A roader to AZ!

It’s about 60 degrees, so life if good. We’re headed south on the smooth, pin striped black strip that extends for inches, feet, and miles around the US. “Here we go” I say. My hands start to shuffle through a binder full of shiny little discs, as I begin to look for my jam. It’s full of mixes from old friends, and artists like the Backstreet Boys and Aqua. I see the orange and white bubbled one, and shout “YES! The Spice Girls!” as a grin appears across my face from ear to ear. I notice the tension that rises in the blood vessels of his neck. Under my breathe I say “This is going to be a long trip.” We can hardly stand each other right now, and both knew this was going to be awkward, but we couldn’t cancel now. We are headed to get a vision of what we are getting into next year. Ricky and I (Quincy) became close friends by meeting at random summer parties. I remember thinking of him being so out of my league, but his swift dark hair grasped my attention that one night. I thought to myself, I would never have a chance! Lucky enough nine months is what is lasted. Now we are headed in the same direction! Great! We keep chug-a-luggin down the highways constantly saying things like “You’ve got terrible taste in music”, and “Yeah, well at least I can dance to it”, considering we did meet on the dance floor, and he was awful. As we continue these two thousand miles we both ride in silence, peering out the window at the beautiful scenery. I begin to have flashbacks of what used to be, wondering if we will ever give US a second chance. I glance to my left, he has this string running from his lap to his ear buds, not even trying to give my music a chance. Tears start to bud up in my eyes, we have reached our ending point for the day, as I gasp in relief I ran into this building with a large eight on it. I gather myself up and instantly just hit the sheets.

Next morning we get up to get an early start. We actually begin to talk, and Ricky asks me what was wrong last night, his voice even sounding a little shaky. I reply “Nothing, why?” Why did I even ask why, he knows me better than that and clearly knew I was upset. He really doesn’t care though so I just dropped it. I begin to text trying to avoid another talking moment. The air from the beautiful state of Arizona begins blowing through the vents, stirring up the smell of Ricky’s cheetos and the cologne he wears. It happens to be the one I bought him for his Birthday a few months back. The smell takes me back to when he used to hold me in his arms, but that was the past, now we are driving for our individual futures.

The sun starts beaming through the car windows, and seems to be getting hotter and hotter. I hear a funny noise and say “You’ve got to be kidding me right now!” Yep, it has reached 95 degrees outside and it’s about 120 degrees inside this moving vehicle! I start taking off layers and removing the flips flops and place my bright pink painted toes on the dashboard. We now have the sun roof opened, and all 4 windows rolled down. We begin having to take pit stops for more water and taking pictures by cool monuments along the way. We continue our journey as I’m slouched in the passenger seat, my thumb clicking to review our photos we have just taken. “We look pretty happy” I say, considering the situation were facing, neither of us looking forward to this trip, and no AC, awesome! He just throws me a grin.

We both begin to yawn as we’ve completed another long day of driving. We pull into our next place called La Quinta, hey, it’s kind of like my name. We park, placing my foot on the steady ground and walk to the back door to grab my bag. We check into our room, placing the little card and waiting for the little light to turn green. As the door swings open we just notice the fifty two inch flat screen, we both begin to argue who gets what bed based on the distance from the TV. I agreed to play rock, paper, scissors, and of course he wins. As he’s all pumped up he begins to surf through the channels. Meanwhile I grab my pink suitcase, slightly ripped along the bottom, and wheel it into the bathroom so I am able to get ready for bed. Face washed, hair up, and glasses on, I’m now ready to call it a night. I walk in front of the TV, and around his bed to pull back the covers of mine to get in. I get all tucked in and comfy and my heart starts to warm and my mind is in a boggle. He’s chosen a channel that is playing my all time favorite movie. I’m trying not to look at him in amazement, because he probably doesn’t even remember. I’ve got the covers pulled over my face, but just below my eyes, thinking I’m being sneaky and take a glance to my left. His soft hands begin to pat the white satin sheets next to him, we meet eye to eye and just smile. My heart starts beating fast, full of excitement and my knees spring up as I jump across to the open space on his bed, we both begin to laugh. It’s warm and I feel secure with his arms wrapped around me. We don’t move and he begins to fall asleep, but I lay here wondering what tomorrow is going to bring.