Chapter Text
“So, I was thinking,” Kylo’s eyes slid up from the page of his book as you spoke. “about how, you know, we talk about travelling and stuff. And, you know, spring break is coming up. What if we, like. Took… a road trip… somewhere…” Your voice half trailed off, losing momentum for your own plan despite the alternative.
“You don’t have a license.” He didn’t say it mockingly, at least. But it was true, despite your expected social norms you did not have a driver’s license. The idea of being behind the wheel made you anxious, so you settled for walking or riding the bus. And though it took your longer to arrive at your destination, it was much more calming than controlling a two ton hunk of metal careening at high speeds just feet away from other two ton hunks of metal.
“Well, no. But I’d be a great co-driver.”
He stared back blankly, clearly unimpressed with your pitch.
You groaned and pressed the heels of your palms to your eyes. “Okay, look. my parents really want to meet you.” Kylo grimaced- you had both agreed to not question one another about family- you each had a rather mottled relationship with your parents. “Like, this level of ‘really want to meet you’.”
You held out your phone for him to see. A text from your mother, time stamped as yesterday afternoon: [2:39] When is your spring break? Thought I might come visit ;)
Kylo handed the phone back. “Just tell her you don’t want to see her.”
You sighed. “Kylo, I can’t say that to my mom. I mean, I’m not exactly close with her, but I don’t want to be mean. She’s still my mom.” Your boyfriend’s continuously blank stare wasn’t very helpful- he probably didn’t understand your feelings. From what you had gathered he hadn’t spoken to his parents in more than a decade. You stared at the screen, frowning. “Look, Kylo, you don’t know my mom. Unless I say I explicitly have other plans that involve us being out of town for our entire free time, she’ll just hound me until I let her stay. Or worse, she’ll just show up at the door.”
He seemed to consider this, lips pursing into a tight line. On one hand, a road trip. On the other, meeting your parents. At length he shrugged, “Where did you want to go?”
For as much as you loved Kylo, you honestly hated being in a car with him. At least, while in the city. He was, by nature, an aggressive driver but somehow had always avoided getting into accidents. You think part of it was simply that he’d inherited a Mini Cooper. And seeing someone who towers over most of his peers squish down into the driver’s seat even made you irritable.
But, once you got out onto the empty, open roads of the country things were better. After an hour of channel surfing the radio, you put in Hamilton.
If on the I-35 caught snippets of rhymes about the first Secretary of the Treasury blasting from a gunmetal gray Mini Cooper with its windows down (and inhabitants singing and gesturing wildly, the driver’s long, dark hair whipping violently in the wind), it was probably you.
A lingering glare from a trucker gave Kylo a sense of shame, but you’d managed to coax him back to full enthusiasm for Guns and Ships. There was no room for shame in musical theater- you put in Phantom of the Opera next.
You found little hole-in-the-wall places to eat, figuring if you were out in the middle of nowhere you might as well enjoy the local cuisine. Mostly, it was good. Great, even, just to get away from campus and see something other than textbooks and a computer screen.
At a drive-in burger place Kylo mentioned his grandfather had wanted to travel, had joined the army and see much of the world.
For the full Road Trip experience, you stayed in questionable motels- most of the time so tired from hours spent in the car that as soon as you can collapsed on the mattress you were asleep. In the morning you’d look up attractions nearby and pick some stuff to visit between there and the next place you’d sleep.
Mostly it was natural wonders, gorgeous expanses of trees and cliffs, remnants of a world before man. Lakes where you’d stop and eat a light lunch on the shore, disturbingly flat fields of grain that went on for miles- the only things disturbing the horizon were the cities in the distance, silos, and farmhouses.
Sometimes it was weirder stuff you’d found online. The worlds biggest yarn ball, most number of “-ville” cities in twenty miles. A library that exclusively had books about cats. A hot springs pool that allowed skinny dipping after dark (Kylo had particularly enjoyed that).
At the end of the week, you returned to your apartment tired and pleased. Too mentally exhausted to bring in any bags just yet. You laid on your bed and relaxed into your mattress, with your sheets. And your cat curling up next to you.
Kylo shed his jacket and laid down next to you. You rubbed at his shoulders and kissed him, “Thanks for driving.” He hummed in response- pleasantly contented as the muscles of his back began to release.
“You’re a decent co-driver.”
You sent your parents pictures of your spring break road trip, proof of the fact you had been unavailable. None that you had sent quite explicitly showed Kylo’s face- per his preferences on anyone seeing his face- but showed enough of the mess of his dark hair or his hands on the steering wheel to assuage any doubts they had.
[4:28] Looks like you had fun!! Maybe we’ll see you in the summer :)