Lanes Apart

“Uh-oh...”

“Oh, no.”

“...Great.”

Noah looked up from his comic book. The car had slowed to a stop… which wasn’t supposed to happen on the freeway, right…? He glanced outside and saw other cars stopped as well.

“What happened?”

“Just a bit of traffic, honey,” his mom answered from the driver’s seat.

“Don’t worry, kiddo, it shouldn’t last too long.” His father was trying to reassure him, but Noah could hear the hesitation in his voice. His hopes sank. He slumped back and stared at the comic in his lap. Arachno-Man stared back at him, all primary colors and bulging muscles. Mocking him.

After a few minutes, the car still hadn’t moved. Feeling impatient, Noah peered out the window.

Someone was staring at him from the back seat of the next car over. A girl. She had long blonde hair, a bored look on her face, and looked to be about his age. She didn’t really seem to notice Noah... until Noah noticed her. There was an awkward moment when both children locked eyes, realized they were staring, and quickly looked away.

Looking back down at his comic, Noah felt embarrassed. Would the girl think he was weird? If he looked back, would she point and laugh at him? She might... but this was no fun. He wanted to look outside! He tried staring out the opposite window, but felt stupid after a minute of doing so. He had a window! He wanted to look out his window!

Noah steeled himself, drawing courage from Arachno-Man’s cocky smile. Casually, he lifted his head and peered outside again.

The girl was looking out the opposite window.

“Should’ve taken the streets. We could’ve been there by now.”

“Well, I thought we’d get there faster this way.”

“I know, I know. How you holding up back there, kiddo?”

Noah whipped his head around as his father turned to check on him, “M’okay!”

His father smiled and mussed his hair before turning back. Noah rolled his eyes. Sometimes parents could be such spazzes. He tried to smooth his hair back, glancing out the window again as he did so.

The girl was watching him.

Noah froze. She had a wide grin on her face and looked like she was giggling. He faced forward, his cheeks growing hotter by the second.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement coming from the girl’s window. Hesitantly, Noah turned his head to get a better look.

She was waving.

Curiosity won over and he looked directly at her. Once she had his attention, she pushed the tip of her nose up, crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue.

Noah’s jaw dropped.

She held the expression for a few seconds, then burst into silent laughter at the look on his face. She made the face again before grinning at him.

She... she was challenging him!

All thoughts of embarrassment forgotten, Noah rose in his seat. He pulled both ears out, puffed his cheeks and crossed his eyes. When his vision straightened out again, the girl was rolling in her seat with laughter. She recovered and tried to mimic the face he’d made, but her lips were pursed too tightly. Noah shook his head. He made the face again, sticking out his lower lip to emphasize how it should look. She got it on the second try. They both laughed.

The next few minutes passed in a duel of facial expressions. Noah became so engrossed that he was momentarily disoriented when his vision cleared and the girl wasn’t there anymore. It took him a second to locate her. Her lane had begun moving and she was now waving goodbye to him. He waved back, crestfallen.

“Heeeeere we go.”

“And we’re off!”

Sighing, Noah sat back as he felt the car lurch forward. He stared out the window, watching the landscape crawl past. After a while, his car started outpacing those in the adjacent lane and he felt a small spark of hope. He leaned close to the window, hoping he might see the girl again. A few seconds later, she slid back into view.

She was back to staring into space, but when they saw each other, her face lifted from her hand and she smiled. Noah’s heart skipped a beat. The two lanes were moving in unison now. She waved hello. Noah waved back.

“This is taking forever...”

“I think we’re getting close.”

The girl breathed a fog onto her window and started writing in it.

m’I

She wiped that out and started again.

I’m Abby

Noah smiled. He breathed on his window to reply.

I’m Noah

She grinned and spelled out another message.

Where r u going?

Noah replenished his fog before answering.

Movie

Which one, she asked.

He held his Arachno-Man comic to the window.

Abby’s eyebrows went up and her jaw dropped.

Lucky!

Noah grinned and wrote, What about u?

Sizzler, was her reply.

“This is it.”

“Oh, look at that!”

“I’d love to, honey, but I’m driving.”

Abby’s parents must have said something similar because she scooted away from the window to look out the other side. It was getting dark and Noah could see the red and yellow lights flashing from the farthest lane.

Now that they were passing the accident, both cars were picking up speed. Abby’s was already shifting into the next lane. She scooted back to the window and hastily wrote bye in the fog. Not having enough time to respond, Noah just waved. Abby waved back, and then she was out of sight.

Noah sat back, his heart thumping.

“Aw, look at the time.” His father turned around to look at him. “Looks like we’re missing this one, buddy.”

Distracted, Noah looked up at him. “Um… that’s okay.”

“Sorry, kiddo, I know you’re excited about it.”

“Well,” his mother chimed in, “there’s another show in two hours. What do we want to do until then?”

Noah thought about it, then smiled.

“Can we go to Sizzler?”