Chapter Text
The map was upside down.
Not metaphorically. Literally. It sat in Josie's lap, flapping in the breeze of the cracked window like a paper flag of surrender, and Billy—who’d been driving for two straight hours—was starting to lose his last functioning brain cell.
“You realize this is a map of France, right?” he asked, glancing over.
Josie didn’t look up. “No it’s not.”
Billy snatched it with one hand (safe driving was for people not raised in chaos) and turned it upright. “Yes it is. There’s a giant Eiffel Tower on it. And the words ‘Bonjour! Explorez la France!’ in Comic Sans.”
Josie blinked. “...Okay. So maybe we’re a little off course.”
“We’re in Derbyshire, Josie.”
A pause. “Still technically Europe.”
Billy made a sound that was somewhere between a sigh and a dying goose. “I’m pulling over before I leave you on the side of this highway with a croissant and a prayer.”
He did, tires crunching on gravel as they rolled into a sad little layby surrounded by sheep. One of them stared at them like it was judging their life choices. Which was fair.
Josie pulled her knees up on the passenger seat and grinned. “Okay, so I may have brought the wrong map. But to be fair, it was in the glove box and I just assumed it was, y’know, British.”
“Oh yeah,” Billy said dryly. “France. The most British place of all.”
She stuck her tongue out at him. He threw a packet of Monster Munch at her head.
Silence settled in for a minute. Not awkward. Just tired and slightly crumb-covered.
Their car was a disaster zone. Empty drink cans, a hoodie on the dashboard, and at least three different playlists fighting for dominance on the stereo. One of them—Billy’s—had six versions of the same Arctic Monkeys song. Josie’s had an ABBA remix featuring Megan Thee Stallion.
The compromise had been static.
“You wanna just...wing it?” Josie asked after a moment. “Like proper unhinged style. No map. No GPS. Just vibes.”
Billy stared at her. “You do realize the last time we did that we ended up accidentally driving into a golf tournament.”
“They waved at us!”
“Because we were ON THE COURSE.”
Josie grinned, all wide eyes and mischief. “And didn’t we have a great time?”
Billy tried to look unimpressed. Failed. Laughed into his sleeve.
“Alright, chaos goblin,” he said. “Vibes it is.”
They eventually made it to their actual destination—a little rented cottage with spotty Wi-Fi and an aggressive goose in the backyard—three hours later than planned, sweaty and somehow even more bonded by mutual stupidity.
Josie collapsed on the couch face-first. “We are never road-tripping again.”
Billy flopped next to her. “You say that now, but in two weeks you’ll be like ‘Billlllyyy let’s go to Wales and find haunted rocks.’”
“Okay first of all, that rock was definitely haunted.”
He rolled his eyes and nudged her with his foot. “You’re impossible.”
“You’re stuck with me,” she replied, muffled into the cushion.
It was true. They were roommates, best friends, codependent disasters. And maybe—maybe—Billy had started noticing the way her laugh made his chest warm, or how she always saved him the last chip without saying anything. But they didn’t talk about that.
Yet.
For now, they were just two idiots in a cottage in the middle of nowhere, arguing over who had to unpack the snacks and whether or not sheep were staring into their souls.
And honestly?
It was perfect