Indigo Road Read Online Free

move
your ass,” Alex ordered, slapping my thigh. After Alex had
spoken to his folks, his enthusiastic
mood had returned and I was glad his parents were okay with him
leaving early. A little disappointed that they missed their goodbye
maybe, but they reassured him they understood and wished him safe
travels.
    Placing my
feet on the grassy ground, I stood and yawned, stretching my arms
up high over my head. Alex’s eyes followed the lift of my T-shirt
that exposed a line of my skin, and his lips parted, letting out a
small breath.
    Was he
checking me out? No, I shook my head at the absurdity of the
thought.
    Alex rolled
his shoulders and set about undoing some latches at the base of the
mattress.
    “ Here, check
this out. It’s super cool.” With a flick of his wrist, a long
wooden box rolled out from underneath the bed. It ran the length of
the mattress and was just as wide, with hinged compartments and
finger holes for lifting the lids placed strategically and covering
the entire platform. Once it reached its full length, extending out
the back of the van, two metal legs folded down, hitting the dirt
and keeping the drawer from toppling out.
    Then, to my
surprise, Alex reached under the storage box and pulled out two
flat folding chairs. After unfolding them, he placed one on either
side like a dining table.
    I picked my jaw up. “That’s fucking
awesome.”
    “I know. Not only do we have a bedroom, but
we have a dining room too.”
    Aware of
Alex’s eyes on me, I lifted various lids and I looked through the
compartments. Some held food: cans, dry goods, nonperishables.
There was a small compartment that held toilet paper and Alex’s
shaving kit, and another with a couple of towels and spare linens.
Still others held Alex’s clothes and shoes. That’s why I didn’t see
his bag when I first climbed into the van: he’d already packed his stuff
away. There were a few empty compartments, so I grabbed my bag and
started to unpack.
    “ You made
this with your dad?” I was still a little awestruck after storing
my belongings. Everything worked so easily, even lifting the legs
and rolling it back under the mattress. No one would suspect it was
even there.
    Alex smiled
proudly. “Yeah. It took us a couple of days to get the measurements
right and to make the box frame, but after that it was only a
matter of screwing on some hinges. The chairs we had in the storage
shed. Mom cleaned them up and Dad made sure there was a space to
store them too. But that’s not all…”
    Alex climbed
into the back, to the wooden box that fit neatly behind the front
seats and in front the mattress. I crawled in beside him, wondering
what he was going to show me next. I’d seen the wide box before and
thought it was for storage, not bothering to look inside. It was a
storage chest, two-thirds of it anyway, but when Alex lifted the
lid on the last part, a small puff of cold air hit me in the
face.
    “It’s a fridge?” I couldn’t believe my
eyes.
    I peered
inside and saw a six-pack of beer, a block of cheese, bacon, a
dozen eggs, a half-gallon of milk, and a small loaf of bread. It
was insane. “It’s a fucking fridge!”
    “ Awesome,
right?” Alex’s excited grin was firmly in place.
    My heart
hammered with just how awesome it was. This was going to be the best
road trip ever. “You and your dad did this too?”
    Alex shook
his head. “It came with the van, same with the overhead cupboards.
We only put the underbed storage in.”
    “ If it wasn’t eight o’clock
in the morning, I’d suggest a beer to celebrate, but we can
celebrate later when we stop for the night,” I told him, closing
the lid of the fridge.
    We lay on the
mattress side by side, staring at Maude’s roof as we talked
excitedly about the months to come. After a while a large yawn
drowned my buzz; the early morning start and lack of sleep were
definitely catching up with me.
    “ You want to
stay for a while, get a couple hours’ sleep before hitting