Chapter Text
Tyler Owens shows up at her New York apartment at eight in the morning in a U-Haul truck, slamming on the horn and leaning out the window with a wide, charming grin.
She’d called him when she decided to move back to Oklahoma because…well, because Javi was still murky waters, her mom had too much to do on the farm, and she hadn’t really made any other friends in her five years in New York. Or at least, not the kind of friends that you ask to road trip with you for nearly thirty hours to drive your stuff back home.
But Tyler…Tyler felt like a safe option. Like a fun option. Like the right option.
“You’re obnoxious,” Kate informs him as she throws her door open to his still-grinning face, holding up coffee and a bag from her favorite bagel shop. “How did you know I like their breakfast sandwiches?”
“Can’t reveal my sources, Katie,” is all he says as he pushes into the apartment, leaving her gaping into the open air before she collects herself and shuts the door, following him over to the breakfast kitchen island. As Tyler unwraps the two sandwiches- with extra bacon, just the way she liked it- she nearly moans in delight as the cheese melts on her tongue at the first bite.
“So,” she starts once half her sandwich is gone and she’s sipping at her coffee, made just the way she likes. Tyler groans, shaking his head.
“Too early to start talking plans,” he interjects, and Kate’s eyebrows furrow together. “We’re gonna finish eating, we’re gonna drink our coffee, and then we’re gonna take stock of what needs to get into the U-Haul first.”
Kate blinks, but he has a point, so she concedes and picks up the second half of her sandwich, dribbling a little grease before she lifts it to her mouth. She savors the hearty sandwich, letting it fill her belly, and then finishes off her coffee- beside her, Tyler swipes at his mouth with a napkin, and pats his stomach.
“That’s more like it,” he declares, and Kate arches an eyebrow. “Can only think on a full stomach, y’know.”
A laugh escapes Kate’s lips, and she shakes her head, amused.
“Alright. The only furniture I’m taking is the bed and the dresser,” she tells him, and Tyler nods in understanding. “The bed is already taken apart, since I couldn’t sleep last night, and the dresser drawers are already emptied and taped shut.”
“Nice,” Tyler replies, and claps his hands together. “Let’s start loadin’.”
It takes a solid two hours for them to properly load everything Kate planned on taking into the U-Haul Tyler had rented. What was left she was leaving for the next tenants, having already discussed it with them- her dining room furniture, couch, and entertainment center- and when they’d finally finished, Kate and Tyler collapsed onto the couch together, breathing heavily.
“We have a lot of driving to do,” she complains, knowing they needed to get moving, but already exhausted.
“Well then- we need fuel,” he tells her, and Kate shifts, arching an eyebrow curiously. “C’mon.”
Leaving her keys and her life in New York behind, Tyler led Kate to her corner bodega, turning to face her and walking backwards with a practiced ease she was almost impressed by.
“Three rules of road trips,” he starts, and she crosses her arms expectantly. “Snacks. Sips. Songs.”
“Snacks, sips, songs?” she asks, trying not to laugh, and Tyler flicks her nose with his pointer finger.
“I’m going for alliteration, Katie,” he says, and she sticks her tongue out at him.
“Don’t call me that,” she says, and tosses her hair over her shoulder. “Alright, so, these rules?”
“Snacks,” he starts, and waves his hand over the metal rack of chips. “Something salty, something savory, something sweet, something sour.”
“Fairly simple,” she replies, and he nods. “I’ll go…sour cream and onion pringles, teriyaki beef jerky nuggets, peanut butter m&ms, and watermelon sour patch kids.”
“Fair choices,” he nods, smiling. “My choices are cool ranch Doritos, sunflower seeds, that bag of lemonheads, and a metric shit ton of Twix bars.”
Kate laughs at that, adding each to the basket slung over her forearm, and looks at Tyler expectantly. “Sips?”
“Something for energy, something for hydration, and something for enjoyment,” he explains, and Kate shakes her head fondly, but follows him to the line of refrigerators. “I, personally, am a Red Bull man- my favorite is the strawberry apricot.”
He adds multiple cans to the basket he held, and then looks at Kate over his shoulder. “Got a preference?”
“Coconut berry,” she confesses, and he grins at her.
