Chapter 12
Another day and a half passes...
She moaned softly, adjusting the pillow below her head and slowly opened her eyes. The stereo was on, and soft music came from the speakers quietly. Turning her head, she looked over at Nick, and then down at the clock. Two in the morning. She looked back over at Nick.
"Mmm...where are we? She whispered.
"Hey...we just entered New York, we're in Jamestown now, we should be in West Seneca shortly. He replied softly. "Actually...make that a long while, this storm is getting really bad."
She looked out the window, he was right. The snow was coming down in big flakes. "It's really coming down. Here, let's turn up the radio and see what the report says." She sat up; reaching over and turning the radio up just as the DJ came on with the weather report.
"The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm warning for all of Jamestown, Hornell, Penn Yan and Bath. They say that it's moving north, northwest at about twenty-five miles per hour and that it should reach Buffalo in about three hours. In the meantime, any unnecessary driving is discouraged and that all drivers should seek shelter soon. Conditions will start to worsen with whiteouts and lake effect snow. Please use extreme caution while driving. We'll be back in thirty minutes with another update. And now back to the music at 106.7 KRL, the hit music station."
"Damn." Nyla moaned, this was gonna slow everything down.
"Well, we'll see how far we can get, if we need to, maybe we can just pull over to a rest area and sit for a little while."
"Ok, but if it gets really bad Nick, please pull over, I don't want you to get in an accident."
Nick smiled a bit, just like old times. She always did that and he'd be lying if he said he didn't miss it. "Yes Mom."
She rolled her yes. "ANYWAY." She went to turn the radio back down.
"You can leave it up if you want, I'd turned it down when you fell asleep."
"I must've been really tired, don't even remember falling asleep." She yawned and looked over at him again. "You look beat, you wanna switch?"
He shook his head. "Nah, I'm cool, I can make it."
Nyla frowned. "You need sleep Nick."
Nick turned his head suddenly and looked right at her. "I'm fine Nyla, thanks." And suddenly he winked.
She cleared her throat, looking out the window again. Damn but she never had any defenses against him when he did that.
He knew how much she loved that; maybe that was why he did it; though he really shouldn't have. He couldn't help it, he loved to see her get all riled and shy. He grinned, he really loved that.
He looked at her out the corner of her eye, she was looking out the window, her hands clenched tightly together. She was way too tense. Before he could think it through, he reached out, taking her hands and prying them apart, putting his large hand in-between and lacing theirs together. Her head whirled around to reveal a shocked expression.
"What are you doing?" She questioned.
He shrugged. "Dunno, you looked so tense. Besides, you shouldn't hold your own hand."
Nyla looked down at their linked hands and then back up at him before looking out the window, but she didn't remove her hand, she couldn't.
She hadn't removed her hand; he let out a silent breath. He was sure she was going to, he tried to quell the feeling of triumph, but couldn't. It didn't mean anything, nothing. Friends held hands all the time, and this was nothing more than friends holding hands. He didn't like to see her so tense, and you really shouldn't hold your own hand. Where in the hell had he come up with that one?
A few hours later...
"I can't believe we made it to Buffalo!" Nyla exclaimed.
"Yeah, and it only took two hours." Nick groaned.
"That's still good time Nick."
"Yeah, but it looks like we're heading right into the storm."
"It's not supposed to arrive for another hour yet."
"Tell that to the storm."
It was even worse now; roads were at white out conditions which made driving nearly impossible.
"It's really bad, maybe we should pull over."
"Where?" Nick asked. "I can't see anything." He frowned.
"Keep on the look out for a rest area or something."
They looked frantically, only to spot nothing.
"There's gotta be something, somewhere to go." Nyla stated, straining to see ahead of her.
Nick shook his head. It didn't look good, they had to find somewhere soon, at the rate the snow was falling, and he wouldn't be able to drive anymore without getting into an accident.
"Wait wait! There, right there!" Nyla exclaimed, pointing off in the distance at a rather large house that was barely visible through all the snow. "There's a house! See if you can get to the driveway." She announced.
Nick nodded, pulling off to the side of the road as he approached the house, squinting, he was just barely able to make out a driveway and turned, pulling in and driving carefully up. Once they reached the front of the house, he stopped, turning the truck off. Looking up, they soon realized it wasn't just a house, it was an actual mansion.
