Road Tripping
By Shotzette


"Road Tripping"

By Shotzette

PG
LDF/CR
"Even More" Universe

This is only a work of fan fiction. It was written for grins and giggles, not dollars and cents. It is not intended to infringe upon anyone's copyrights or intellectual properties.





The brunette pressed her forehead to the cool glass of the car window as she watched the cars zip around them on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. "Ooohhh! Carmine, over in the far left lane!" she squealed as she vaguely pointed to the lanes on their right.

The curly haired man craned his neck as if to see around the semi in front of him. "Which one?"

"The blue Dodge," Laverne replied, "It has Connecticuit plates! Your turn."

"Hmmm... What state begins with a "D"? Delaware?"

"Very good." Laverne stretched as best she could in the cramped confines of the Pontiac. As roomy as Carmine's car was, nine hours with only the occassional bathroom break was a little much.

Carmine smirked. "Very funny. What are some other states that begin with "D"?"

Laverne frowned slightly as she tried to remember the few things she learned in high school other than how to smoke a cigarette and hide a hickey. "I think that's it."

"Washington?"

She rolled her eyes. "That's a "W", Carmine."

He returned her eye roll and raised her an exasperated snort. "Yeah, but I'm talking about the District of Columbia, not Washington State. Everyone calls it "DC". I should be able to use it." His eyes slid briefly from the road in front of him and she found herself looking at the short version of his endearing puppy-eyed look.

"I dunno..."

"Awe come on... You don't want to limit me to just Delaware, do you?"

Laverne sputtered, nearly swallowing her Juicy Fruit. "We're in Pennsylvania! That's right next to Delaware. We'll be even closer when we hit New Jersey.'

"Delaware!" Carmine sang out, triumphantly.

"Huh? Already?"

"You were right, Laverne. Now that leaves you with..."

"E? No, F?"

"G comes next...."

Laverne sent a mock glare to the driver's side of the car. "Very funny. G. Georgia. And we're in.... "

"Ha-ha. We could skip the "G"s and move to the "H"'s"

"Name one state that starts with an "H"?

"Hawaii."

"'Nuff said," Laverne replied as she devoured the rest of her Twinkie. Giving silent thanks once again that she lived in an age that gave the world the delicious combination of sponge cake and fluff that rolled around on her tongue, she leaned back against her seat and started to scour the turnpike for the elusive Georgia license plates.

"It's good to see you smile," Carmine said.

"Aww... "

"I'm serious, he inisted, I haven't seen you smile much lately."

She reached out and stroked his cheek. He jutted his jaw against her hand, like a purring cat, and her smile widened. "Your not what's keeping me from smiling, Carmine."

His face fell as his gaze turned back to the road ahead.

Laverne looked away, and cursed herself for darkening the mood.

"I know things haven't been easy lately..." he began

"That's an understatement." The sentence came out more harshly than she intended.

"Do you want to turn around and go back?" he blurted out suddenly.

His query cut to the core of her being, and she took a deep breath before responding. "No. I don't."

"I don't want you to be miserable because of me. I never wanted that, Laverne. Carmine's eyes darted between her and the busy highway, and his voice took on a higher, more defensive tone.

"Carmine, why do you think it has anything to do with you?"

"You and Shirley ain't roomates no more. You and your Pop are barely speaking to each other. You two didn't even hug good bye when he came to see us off when we left Knapp Street." He cast her a sidelong glance before adding, "You and Lenny had a huge arguement about you and me."

She looked up sharply.

"My old apartment was right next to the laundry room," he said, as if in explaination, "I always heard everything in there through the air shaft. By the way, did you know that Weird Night Watchman guy in 3B was having an affair with Mrs. Rosetti in 2C?"

"Everyone knows about them, Carmine. What does the airshaft in the laundry room--never mind. So, you know about me and Lenny's fight. Why didn't you say anything?"

He shrugged as his eyes remained fixed on the road. "I dunno. Maybe Lenny's right."

This time, the Juicy Fruit was swallowed. Laverne stopped sputtering long enough to ask, "DId that just come out of your mouth, Carmine?"

"I'm serious! He has his moments. Let's face it, you're dating a guy who just cheated on his girlfriend. Maybe Lenny's right, maybe you deserve better."

"I don't know," Laverne replied, feigning distance, "You're dating a girl who just fooled around with her best friend's steady."

"I'm taking you away to New York and you don't even got a ring on your finger," Carmine's voice and the car's acceleration both rose exponentially.