“Atta girl,” he says, and dumps the white cans into the basket. “Now we grab some big ass water bottles, and then something for enjoyment.”
They each grab the biggest bottles of water they can find, two each, and then stand before the last row of fridges. Tyler grabs a bottle of blue liquid, and Kate’s eyebrows shift to her hairline.
“Blue raspberry lemonade?” she asks, and he nods, grabbing another bottle.
“It’s about enjoyment, Sapulpa,” he reminds her, and Kate scans the rows of drinks- eyes alighting on one particular drink, and unable to look away. Two bottles of strawberry milk go into her basket, and Tyler smirks proudly. “Now you’re gettin’ it.”
“And songs…” she starts, and Tyler taps the phone in his pocket.
“Oh, darlin’, I have the playlist pre-programmed,” he replies, and Kate’s nose wrinkles fondly.
Once they’ve paid, they bring their bags back to the U-Haul- Tyler has a cooler they put the drinks into along with the bag of ice they’d purchased, and Tyler climbs back into the driver side while Kate settles into the passenger seat. Tyler sets himself up, positioning the mirrors properly and connecting his phone, their pre-determined destination on his maps app. They’d decided, given they’d had to spend the morning packing the truck, to only drive for a few hours the first day, and stop somewhere just outside Philadelphia.
The first song that blares over the truck’s speakers is, to Kate’s shock, Kylie Minogue’s Can’t Get You Out Of My Head. She promptly bursts out laughing.
“C’mon, Kate! This is a classic!” Tyler tells her, turning the volume up, and shimmying his shoulders as he pulls onto the street, heading for the interstate. Kate just smiles out the window, watching the skyline slowly begin to disappear, and wonders at how no sadness coats her chest- only hope.
_
Kate startles awake, the edges of a nightmare creeping away- the music in the truck is considerably quieter, and the sun is beginning to sink on the horizon. She blinks, rubbing at her eyes, and stretches, groaning softly.
“You didn’t wake me up to switch,” she accuses Tyler, who just shrugs, munching on another Dorito.
“Said you didn’t sleep last night,” he replies, and Kate blinks. “Figured ya needed it.”
“Do you want to switch now?” she asks instead of dealing with the statement he’d just presented her, and Tyler shakes his head.
“We’re like thirty minutes outta Philly,” he replies, and Kate’s jaw drops. “Can you go on the hotel app, look up a place to stay?”
Kate nods and begins to scroll as Tyler gets off at the next exit, hitting a wall of traffic. Twenty minutes later they had a reservation at a Holiday Inn, and Kate couldn’t wait to stretch out on a bed, the crick in her neck growing worse. The sun had fully set by the time they pull into the hotel parking lot, and Kate yawns as she jumps down from the truck.
“I’ll drive most of tomorrow,” she promises, and Tyler just shoulders their bags in response, flashing her a small smile.
In the lobby, they check in, and Kate doesn’t pay much attention to what the desk attendant is saying, still half-asleep and distracted by Tyler picking over the cookies laid out for guests.
“Here’s your key, miss,” she finally zones back in, and Kate frowns.
“Key? I thought I booked two rooms,” she says, and a flicker of annoyance crosses the woman’s face before she speaks.
“As I explained, unfortunately our app experienced a glitch and we only had one free room,” she explains, and Kate’s stomach plummets. “For the inconvenience we will only be charging you for the cost of the smaller room, even though the king sized room was the only one available.”
Kate blinks, and then swallows hard. Nothing she could do about it now. Forcing a smile, she takes the key. “Thank you.”
“Enjoy your stay!”
“Thanks,” Kate mutters, and heads for Tyler, who was waiting by the elevators. “So, uh- small snag.”
Tyler frowns. “What’s up?”
“There was only one room available,” Kate explains as they step onto the elevator, and Tyler shrugs.
“Eh, two queens is fine,” he replies, and Kate winces. His eyes widen, and as they step off onto their floor, realization hits. “Oh-”
“Yeah,” she replies, and holds the keycard up to the door, unlocking it to reveal the single, king sized bed in the center of the room.
“Well,” Tyler says as they step into the room, staring at the bed. “This should be fun, shouldn’t it Sapulpa?”