The Forever Girl

This is a work of fiction and any resemblance by any character or situation to any actual person or event is purely coincidental. All characters presented in this narrative are over the age of 18.

Chapter Two

I was sleeping well under the circumstances. The temperature outside was falling fast, and the cabin of the Expedition had gotten cold enough since we last killed the engine that I could see my breath. Most of me was quite warm, however, with Lisa curled up sleeping on my torso and both of our overcoats draped over the two of us. My feet, however, were cold and getting numb.

Maybe it was my phone buzzing in its cradle on the console. Maybe it was the voices outside as people had gotten out of their cars -- truckers, vacationers returning home -- and begun chatting with one another, developing a bizarre sense of community among people trapped in a helpless situation. Maybe it was Lisa squirming and mumbling in her sleep.

Whatever it was, I was by now awake. I looked down and saw the incoming call was from "NeeNee" -- my twin sister. It was the childhood appellation that she got from my inability to fully pronounce "Janine."

"Hey, Sis," I said.

"Oh, thank God! At least you're alive," she said. "I've been trying for hours to reach you and every time I do, I get this really fast busy signal. I just knew you'd get stuck in that clusterfuck on 95. It's all over the news. Stretches from King's Dominion to Prince William, they're saying. Nothing's moving and it looks like nothing will move til tomorrow after daybreak."

By now, Lisa had roused from her sleep and was able to hear what her roommate was saying. Inwardly, I cringed, suspecting that what she had heard would evoke another tearful episode for Lisa, but she just looked at me and curled into an even tighter ball under our overcoats.

"Hold on, sis," I said as I fumbled around in the console cup holder for the keyless fob that would allow me to turn on the engine -- and the heat -- without sitting up and dislocating Lisa. I found it, made the three requisite clicks and the six-cylinder engine stirred to life. Lisa smiled.

"Yeah, NeeNee, we pretty much concluded that we were stuck here a while ago. How the hell the state ever let this get so bad is just mind-boggling," I said. "We've been incommunicado for -- what time is it? -- about three hours now. Either the cellular towers were down or overwhelmed. Couldn't get a signal, no calls or texts or Internet in or out. So we changed into the warmest stuff we had in our suitcases -- multiple layers -- and Lisa and I got underneath our overcoats together to conserve heat. We actually fell asleep. Your call woke me up. It's Survival 101."

"You know they're predicting lows around 10 degrees tonight, right? You sure body heat's going to be enough?" Janine said.

"Well it will have to be, I suppose. I've also got that old blue camping blanket we can use. We have about a half a tank of gas, and that ought to allow for me to turn the engine on and heat the interior up for about 10 minutes every hour or so. We've got some of those ham biscuits they served on New Year's Day, so we won't starve," I said.

"Damn, Bro. That's like ... Donner Party circumstances. How's my roomie holding up?" she said.

"Here, talk to her," I said, handing the phone to Lisa.

"I would say 'Wish you were here,' but I like you, Janine," Lisa said. "Never dreamed I'd be in a situation like this."

As they talked, Lisa found her phone and began checking for calls and texts she might have missed while we slept. There was a text that just came in from her parents, concerned that she was stuck in this frozen traffic jam that they'd just seen reported on CNN. Nothing else. Specifically, nothing from Peter. She just shook her head over it as she listened to Janine.

"So you haven't heard from Peter, have you," Lisa asked. "I don't know if he tried to call or text and couldn't get through because of the bad cell coverage or what."

Silence on Janine's end before she finally said, "Uh, no. No I haven't hear from Peter. Your mom texted me to see if I'd heard from you, but ..."

Lisa just exhaled slowly. "Thanks, Janine. If you can text mom and just let her know that Jake and I will be OK, that would be great. How did I now know until just now that your brother was an Eagle Scout? I guess if I have to be stuck in a freezing mess like this, I could do worse than be stuck with an Eagle Scout."

"You're in great hands, Lees," Janine said. "Put Jake back on the line for me. See ya when I see ya."

Lisa handed the phone to me, smiling sweetly at me as she did so.

"Yeah, Sis," I said. She said she'd touch base with our parents, John and Evelyn Gordon, and Lisa's by phone to let them know we're OK so we don't have to worry about draining our phone batteries. She also said she'd call my colleagues she knew on the committee and Lisa's boss to let them know we were trapped and wouldn't be at work in the morning.

"Hey, Jake," she said barely above a whisper. "Be careful with Lisa. I don't think she's used to adversity like this. Also, I have some info on that asshole Peter, so call me when you can talk, OK?"

"Ten-four, NeeNee. Jake out," I said and hung up.

Lisa was crawling off my torso, over the console and back into her seat.

"OK, Boy Scout, answer me this: how are we going to use the bathroom? I've got to pee and I can't wait much longer," Lisa said.

Biology had given me a significant advantage here. I could drain myself into the empty Big Gulp cup I'd filled with a slushy Mountain Dew at a 7-Eleven all the way back in Charlotte. Lisa's urogenital makeup did not lend itself to so simple a solution. But this is when it's good to be an Eagle Scout.

