My headphones broke.

Damn it.

My headphones broke?!

The once perfectly functioning headphones were silent. I hastily maneuvered the wires. Sound sputtered out then stopped then fizzled then went quiet.

With five hours left of the car ride, I needed headphones. We ended up getting lost, again, so the once eleven hour car trip turned into one that would last about sixteen. My phone died ages ago and the extra charge was running low. Beau wasn’t much different based on how he, too, brought out his charger a while back. Unlike me though, his headphones were functioning.

I decided to attempt and sleep it out, which lasted all of five minutes before our parents were singing along terribly to an oldie that I didn’t know. Now I wasn’t one to rag on older songs, but I didn’t join in seeing as I had no idea what it was. If ya couldn’t sing along then why bother suffering through the many off pitch wails of thy mother and father? Exactly, there was no reason.

Sleep was out of the equation. My headphones were out of the equation. Sitting there doing nothing for the next five hours was definitely out of the equation. There was only one option; I had to dive into the depths of hell in hopes to find my savior.

Said hellish savior sat silently. Our parents purchased those headrest mounts so we wouldn’t have to hold our phones the whole ride so Beau was leaning comfortably, elbow on the edge of the window to prop his head up while some video played.

Tapping his arm, I wasn’t the least surprised to meet his quizzical stare.

“What?” he hissed, popping out an earphone.

Eying the phone screen, I asked, “What are you watching?”

“None of your business.”

So annoying. Why did he make everything so damn complicated?!

“My headphones broke.” I held up said headphones, swaying them from side to side. “I don’t have spares.”

“Sucks for you.” He popped his headphone back in only for me to rip it out. “Fuck off, Devin.”

“You can spare a headphone. Let me watch TV with you. We got five hours left,” I hissed, already scooting closer to him. If we weren’t squished in the back seat, I imagine he would have kicked me for daring to saddle up next to him. Hey, I wasn’t too keen on it either! But headphones weren’t exactly made for distance.

“Suffer on your own,” he snarled, attempting to steal back the missing earpiece. I refused, holding it tightly in my fist.

“Share or neither of us will have headphones.”

Beau’s reluctancy faded with the threat of being equally as bored and tormented. He flinched when Aunt Zoey hit a high note that resembled burning rubber out of a parking lot.

That didn’t mean we didn’t glare at each other for at least five minutes prior to his giving in. No form of agreement was verbally given. He fell back into place, smacking thin lips together in obvious annoyance.

The show didn’t turn out to be what was expected, especially considering Beau’s lackluster facial expression. He was watching Game Grumps for fuck’s sake, but was wearing the same expression my Grandpa had when brainlessly watching nature documentaries. I, on the other hand, appreciated the chatty duo and snickered along. Beau didn’t much care for that judging on the sudden squirming. He angled his body away, but there wasn’t exactly a lot of space back here.

Normally, I would bark at him about acting like I had a disease, but we had a truce. I leaned back with my knees pressed into the seat in front of us. The videos went on, neither of us saying a word as we sat side by side.

Beau was warm, or I guess we both were, from the close proximity. Due to where I sat, for once, I had to peer up at him. It was surprising that I actually caught a change in facial expression; the slightest smirk played on his lips after a funny comment and sometimes he (unconsciously, I think) twisted the ends of his fringe around his fingers. But then I realized I was staring and that was weird so I turned away.

The sun was beginning to set. Mom mentioned something about only having about two hours left. My eyes were heavy from the unusual warmth seeping from the usually cold guy next to me, along with the natural sway of the car and the fact that we got up at 5 am. My neck began to ache. My head constantly dropped forward in exhaustion until I forced myself awake.

Then there was something smooth against my cheek, guiding me. Sleep took me over when my head rested somewhere comfortably, relieving my aching neck. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it was really warm and I curled closer to comforting heat.

If I had known Beau lended me a shoulder to rest on then, would I have pulled away?

⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅∙∘☽༓☾∘∙•⋅⋅⋅•⋅⋅⊰⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅⋅•⋅