"I'm going away to New York with a guy, and I don't even got a ring on my finger!" Laverne choked back a giggle at how absurd her fears sounded out loud.

He glanced at her, dismay across his face. "Stop it! I'm being serious."

"So am I! Neither one of us is perfect, Carmine." Laverne felt herself lose the battle as the cathartic laughter took her over.

"I--oh, hell!" Carmine cursed. "I can't have this conversation and drive at the same time."

"There's a sign for a rest stop on that off ramp. I gotta go anyhow," she added.

"Again?"

Laverne snorted. "Yeah, again. I do that," she added with a conspiratorial whisper.

"You do it all the time. Is that normal?"

She thought a moment. "I dunno. I never thought about it. Now of course, I'm not going to be able to stop thinking about it...."

"I guess it's a girl thing. But..."

"But what?" she prodded.

"Nothing." Carmine's eyes were once again fixed stonily in front of him as he drove into the rest stop and pulled into a parking space.

Laverne looked at him knowingly. "You were going to say something about Shirley, weren't you?"

His silence spoke volumes.

"It's okay to talk about her."

"Is it?"

She shook her head in dismay. "You dated her for ten years. She's my very best friend in the whole world. We can't pretend that she doens't exist."

"I just..." Carmine squirmed in his seat. "I feel weird talking about her with you now. "

Now it was Laverne's turn to look confused. "Why? WE've always talked about her."

Carmine shook his head. "It's different now. I can't say anything bad about her, 'cause she's your best friend. I can't say anything good about her, 'cause she's my ex-girlfriend. It sort leaves me between a rock and a hard place, Laverne."

The strain on his face touched her heart. "You shouldn't hold it in like that."

He surprised her by stiffling a guffaw.

"What?"

"That's what I was going to say. I never knew when Shirley went to the bathroom." At her odd look, he clarified the statement. " mean when we dated in high school, she always went to the "lady's lounge". I always thought she was taking a nap or something."

"Or something," Laverne affirmed with a wry grin.

"Then," Carmine continued, "she always had to go "wash her hands". I used to wonder if she thought I was dirty or something..."

"I once said that I had to pee in front of the rest of the Debs and Shirley had a hissy fit.".

He snickered. "You didn't."

"I did, she said, defiantly, "we were all girls. I still don't know what the big deal was..."

Carmine smiled. "I do. You're honest, Laverne. You always tell things like they are. It's one of the reasons I love you." He leaned into kiss her...

"Can you wait?" Laverne asked, pressing his chest gently back from her with her palm. "I wasn't kidding earlier about having to go."

Ten minutes later, Laverne was strolling back to the car with a bottle of grape Nehi, a bag of cookies, and an empty bladder. Her sugar induced grin faded as she saw Carmine solemnly regarding her from the driver's seat.

"Laverne, I was serious earlier. Do you want to go back to Milwaukee?"

Laverne blinked in surprise before replying. "Why?"

"I think that maybe moving might not be such a great ideal You've looked so sad since we left Milwaukee.

She slid into the passenger seat and shook her head. "No. I miss Shirley, and that's making me a little sad. But, Shirley isn't in Milwaukee, Carmine. She's gong to California," she reminded him gently, touched by his concern.

"Your Pop's still there."

Laverne snorted in exasperation. "Yeah, and the first thing he'd want me to do is move back in with him since Shirley's gone. Do you really want me to have to do that?"

Carmine's stage smile spread across his face unnaturally fast. "We could get married. I could get my old job back at Marjorie Wards. We could..."

"Do you know how pale you just got?"

"I--," he began, voice squeaking.

Laverne rolled her eyes and prayed for the strength to one day understand the male psyche. "Carmine, I really don't want to be proposed to by some guy who's sweating bullets all over his car's interior."

"But maybe..." he began.

"Are you ready for it?" she asked, abruptly. His nervously darting eyes both pleased and saddened her simultaneously.

"I.." he repeated, unhelpfully.

She leaned back against the scratchy interior of the seat, the birth of a killer headache starting behind her left eye. "That's not really the answer I was looking for," she replied, trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice.

"Are you ready?" he was finally able to ask.

"No." The monosyllabic word hung between them in the car. Laverne slowly let out the breath she hadn't realized that she'd been holding.

Carmine looked like she could have knocked him over with a feather. "What?"

"Yeah. I'm a little surprised too." And relieved, she added to herself.

