Josh stared at the boy next to him. He didn’t look like a criminal Josh thought as he studied the golden curls, the baby blue eyes and the soft skin.

But what does a criminal look like anyway?

Golden necklace, low forehead?

That’s a stereotype he scolded himself.

“What are you looking at” the boy, Josh would soon get to know as Justin, snapped, angrier with himself than anyone else. Josh quickly averted his gaze; admiring your beautiful face was an option, it was most certainly true because this boy was beautiful but that was just asking for trouble. After all the man was still holding the gun and maybe he’d feel threatened if he thought he was coming on to him. Maybe he felt the need to use the gun when he felt threatened so Josh said nothing.

He glanced back at his son for a second, seeing his tears streaked face and the now relaxed features; he smiled at the young boy, relieved Sam could really sleep like his dad. Sam didn’t wake up easily and although he’d cursed that a lot of times this was certainly not one of them. Not much was said between the two men up front, both lost in their own thoughts as they drove further and further away from Tennessee.

The drive went well from then on. An hour had passed by without any trouble and without a word. Justin had been staring out in front of him all the time and Josh was glancing back and forth between the young man next to him and his son in the backseat, making sure he was still ok. The even breathing told him that Sam was still very much asleep and that he was indeed ok. Josh wondered what this boy wanted, what he’d done and how long he would drive along with them. He was too afraid to ask the questions though, it was too peaceful right now and he didn’t want to interrupt it. So he kept driving and kept glancing back and forth between Sam and Justin, not knowing what the boy’s plan was.

But what Josh didn’t know was that Justin didn’t know what his plan was either. He hadn’t thought ahead that far, and he’d immediately regretted his action when he saw the fear on the man’s face next to him. Not only that, he regretted the original one even more, the action that had left him with the quick decision of hopping into a stranger’s car and forcing the man to take him with him.

“Daddy?” Sam asked softly, his voice slightly hoarse from sleep.

“Yes baby?” Josh asked trying to sound nonchalant.

“I’m hungry” Sam complained a little, he felt the tension in the car, kids were good with that but he was hungry and that went in front of everything.

“Can you wait a little longer honey?” Josh asked, again using a light tone as he looked at him in the rearview mirror, occasionally glancing at the road in front of him. Sam shook his head no and Josh sighed inaudible, afraid his son would anger the younger man, then he remembered something.

“You still have your whinegums honey, take some of those” Josh told his son, urging him to do so as he raised his eyebrows.

“But daddy, they fall to floor” Sam told his dad seriously with big blue eyes.

“Where are they Sammie?” Josh asked, he didn’t know if the man would get upset if they talked. He wanted to satisfy his son so that he would be quiet, unnecessary attention was dangerous.

“There” Sam pointed in front of him, to a spot behind Justin’s chair. Josh groaned inwardly.

“Can you wait a little longer, please?” Josh asked almost pleading with his son to say yes but when a kid was hungry, and especially his kid, you couldn’t do much to keep his mind off of it.

And once again Sam shook his head no, “I hungry” he told his father.

“Why don’t you go back to sleep for a little while?” Josh prodded.

“No, I not sleepy” Sam replied pouting as he crossed his little arms over his chest.

“Ok, daddy will get you your whinegums baby” Josh told his son, scooting down in his seat and extending his hand so he could reach the bag that had fallen under Justin’s chair when Sam fell asleep and lost grip on the bag. Josh balanced the steering wheel with one hand while shifting in his seat to get closer to the bag but it all didn’t work. He sat up completely for a second, irritated.

Why did that bag have to fall that far?

Why aren’t my arms any longer?

Questions that would get him no where but he needed to complain even if it was inwardly. He eyed the bag before looking over at his son who was still waiting expectantly for his bag of whinegums. Out of the blue, Justin turned in his seat and grabbed the bag of whinegums from under his seat.

“Here” he said almost friendly, offering the bag to the little boy who was looking at him strangely before accepting the bag with a huge grin.

“Thak you” he said before he stuffed a whinegum in his mouth.

“You’re welcome” Justin said friendly and Josh could hardly believe his own ears. If he didn’t know any better he would have thought they’d just picked him up as a hitchhiker in stead of a man who forced his way into their car and forced him to take him with them. Josh stared at the young boy next to him as he turned back in his seat.

“Thank you” Josh said with a small smile. The boy smiled back a little and took the friendliness as an opportunity to ask the question that had been going through his mind for a while now,

“Where are we heading?”

He’d enjoyed the silence for a while and hadn’t wanted to break it but the path was clear now, the silence already broken and so he decided to take the opportunity.

“We were on our way home” Josh replied, glancing at the boy for a second before turning his head back towards the road.

“Where is that?” Justin asked, staring the man up and down.

“LA” Josh answered, shifting uncomfortably, catching the stare of the boy next to him.

“Would you mind to take me with you to LA?” Justin asked politely although he was still holding the gun, aiming for the young man in the driver’s seat. Josh knew he didn’t really have a choice and the gun that was still trained on him didn’t go unnoticed as he nodded his ok. Silence regained the car, except for the small chewing sounds that came from the backseat.

They both knew where they stood. Josh got an answer to at least one of his questions and maybe the other answers would come with the days.

Justin had made his decision; he was going to LA. He didn’t really care where he was going as long as it was far away from Millington, Tennessee.

