2021-01-08 - Beaston Does A Roadtrip Pt. 1

The day has arrived. Vic is in charge of the bar. Gunner has been dropped off with Geoff and Harper to be spoiled rotten. And the Jeep has been cleaned to within an inch of it's life, not that the Jeep is ever dirty, Easton doesn't even eat in their normally. But this is a road trip and that means that rules are getting broken. The back of the Jeep is packed with a Marine duffel bag that Bennie rarely sees. The back seat is her domain, Easton usual rucksack has been tossed back there but there's plenty of space for her stuff, well plenty of space in Easton's mind.

He's just bringing out two pillows from the bedroom now, dressed in a down jacket, knit hat and boots. His camo pants and tight black tee-shirt complete the outfit which sheds the snow that is wiping through GH. He's very amped in the way that he gets before any event, a certain kind of stress that causes him to move a little faster and double-triple check things. At least he's aware of it though and he forces himself to stop outside the door and light up a cigarette rather than hover over Bennie.

Bennie packed surprisingly light when it comes to clothes, but then again what's to be expected from a woman who was used to hauling around her life in a purse in order to protect it. Of course this time she's put in a less than economical (space-wise) vintage suitcase that's brown and blue plaid. She's also set out a bag of crafting supplies on the porch which will undoubtedly live by her feet when she's riding shotgun, intent on seeing that merit badge thing through. While Easton is used to prepping for wheels-up, the blonde has made several trips in and out of the house with constant phrases like, "Oop, forgot my toothbrush." Or, "Oh Em Gee, should I bring a swimsuit? I'm going to bring a swim suit." Before disappearing again.

Finally, she pulls the door closed to their cabin and locks up after giving the home a parting kiss. Dressed in her turquoise wool overcoat, a pair of black leggings and an oversized royal purple sweater and tank top combo, her keds slip slide on the decking as she mock ice skates over to Easton, scissoring away his smoke and stealing a puff. "Okay. I think I'm ready. Shoot, did I turn off the iron?" Never mind they haven't used that appliance for days and it has an auto shut off. Someone is just nervous about leaving.

Easton doesn't get his hopes up on her first trip out, nor the fifth. He's aware that it's going to take a few but when she locks the door and gives it a kiss he stubs out the cigarette and says, "Alright, let's do this Oakes." He puts an arm around her and laughs when she asks about the iron. He closes his eyes for a second and confirms, "Yes, it's in the closet babe."

Popping in the driver seat he pulls out a CD case and says, "Okay. So driver picks the tunes is clearly the rule we are living by and that means for the entire great state of Washington" He starts up the Jeep and puts in a classic rock mix CD.

Bennie squeezes Easton tight when he gives her the hug and some reassurance, "You're so hot when echo-locate like a bat." Or however it works, but that's what she's going with.

Once they're in settled in the Jeep, her jacket is shed, her shoes kicked off, and those pillows he brought in are tucked around her like a nest and an afghan is thrown over her legs. "Be careful what you wish for, Marshall. Otherwise you might be rocking out to the toe tapping tunes of Enya for all of Kansas." But that beam on her face surely means she's joking, or that she wouldn't torture him that much. "First stop: munchies! Oh, wait. I forgot to pee." But she knows there is only so much of his patience that she can test, so her hands fly up with a, "Kidding! Kidding!"

Easton likewise strips off the hat and the jacket to settle in for a good long stretch of driving and he grins as she nestles up into the front seat. "I can't wait to get to warmer weather, or at least out of the snow." The Jeep is fun to drive but not exactly the warmest of vehicles in the winter. "Oh bring on the Enya, like I said I plan to day drink my way through Kansas so I might as well be belting out wierd-hippie yodeling at the same time."

Easton doesn't get annoyed or even narrow his eyes at the 'I forgot to pee'. No, he turns his head and deadpan reaches under the seat to pull out a box (https://tinyurl.com/y8cxhthd) He hands it to her wordlessly and only lets the corners of his mouth turn up slightly at the fact that she's kidding. Maybe he is. Maybe?

