy with work. Do you want to return?" I asked though I hoped she would say no. "We can."

"No, I'm not ditching you." She took a step closer. "We need this." What did she mean? I didn't ask but I needed this time alone to work up my courage and confess to her in the end. When she pulled her arms around my neck, I rested my hand on her back. "You've been there for me more than anyone, George. Thank you."

To light the mood, I patted her back and said, "Don't spoil me too much."

"Enjoy while it lasts," she replied back, pulling away. "I love you, Georgie."

"Ain't helping, Whittaker."

"You're a spoiled brat," she laughed, nudging me lightly. "Nothing can change that." As I opened my mouth to say that we should start off, she interrupted me by saying, "Your mom called, by the way." Fuck. I didn't check my phone properly since we'd been here. I was carried by the trip and Abby. "She called you a few times but you didn't pick up. Told you don't check her phone, and she said she wonders about you. Call her when you can."

"Okay," I said, contemplating over where I had put my phone. "I'll call her now."

"It's six," she said as I made my way toward the truck. I found my phone in the front pocket of my bag and that was a relief, for I had lost my phone a few times before. "They are probably sleeping, George." She had a point, yikes. Her comment made me stop and look over my shoulder at her awkwardly. She seemed amused by my panic, confirmed by the laugh that followed. "Come on, let's start our day and you can call her before noon."

Nodding, I walked into the passenger seat this time. It was her turn to drive today. I settled in my seat as she hopped in and adjusted the seat to herself before starting the engine. "Meramec Caverns," she said. I turned on the navigation to take us to our destination.

An hour later, we still had about one hour to Sullivan. I'd spent my precious time answering the incoming messages for that hour, mostly from Brandon and Roy. I tended to ignore Roy first but that guy was weird as shit. I had no idea why he was awake at six in the morning, but he texted me again once I replied to Brandon, saying he saw I've seen his messages.

"See?" Abby suddenly said, awakening me from daydreaming about Roy and Rachel's instant love. That would be like two birds at once. "When you check your phone, you can't just stop."

"It takes time to reply to everyone."

She looked down at my screen but I managed to shut Messages before she could scan through my texts. "You talking to Roy?"

"Yup."

"He was complaining about talking more often with me than he does with you."

"Was he really complaining?" I scoffed, looking out of the window.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

I turned to my side to shoot her a glance. "He's hitting on you." That sounded blunt but I didn't care. Abby wasn't someone who was blind to these things. She'd noticed guys checking up on her or making moves before—she could very well understand Roy's intentions. He wasn't trying his chance at being her next best buddy.

"Don't you guys have like a secret code or something? Do you share each other's secrets?"

"Don't think this is a secret," I replied, looking around. "He's not really hiding it." She threw me a look but I couldn't understand whether she was pissed or shocked. Her lack of answer only drew me more curious about her thoughts. Did she share his feelings or consider him a friend? "What do you think about him?"

"He's cool," she replied firmly.

"Cool as in I like him as a friend or I want to marry him?"

My comment made her laugh, though my intentions were far from that. I wanted to know her opinion of him. "Somewhere in between." She spared me another quick glance before turning her focus back on the road. I watched her see her grip the wheel tighter and bite her inner cheek as she continued. "I'm not so eager to marry him, you know, but like I feel that his intentions are beyond friendship. He flirts with me and I let him be."

"You like it," I pointed out.

"I like it," she confirmed.

I didn't say anything else after that and she didn't bother to make a small talk, either. She probably thought that I sounded so mad, because it was all over my tone, and she had every right to ask me about it. I would probably come up with a lame comeback to avoid the real talk. She liked Roy. Confessing to her already felt so out of line, like she was already off my league, but this hit me hard.

Once she parked in the lot, we left the car and grabbed my camera and our hoodies since she read somewhere that it could be cold down in the cavern. We paid for the tour and followed a group of people through the path. It was sort of dark inside the cavern and stalactites created a mystic aura like we were suddenly in a movie. The guide's voice echoed through the walls accompanied by dripping sounds.

