The rolling hills of corn, wheat, and soy seemed to go on forever outside the slightly foggy windows of Gabe's gold '05 Buick LeSabre. He periodically sped the car up past the speed limit, then let it coast back down, to the consternation of his girlfriend, June, who sighed meaningfully in the passenger seat every time the cycle began again. In the back, Heidi, Joel, and Cindy snored in unison. Elliot Smith crooned softly on the stereo. The car approached the bottom of a hill, and June sighed again as the engine revved up.
"What's the matter?" Gabe asked, speeding up the hill.
"Oh, you know what's the matter. The same thing that's always the matter when we're driving this highway, the same thing I always ask you to stop doing because it's dangerous, the same thing you say isn't wrong, even though it's against the law. You know!"
Gabe shrugged as he coasted down the hill. "Remind me."
June rolled her eyes. "Forget it, I don't even care anymore." They rode on in silence, the road's whistle drowning out all else until they reached a smoother patch.
"We'll need to stop for gas soon," he remarked.
"The sign said we're coming up on another town," she replied.
"Not that soon. There's another," he hummed and muttered numbers, "twenty miles before it gets close to empty."
"It's getting close to lunchtime," she noted, "maybe they'll want energy faster than the car." Gabe smiled. "What?"
"Great phrasing," he said. She giggled.
"Food?" Joel asked suddenly. The pair in the front seats laughed.
"We were thinking about stopping early, maybe in the next town," June eventually explained.
"Sure," Joel said. The highway whistled again.
Gabe glanced at his rear-view mirror. "Where do you want to eat?"
"Wherever's fine," came the reply.
"Eat?" Cindy asked, jerking awake.
"Yup," Joel confirmed.
"Well, I suppose I could have something, although as you know I had a large breakfast consisting of two bowls of cereal, (the bowls they provide at the cafeteria are much too small for a day of travel) which as far as I can tell is quenching my hunger for the moment," she chattered.
"It sounds like you would rather wait," Gabe theorized.
"I'm sure Joel is starving, though," June was quick to point out.
"Sorta," he said, giving Cindy a look.
"To be perfectly honest," she began after a moment, "I'm sure we could go either way; if you split the difference between my breakfast and Joel's, you get a pretty medium-sized meal."
"Meal?" Heidi muttered sleepily, then repeated as she slowly began to wake.
"So glad you're awake," June said brightly, "we were all wondering when you'd want to eat, where you'd want to go, and how you want to split the bill!"
"Are you that hungry?" Gabe asked sharply.
"Uh..." Heidi gave questioning glances to her fellow back-seat-dwellers. Joel sighed quietly, while Cindy mouthed 'sorry.'
"Looks like you're the tie-breaker," June chirped, "and I don't want to rush you, but the next town is coming up pretty soon."
"Um...in that case, I think we should, uh...stop there. I didn't eat too much this morning."