We were lost.
That was the only way to put it. We were in the middle of freaking no where and we were lost. We had been driving down this long stretch of highway for the last two hours. I hadn’t seen another car in the past hour or so. That was when we stopped for gas and so he could get his blasted cup of coffee that was sat in his cup holder; he was not even drinking it anymore.
‘It’s a short cut, we’ll get there in no time’ he reasoned.
And it was hot. The weather was just humid and hot. I was sweating. I don’t know how he could drink coffee when it was that hot outside.
I sighed loudly and looked out the window again, and rested my forehead against it dramatically.
“What?”
I turned and looked over at him, he had his white dress shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows and a black vest around his chest with the top buttons undone on his shirt, it exposed his white wife beater. I could see sweat had started to glisten on his forehead. His dark chestnut brown, short hair had started to look greasy from the combination of the gel and sweat.
He watched me with his dark blue eyes as I looked him up and down before rolled my eyes and turned back to look out the window.
I wanted to at least turn on the air conditioner, but no.
‘The Jeep will overheat, and then we’ll be stranded’ was his excuse.
I didn’t reply to him as I continued to look out the window of his Jeep.
The radio didn’t even work, there is no reception. We’re in the middle of no where. I hope nothing happens out here because we would both die of heat exhaustion if it does.
I sighed again and laid my head back against the seat.
“Seriously if you sigh again”
“What are you going to do?” I asked turning to him.
He stay’s quiet, taking his bottom lip into his mouth.
I chuckled, “Yeah” I said.
I turned and continued my starring contest with the highway, and I heard the familiar jingle of his lucky rabbit’s foot keychain bumping against his house key on his key chair. Yeah some lucky rabbit’s foot, if it was lucky then we wouldn’t be here right now dying of heat.
After a few minutes, I turned to face him.
“Jace?”
“Hmm?” he glanced at me, taking his eyes off the road for a split second.
“Who gets married in the middle of July, in the dessert?” I questioned.
“Some people do” he defended.
“And why couldn’t we spring for plane tickets?” I questioned.
“Cause road trips are fun”
I groan, he had a sarcastic response for everything.
He chuckled, “C’mon,” he reached over to grab my hand putting it in his own. “Jus relax a little” he kissed my hand before he rested it on his lap, his still wrapped around mine.
He continued at his rapid speed down the highway that has no end in sight.
“We’re lost” I said finally,
He shook his head, “No we’re not. I know exactly where I’m going”
“We’ve been on this road for the past two hours” I said.
“I know we have,” he defended “We’ll be there in no time, just you wait”
I rolled my eyes again, as I turned to look out the window and removed my hand from his. I looked up at the sky, it’s completely clear, not a cloud in sight but I spotted an airplane cross over us.
That’s the only one I’ve seen so far. Maybe I should look around and count them and see how many I can find. That will entertain me.
I closed my eyes, no it won’t. I can feel myself start to fall asleep. It’s that feeling where you can hear what’s going on around you, but you’re not really conscious. When I heard him mumble, a few curse words.
I felt the car start to slow down, as he pulled over to the side of the road. I opened my eyes slowly and looked out the window and noticing the slow speed we were going at. I turned to look at him,
“Why did you stop?” I asked.
He put the car in park before he reached into the glove box and took out a map.
“We are lost!” I accused.
He didn’t say anything as he unfolded the map in front of him, and rested it on the steering wheel.
“At this rate, we’ll never get there” I continued.
“Calm down, will you?” he said, “I’m just checking”
“I bet” I mumbled “If we had taken the Lexus we could have had air, and GPS!”
All he does is roll his eyes at me as he looked down at the map. Who really can find where they are on the map, I mean really. That’s why we have Map Quest or GPS installed so we don’t have to use those maps anymore.
I watched him as he looked over the map, tracing his finger across it as he looked up at the road ahead. There are no signs; I don’t know how he can tell where we are.
I sighed and pulled down at my skirt that was sticking to my legs from the humidity. I knew I should have waited and changed there, I wouldn’t have been so uncomfortable.
“It’s too hot to just sit here Jace” I complained again.
He continued to ignore me as he looked over the map.
I sighed again and unbuckled my seat belt and pulled the handle on the door opening it. I can feel the hot air rushing into the car as I stepped out, my heels crunching into the dirt road. I closed my eyes as I felt the slight breeze blow over me, drying some of the sweat.
