Chapter Text
The past twenty-four hours had felt like a fever dream for Earl Keese.
He thought they were, until he woke up abruptly in his car, with his neighbors on both sides. The neighbors that had caused him a living hell for a night. A night where he got zero sleep. He wanted to go back to sleep , but gave up after realizing how bumpy the road was.
Jeez, these are rough roads, He thought to himself as he straightened up and opened up his eyes
Vic was in the seat to his left, driving the car, humming a tune to himself. It was the quietest Earl had ever heard him be. Earl didn't know how to feel about it. Vic felt…almost tolerable for once? Earl savored the few seconds of blissful, odd silence, until Earl caught Vic's eye.
"Good afternoon, neighbor!" Vic said, giving him a toothy grin and squeezing Earl's shoulder.
Earl felt a bit flustered, but then quickly covered up his face. "Oh, hi Vic," He muttered, trying not to show the other man his expression.
"Hey, Earl."
He then felt an arm snake across his chest. He turned to see Ramona, sitting on his right. She gave him a small smile and kissed his cheek making him blush.
"How'd you sleep sweetheart?" She murmured, face mere inches away from his.
Earl blushed harder at her action, taking a few seconds to pull himself together best he could.
"Oh, um, I slept well, thank you for asking." He muttered, pulling away from her.
She gave him a flirty smile then giggled, "Oh stop being so anxious Earl, you're with friends now."
"Yeah," Vic butted in, "C'mon buddy, relax. This is the most fun you've had in years!"
Earl did agree with Vic's statement, but it was hard to not be a bit anxious when you've abandoned your family and burned your house down.
"Where are we going?" Earl asked, trying to distract himself from his worries.
Vic shrugged. "Like I told you earlier pal, I'm just driving, you tell me."
"Ok well where are we now?"
"I think we're somewhere in Ohio." Vic said, sounding uncertain.
Oh great,Ohio.
Earl stared straight ahead onto the road. The sun was lowering in the sky, and it seemed to be around late afternoon. He still had plenty of time to think of a plan for the day.
Earl laid back in his seat, Vic was right, he needed to relax. He sat there and stared out the window, and let his thoughts take over his mind for a bit. For around maybe an hour or so he sat there with his daydream scenarios of the future. He then heard something rustling that snapped him back to reality.
Next to him, he noticed Ramona was searching through the glovebox, picking up individual tapes and putting them back in.
"Uh, Ramona?"
"Oh I'm just looking for some music," She said nonchalantly, still searching. "Just trying to see if you have any decent tunes."
"Oh um, well what artists do you like?" Earl asked her. "I do have a lot of tapes in there, there's bound to be something you like."
Maybe I could impress her with my music taste, He considered, but then scrapped it.
Ramona gave it a thought, putting her hand on her chin, then spoke. "Well I do like Led Zeppelin, but I want to know what you like, this is your car y'know."
She had a slight seductiveness in her voice that made Earl a bit flustered. He cleared his throat
"I uh, like The Mamas and the Papas, though I'm not sure if I still have their tape."
Ramona nodded and then started digging through the tapes, and in a blink of an eye she had a Deliver tape in her hands.
Earl's eyes instantly brightened at the sight. " Oh my god,I haven't seen that tape in ages, how'd you find it?"
"I dunno," She said playfully. "I just wanted to see your cute little face brightened." She gave him a soft smile.
Earl blushed and quickly regained himself "Oh uh, thank you!"
From his other side he heard Vic chuckle at his reaction. Earl huffed. Ramona giggled with Vic and gently put the tape in.
Earl slumped down in his seat. Am I really gonna spend the rest of my life with these people? He thought to himself.
Dedicated to the one I love, started playing, and soon he felt his frustration melt away as he heard the soothing voice in his ear. That was his favorite band for a reason.
Outside the sun was beginning to set, and the sky was turning a deep orange. Earl felt engulfed by it and its warmth.
Earl felt his eyes begin to close and he didn't try to fight it.He was still tired after the night he had. He felt both Vic and Ramona's arms around his shoulders,it was comforting. Like home. Slowly he was overcome by sleep, the world around him fading into a blissful silence.