CHAPTER TWO: I DIDN'T THINK LEAVING WAS GOING TO BE THIS HARD

 Two hours into the drive, and the car had unanimously decided that it was time for a rest stop. And so that is how Fable found herself pulling into a small 7-eleven gas station at three o'clock in the afternoon.

"Alright, we all know the plan?" Fable asked as she pulled to a stop in front of one of the machines.

"You'll be filling up the gas, while Austin and I get snacks, Amy fills water bottles, and everyone else can use the restroom," Beckett replied, and Fable nodded her head, unlocking the car doors. She hopped out of the driver's seat, and watched as everyone scrambled to make their way inside the gas station.

"Do you want anything Fable?" Johnathan asked Fable, and she shrugged her shoulders.

"If they've got slushies, then I'd like a blue raspberry one," Fable replied, and Johnathan nodded his head as he began to walk away, to where Jonas was holding the gas station door open for him, waiting for him to get inside. Fable looked around the small gas station, pushing up her sunglasses on her face as she looked at the people that were around. There was a younger girl with her grandmother, tugging on her skirt impatiently, and Fable tried to make a mental note of how that looked so that she could draw the two of them later on.

"What was I supposed to be doing again?" Evie asked as she walked up to Fable, and Fable shrugged her shoulders again. "I don't think I was specifically assigned a job, that is, and so I was wondering what you thought I should do."

"I dunno, you can stay out here and hang with me," Fable replied, blissfully unaware of the smile that appeared on the red headed girl's lips at her words.

"So, do you know where we're going to be staying the night?" Evie asked, and Fable shook her head.

"I kind of was just planning on driving until I got tired, and then pulling into some drive in motel," Fable admitted, and Evie shook her head ruefully.

"We should go to the Purple Pie Place," Evie suggested, and Fable raised her eyebrows. "It's in South Dakota, a little bit off course, but Amy was telling me how they have the best pie and ice cream in the states, and we could stay over there."

"Cool, that sounds like a plan then," Fable replied, nodding her head, and she grinned as she watched Jonas hold open the door for Amy, who was holding seven Nalgenes in her arms and hands, all filled with water. Jonas was right on her heels, mostly to make sure that she didn't drop any of the water bottles, but he also held his camera in his hands, so Fable could wager a guess that if she dropped any of the water bottles, he was ready to take a picture of it.

"Joe, I said get the door for me, that means, go in front of me, and get the door," Amy said to Jonas, who hurried to get the car door for her, where she unloaded all of the water bottles.

"Go easy on him Ames, it's not his fault that he's a little bit slow," Fable teased, and Jonas shot her a glare, to which Fable laughed. The gas station door opened once more, and she turned her head to see if it was one of their friends. To her dismay, Johnathan was walking out of the gas station without a slushie in his hands. "Jonas, you should totally go and tell Johnathan that he should go back and get me a slushie if he wants to sit in the front seat."

"Why?" Jonas asked, and Fable gestured for him to get moving.

"Because I want a slushie, why else?" Fable replied, and he rolled his eyes, but began making his way over to Johnathan.

"Do you know when your little brother is going to call you?" Amy asked as she leaned up against the car besides Fable, across from where Evie was standing.

"I think he said like, seven, but if we're going to be going to south dakota, that might be earlier? Or later? I'm not entirely sure how time zones work," Fable replied, and Amy laughed.

"Sometimes I wonder how you managed to graduate high school, you can't understand time zones, or read a clock, it's almost as if time is completely lost on you Fay," Amy commented, and Fable nodded her head.

"It was mostly Johnathan," Fable replied, and Amy laughed.

"What are the three of you doing, just milling about like that?" Beckett asked as he walked up, and Evie laughed.

"We're waiting for everyone else, nerd," she told the boy playfully, and Beckett nodded his head slowly, as if the thought hadn't occurred to him before that moment. He continued to the car, and unloaded some of the snacks that he had gotten, and Fable was glad to see that he got some Starbursts, her favorite candies.

