"Look out!" Trevor jerked the wheel sharply to the right, then back over to the left. There was a loud screech of skidding rubber as he fought to keep the car on the road, wrestling with the vehicle as it fishtailed across the icy asphalt surface. After a long, sickening moment when he could actually feel the shuddering sensation of the tires moving over the unpaved ground next to the ditch, he finally got them moving smoothly again.
"Jeez," he said, his voice trembling slightly, "don't shout like that! Freaked me the hell out." He could feel the adrenalin rushing through his body, making him grip the steering wheel until his knuckles were white.
"You were drifting into the other lane," Hannah said reprovingly. "If I hadn't shouted, you'd have hit that other car head-on. Now could you pull over and let me drive for a while before you get us both killed? Or do you just think you can drive better in your sleep than a woman can while awake?"
"It's not that," Trevor said placatingly. Actually, it kind of was, but Trevor could tell that Hannah was the kind of chick who'd get upset if you admitted that you didn't want a girl driving your car. He'd spent years souping it up, customizing it, and making it into the sweetest ride he could, and he didn't trust it to some chick he'd never even seen driving a car before. He'd already figured out the hard way that she was the kind of chick who'd get upset if you called her a chick, though, so he wasn't looking for another fight. He just wanted to drop her off with her parents, get back to his own mom and dad, and not have to worry about her until the holidays were over and it was time for them to get back to school. He wasn't sure if the gas money was worth putting up with his sister's whiny friend all the way from Minnesota to Indiana, even if she was kind of a hottie. (Probably the kind that never put out, though.)
"So what is it?" Hannah snapped. She was still a little freaked out, too; Trevor could hear it in her voice.
"It's that I'm fine to drive a while longer, that's all," Trevor said. "I'm wide awake now, and we don't have that much more to go. We're already past Chicago; I can totally make it the rest of the way, easy."
"Oh, fer fucksake," Hannah grumbled. "Look, if you really don't want me to drive your precious pussymobile, fine. I don't know what you think I'm going to do to it, it's not like I'm going to menstruate all over the gearshift...but fine. Whatever. But could you at least pull over and take a break for a few minutes? You're weaving all over the goddamn road, and it's kind of freaking me out, here."
"I'm not weaving all over the--" Trevor pulled the wheel to the right again as an oncoming car honked its horn at them. "Fine, whatever," he said, trying to keep the tremor out of his voice. "I mean, you know, if it'll make you happy." It probably was a good idea, but he'd be damned if he admitted it to Hannah. She'd probably gloat all the rest of the way back to Terre Haute.
The road sign said that it'd be another fifty miles to the next rest stop, so Trevor just pulled onto the shoulder and flipped on the hazard lights. "There, I'm stopped, okay? Now just give me an hour or two to rest, and I'll be fine to drive the rest of the way."
"Two hours?" Hannah said incredulously. "You seriously want us to just sit here for two hours when I could just...grrr!"
"I, um...I have trouble sleeping when the car's moving," he said. She knew he was lying, and he knew she knew he was lying, but it was his car and he wasn't budging no matter what she said. She'd have to pry him out of the seat with a crowbar if she wanted to take over the wheel. "It's no big deal, I just need a little nap."
Hannah took a long, deep breath, and blew it out in a sigh. When she spoke again, it was in a slightly calmer tone of voice. "Okay, then. But we don't need to spend two hours. My psych teacher showed us how to do that whole 'power napping' thing that all the CEOs of all the big companies do. It'll get you two hours of sleep in, like, fifteen minutes."
Trevor snorted. "No, really, it works!" Hannah said. "I've been doing it between classes, and I can get by with about four hours of sleep a night during the school week. It's really easy."
Trevor shrugged. "Sure," he said. "But if I fall asleep for real, don't just wake me right away, okay? I'm not going to wake up all groggy just because this whole 'power nap' thing doesn't work."
Hannah nodded, clearly confident that she would have to make good on her promise. "Sure thing," she said. "Now, just sit back in your seat and relax. Tilt it back a little, but not so much that you're flat on your back. Just enough that you're comfortable."
With another shrug, Trevor reclined his seat back at a forty-five degree angle. He let himself sink into the cushions, glad of the extra padding. Factory seats were never comfortable enough. "Okay," Hannah said. "Now the trick to a power nap is to find something to focus on. Your waking mind locks onto your focus, and the rest of your mind can relax better than normal because you're not getting in its way while it's trying to sleep. So..." She looked around the car in an almost theatrical manner. "Perfect," she said. "Just watch the hazard lights."
