Nanowrimo Bits - 11/18/19 (Patreon)

A snippet from today's Nanowrimo -- 

Elwood was already there when they showed up, waiting in his large truck. 

“You can either try cramming into the cab, or we can sit you in the bed,” he said. “Cab is crammed but safer, bed is roomier but more dangerous.” 

“Also illegal,” Ashe pointed out casually, stuffing her hands into her pockets.

“Also illegal,” Elwood agreed. “But we have like five cops here and none of them ever come out the way we’re going.” 

Conor grinned, turning to Flannery and Ashe. “Be gay, do crimes?” 

Flannery frowned in an exaggerated manner, pretending to consider it for a moment. She’d wait to see what Ashe said before joining in on any mild unlawfulness.

“Be gay, do crimes,” Ashe agreed. They turned to Flannery.

She downed the rest of her tea, tossing the cup into a nearby trash bin. “Be gay, do crimes.” 

Fae sighed heavily as the three of them climbed up into the bed of the truck. “You can’t just use your collective queerness as justification for anything mildly unlawful you do!” 

“Says you,” Ashe said, putting her foot against the wheel hump to brace herself but also look entirely casual. “Wait. Can we also use that as an excuse to punch the Brothers Creep?”

“Most definitely,” Flannery said. “Any excuse to punch those two is a good excuse.”

Fae sighed even louder as she slammed the cab door shut, settling in to the passenger seat next to Elwood. She turned to him, looking for some sort of consolation. “It’s hard been the responsible adult, isn’t it?” 

Elwood lowered his sunglasses over his eyes. “Be gay, do crimes.” 

Flannery and her truck bed buddies cheered as Elwood started down the road, drowning out Fae’s tired groan. 

The drive out into the woods was calming, Flannery found. Elwood kept the pace slow so that there was minimal danger involved with the three of them being in the bed of the truck. It was still bumpy, make no mistake, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. It wasn’t like there was anyone else on the road to force him to go the speed limit anyway. 

The trees were huge and clearly very old, even the ones that lined the road. Their branches reached across the asphalt, letting only bare speckles of summer sunlight through. It made the whole trip seem strange and otherworldly. 

Eventually, about an hour outside of town, Elwood pulled off onto a small, dirt road. The ride got significantly bumpier, and Flannery was fairly certain she was going to end up with a bruised tailbone at the end of all this.

“No regrets,” she muttered to herself, bracing against the sides of the truck bed.