"Well, I have a way if you're willing, but it's going to be cold on your exposed backside and your lady bits," I said.

It involved opening both her passenger side door and the door behind, essentially creating a stall affording her a bit of privacy. I could drape the camping blanket over the rear door for additional coverage. She could step just outside her door, drop her yoga pants and Pitt PJs, squat and temporarily melt a tiny section of the snowpack beneath her.

She eyed me balefully.

"If you got a better idea, I'm all ears, Lees. But it's the cleanest and it's the quickest. I really don't see how you pull that off inside the SUV," I said.

She kept staring, but then shook her head in resignation, saying, "OK, get the blanket and give me some privacy.

I found the blue, woolen blanket with one side treated and opened my door to walk around the vehicle and set up her impromptu car side restroom. The bitterness of the cold wind took my breath for a moment. I scurried to the opposite side of the car, opened the rear door first and draped the blanket over it, letting its bottom edge almost touch the snow. It would not stay draped over the door by itself, so I told Lisa to go ahead, open her door and I would hold the blanket in place and look the other way while she did her business.

She opened the door. I could hear the filthy, frozen snowpack crunch beneath her running shoes. I heard her slip her bottoms down and shriek as the cold hit her uncovered bottom. She dipped down did what biology required. Once done, she quickly slid her bottoms back into place, hopped back into her seat and slammed the door. I tossed the camp blanket into the back seat, and closed the rear door, and scurried back around the vehicle and got back into the driver's seat. I was shivering, as was Lisa, while the heater labored full blast to try and re-warm the cabin.

"All the c-comforts of h-h-home, am I right?" I said. The humor was lost on her.

"Screw this," she said, scrambling back across the console and resuming her near-fetal crouch position on my chest. I pulled our topcoats back over us and waited several minutes for the heater and our body heat chased away the chills.

"I hope I'm not giving you the wrong idea, but if I have to be out here, I'm glad it's with you," she said. "At least I feel safe."

I smiled and reached for the camp blanket, carefully plying it over our topcoats. It was long enough to reach from my feet on the floorboard by the gas pedal and brake, to just over the tops of our heads, hopefully keeping our noses and ears a little warmer once I killed the engine again.

"There. That ought to give us a little more warmth," I said.

It worked well. Soon, we were comfortable again and I killed the engine.

"So, why would I get the wrong idea?" I asked Lisa.

"Well, it's not every day that an unattached guy has an appreciative girl curled up in his lap and on his chest in the dark for hours on end," she said. "A situation like this could give a guy

ideas

."

"Lees, what we're doing is called surviving. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. But it's not like this is the honeymoon suite at the Cancun Ritz-Carlton," I said. "Besides, you're ...

spoken for

?"

She snorted derisively. "Right. Let's call it that. Here we are in danger of freezing to death and the son of a bitch hasn't even texted."

"Sorry, Lees. Maybe he tried and the lines were down? Don't know, just spitballin.' Trying to look on the bright side," I said.

"Maybe the bright side is that I'm done with him," she said. "You know, what amazes me about you guys -- guys in general -- is how bad you are at lying and hiding things and then not being aware of how bad you are at it, just assuming that women -- who are very intuitive -- believe your crap. It's infuriating, but on some level it's comical."

I shrugged. "I suppose so. But I don't think I've lied to you. At least I can't think of when I would have, but then, I haven't had anything to lie to you about."

"Always the Boy Scout, Jake," she said, shaking her head in amazement. "What time is it?"

I pulled down the camp blanket just long enough to see the clock on the dash and pulled it back up to conserve heat. "It's 10:17. Why? You got an appointment?"

Lisa checked her phone. No new messages.

"Nah. No reason," she said. She uncurled her pose and extended herself slightly out of the coiled position she had held earlier, rolling her front more directly onto the left side of my chest and abdomen. Where her nose was wedged beneath my jaw before, now it was pressed against my cheek. Beneath the camp blanket, there was little light, but I could see well enough to know that her eyes were wide open.

"What's wrong, Lees? What's special about 10 or 10:15 or whatever?" I asked.

"That's ...," she cleared her throat, "that's when we usually text each other good night when we're apart, how we sort of sign off for the day. Sometimes just the 'Zzzz' or a heart emoji. Others, just 'G'nite' or 'Sweet dreams.' Nothing you need to worry about."

I pulled her closer to me and wrapped my arms around her as they had been earlier.

"His loss, Lees," I whispered. "Whatever he's doing, well ... his loss."

I felt her lips press against my cheek. "Thank you, Jake. Now let's focus on staying warm enough to survive."

Within five minutes, she was asleep again. Amazing. And for at least an hour after that, I just watched her peaceful, sweet face, inches from mine, somehow in a deep slumber. The urge grew within me to kiss her, to comfort her, but my brain kept wrestling with my heart until finally my heart won out. I gently kissed her lips. She stirred slightly without ever waking. But I had heeded the inner voice and quieted its screaming inside me. That done, I relaxed, rested my head against Lisa's and let myself drift away, the two of us sealed safe and warm in our own cocoon, heedless of the dangerous, freezing chaos just outside our vehicle.