Roadtrip RP (after highschool)

[Sparks]

Finally eighteen.
She'd been waiting about three years, since her sister had come back from University for Christmas with the family. She'd been going on fifteen at the time, and interested in what life after highschool was like. She hadn't planned to going to University right away. Work a year, maybe. Get some extra credits. Meet someone. Meet someone else. Everything that happens between school years and part time jobs.
But here she was. Carolyn Summers, a caucasion five-foot-four-and-a-half girl, born in Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
She had straight light brown hair, corresponding light blue eyes with golden-brown rings around the pupils, and clear even-toned skin. She didn't look like the rest of her family. That never bothered Carolyn. She didn't act like them either.
She had a small, well-toned body from years of soccer.
Guys didn't really fawn over her, but she figured that was mostly because of her complicated personality and lack of skimpy outfits and high heels. She never really tried to make herself fit in with anyone.
Carolyn was looking through old photos in her room while she was supposed to be packing a suitcase for Florida.
She didn't know anything about Florida. Some southern state. She'd never even been to the USA. One of her girl friends had organized the entire thing. She went along, because that's what Carolyn did.
She had money saved, and she'd never been on a big trip.
Since money got tight at her place, she hadn't been on any trips at all.
She set down an old photograph of her and her mother.
She thought about putting it in the suitcase, then decided it was a stupid idea and set it back on the bedside table, more forcefully than before.
She threw some jeans and faded black T-shirts into the back. A band shirt or two, as well, for good luck.
She leaned against the suitcase and snapped it shut.
She was tired of school, tired of work, tired of her house that seemed to get smaller every day.
Tired of this boring, routine life. Tired of waking up every day at 6:30 AM to the same sounds, the same sights, the same people. The same -
She shook it off.
Someone downstairs called her name. She couldn't make out who it was, only the words
"Carolyn, we're outta here!"

She picked up the suitcase, a jacket, and left the room.
The garbage can in there contained several torn photos and torn letters, and old pages thats she'd written in her diary
(years before)
about future plans, goals and ambitions.
Everything was different now.
She had a new plan.
As she walked down the driveway and saw her friend's old station wagon sitting there, motor running, she was excited to finally set it in motion.

Meet some punk, fall in love
And never look back.



(Sorry if that intro was a bit long :s )

[taliesin]

Craig Lebowitz was tired of putting up with his parents' shit. His mother was an alcoholic, his father never spent any time at home. Finally, sick of it all, at 18, he was leaving. All his stuff had been packed into two suitcases. He had contacted a friend-Carolyn Summers.-and was waiting for pickup. First, a big bang road trip. Then afterwards, who knew? Life happens.

[Sparks]

She rode Shotgun.
The small town roads were full. First week of summer vacation. Everyone wanted out, apparently.
Looking out the window, Carolyn couldn't blame them.
She wanted out worse than any of them. She'd never admit it to anyone, but she hated that city more than she could describe. It reminded her of everything she couldn't stand, and everyone that she wanted to forget. All the years she wanted to leave behind.
She'd left a brief note explaining to her Dad that she'd be gone for a while. He wouldn't care.
He never did.
The bright, blonde girl driving was one of her good friends, Lauren. She was definitely an extrovert. She wasn't much of a driver, but it didn't matter.
The trip wasn't about the road.
As soon as they turned down Black Powder Drive, heavy in the suburbs, and closing in on the coast, she began to wonder what was coming.
They stopped in front of Craig (a kid she'd met at school, the year before)'s house.
She was kind of glad he was coming.
The engine of the station wagon died.

[taliesin]

Craig had been laying down on his bed, when he heard the familiar sound of Lauren's station wagon. He checked the watch. Half an hour late. He opened his window-no, the window-the room wasn't his anymore, and yelled, "FINALLY!" He chuckled, turned, walked over to his suitcases, and took them with him, leaving a not on the small table besides the door explaining where he'd gone, how to contact him, etc, etc. Not that the parentals would care-they never did. He walked out of the house, and climbed into the waiting station wagon. "Hello, my lovelies!" he shouted in the back seat. "Long time no see! Let's blow this hellhole!" He laughed racuously.

