Later that day, three idiots and their manager were sitting together at the airport in Los Angeles, waiting for their baggage and also news from their guitarists.

"So, I sum up," Roxanne said with a heavy sigh, running a hand through her dark curls. "None of us saw them on the plane. The airline didn't have them on the plane. There are no more planes after ours because of the storm warning. Did I forget anything?"

"Zeke's phone is going straight to voicemail," Teddy added where he lay sprawled out across an entire row of seats with his jacket under his head as a pillow.

"Thanks, Teddy." Roxanne rubbed a hand over her face. "Have we tried Neo?"

The other three shook their heads. "Neo never picks up his phone anyway," said Sky.

"I'm more amazed they haven't called us yet," Rowan muttered, studying the list of arrivals like that would somehow answer all his questions. "Isn't that what normal people do? Tell others when they're gonna be late? At least…that's what I always thought you should do."

Teddy didn't look up from his phone where he lay. "You think Neo and Zeke are normal people?"

Rowan slumped in defeat. "Fair point."

Leaning back in her chair, Roxanne took a big gulp from her near-empty travel mug of coffee. It was blacker than Neo's entire wardrobe, veering straight into "Rowan's negative thoughts" territory, and she was the only person known to humankind who could safely consume it. "Let's try to call Neo anyway," she said. "Unless somene else—yeah, Rowan?"

"Oh no, no, you do the phone call," Rowan said at once, waving a hasty hand. "I was just…Do normal people actually announce it when they're gonna be late?"

She stared.

"I mean, now I'm having doubts myself," Rowan added in an undertone. "I haven't met a normal person in so long."

"Normal is overrated," Sky remarked, briefly looking up from his sandwich. The others threw him a questioning glance, but he only continued chewing.

"I'll just call him," Roxanne decided, hitting the call button on Neo's contact and putting her phone on speaker. The call connected, then it rang once, twice. At least this one didn't go straight to voicemail.

"Hello?" a voice finally said, but it wasn't Neo's.

"Zeke!" Roxanne greeted him, her whole body relaxing slightly. "Where are you, and why—"

"Roxy!" Zeke cut her off, sounding distinctly miffed. "Couldn't you have waited another two minutes? You interrupted Helena!"

Roxanne briefly considered questioning all his priorities, but she had long gone past that stage. Nothing her boys did could surprise her anymore; she had abandoned all hope of improving them years ago and focused all her attention on damage control. "You can keep listening in a moment," she said. "For now—where the hell are you?"

"Oh right! Sorry, we forgot to call you," Zeke replied, his bright voice at least having the decency to sound a little sheepish. "We missed our flight, so now we rented a car. We're in, uh…" There was a moment's pause. "I don't actually know where we are, our GPS gave up the ghost."

Roxanne pinched the bridge of her nose. "Please don't tell me more."

"We've got another one on Neo's phone though, so it's okay! We're not gonna get lost," Zeke added. "Don't worry, we're definitely gonna be there by Friday!"

"You better," Roxanne said flatly. "But, we? Is Neo with you?"

Zeke groaned. "Yeah, he's driving the car," he said. "And I'm bored, can you pick me up?"

"Please pick him up," came Neo's muffled voice from the background. "He's a pain in my ass."

"No time for that now," Roxanne replied. "I can't make the trip there and back by car in time. You two will have to take the trip together."

Unanimous groans at the other end of the line.

"No complaining, boys, catch the plane next time." Roxanne crossed her legs. "Tell Neo to mind the speed limit, it's not just there for decoration. If you have a problem, call me again. Okay?"

Grumbles of "yes, ma'am" on the guitarists' end. Then the screeching of tires, several honks, and a single curse from Neo. Roxanne sighed.

"Good enough," she said, because it really was, and she was tired. "Bye."

"Bye-bye!" Zeke chimed and ended the call. Roxanne pocketed her phone.

"That's one problem solved," she said, gulping down the rest of her coffee and rising from her seat. "Now where is the rest of our baggage?"

"Physical or emotional?" Teddy remarked, still not moving on his row of seats and grinning to himself.

Roxanne didn't bother to respond. "Be right back," she said and hurried off, leaving the other three in a very awkward round.

"So," Rowan broke the silence, "Zeke and Neo. Taking a road trip together, huh."

No one responded.

"Just the two of them," Rowan continued. "For several days."

Teddy smirked at his phone. "Sounds romantic." Sky didn't show any signs that he had heard him at all.

"…Am I the only one who thinks that's a little concerning?"

"Yeah," Sky said flatly, making quick work of his sandwich. "Why?"

