I’m King

13) road trip

Gia paused momentarily at the door to the boardroom. She still had not been into the room since she found the CD case on the desk. Every morning she would stand in front of it for a few minutes before deciding against going in. This morning she had decided to bite the bullet and open the door. She knew Conrad had placed a CD player next to the case but it made her stomach drop to see them there as she turned the light on. So ordinary. But they were not ordinary!

That stupid CD was going to be the death of her.

She walked through the threshold and closed the heavy wooden door, leaning against it. She just stared at the CD case. The more she thought about it, the more curious she was to know what was on there. Maybe she the song she had stuck in her head during paintball would be on that CD. She had never heard the song before but it had been stuck in her head the entire evening. She could not even name the damn thing so, maybe it would be on this stupid fluffing CD.

She walked over cautiously, like a puppy scoping out a vacuum cleaner, and opened the case carefully. It was just a CD with her name on it. It looked so ordinary. So, she picked it up like an ordinary CD and placed it into the CD part of the little radio. And pressed play.

We argue in the kitchen about whether to have children

About the world ending in the scale of my ambition

And how much is art really worth?

Gia pulled out a chair and slid onto the soft cushion with a deep breath. She had never heard this song. From the voice she could tell it was Florence + the Machine. She liked Florence + the Machine. She was starting to like this song, a lot.

I need my golden crown of sorrow

My bloody sword to swing

I need my empty halls to echo with grand self-mythology

I am no mother

I am no bride

I am King

As the song came to an end, the song title flashed in Gia’s brain. King by Florence + the Machine. It was the strangest feeling, like remembering something that was on the tip of your tongue but you couldn’t remember exactly what it was. Gia went to the draw in the cabinet by the wall. She grabbed a pen and exam pad before heading back to the chair.

1) King – Florence + the Machine

Her sloppy hand writing glared in blue gel ink on the lined page as the next song began play.

Talking in my sleep at night, making myself crazy

~

Gia heard Anettes voice over her radio. Someone was causing a ruckus in the breakfast line at Bennies. She had no idea what time it was though she did have a list of about 30 songs. Songs she really loved, both old and new. Well, she must like them otherwise she wouldn't have put them onto her playlist.

“Of all the places I thought I'd find you,” Conrad’s voice filled the room, “This is the last place I would’ve looked.”

“It’s just a CD,” Gia said back.

“I told you so.”

Gia stood up and packed the CD back in its case. She spoke as she packed, “Feel like a road trip?”

Conrad’s smile was all she needed to slip past him and the two walked down to the front drive. Gia signed one of the cars out as Conrad grabbed the keys. They buckled up and headed down the road. Conrad stopped at the stop street and looked at her.

“Where too?” he asked.

“Wherever the hell we want,” Gia replied.

Conrad grinned from ear to ear, the mirror to Gia’s cheeky grin and the two started driving.

~

They had been driving for a while, stopping at stores that could maybe have the gaming system the monsters at home wanted but no luck. Gi had brought her CD with. Some of the songs Conrad liked, and others he completely hated. Gia enjoyed most of them and was on the fence about some. What was her alternate self like? It nagged at her; knowing there was this completely different version of herself that had matriculated and started university or got a job or took a gap year. This person she would never know or become. She wondered if she would have met and been friends with Conrad, Jared, Kiki and Aly in another timeline. Were they destined to be together or was this all just dumb luck? Her head heart.

She rolled the window down and let the wind pull the baby hairs out of her messy bun. The scenery was beautiful. They were now in The North-west Province. The road was long in front of them, no one on the road for as far as the eye could see. Gia felt a tug behind her before her hair fell onto her neck before being whipped around. She glanced over to see Conrad put her scrunchie on the gear shift.

There was nothing left to do but for Gia to stick her head out the window and let the wind whipping her hair around her face. The music played through the system. Gia was engulfed in the moment. The music that Conrad turned up, the smell of fresh air and absolute freedom. She hooked her feet on the car seat and pushed her body as far out the window as it would go. She reached one hand out to catch the wind. Reaching as far out as she could, her body bent round. She reached her other hand out as far towards the ground as it would go. Her knees bent tightly around the car door. Conrad sped up and cranked the music volume so Gia could hear it through the wind. Gia had never felt so alive.