I slammed the door shut, and leaned against the side of the Jeep. I sighed as I feel the light breeze run over my face.
“Talli” I heard, but I choose to ignore him.
He dragged me out here, and he’s going to suffer. I turned my head and look down the road at the nothingness that was ahead.
“Talli” he repeated.
I rolled my eyes as I turned the other way, not giving him the satisfaction. I heard his door open as he made his way out of the Jeep. He reached his arms into the sky stretching them up as he made his way around the car toward me.
“We’re not lost” he defended again,
I watched him, my arms crossing over my chest as he made his way in front of me and put a hand on each one of my shoulders.
“Where are we then?” I questioned.
“We’re almost there, I jus wanted to check the map before ““
He stopped talking, and I noticed his eyes looking behind me. Before I could respond, he cried.
“Fuck!!” and he walked around me toward the back end of his Jeep.
I turned in time to see him kick the flattened back tire. I laughed and rolled my eyes, this is wonderful. He sighed and began to run his hands through his short hair, grabbing onto it in frustration.
“You wanted to take the short cut” I said, which immediately I realize wasn’t the right thing to say.
He gave me a death stare before he went to his trunk and opened it.
“You’re going to get all dirty, and your mom is going to kill you” I said as I walked toward him.
“There’s nothing else I can do” he said before pulling out a tire iron and a jack and set them on the floor.
He then pulled the handle on the floor of his trunk and immediately lifted it; a spare tire came into view. After much hustle and bustle he got the spare tire out of the trunk, and is rolled it toward the back and got the back of the Jeep hired on jack.
I watched him reach for the tire iron and started to screw the lug nuts off the tire. His black pants and shoe’s had started to get covered with dirt, and I could see the sweat that started to run down his face and his neck.
“Can you come over here and hold the lug nuts for me?” he questioned as he looked up at me.
I sighed and made my way toward him, and I held my hands out as he started to put them into my hand one at a time.
“This will be a fun story to tell when we get there” he replied as he finished his job.
I rolled my eyes, “Yeah, fun” I replied “If we ever get there”
“Stop being grumpy” he said, “I know you’re more spontaneous then this”
I didn’t say anything as he finished up. When he got the old tire off he rolled it to the trunk and put it inside before getting the new tire and putting it in place.
“I didn’t know you could change a tire” I said.
He looked at me a minute, “What did you think? A fairy came down and did it for me?” he chuckled.
I made a face at him, and pretended to laugh “Ha-ha” I rolled my eyes again “I jus figured you’d call Triple A”
“I would but” he chuckled “We don’t have reception out here” he winked at me.
I rolled my eyes again and watched him.
“Well good thing you know how then” I replied.
He chuckled before he took the last lug nut out of my hand and went back to working on tightening them onto the tire once again. After he took it I immediately wiped them together trying to get the dirt and dust off. He tightened the last one before he lowered the jack and stood back to examine his work.
“There, see” he said “That wasn’t so bad”
He turned and looked at me; he was a little out of breath.
“You’re a mess” I said as I took in his appearance.
He laughed and proceeded to put his tools back into the trunk before he closed the door and walked towards me again. I watched him as I crossed my arms over my chest again looked up at him a pout started to form on my lip. He leaned down and brushed his lips against mine lightly, before he looked at me again.
“Are you ready to go?” he asked, “or do you want to pout some more?”
I wrapped my arms around his waist, and leaned against him. Even though it was hot, his embrace felt good as I laid my cheek against his chest as he wrapped his arms around me tightly.
“Let’s get the show on the road” I replied, as I looked up at him.
He smiled and leaned down to kiss my forehead before he un-wrapped his arms from around me. He headed back to the drivers seat as I got into the passenger seat again, and buckled my seat belt preparing for the rest of the trip.
“So you really know where we are?” I questioned as he started the Jeep.
He nodded before un-folding the map and held it open for me to see. He pointed to some imaginary road that was on the map.
“We’re here” he explained, “and this is where we need to be”
He pointed to another destination on the map. I looked at the distance on the map from where we were and where we were going. It didn’t look that far, but this is a map. I sighed before sitting back in my seat again.
“Can I ask you something?” I ask as I looked at him.
He turned to me, as he started to fold the map up and put it away in the glove box and then started the Jeep.
“Sure” he said.
“Next trip, I pick the car and get the directions from Map Quest” I began “and no short cuts”
He chuckled, and rolled his eyes again before leaving over and we kissed again.
“Deal” he said.
