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Meggie1986
Junior Member

since 2001-05-22

Posts 41
California

0 posted 2001-05-29 11:07 PM

"I hate exits," Amy said glumly, staring out the car window.
"You've mentioned that," the boy driving the car replied.  "You say that every time I try and pull over."
"Well I do hate them.  We should just keep driving forever and ever."
"We have to stop somewhere."
"I realize that!  Do you think I don't know that?"
"Well I was just saying..."
"I know we have to stop somewhere.  I just wish we didn't have to stop at all.  That's all I mean."

Silence settled over the car again like a blanket.  Jeremy closed his eyes.
There were never any cars on the highway at this time.
"Open you eyes!  Your going to get us killed!" Amy nearly shouted at him.
"Well you won't let me pull over and you won't let me close my eyes, how am I supposed to get any sleep?"
"Put on the radio."
Jeremy pushed the small black knob then twisted up the volume.
"Oh, please don't play this!  You always have the worst music in your car.  You know I hate rap."
"What do you want to hear?"
"Fine, I'm sorry I snapped at you.  Lets just find a place to get some sleep."
"That's the best idea you've had all night."
"I said I was sorry."
"That's fine."

Neon lights directed the teenagers to a cheap hotel, probably the only one that was open at that hour.  Since they didn't have any suitcases, they just grabbed up their clothes and stumbled out of the car.  Exhausted as they were, they took the time to lock the car and check all the windows.
They climbed the steps to the lobby, a harshly lit room which made them squint.
"There's nobody here, Jer."
"Lets ring the bell."
"I don't want to wake anyone up."
"What do you want us to do?  Sleep in the lobby?  Come on."

The sound of the bell was harsh too, like the light, and like the older man that appeared almost as soon as the bell had been rung.
"Whadda ya want?"
"A room for the night, please," Jeremy said.  He knew how strange this must look and hoped the guy wouldn't call the police or something.
"Two rooms, he means," Amy added.
"Ok, two rooms."
"Whadda ya mean for the night?  The nights almost over anyway."
"Well we just want them until check out time tomorrow.  Does that mean you'll charge us less for them?" Amy asked, already anticipating the answer.
"Fifty-five a night a room.  That'll be a hundred and ten altogether.  Ya pay at check out later today.  Here's your keys.  Take the stairs over there."  And he disappeared again though the door behind the desk.
"Hmm.  Thought not," Jeremy said wryly to Amy.
"Well we did wake him up."
"You don't know that."
"I guess not.  Alright, lets go to bed."
"Yeah, ok.  We should have gotten one room.  It would have been cheaper."
"No we shouldn't have.  Let's go to bed"
"Alright."
"I'll see you in the morning."
"It is the morning."
"Whatever."

Later that morning Amy got up, washed and brushed her teeth.  She was anxious to get back in the car and get moving again.  Staying for to long in one place made her nervous.  The highway made her nervous to, but at least she was going somewhere in the car.  While pulling her hair back, she heard a knock on the door.
"You up then?" Jeremy asked.
"Yeah, its open.  Come on in."
"I heard you getting ready.  You woke me up.  You should have slept longer.  You're going to get sick."
"I'll be fine.  I'm sorry I woke you up."
"It's okay.  It was probably time to go anyway."
"You're all ready to go then?"
"Yep.  Let's head out."

The same man who gave them the keys earlier was sitting at the desk.
"One hundred and ten," he said glancing up.
Jeremy took a wad of cash out of his pocket and counted out five twenty-dollar bills and one ten.  The man at the desk looked up at him for
a second then shrugged his shoulders and accepted the money and the keys.

"A lot of things make you nervous," Jeremy told Amy as they started down the highway again, after she told him why she was up so early.
"I know.  I know.  I wish they didn't but they do."
"Staying in one place shouldn't make you nervous."
"I know, but it does.  It just does.  That's why we had to get out of there, you know?  Why we had to leave and go somewhere else.  Because we have to be polite and smile and pretend that everything is okay, and I didn't want to do that anymore! Don't you see!  I'm nervous that if we stay, it'll just get like that again."
"Calm down.  If you don't want to stay anywhere for now, we'll keep driving.  But we have to stop somewhere."
"But I'm only fifteen, and your only seventeen!  I mean, were almost still children!  We have to get back to school."
"It's okay."
"No, it's not and there you are pretending that it is!"
"Do I make you nervous to?"
“Of course not.”

