[Madeline] Baby, it's time to go

[Ryan James O'Neil]

It was 5:57 in the morning and Ryan was up, packing things into bags and shoving food in a cooler. He had all his camera stuff packed, his music in a playlist, (everything except Joel’s music, or anything that might make either of think of him, plus lots of Party in the USA,) things for Madeline to do in the car if she got bored, extra pillows if she felt like sleeping, a road map, his telescope, enough money to last a month though he doubted that’d be the case. He had tour in a week and had to be back. But he figured if pushed came to shove he could get on a plane from anywhere and meet the band wherever the first show was. The fact of the matter was, it had been a long few months since Joel’s accident. A long couple of months filled with silence, and hurting, and worry, and not knowing what their future was going to be filled with. Months cooped up in that modest apartment, where he wrote music and Madeline cooked dinner and did her school work. Or cleaned. Ryan’s apartment had never been so clean in the entire time he’d lived there. And now it was their apartment and he couldn’t keep it dirty, even if he tried. But that was how Ryan knew it was high time the pair of them got out of that apartment, got out of the city, left the state, just got out. Drove somewhere, anywhere. Anywhere but the same place they’d holed up in with only their thoughts and each other. They needed to get away from the things haunting them, even if they had to come back to it. But at least, for a short time, they could relieve themselves of the stress and worry. And that’s why, at precisely 6:07 in the morning after Ryan had lugged everything down to the street and packed it all into the back of his black Ford bronco, shutting the tailgate and looking over his truck that he hadn’t had out of the parking garage in months, he knew it was finally time to get on the road. He didn’t think there was anything else he was forgetting or that he needed to bring; his guitar was on the back seat and Madeline was still sleeping. Not for long.

Ryan got in and started the truck, letting it idle since it had sat for so long, seeing that he still had a half tank of gas and he figured no one in their right mind would try to drive off in this thing. They wouldn’t get half way down the block without getting caught anyways. He just let the engine run, nodding to the door man who was up early and headed back up the many flights of stairs and let himself back into the apartment. Madeline’s purse was sitting on the table by the door, wallet, ID, cell phone, Ipod, chargers, chastick for pete’s sake, nothing was forgotten, he’d thrown all her stuff in there already. Ryan had already gotten dressed this morning, jeans, sneakers, tshirt, hoodie. It was still kind of chilly out that morning, so he’d kept out one of Madeline’s sweatshirts instead of packing it, which was funny because seeing her in a hoodie was sort of funny, but much more common recently. At least at home. Ryan made his way to their room, Madeline was still sleeping like a rock. He assessed the situation, first pondering the fact that it was cold outside so he picked up a pair of his own sweat, pulling off the covers and gently nudging her awake, “Hey legs, get up…” she looked like she was stirring so he shrugged, rolling her over and pulled his sweats over her legs and then pulled her up by her hands, “I already packed everything, so all you have to do it wake up.” Ryan grabbed her sweatshirt, putting it over her head and let her put her arms through the sleeves, “Actually, you don’t even have to wake up if you don’t feel like it.” He quickly looked her over deciding she would be comfy enough and had a rare pair of shoes that weren’t heels out in the bronco already so he picked her up an shifted her to his back so he was carrying her piggy back and left the room, turning off lights as he went. He picked up her purse, took one last look around and then went into the hall and shut the door, locking it behind them before carrying her all the way down the stairs and out into the brisk morning air. He nodded to the doorman, telling him he’d see him sometime soon, though he didn’t know exactly when that would be, and then opened the passenger door, putting Madeline on the seat and her purse on the floor by her feet, and leaned in to kiss her cheek before he shut the door. She’d protested a little, but not enough to actually stop whatever plan he had going. He didn’t think she would. Mostly she’d just protested about him putting clothes on her, which was no surprise to him at all; girl liked being naked.

Ryan took in a deep breath and got in the driver’s side, shutting the door, not even hesitating before he put it in drive and pulled away from the curb. He just wanted out of this city. As much as he’d grown to love it, it was times like this when it made him feel claustrophobic and the traffic made him want to kick homeless people for no reason other than his hatred for all the traffic. As soon as they got out on the highway, off this clusterfuck of an island, he’d relax. And then he knew they were out for real, no going back, just him, his Madeline, and the open road. And whatever else they decided to stop and check out just for the hell of it. He hadn’t been planning this trip at all. He’d just gone to bed last night with a feeling like a cooped up animal, needing an out. And he realized that a little fresh air and open road would do both of them well. After all, getting a call from her work saying that she had walked out after “not performing well on set,” and then seeing on some celebrity gossip show that, “Madeline Foster punched her professor over her brother, “ and some other garbage, now seemed like a superb time to leave. Ryan glanced over at her as he cut through traffic, laying on the horn and quietly threatening some cab driver that he was going to driver over his car like a monster truck after he shoved his ass out of the way with his push bar, and headed straight for the expressway.


theme music

[Madeline Lea O'Neil]

Madeline sat back in the passenger seat of Ryan’s dusty ol’ bronco. She dropped her arms against her stomach, looking out through the windshield. There was no sense in arguing, no sense in trying to fight it. Ryan had a mission and she was going along for the ride, literally. Madeline rested her head back, just sitting there quietly and letting him take them off in a direction that she wasn’t really sure they were going. He probably didn’t know either. He hadn’t been planning this, or if he had he certainly hadn’t said anything to her. Maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea on his part, because if he had she would’ve just moped about it. It wasn’t until now that she decided to see what time it was. Just a little after six in the morning. “ Christ,” she said, laying her head back. Did people wake up this early? Was it possible to function at this time of day? It didn’t really seem like it because Ryan seemed irritable while he was driving. She blinked as she watched him until she felt her eyes start to sting. Contacts. She closed one eye tightly, wondering if he had thought to grab her solution. But at this point she just wanted a new set of contacts entirely. She needed to quit sleeping in them. But as they got onto the expressway, not so tightly merged with other cars, she waited until they were slightly away from everyone else before she spoke up. “ … Coffee..” she said, rubbing her fingers over the edges of her eyes.

Once they had driven out of the city for a while he finally pulled over to get some coffee, stopping at a gas station to fill up on gas where she found the food in the back. Madeline took some of the vegetables; carrots, cherry tomatoes, broccoli. Boy did well. She made a mental note to reward him later. Madeline came back to the passenger seat, setting her coffee in the cupholder and her bag of vegetable goodies on the dash. After digging through her purse she found a case of contacts sitting in solution and changed them out. At least her eyes wouldn’t sting anymore. She watched as Ryan got back in the car. She didn’t feel like smiling yet, but she did feel well enough to understand why he was doing this, and to acknowledge it. “ Hey,” she said quietly, leaning over into his seat before she placed her hand on his cheek and kissed him. “ I love you,” she said , giving a small nod instead of a smile as she sat back in her seat. Madeline brought one of the carrots to her lips, biting down on it so that it stayed in her mouth as she picked up Ryan’s iPod and shuffled through it to find something for them to drive to, and the first song she found suitable? Loveshack.