She’s getting used to the new, restored leather pressed intimately against her palms, smooth and precise under her skin and cool to the touch. It still felt a little bit like betrayal to be honest, replacing such a detrimental part of Gus’ character, but her dad has insisted on the refitting when Mina came home with a slice in her finger from a particularly enthusiastic sing along in the old boy where she ran her hands along the torn material a little bit too hard.

  It’s a foreign sensation; her hands so used to the bumps and the ridges and the tears under her skin, but she has to admit it feels nice.

  “Minaaaaaaaaaaa,” a whiny voice grates through the air inside the vehicle, “are we there yet?”

  This feels considerably less nice.

  “Momo we literally only started driving 3 hours ago.”

  “Yeah?”

  Mina doesn’t need to turn around and look to see the pure indignation in Sana’s round eyes.

  “We’re going all the way to Texas.”

  “Isn’t that like, the next state over?”

  “Mina can we please consider dropping her off in New Mexico?”

  “Hey!”

  She turns the radio up. Maybe NSYNC can drown out the sound of their incessant bickering.

  “Give me back my phone lame !”

  Or not.

  “I swear to God Sana I will relegate you to the boot if you don’t stop.”

  Momo jeers at the other girl in default victory. Mina hears the sound of skin hitting skin and a muted ‘ouch!’ but she’s far too focused on trying to navigate between the busy lanes of traffic on the highway to pay attention to who hit who.

  “After what you’ve done in there? No thanks.”

  Momo jeers again, this time louder and Mina feels a blush rise up on her face.

  “That was two years ago you .”

  “Cooties exist forever y’know.”

  The sheer restraint to not just slam her head on the steering wheel there and then is astounding.

  “I’m booting the both of you out in New Mexico.”

  Nasally, brittle whines echo around the jeep, both girls pawing at Mina’s arm in futile attempts to win back her favour and secure their seats all the way to the intended destination. She can see the exaggerated pout on Momo’s face in the rear view mirror, can feel the small hand wrapped around her arm as she tugs on it playfully, and she’s keenly aware of Sana’s face leaning closer and closer to her with her hands clasped together tightly. Two pairs of big, pitiful eyes are blinking pleadingly and she sighs in defeat.

  Only another twenty hours to go.

✿

   “Minari, let me drive for a bit.”

  The younger girl drags her arm against her eyes, wiping with the back of the hand to alleviate the tiredness.

  “I’m fine for a bit.”

  She sees the little frown appear on Sana’s face in the corner of her eye.

  “Stop being a stubborn and get some rest,” the older girl insists, reaching across to flick the indicator up next to the steering wheel, “Nayeon would beat my if I let you drive the whole way.”

  She’s tired but the little bud of warmth in her chest expands just a bit at the mention of her girlfriend’s name. The jeep swerves into a side lane after a few moments, and Sana smiles softly at her from her seat.

  “Thanks, I didn’t really want my first meeting with your girlfriend to be her going at me for letting your sleep deprived drive the whole way.”

  Mina laughs gently, putting on the handbrake as the jeep comes to a stop at the roadside.

  “I’m sure Momo would protect you.”

  Both heads turn in tandem to look back at the older girl, eyeing her with amusement on seeing she was completely comatose, sprawled across the back seat with hanging wide open. With the engine off they could hear her light snores, and they both shared a knowing, affectionate look before they got out of their seats to swap around. Mina’s pretty certain arms aren’t supposed to bend that way, but somehow Momo looks surprisingly comfortable.

  Dry grass crunches under her feet as she makes her way to the other side, pushing lightly at Sana as she passes by her. She pushes back, and they find themselves in a brief shoving match with giggles and muted sounds of complaint in between. Sana screams a little too loudly when one of Mina’s shoves almost has her lose her footing, and both girls pause as they hear a loud clang resonate from inside the jeep, followed by a soft, whiny ‘ow’.

  They laugh together, calling it a truce and climbing back into the jeep to see Momo rubbing her head with a small pout in place. The jeep groans and complains as they slam the doors shut, seat belts clicking into place and Mina settles into the worn leather seat with a sigh. It felt a little strange to be sitting on this side of the vehicle, obviously being so used to being the one in the driver’s seat but she admits it’s nice to sit back and relax, maybe stretch her stiff limbs a little too.

  They pull out back onto the highway, Sana’s chair groaning in protest as she tries to move it just a little bit forward so she could read the pedals a bit easier. Mina watches her with an easy grin, eyelids feeling a little heavy. She can hear Momo rummaging around in the backseat, boredom predictably overtaking the older girl fairly quickly.

  “Can we change the CD?”

  Mina bristles.

  “What’s wrong with this one?”

  “Listen, I love NSYNC as much as the next girl  Mina, but if I hear this song one more time I think my ears are gonna bleed.”

  “Blasphemy,” Mina mutters under her breath, watching with narrowed eyes as Momo’s body shoves itself in between the two front seats to press the eject button. Sana sighs in relief, and Mina feels a little bad. Sort of.

  “Hurry up Momo,” Sana says, two hands on the steering wheel as she switches lanes, “don’t let it switch back to that terrible country station Mina loves.”

  The younger girl sputters in protest as Momo shivers dramatically.

  “God forbid.” She shuffles through the CD’s in her hand lazily, nose wrinkling distastefully at a few of the choices. “Ever thought about updating these? Maybe get something that wasn’t made before 2003?”

  “I’m telling my dad you said that.”

  “No wait!” The older girl gasps, and Mina laughs playfully.

  The older girl continues to cycle through the discs, albeit a little less vocal about the range at hand then before, and the three girls settle into a relaxed comfortable silence. The engine rumbles along agreeably and Mina can feel herself slipping into sleep.

  “You never told me papa Myoui was a fan of Britney!” Momo says a little too loudly next to her ear, Sana whistling appreciatively from the driver’s seat. Mina’s eye open sluggishly, trying to surreptitiously wipe the sleep out of them whilst listening to Momo pop open the case and insert the disc into the player impatiently.