Page 32 of Places We've Never Been

He closed the book. “Watch right here,” he told Paisley. She nodded; then he used his thumb to fan through the pages.

“Oh wow, cool,” she said. “Did you draw these?”

“Norah did.”

She swiped the book from Skyler and rejoined me on the bed. “Is this what you’re going to show the school person?”

I smiled. “Not that one, but yes, I brought another book. It’s more gaming inspired.”

“My dad thinks video games are childish.”

I was sad to hear he hadn’t changed. “Yes, your dad was always good at discouraging a lot of things.”

Skyler avoided my eyes with that statement.

Paisley sat up straight. “What should I tell him so he’ll let me play?”

“What?”

“How do you convince haters that video games aren’t bad?”

An unexpected question. One I hadn’t prepared for. I had prepped myself to talk to video game lovers. I hadn’t thought to prepare for that kind of question. Would I be asked that? “I…They’re…relaxing. They can relax people and help with stress.” I spit out the same argument three times in a row.

She rolled her eyes. “My dad doesn’t care about helping us relax.”

“Probably true. But they’re way more than that. They’re creative outlets. InMinecraft,you can build and control your own world. You’re right,” I said, seeing her face. “Creativity is not high on his list either. He would love a game likeFortnite.A survival game that requires strategy and fast thinking. What parent doesn’t love that? Or maybe he’d be intoZelda.It’s high fantasy but there is also puzzle solving and saving a princess. He probably even played it when he was young.”

“My dad wasn’t born an adult?” Paisley said with a smirk.

“We’ve never proven otherwise.” I pulled out my flash cards and added her question. I needed to think of a less rambling answer. One that didn’t sound like me geeking out over video games with a friend. I started flipping through the cards for at least the tenth time that day to review.

“Is that why you want to animate video games?” Skyler asked, his voice thoughtful, curious. “Creativity, strategy, and puzzle solving?”

“Animating and playing are two different things,” I said. It was a snarky response. One that didn’t answer his question, but I didn’t want to answer his question. Not when he hadn’t answered any of mine. Maybe I wasn’t ready for a truce after all.

“Right,” he said, short, curt, cold. He pulled out his phone, probably ready to text his grievances to whoever he had waiting at home, just like I had been doing with Willow.

“Is there a TV in here?” Paisley asked. “Mom wouldn’t let me bring my iPad on this trip.”

“There is. Do you want to watch it? We don’t have streaming or anything, but we do have some DVDs over there in that drawer.”

She walked over to the drawer and pulled it open. She flipped through the movies and eventually picked one out, then spun in a full circle. “What now?” she asked.

I stood and slid back the cabinets on the wall across from the couch, revealing the television. “The player is here. The remote is here.”

“Thanks, Norah.”

“Of course.”

I wandered up front and leaned against the half wall between the driver’s seat and the bench behind it. “I just started a movie if you want to watch,” I said to Austin.

“Nah, I’m good.”

“Right.” The road was dark in front of us, really dark. The headlights barely cutting through the blackness. It made it feel like we were in the middle of nowhere. Which we pretty much were. “How far until Vegas?” I asked.

“A couple hours,” Ezra said.

“Will we be able to see the lights from the freeway?” We weren’t stopping in Vegas, but I wanted to at least get a glimpse.