"Alright we need to hit Costco for munchies then because I need a giant jar of twizzle-" he cuts himself off and corrects himself, "Red vines."

"And we totally get to sleep at creepy road side motels with fluorescent lighting under the eaves and cinderblock walls, right?" Bennie clearly wants the full road trip experience, even if she did pack a set of their own sheets to reduce the ick factor of these potential places.

Easton passes her a box, and there is a narrowing of her eyes to slivers of blue. "Don't think I won't call your bluff and use a She-Wee into a Gatorade bottle. Just remember to ask yourself before you drink, is this the yellow flavor or urine?" Regardless, the box gets tossed over her shoulder into the backseat, hopefully never to make a reappearance. "And one of those tubs of cheese balls! Yes! Onward!" She calls, directing him with her imaginary sword. Pay no attention to the fact she's looking in the side view mirrors with occasional flicks of her eyes and she's already started fidgeting.

"So my plan.." Easton starts, and of course there's a plan. He's a planner. Even for impromptu things there's a plan that forms nearly instantaneously in his mind so that he's never without a plan. "Is to alternate with shady motels, actually nice hotels and once we get somewhere warm, camping out at least once." Not that it's super warm anywhere right now but there are places warm enough to camp.

"The amount of Gatorade that may have been piss or at least mixed with piss that I've drank is not up for discussion." He laughs when he says it though, haha functioning(?) alcoholism. He makes no more mention of the She-Wee though and fully expects that Bennie is actually going to last far longer than him in any contest of how many miles they can make it before having to stop. "Yeah if we don't put down at least one of those each way I'm not sure it even counts as a road trip." He notices her look in the mirror and says "Also, I think we need to break in the Jeep in each state. Find a little side road, empty parking lot, and fuck like awkward teenagers." Because he knows she needs a distraction and well, it's a fun thought.

There is a cute little interlude here at Costco with them deciding if cheap sunglasses are necessary even though it's winter and night time, (yes) and then it's on to the open road with Boston helpfully blaring 'More Than a Feeling' on the Jeep's stero. Easton has his hand on Bennie's thigh as they cruise the highway, not really needing anything more than many miles and terrible junkfood for right now. This roadtrip is just starting.

"That is what rest and truck stops were literally designed for." Bennie readily agrees to being Easton's personal Lot Lizard.

Costco was an adventure within itself, especially when an employee had to insist that Bennie not actually ride in the cart, and she was probably already eating Red Vines before they made it out of the checkout with her new flower shaped sunglasses on. She also nabbed a cheesy romance novels, with promises to read all the sex scenes aloud and with (in)appropriate sound effects.

When they're back on the road again, Bennie re-nested and snuggled in next to Easton she says, "I need a keychain from every state. But it must be shaped like the state. Let the scavenger hunt begin. Ooh! Punch buggy blue!" She slugs him in the arm, then continues. "You know, I was thinking if Tor is really serious about this brewmaster stuff, maybe we could trade rent in the basement of the Twofer for some of his beer or something. I mean, it's probably not toooo haunted now that we shut down the portal to the Asylum."

Leaning into Bennie as he drives, a redvine hanging out of his mouth in place of another cigarette Easton grins. "I don't know about keychain but you absolutely need something in the shape of every state we visit. Dinner plate. Fishbowl. I think keychain is thinking too small here Benz." He accepts the punch buggy and laughs, "I feel it's my duty to Judd to punch you full on for these, just to let you know." The mention of her brother is cautious, but warm.

The thought of Tor brewing in the basement gets a firm "No." from Easton. He shakes his head, trying not to get angry about it but not succeeding. "Who knows what could open up down there and I don't want anyone poking around in there to find out." He takes a breath and apologizes, "Sorry, it's just not something I want to risk fuckin' around with."

"I think that's fair, even if you leave me without the option of tattling that'll result in 'Don't make me turn this car around!'." A brief pause, a teased, "Are we there yet?" And she flinches away with hiccup of laughter.