[Sparks]

As they set off for the next destination, Carolyn smiled to herself. Craig's humour was killer. It would be a real interesting couple of days.
He appeared to be in a good enough mood.
They still had two more to pick up - the Brightwell brothers.
There'd been controversy over whether Cody Brightwell would come, because he didn't want to leave his younger (surprisingly, because he looked the same age) brother, Jonathan (he went by John, and to a couple friends, Jonno) at home alone. Even though he was seventeen, and evidently capable of taking care of his self. Their parents had fled to Europe for six months.
Carolyn knew how their home situation was. Their personalities clashed in a deadly way, and for the past two months, she hadn't been around either of them much.
Cody was a bright, funny, and good-looking boy in that real honest sort of way; the kind of guy her Dad always tried to set her up with. He had a real outgoing personality, and was currently in a relationship with the sandy-blonde Lauren at the front of the vehicle.
She shifted, watching the neighborhoods pass by.
John Brightwell was another matter entirely.
Dark-haired and solemn, he wasn't the centre of attention, and never the subject of a joke. Carolyn remembered him smoking a while back, but he seemed to have ditched the habit. She was glad.
They lived half an hour away from Craig. It'd be about ten minutes until the ride was over.

[taliesin]

"So, we're picking up Cody, huh? Anybody else? How about Jacob? He's over in the next town." asked Craig. By people he disliked, he was always quiet, but around his friends, his mouth was constantly working to pronounce the sounds of conversation that were always running out of his mouth.
"Mmm. You're awfully quiet today, girls. Got something on your mind..." He paused to stroke his chin and fake an expression of ponderance, "Me, perhaps?"

[Sparks]

"I know you're always on my mind, Craig," Carolyn said, turning to look at him. "I don't know if it's the boyish good looks or the ruged musculature of your manly figure. I've kind of learned to live with you, constantly lingering in the back of my thoughts."
Beside her, Lauren made her own comment.
Carolyn leaned back into her seat. "Cody and his brother are both coming, yeah. You know John? He doesn't say much. You've probably met at some concert or another."
In the next town... she'd met him once or twice, a guy who was somehow related to Lauren, though not directly... Jacob. That was it. He was coming.
"Jake, you say?" she asked Craig.
Lauren cut in, "He goes by Jacob."
Carolyn's face went sraight. "Not anymore."

[behindTHEmask]

||Is it too late to join in?||

[taliesin]

(No it's not too late, but that's up to Sparks to decide.) "Yeah I've met John," commented Craig nonenthustically. Inwardly he yelled, LOSER! "Yeah, I think he goes by Jake." He sat in the back humming, as they drove on. Soon the humming turned to mumbling, as he started creating stories with his massive imagination. He kept alternating between making stories and fractals. "Uh, the cosine goes over... and the..." was just one of the many audible tidbits of his conversation with himself.

[Sparks]

[[ for behindTHEmask -_- ]]]
sure, you're very welcome to join, but the station wagon has no seats. We may need to find alterior sources of transportation. Or whatever, I'm sure you can come up with something sweet.
So okay however it works.

----------------------------


Carolyn decided that she wouldn't be riding shotgun much longer.
Three guys in the back didn't seem too promising. She didn't really think it was quite right to have her small self up in the spacey area, while they all sat in the back.
She knew she didn't have much choice. As the car pulled over in front of Cody's house, she got out and stretched. Then, she fell into the back seat, leaving the door hanging opened.
She turned and smield at Craig.
"We're seat, partners, buddy."
She shifted her weight so she was in the centre of the vehicle. She looked at him one more time, with a humorous expression that clearly said, "Oh God. Are we in for a ride."

[taliesin]

He chuckled, and turned to look at the house of the Brightwell Brothers. "Mmm. 3... 2... ah, here he is! And there's the sociopath," said Craig. He rolled down the window and yelled, "Hurry up, Spatzy!" Spatzy was Craig's nickname for Cody, since they had spent the last summer almost entirely within each other's presence, and since Cody almost never did anything in the vicinity of 'extreme,' Craig had decided to give him an ironic nickname.
"Yeah, yeah, hold on," came the reply. Craig looked at Carolyn, "20 bucks says you give him a body shot at least twice this summer."