He didn't look convinced. "Don't you want to get married?"

"Yeah. Someday. And, by the way, to you. But neither one of us is ready yet."

The stage smile appeared again. "Maybe we should just take the plunge. Y'know, bite the bullet..."

Laverne shot him a withering glance, "As romantic as that sounds, my answer would still be no."

"Are you afraid it will hurt Shirley?" he demanded, intensity burning in his dark eyes.

A small smile flickered across Laverne's face. "I think we already crossed that bridge."

"It might make your Pop like me more?" Carmine threw out, helpfully. The suggestion crashed like a lead balloon in between them.

Once again, Laverne shook her head sadly. Taking his hand in hers, she said, "Carmine, the only two people who really matter in this decision are you and me. We can't spend our lives doing things and not doing things just because we're afraid it will hurt someone, or let someone push us into things we just ain't ready for." She searched his face for any sign of understanding.

Realization dawned on him. "That's why you don't want to go back to Milwaukee, isn't it? You're afraid that your pop will push us into getting married?"

Inwardly, Laverne groaned. So much for understanding. "No! I just don't want to have to deal with his griping about it, or worse; the silent treatment. Besides, let's face it, Milwaukee is a dead end. Deep down, haven't we all known that for years?

He looked away, biting his lower lips as if to keep the words inside.

"You know I'm right. If Shirley and I could have found better jobs than at Shotz, we would have long ago. I couldn't even go back to being a bottle capper if I wanted to, remember? Do you really want to see me washing trucks for the rest of my life?"

Carmine shook his head, but still wouldn't meet her gaze. "What about your Pop?" he asked quietly.

Now it was Laverne's turn to look away. "He can't run my life, Carmine; and I'm just tired of butting heads with him all of the time. I know that he and I will make up at some point, but..."

"So, you're running away?"

Laverne groaned at the pure exasperation of it all, "No. I'm running to something. A future with you," she said as she lay her hand against his cheek, "It's a little scary, but I know I'm doing the right thing. I haven't been sorry for anything that's happened since we told Shirley about us, but if we push ourselves too fast now, I'll go into that knowing that I'm making a mistake."

Carmine's arms embraced her with an intensity that made her gasp. "I just want for it to be right between us," he whispered thickly into her ear, "I just want to make everything okay."

Returning his embrace, Laverne replied, "You can't. It don't work like that. We have to make it right for us. I ain't made of glass, Carmine. "

He pulled away from her slightly before answering. "No, you ain't. But that doesn't mean that you can't get hurt." Carmine gently cupped her chin in his hand, forcing her to meet his eyes. "If I hadn't heard you and Lenny through the shaft, would you have ever told me that you two had a fight?"

Laverne looked away from him abruptly and leaned back into her seat, arms and legs crossing protectively.

Carmine sighed. "You don't have to hold everything in, Laverne. He slowly scooched closer to her on the seat and took her hands in his before earnestly looking into her eyes and saying, "I know you're not glass, Laverne, but you don't have to be a rock all the time, either. It's okay to let me help. Sometimes," he added hastily.

A tremulous smile escaped her. "See?" Laverne asked, her voice now quavering with emotion, "we're both going to have to change a little to make this work. That's why I'm not in a hurry to rush into marriage."

"You're not just telling me that because you think it 's what I want to hear, are you?" Carmine asked.

The quaver left her tone and her voice was now her familiar, nasal, no-nonsense monotone, "When have I ever done that?"

Carmine's real grin returned, "Good point."

"What we have is the real thing. That's why I'm willing to wait. I want us to get it right. We're important, Carmine. Us," she added for emphasis.

Carmne pulled her closer, "Well, I'm glad we're not waiting for one thing..."

"We don't have to go crazy..." she replied, as their normal light toned banter returned and her body began to react to the closeness of his.

"Speaking of which, I know we wanted to save money and drive all the way straight through to New York..." his voice trailed off as he pulled her closer.

"But?" she prodded.

"Maybe staying the night in a reasonably priced motel..."

"Thanks for not saying cheap," Laverne interupted.

"...might be the best thing for both of us."

"You're a genius!" Laverne leaned forward to kiss him, only to stop halfway there and give voice to the question than just occurred to her. "Do you think they'll give a hard time about not being married?"

Now it was his turn again to roll his eyes in exasperation. "Laverne, anyplace we can afford won't care."

"I love you, Carmine."

"I love you, too, Laverne."

FIN


To "Third Door"
To "Patchouli"