Chapter Nine

"What time is it?" I asked after what felt like an eternity.

Bree pulled out her phone, "5:23" she started laughing.

"We really sat at this picnic table for 6 hours." I choked out laughing hysterically.

We each downed a water bottle and shared a Snickers bar.

"Are you ready to head back? Or do you wanna stay till it gets dark?" She asked me.

"We should spend the night in your car up here, it's so pretty." I said, still amused by the scenery.

"Sounds dope, wanna go back to the car? My ass hurts so bad." She said trying to stand up.

We collected all of our things and started back to the car.

——

Bree turned on, to my surprise, quiet music.

"This is really our last day isn't it." She said sadly.

I looked down and nodded.

——

Knock! Knock! Knock!

"Are you two all right in there?" A strange voice yelled while tapping the drivers side window.

Jolted from our deep sleep, we tried to consume what was happening.

Bree turned the key and rolled her window down about two inches.

Now we could clearly see the highway patrolman standing before us.

Knowing we still had mushrooms left in the pill bottle we stiffened.

"Sorry officer, I guess we just fell asleep. We'll leave right away." Bree said squinting as her voice shook.

"There's no overnight camping here, I need your license, registration and proof of insurance please. I'm going to have to write you a ticket for spending the night in a 'No Camping Zone'." The officer said as he pulled out a pink pad of paper.

Bree shot me a worried look.

I peered over at the clock that read "4:23 AM", knowing we wouldn't make it back to my house by 5.

Through my also shaky voice, "officer we usually would never do something like this, but I'm moving to Colorado in literally an hour and we just wanted to have some time together. See, we've been best friends since we were 7, and we live across the street from each other. She's basically my sister. You know what I mean?" I tried to say as cool as possible.

Bree looked wide eyed at me.

"I need to see your ID please." The officer announced.

Bree handed over all of her information and we tried to be patient as we waited for him to come back to the her window.

"Okay, everything looks good on the car. Please do not spend the night up here again or I will have to give you a ticket. You ladies be safe." He looked as if he almost grinned as he said it.

He pulled away and his lights disappeared into the night.

We each sighed a breath of relief and started home.