[behindTHEmask]

School's out for summer. Or at least as long as you chose. Maybe it would be the summer. Maybe it would be a year. Maybe it would be forever.
But none of that mattered now.
Adventure as calling.
The eyes belonging to the young man blinked lazily staring up into the rays of the sun--they matched the sky; cloudless and mysterious. What really went on in them?
Keys dangled from his fingertips stretched out above his head. He was growing antsy. Adventure longed beyond the city limits and he wasn’t even able to experience it.
He wanted out, away from everything.
His story wasn’t like others. He didn’t have those problems that could only be found within finding ones self. He got along with his family, had the girls wanting him day and night—but nothing felt right.
He was the boy who had doctors for parents, got everything handed to him. He drove an Envoy, owned a ’64 Monza GT Coupe—and would trade it all for anyone else’s life.
Less was more in his eyes.
His black Senses Fail t-shirt stuck to his back. The summer heat was eating away at his skin. His dingy Levi’s were coming down further as he inched his way into the shade.
Life in a small town—it’s always a Kodak moment.
His chest rose and fell continuously as he sat longing for something new. Eventually, if he longed for it enough, he’d do something about it. But sometimes you just can’t face things alone.
Sometimes you don’t want to.
So here he was, Mathew Evans: six foot one inch, dark brown hair dyed into black, and sky blue eyes that longed for adventure—waiting for life to invite him on the ride.

[Sparks]

Cody.
Carolyn didn't have time to really recognize his presence. She grinning tightly at Craig, who sat beside her.
"Body shots huh? Are you kidding me? Two? I'd extimate more around-"
Lauren cut her off. Her blond hair flickered in the light. "Hey Cody."
They smiled warmly at each other.
Carolyn slid over a bit further.
Cody seemed to decide he'd like to be up in front with his lover. She didn't personally mind. He was bigger than his younger brother. And sometimes a bit of an egomaniac, but she never said that out loud.
She realized they had been waiting five minutes, by the time the front door opened again and John strolled out.
She hadn't seen him for a long time. It must have been a couple of months at least.
He had Cody's facial structure, and his chin. But nothing else.
John's hair was dark - a colour that contrasted wickedly with his creamy skin. His eyes were deep.
That was something Carolyn noticed about him, but upon describing him, failed to mention every time.
His eyes were deep. Dark, like holes drilled in stone.
They didn't shine, either. Dull, almost. Like he couldn't be surprised, like life had dealt him every card and he was just waiting for the perfect moment to fold and toss his cigarette butt in the ashtray.
They were luring. Hiding. Everything she didn't know about him, she was pretty confident she could find out if she just watched him long enough.
She observed his gestures as he neared the vehicle. His walk wasn't a strut, it wasn't a limp - it was a careful sort of in-between - something that she couldn't put into words.
She avoided eye contact with him. At all costs. She'd have time to watch him, later, after they'd all made sure they knew who was who.
He was wearing a jacket, with a black, blue and white Sex Pistols Tee hanging underneath. When it came down to it, he was a pretty thin guy.
Low jeans and boots.
And a bandanna in his back pocket, for some reason. She wondered why he didn't have a suitcase.
Cody offered an explanation as he reached the station wagon.
"He likes to travel light, apparently."
Pushing his body into the seat, John pulled the door closed. He looked over at Carolyn and nodded briefly. He looked over at Craig, and then at Lauren.
His brother said, and you could just hear the smile starting in his voice, "We're gone."
And they were.

[taliesin]

Hours later. Seriously, it had been-what, 7 hours? And they were lost in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the friggin' night. Craig had rolled down the window and was now trying to hold the map and his flashlight at the same time. Twenty minutes later, he gave up, and folded the map to the best of his ability, which wasn't very good. "Ah, screw it!" he exploded. "We're in the middle of no-fucking-where in the middle of the fucking night! SOMEONE figure out where we are! For god-fucking-sakes! Any volunteers?" asked Craig. "No? Carolyn?" No one responded. Cody and Lauren had switched three and a half hours ago, and Cody was doggedly tired. John was drooling against the window. Craig chuckled, and said, "Jacob, roll up the window. Look at John." About 6, 6 and a half hours ago, they had picked up Jacob. Lauren and John were asleep, but Lauren's head was in Cody's lap, while John was... well... making out with the window.
"Dude. Wake him up. I don't really want to-it's too funny," said Jacob. They cracked up.

[behindTHEmask]

Invitations aren't always offered. Sometimes you've got to pick up the pieces and start and adventure alone.
He'd lost track of time. Some punk cover was blaring from the speaker's of his SUV.
It almost made him feel "pimpin'". That would be if he was black, of course.
Ahead of him sat darkness.
But not the darkness where street lamps guide your way.
It was a pitch black broken heart.
His lights were all that kept him seeing the world around him.
It was his own little road trip. The kind where you decide to leave the map and home, taking the roads without lights, and stock up on the kind of food that will kill you if you eat enough of it.
This was freedom for Matt--Mathew; it all depend on what kind of friend you were.
It's like business. Everyone goes by different names.
The chips crunched in his ears as he relaxed in his seat.
Wide open spaces, his new best friend.