“So what’s his name?” Justin asked to break the silence, if it was quiet he had too much time to think about what he’d just done. At first the silence had been relaxing but now it was making him nervous and the images of his actions playing through his mind in slow motion weren’t something he wanted to see over and over again. He sought some distraction and talking was a good one, as long as he didn’t have to talk about himself. That wouldn’t be a big problem he thought; he was holding the gun, he called the shots.

Josh glared at him, wondering why he wanted to know but he answered anyway as he glanced down at the gun in the young man’s hand,

“Sam”

Justin nodded, “Cool name” he commented although knowing this man wasn’t really waiting for a comment on his son’s name. He was just making conversation though. Josh turned his head towards the young man in passenger’s seat, without a word. He just stared at him.

“So what is your name?” Justin asked as he met the man’s gaze.

“Why do you wanna know?” Josh asked confused, why did he care? Justin shrugged before he stared out the front window.

“My name is Josh” Josh answered. He didn’t know why he answered, probably because animosity towards a man with a gun didn’t seem like a good idea and the fact that they would be stuck with each other for a couple of days anyway. That was, if they couldn’t make a break for it before then, Josh thought. Justin nodded, not knowing what else to say.

“How old are you?” Josh asked carefully. The question left his mouth before he could stop it, although he was curious he didn’t know if it was a wise decision to ask questions in his position.

“18” Justin answered without hesitation. Josh had figured something like that but something about this boy also made him look like just 12 years old.

“You whygum daddy?” Sam asked, breaking the silence as he extended the bag a little. Josh twisted around to look at his son,

“No thank you baby” he said with a smile.

“You whats name?” Justin had witnessed the scene between father and son and saw the boy was talking to him.

“I’m Justin” he answered with a smile.

“You wants ‘ome, Ju-tin?” Sam asked again now that he knew the boy’s name.

“Yes, thank you” Justin said smiling as he took a whinegum from the boy.

“I Sam” Sam said proudly.

“I know, thank you Sam” Justin repeated.

“You ‘elcome” Sam said nodding seriously before going back to eating the whinegums in his bag.

“So where did you go?” Justin asked after he’d turned back around in his chair.

“What do you mean?” Josh asked a little confused.

“I mean you’re on your way home so where did you go?” Justin elaborated his earlier question.

“We went to a small town just outside of Nashville”

“Oh you got family living there?” Justin asked casually but unawarely hit a weak spot for Josh; his family. He never talked about his family and never wanted to talk about them. He didn’t have a family anymore, they didn’t exist to him anymore. He turned his flaring eyes on the young man next to him,

“No” he said firmly. Justin unconsciously backed up against the door when he saw the angry flames in Josh’s eyes despite the fact that he was still holding the gun.

“I’m sorry I asked” Justin told him softly, his second nature to apologize when someone was angry with him. It may not be his fault but apologizing came naturally to him. Insecure as he was. Slowly the anger left Josh’s body, breathing out softly with a slight whistle sound to get rid of it all.

“Sorry,” Josh told him a few minutes later after Justin had literally seen the anger seep out of him.

“Just don’t ask me about my family”

“Why not?” Justin asked genuinely interested, it wasn’t a mean question, he was just curious.

Always had been.

“Just don’t. It’s none of your business” Josh told him.

“Fine” Justin muttered not knowing why Josh made such a big deal out of this.

“What about your family” Josh countered, aggravated by the tone in Justin’s voice. Now it was Justin’s time to scowl, he didn’t want to talk about his family anymore than Josh did.

“I don’t want to talk about my family” Justin mumbled, staring out in front of him.

“Oh! Lemme guess,” Josh mocked him, angry Justin persisted him to talk about his family when he in fact didn’t want to talk about them either.

“Mommy never had time for you, daddy beat you and the rest never paid attention to you” he summed up harshly. It left his mouth before he could stop it and in no time a hand fisted his shirt. Justin pulled Josh towards him and set the gun in the right side of his neck.

“Don’t you dare talk about my family like that. You got no right to tell me about my life! You don’t know shit!!” Justin yelled in his face, his face red with anger and Josh scared shitless. The car swayed dangerously but Josh managed to keep the car on the road and soon got it back under control.

“I…I…I’m…s…s…sorry” Josh stuttered as Justin pressed the gun further into his neck. Josh winced in pain before staring into the angry blue eyes of his attacker. He vaguely heard the small sobs from his son in the backseat but he couldn’t do much about it at this point. He saw the angry look in Justin’s eyes slowly softening while the hand fisting his shirt slowly loosened. Justin let go of Josh and retracted the gun, resting it on his knee as he sat back in his seat, the gun still pointed in Josh’s direction without a word. Josh breathed hard and glanced back at Sam, smiling at him to reassure him,

“It’s ok baby, everything is alright” he soothed softly. Sam’s sobs died out and he settled back in his seat, falling asleep in a matter of minutes. Josh kept an eye on his son as he slowly drifted off to sleep before he focused his eyes on the road, not daring to look at Justin.

Nothing was said after that, Josh now knew that family was a not so easy subject for the both of them and he would think twice before ever mentioning it again.

Justin was left with Josh’s harsh words and they replayed in his head over and over again.

He wasn’t so much angry at Josh that he’d said it, he was fare most angry with himself for reacting the way he did and angry…

That Josh was right.