Amy stopped talking.  She new Jeremy wouldn't question her.  The truth was that he did make her nervous.  She never knew what to say to him.  She had just asked him to drive her to California.  She didn't know why he kept talking of stopping.  She had made it clear that she just wanted a ride.
She had someone she needed to meet there.
"Anyway, you know I can't stop.  I've told you."
"Yeah, yeah, you need to get to California.  I just wish you would tell me why you're going there."
"There's somebody I have to meet."
"Yeah, but who?"

Amy shut up again.  She was glad she knew Jeremy.  He was sweet and it was really nice of him to offer to drive her across the country.  They were almost there anyway, and then he could just leave her and head home. Their families would worry, but that wouldn’t be her problem.  She’d let Jeremy handle that.  It would be just the kind of thing he’d love, telling her story.  Gone without a trace or forwarding address.

“You know, I think we’ll get to San Francisco by tomorrow at the latest,”
Jeremy said, jolting Amy out of her thoughts.
“Thank goodness!  We’ve been driving for almost two weeks!”
“Well, it wouldn’t have taken as long but the traffic was bad.”
“It’ll be nice to get a decent night’s sleep for once.”
“I know.  Where are you staying?”
“I’ll just be in San Francisco for one night.”
“But where will you be after that?”
“It’s this little town to the south of the city.  Near the Stanford collage.  Do you think if the traffic’s good, well make it tonight?”
“Yeah, maybe.”

They sat in silence again, watching the landscape change from gray, to brown to green.  The radio played unfamiliar tunes that neither one of them particularly like, but they didn’t really care.  After twelve days in a car with unfamiliar tunes, it didn’t matter anymore.  Amy liked it best like this.  When no one was talking and they could just relax and she could think of what she would do.  The day drifted lazily away, hour after hour.  Amy snoozed while Jeremy’s head nodded wearily, occasionally snapping up to look at the road.   The sky darkened slowly and accented the city lights ahead.

“So did you sleep well last night?” Amy asked Jeremy the next morning, after her last hotel on the road.
“Yeah, okay.”
“You ready for the last stretch?”
“Sure.  Are you?  It’s been fun.”
“Yeah. Thanks so much for offering to drive me.”
“I’ll bet you’ll be happy to be out of the car.  I have to drive all the way back by myself!”
“Oh, I’m sorry.  I’m sure you’ll manage.  You can pick up another girl on the way back.”
“If only.  How many teenage-girl hitchhikers do you see this time of year?”
Amy snorted and climbed into the car.

“Well, this is it.  Stanford University.  Now will you please tell me what you’re doing here?”
“There’s a friend I have to meet.”
“Please, Amy!”
“I don’t know what else to tell you!”
“When am I going to see you again?”
“I don’t know.  Maybe never.  Here.”
Amy stepped out of the car and pulled a handful of cash out of her pocket and handed it to him though the door.
“Take this and head back home.  You don’t really need to tell anybody where I am, but you can if you want to.”
“I don’t want your money.”
“Just take it.”
“You’ll need it.”
“I don’t know.  I don’t know.  I’ll try and call you sometime.”
“I’ll miss you.  Please just call to let me know you’re alright.”
“That’s sweet.  I’ll try.  I had better go now.”
She bent her head in the window and he kissed her lightly on the cheek.
“Bye.”

“This place is beautiful,” Amy thought to herself.

She walked down a shady street lined with palm trees too a little park.  It was empty except for a few young children and their parents, and a boy, about two years older than she was.  She smiled as he looked up at her with relief.

“Keith?”
“Hey Amy.”
“Nice to meet you!”
“You too.”
“Are you ready to go?”
“Sure.”

Together they walked out of the park and disappeared down the street.

*One meets his destiny often in the road he takes to avoid it.

Sharon
Member

since 2001-06-04

Posts 53
Within a whisper

1 posted 2001-06-04 10:32 PM

Ah..interesting....

One note: No hotel/motel desk clerk would ever let you sleep in a room without paying up front!! Otherwise, it's good..

Marilyn
Member Elite

since 1999-09-26

Posts 2621
Ontario, Canada

2 posted 2001-07-24 02:15 PM

Wow.....The end leaves you hanging. There has to be a sequal to this piece. I can see all sorts of horrible things happening to this young lady. (a shudder of mother concern ).

Marilyn

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