You say you wanna cry but you never do

Sugar there’s a reason why we lose

This is what she would have wanted her other life to be – Road Trips, freedom, and even Conrad. She would not want anyone else in the driver's seat, holding her leg tightly as he sped down the straight road. She knew that no matter what version of her, they would all love this.

~

“Wait,” Gia pulled her torso back into the car, “Stop, stop, stop!”

Conrad slowed the car down, “Where?”

“There,” Gia pointed to a strip mall peeking around a building a few streets down. Conrad drove down and parked in the abandoned parking. Gia leapt out the car to stand in front of locked glass panelled doors of a Cash Converters, “Ding Ding Ding! We have a winner!”

“How are you going to get in?” Conrad asked while leaning on the bonnet of the car.

“Easy,” Gia said in her ‘duh’ voice. She walked to the back of the car and popped the boot open. After rummaging around, she walked back to the doors.

“Gonna change the stores tires?” Conrad mocked as Gia stood in front of the store with the metal thing in her hand.

“Nope,” she smiled and swung it at the door. The glass crumbled as she struck true and stepped through the now empty frame. Conrad strolled up to the door and Gia unlocked it for him.

“You never cease to amaze me,” he said as he passed her with her proud grin, “so, what now?”

The two started to amble down the full isles as they spoke.

“See if they have gaming consoles for the tonsils at home,” Gia said as she looked at all the stuff.

“And just take it?” Conrad’s voice held a lot of unease, “Isn’t that stealing?”

“Not if the store owner is dead,” Gia shot back as she picked up a strange looking lamp.

“Do you think they’re all dead?” Conrad asked, “or do you think they’re just somewhere else?”

He peered over the small isle shelf to see Gia thinking before she responded, “I don’t know. Maybe their souls went somewhere else? Somewhere they weren't allowed to make decisions and ruin anyone’s life. Maybe they went to heaven. Who knows.”

“Shouldn’t you know – Miss Keeper of the Universe?”

Gia laughed. She may know a lot but certainly not everything. Gia turned and did a little hop skip and jump as she saw the gaming consoles. She grabbed the newest looking PS4 and then came to the realisation that the boys probably wouldn’t share.

“We need a trolley,” she declared and headed back to the entrance. Rolling in with her new wheels, Gia filled the trolley with PS4’s Xbox’s and whatever games she could get her hands on.

“They have a Wii!” she shouted in glee.

“A what?” Conrad stood next to her by the shelf.

“A Wii!” she snatched the box and put it in the cart.

“You could decorate an entire house with the furniture in here,” Conrad browsed the massive room with Gia.

“I don’t think this stuff is quite your style,” Gia retorted, “Well maybe this?”

She held up a floral men's shirt to his body.

“Wow!” he said and held the shirt, “You think this will look good?”

He pulled his T-shirt over his head and shrugged the atrocious button-down shirt on.

“Oh my god,” Gia said teasingly, “Just spectacular. You could be a model.”

Conrad started a runway walk with poses.

“You are so going to catch a wife with that shirt,” the two laughed.

“What about you?” Conrad asked.

“What about me?”

“We need to catch you a husband,” Conrad held up the ugliest dress Gia had ever seen. It was puffy, 80’s and puke green and all-around revolting as well as matching Conrad’s shirt.

“Okay,” Gia pulled her top off along with her shoes and pants. She stepped into the dress. With Conrad’s help, she managed to zip the thing up.

“Here,” Gia grabbed sunglasses and the two of them looked in the mirror, “We are such catches.”

The two laughed. The radio hooked onto Conrad’s pants blared with Kiki’s voice.

“Can you weary travels please make your way home now? Jared is about to play reggae while doing a Bob Marley interpretation and no one wants that.”

“We’re on our way,” Gia said as Conrad pressed the button.

“There’s a Pick n Pay here,” Conrad said to Gia, “Maybe we should see what non-perishables are there.”

“That is an excellent idea,” Gia started to take their loot to the SUV they brought, “Maybe they’ll have appletiser and flings.”

“What is it with you and flings.”

“They are literally smiles in a bag.”

“You are very strange.”