NaNoWriMo19 Day 02: Stopping For Snacks

Both in story and irl.

So I think my new catch phrase for this November will be "I have written myself into a hole."

We'll see what happens but yikes I keep finding flaws in adaptation. Mostly I'm finding issue with how to handle the notion of parents having 100% control over their children when the family cultures i'm writing about don't do that anymore. 

Anyway, because of this, I'm leaving a fun little gap in my draft posting where I might be drastically changing a character motivation or two. Please believe me that I did indeed write the words count I claim, you just don't get to see it because it might be overhauled.

More Draft!

     “Oh you don’t need to pay us,” said Stephanie at the same time as faint dissent from Nicki. “But if you could do something to boost Finn’s friends’ energy level, that’d be appreciated. You’d think we were driving to a funeral they’re so quiet.”
     The two cars continued down the empty road. Both Grant and Finn were unsuccessful in their attempts to get the car to start a variety of road trip games, the one where you look for letters of the alphabet on the road, the one where you keep score by counting cows, and a number of guessing games that didn’t need to be played in a car but are most often played in cars.
     The sun was still out, and at 4pm, it was no longer point in anybody’s eyes. It was, Finn found, still too bright to nap. Well, Finn couldn’t outright deny that other factors, the bump of the road, the sports radio, having his boyfriend in close, closed proximity to his parents for the first time in ever, could be contributing to his inability to fall unconscious. Nope, it was definitely the faint red-orange haze of the sun shining through his lids as they continued down the roads.
     “I can’t have you guys dozing off on me now,” Al said, stirring the car awake, or at least, stirring the car less sleepy than they were before. “I need something to keep me alert.”
     “To be fair, you were the one who shot down the cow game,” Finn jeered.
     Al adjusted his car seat backwards pointedly. Finn pushed back with his feet, succeeding in returning it at least one notch before it clicked into place.
     “So why are you riding without Darian?” Al asked, turning down the radio a bit.
     Finn looked up at the back of Al’s chair, puzzled. Heidi also shot a surprised look at her soon-to-be husband.
     “Why am I not riding with my ex?” Finn asked.
     “Wait what?” Al asked.
     “You do know that we broke up like, over a month ago, right?”
     Heidi and Grant exchanged worried looks while Grant, unsuccessfully, tried his hardest to evaporate. He settled for something of a turtling into his shirt and shoulders. Before Al or Finn could say anything more that might heat the car further, Heidi interjected.
     “Honey, you must be remembering the time that Stephanie broke up with her boyfriend and then got back together with him like the next week. That was them. Darian left the thruple in April, remember, and everyone thought it was an April Fool’s Day joke, but then it wasn’t? But he didn’t come back.”
     Finn joined in Grant’s attempts to evaporate and was just as unsuccessful. While a part of his brain that floated in the Heaviside layer felt validated by his mother’s detailed understanding of his relationship and the appropriate language, the rest of his brain the remained rooted at ground zero was not at the level of openness where it could hear Heidi say the word ‘thruple’ without extreme discomfort.
     “Thruple? Oh, god, is that that polygamy thing you were going on about,”
     “Polyam-” Finn started.
     “Polyamory, Al. Polyamory,” Heidi corrected.
     “Right, right. Polyamory. Sorry, I’m still getting used to all these new words and things,” Al replied.
     “And we appreciate your patience,” Heidi said.
     Heidi looked back at her son with a smile that said “see that wasn’t so painful. He’s trying,” following it with a verbal, “any of your friends I don’t know trans or use different pronouns I should know about?”
     “I mean, non-binary falls under the trans umbrella, but I still use male pronouns,” Grant said. “Has Francine started using they/them?”
     “No, that’s Felicity. But nobody coming on this trip would be offended if you asked,” Finn said.
     Al sighed loudly from the driver’s seat and turned down the radio even more.
     “Okay, so I just want to make sure I understand this all. You are no longer dating Darian?”
     “Correct,” Finn and Grant both confirmed.
     “And now you’re dating Grant?”
     “Still dating,” Finn corrected. “We broke up with Darian, but Grant and I are still dating.”
     “Right, right. Got it,” Al said, remaining silent for a moment. “So why did you two- er- three break up?”
     Finn frowned. Not a sad frown but a, surprised that his mother’s boyfriend was taking such a specific interest in that part of his life, frown.
     “We don’t think he was ever actually polyamorous,” Grant said before Finn could speak. “My suspicion is that he was just into Finn and he didn’t really want to date me too.”
     “Yeah,” Finn affirmed. “He always seemed a little uncomfortable with the thruple. I never sensed that discomfort whenever he was dating just one person, like when he was with Francine.”
     Finn and Grant exchanged worried looks.
     “Oh shit, we really shoved those two into one car didn’t we,” Grant said.
     “We really did,” said Finn.
     Heidi laughed. She had foreseen all of this and had organized the cars in the least objectionable manner possible.
     “You don’t look well, Honey. What’s up?” Heidi asked Al.
     Al didn’t look well. He looked a combination of ill, disappointment, and like he had walked into the wrong classroom on the first day of college.
     “I don’t know. I just really liked Darian,” Al said, following it up quickly with, “don’t get me wrong. You’re great too Grant. I just liked Darian. I felt like I really got to know the kid over these last few years. I know I’m not the one getting broken up with or anything, but this is new information to me. Do I have to hate him or something now?”
     Finn felt a little pity for Al, but just a little.
     “I mean, he’s still our friend,” Finn said. “He’s still coming on the trip; we’re just not dating anymore.”
     “To be fair he did try to get back together that one time like a week after he left,” Grant added.
 