Bennie moues her lips when she's told no, not a full on pout but it's threatening when his anger flares. "It's okay, I get it. Why poke the bear, right? Besides, I'm sure he can finds tons of places to brew." Her hand goes to scritch at his beard with a light graze of her fingernails in a 'no harm, no foul' gesture. "You sure you're okay with him working there? You know I only have boobs for you."

"You can try and yell that at me but I'm not sure it will work all that well?" Easton laughs. He just shakes his head at the 'are we there yet', not dignifying that with a response but he does give a little laugh.

Easton eyes the pout out of the corner of his eye but suddenly feels the need to keep his eyes on the road. His cheek pulls up into a smile as she scritches his beard, as always his cheek leaning into her hand. But when she ask if he's okay he laughs and looks over at her, "What? Oh fuck it's not about him. You know that right? I'm fine with him working there, he's a good shot, he knows how fucked up the town is and he's .." He stops short of that thought and says, "It's just Gohl and everything else that basement stands for. Sorry. But seriously, I'm good with Dr. Fuzzy Belly Pizzaboy Junior." Using his 'full name'.

Bennie scrunches down in her seat, if only so she can prop her socked feet up on the dashboard. Sure, she's an EMT and she's seen the x-rays of what happens to someone's legs if they get into an accident in this position. No, she does not care. She is toe wiggling and fancy free. "I just like the idea of people I grew up around in Huckleberry cleaning their lives up, getting their ship," Yes, ship. "Together, and maybe he can put a little distance between him and his family's legacy. I know not everyone is as lucky as I am to get whisked off their feet by gorgeous ex-marine's and moved to the high life."

"Yeah.. I mean I'm all for him figuring his shit out and getting a thing of his own off the ground. Hell if it's any good I'll support him and maybe even back him." Easton takes a sip from a giant cup of soda from their last pit stop. "You know I had very fuckin' little to do with you making something of yourself. I mean.." He shakes his head, "How you managed to keep yourself together I'm still in awe of. You know that right?" He reaches over to slide his hand over her thigh, going for encouraging squeeze of the knee before sliding up to rest higher.

The squeeze makes her wiggle a little, what would seem like an uncomfortable gesture is actually a ticklish one, and when his hand settles on her thigh Bennie moves it juuuuust a little higher in a tease for them both. "You know better than anyone I wasn't 'together'. I just got really, really good at hiding it. But you made me realize I don't have to. To share burdens. Otherwise I might still be living in a storage unit or worse. So if you think you're getting out of this with at zero of the accolades, you've got another thing coming. But keeping you in constant shock and awe of me? That's totally the plan. Gotta keep you on your toes."

Easton doesn't look over but his beard creases at his dimples as a smile creeps across his face when she moves his hand just a smidge higher. He looks at her and says, "Yeah well I couldn't even manage to pretend to keep anything together." He trails off for a bit. "So yeah, sharing burdens and figuring shit out together isn't exactly a strong suit for either of us but here we are." He glances at a roadsign to confirm, "In Arlington Oregon." No that's clearly not what he meant. "Yea well I only got five of them left so I might need to rest a little bit here or there." Just an amputee joke to deflect the praise.

Those dimples, a girl could live for those dimples alone. "Arlington Oregon is officially my new favorite place then."

She's used to his deflections, but this isn't one of those times she needs to point it out or try and drag him back into the conversation, instead speaking of his five remaining piggies, "It keeps your calve muscle looking super toned." And then Bennie turns her face into his shoulder for what might appear like a nuzzle until she sinks her teeth into t-shirt in a playful bite. "Sooo....how far is it to the closest abandoned parking lot again?"

"You're my favorite place." Easton echoes back with a smile and a glance away from the road. No it doesn't make a ton of sense but that's okay, it still works.

He nods sagely, "This is true and I'm pretty sure you're just using me for my toned muscles so it's important I keep those in tip-top shape." He yelps in surprise at the bite and then laughs. "Oh I think we can find a dark corner of a rest area parking lot pretty soon." His hand slides further up suggestively.