As we wandered around, listening to our guide, my hand accidentally touched Abby's upper leg. She didn't notice it because she was busy taking a quality photo to put on Instagram but I noticed that she was cold. She was wearing shorts and it was barely covering her legs. Sighing, I took off my hoodie. "Abby,"—she turned around to look at me with a questioning look—"take this."

"I'm fine, George—"

"You're freezing," I said, extending the hoodie again. "I'm fine. It's not too cold."

She held my gaze for a while and took the hoodie when my look convinced her that I was genuine. She wrapped the hoodie around her waist and tied to the front. "Thank you," she murmured and wrapped her arm around mine, leaning her head against my upper arm. "If we stay close, we can heat up together."

Her cheek pressed against my forearm and holding hands, we completed the whole tour around the caverns. I didn't feel cold once, in fact, I was burning. It was just that my brain was in the gutter and I could misinterpret such a simple thing as holding hands. I just trusted that the friendship ties between us were rooted deep so that she wouldn't take anything wrong.

After Meramec Caverns, our next stop was Bourbon, the town named after Bourbon whiskey. It was a short drive and once we arrived, the famous water tower named Bourbon welcomed us. Abby wanted to take a photo in front of the thing so we stopped there for a while.

"George," she suddenly called when we were walking back to our car. "We need to take a selfie." Groaning, I walked back to where she stood and waited for her to position the tower behind us. "Smile," she ordered as she slung an arm around my neck so I had to kneel a bit to level our height. Once we were done, she pulled back and said, "If I were you, I would take photos all the time."

I turned at her, and she looked like she wasn't about to say that. A flush of embarrassment rosed her cheeks as if she'd been just caught. I would let it pass but it was just so delightful to catch her off guard. "Is this your way of saying that I'm the hottest guy you've ever seen, Whittaker?"

"Ha-ha." She only blushed more. "I was talking about your fans, Shaw. They are probably waiting for your photos." The more she explained the redder her cheeks turned and I thought it was enough of teasing. At times like this, I was almost sure that she liked me back—even if a tiny bit. Then, she went and said things like she did in the car and confused the hell out of me.

"Since we are here, we should drink bourbon."

"I can't," she replied. "I'm the driver, remember?"

"Shame. Then, I'm purchasing a bottle for later, yeah?" She didn't say no to that and decided to wait in the car as I went into a shop and bought one. The guy didn't even ask about my age—which was cool—because I looked older than twenty-one or he simply didn't care. Loading the bottle into the truck securely, I hopped back to the passenger seat.

Our next hours went by in St. James and Marshfield before we headed off to Strafford and I even convinced Abby to taste wine in St. James winery, though she protested a little first. She was now gushing over Wild Animal Safari Park, where we could drive through.

Have you ever met someone that talked so passionately about things she loved that made you wish you were one of those things? Abby Whittaker was the living proof for me. The way she told me about the whole trip, the places she'd marked on our map, and the way she told me about everything she searched online. I could listen to her for hours and would never get tired of it.

As her curls danced with the wind, gone was everything that had been on my mind except her. She was the only thing that stayed constantly there like my mind was made of her. I watched her shamelessly, trusting that she was fully focused on the road and too eager to speak rather than check me. I got the luxury of losing myself in the bridge of her nose and fought the urge not to slide my finger down through her lips. She was just so perfect in every way that I often questioned if I deserved her at all.

I hadn't noticed that we arrived until I heard her pull the handbrake and turn at me. There was a moment of hesitancy in her eyes when our eyes met, but I wasn't even shy about being caught in the action. She looked at me and I looked at her. After a moment of pause, she said, "We arrived."

I watched her throat move as she gulped. Another pause. "I know."

Abby didn't ask what I meant and I didn't dare to tell.

***

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