"Well…I don't know if you two picked up on this, but they kinda…really don't like each other." Rowan shrugged. "Doesn't anybody remember what happened the last time these two got stuck alone together? No? Just me?"

Sky pulled out his notebook again. "Those explosions had nothing to do with them, though," he said.

"That we know of!"

"You don't get it, Rowan Tree," Teddy remarked, rolling onto his side. "They're not gonna kill each other or anything. People go on road trips to find themselves, they're gonna be fine."

Rowan gave him a helpless smile. "I wish I had your optimism," he muttered.

"They will be fine," Teddy said again, tapping away on his phone. "We might not recognize them after the trip, though."

"That's…very reassuring. Thank you."

Sky was scribbling into his notebook again. "You worry too much, Rowan," he said. "They're on an adventure. They'll come back as best friends."

"Yeah, I really can't imagine that," said Rowan, draping an arm across his face. "But looks like I'm the weird one for that."

A hand came to rest on his shoulder.

"Don't worry," Roxanne said quietly, setting down a supermassive bag of belongings and patting him on the arm. "If this is weird, we're both weird here."

Rowan flashed her a grateful smile, but she had already gone on to get the other two to move.

~ ~ ~

The landscape was still rolling by, the rainy gray skies turning a darker shade of gray, then grayish blue, then finally going dark. There was no pretty sunset they were driving into, no gorgeous view of the landscape. Only the endless road and the rain and Neo's playlist on shuffle, tinny speakers blasting emo anthems that had been part of Zeke's adolescence but had never quite been his.

They had only briefly stopped to grab lunch earlier, hopping into a sketchy-looking fast food place at the side of the highway and bolting again before anyone could recognize them. Empty boxes lay scattered across the backseat now, and Zeke's stomach was starting to rumble again, and he was getting bored of the music. Neo's eyes were still locked on the road ahead, watching it with the same calm, laser-focused gaze he also kept on his guitar when he was playing. There was no use in trying to talk to him right now, even if Zeke had anything to say to him in the first place.

Sighing, he leaned against the window and pouted at the world at large. This sucked. Here he was, having a road trip, and there was no gorgeous landscape and no time to stop and explore anywhere, and his only company was Neo, who probably would've ditched him by the roadside long ago if he thought the band would let him get away with it. There weren't even any snacks. What the hell kind of stupid road trip was that?

Maybe he should just give up and daydream, he thought irritably. Imagine a trip where he was with friends instead—except, he didn't really have the kind of friends you could go on a road trip with. Maybe he should make some up, then, a bunch of cool fun people who wanted him around enough to take him on all the fun outings…or he could imagine his bandmates were his friends, maybe. Whichever was more unrealistic.

"Zeke? Zeke!"

He blinked. The music had stopped, and the blurry world came back into focus. His carefully-crafted fantasy popped and disappeared like a soap bubble, leaving only Neo waving an irritable hand in front of his face.

"What?" Zeke snapped. "You interrupted my daydream!"

"Daydream later," Neo replied, although he did make a face that, on anyone else, Zeke would've read as guilty. Not that Neo Roadhouse was capable of guilt, obviously, so it had to be something else that just looked suspiciously similar. "It's getting late. We need to find a place to sleep."

Zeke made a face. "You mean I need to find one," he said, "because you're driving and can't do it. Right?"

Neo simply nodded. "The car would crash," he said, like that explained everything, and—okay, in fairness, that was actually a pretty good explanation.

"Should've looked it up ahead of time," Zeke grumbled, but he picked up the phone. "Don't put off everything till the last minute, Neo, you're making it harder for others."

Behind the wheel, Neo squirmed slightly, then scoffed and flipped him off. "Don't compare me to you," he said. "At least I practice my parts."

"Well, excuse me for having a life outside of music." Adjusting himself in his seat, Zeke tapped through the phone, searching for a place to sleep that didn't lie too far out of their way. "You better be paying for the rooms, though."

"Why," Neo retorted, "are you broke?"

"No, I just don't wanna pay," Zeke replied. "I already think I should get compensation for being stuck alone with you for the whole trip."

He waited for the inevitable, the eyeroll, the That's my line, but nothing came. Neo just gripped the steering wheel tighter and accelerated past a delivery truck.

"Find the damn place," he said.

"Okay, okay. Damn."

Road trips with Neo really weren't much fun, he thought. Brief bonding moment over music notwithstanding.

But hey—at least they'd find some kind of hotel soon, and then they'd be rid of each other for a whole night. That should make the whole thing a little less terrible.

Right?