Austin walked out of the gas station next, three bags that were filled to the brim in hands, and Beckett rushed over to help the blond haired boy, taking a bag or two, and Fable smiled as she leaned against the steering wheel.

She jolted, along with everyone else around her, when her arm slipped and she accidentally honked on the car horn.

"Fable, I've been awake, I didn't need you to try and wake me up more," Austin commented dryly, and Fable shrugged her shoulders sheepishly.

"Sorry," she told the group, who all mostly just rolled their eyes.

"Fable Leon, did you really need sugar so badly that you were willing to honk on the car horn for me to hurry up?" Johnathan asked as he walked up, to her joy, with a blue raspberry slushie in his hands.

"Did I ever tell you that you were my favorite?" Fable asked as she took the slushie in her hands, enjoying the cool blue taste of the drink in her hand.

"Keep it up with the sweet talking Leon, and I might actually think that you like spending time with me," he replied dryly, and she shrugged her shoulders.

"Alright, let's head out?" Fable suggested as Jonas walked up to the van, and her friends nodded their heads.

Three hours later, Fable pulled into a small gas station, to switch drivers. It was around twenty minutes to the Purple Pie Place, but Soren was going to be expecting a call from her in five minutes, and so she figured that she could let someone else drive while she called her brother.

As Amy slid into the driver's seat, and Evie took the passenger's seat, Fable moved to the back of the car with Johnathan. Beckett was reading, and leaning on his shoulder was Austin, headphones over his ears as his eyes were closed, although Fable knew that he wasn't sleeping. Jonas was sitting next to the three of them, going through his camera roll, and occasionally showing Johnathan the pictures that he was in.

Fable's phone lit up from the call, and she picked up the phone as they started to drive out of the gas station.

"Hey bud," Fable said as she answered the call, her younger brother's face filling up the screen. "How are you?"

"Hey Fable!" the younger boy exclaimed, waving at her, and Fable's heart squeezed, she missed her younger brother. "I'm good! Why is your tongue blue?" Fable laughed, and she heard Johnathan chuckle from beside her.

"Well, Johnathan got me a blue slushie today," Fable replied, and Soren grinned, looking around the screen, as if he was trying to see where Johnathan was hiding.

"Is he there with you?" Soren asked, and Fable scooted closer to Johnathan so that he could get into shot. Johnathan waved to the younger boy, and a toothy grin split across his face. "Johnathan, I got this new book on medieval knights, and actually, that was the story that Fable was telling me about, Jimothy is a knight now, and Anastasia is a dragon warrior." Johnathan chuckled, and Soren kept on smiling. "So, Fable, do I get to hear more of the story?"

"Not tonight bud," Fable replied, and Soren's face fell. "Hey, we're in the car right now, and by the time we get to where we're staying, it's going to be super super super late, and you know that there is no way that Mum would let you stay up that late. And you're going to need a good night's sleep anyways, I think Hestia wants to hang out with you tomorrow." Soren's face immediately brightened, and Fable was glad that she hadn't hurt her younger brother's feelings too badly.

"Alright, well, I think Mom wants me and Mum to watch this new animated movie that just came out, so I'll talk to you later?" Soren asked, and Fable nodded her head. She barely had the chance to say goodbye before he hung up the phone, his grinning face lighting up her screen for just a moment, before her phone screen went black.

"Are you alright?" Johnathan asked, and Fable shrugged her shoulders, laying her head down on his shoulder.

"I didn't think leaving was going to be as hard as this," Fable admitted, and Johnathan nodded his head, wrapping an arm around her, squeezing her close to him.

story gif made by: skaikrurogers

AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS:

Hi, I hope you guys liked the chapter! It's a little bit of a slow start, taking just a bit to get into the action of the book, but I pinky promise that it's coming soon! (Also while Act One is definitely more relationship building and focused, along with a spotlight on Fable and her relationships with everyone, Act Two will be full of action and suspense and other exciting things.)
Let me know what you guys thought about the chapter, and what you would like to see more of! :D
Also side note but like, the sibling relationship between Johnathan and Fable and Soren???? Literally my everything they mean the world to me.
Alright, I'll see you guys in the next chapter!