[SUBJECT TO CHANGE SECTION REMOVED]
 
     “Fine! I guess I really will turn the car around!” Al screamed.
     Al made to hit the turn signal when his phone yet again rang, blasting the entire car with sound.
     “Jesus Christ in heaven, turn it down!” Al yelled, swerving the car as Heidi immediately yanked the aux cord out of the phone once again.
     Grant and Finn resumed their turtling, Grant generally uncomfortable, Finn a mix of uncomfortable and guilty that he had some sort of responsibility with what was going on.
     “Oh, like right here?” Heidi said, looking around their surroundings quickly. “Oh shit, Al, take the exit now.”
     “What?” Al said, voice still raised.
     “Exit now!”
     The car made it to the on ramp, but incredibly late. They weren’t at risk of hitting the highway exit sign, but they definitely crossed a larger-than-desired section of the lined off road in front of it between the two split paths of the exit fork. Al kept the cars speed to the stoplight at the end of the exit ramp and slammed on the breaks. He and the three passengers bounced in place, seatbelts locking.
     “And where are we going now?” Al said, voice lowered.
     “Take a right. Truck stop a bit down the road. Other car wanted to stop for food,” Heidi replied.
 
The truck stop was less of a truck stop and more of a gas station with attached sad little Subway, but it also had showers and stuff. It was a small truck stop. Al pulled the car next to a pump, and Finn and Grant rolled out like stunt workers.
     The two stuck together and entered the gas station, making their way to the very back where the coolers were and several shelves of snacks separated them from Al.
     “I am so sorry about all of that,” Finn said.
     “Eh, you’re fine,” Grant replied. “I’ve seen worse from better people.”
     Finn and Grant window shopped through the cooler windows, staring at all the weird options a gas station in this part of the state offered. Some of the regular stuff, but also a wide array of store-brand juices that Finn had never heard of before. Finn turned around as his mother approached.
     “I’m here on a peace mission,” Heidi said, noticing the apparent discomfort on her son’s face.
     Finn looked back at her with slight suspicion but didn’t voice any kind of opposition he might have been thinking.
     “Go on.”
     “Al’s working on his own apology, but for the immediate meantime, he told me to tell you that he’s sorry for getting loud like that,” Heidi said.
     Finn and Grant nodded apathetically.
     “And while I don’t agree with this next part, he told me to tell you that he thinks you two might still have a chance with Darian if you’re ‘still doing the poly thing and all that’,” Heidi continued. “And I’m also supposed to grab some beef jerky.”
     Heidi said this last bit while turning away to scour the store. Finn sighed and Grant stood silently. Finn knew that Al wasn’t a bad person. He didn’t make friends very often, but when he did they were close friends. It was honestly part of the reason Finn hadn’t announced the breakup had happened. He wasn’t hiding it or anything, he just didn’t want Al to think he had to quit Spades night and uproot his life or anything.