Fuck me, I was tired.
The journey back from Scotland seemed to be taking forever. We had been training around Kinlochleven, and the weather had been characteristically horrendous. For two weeks we had been Yomping up and down mountains, conducting quarry days, abseiling and doing cliff assaults. The intensity, much like the weather, had been relentless. Fatigue clawed at my muscles and my back ached from carrying the Bergen.
I considered myself fortunate in one respect; I'd driven straight from a course in Newcastle to meet the rest of the company to conduct the training. This meant that I was able to get away earlier than the rest of them; their coach wasn't due until tomorrow, and would take around 14 hours to get back to the barracks in Plymouth, as opposed to my 10 in the car.
My eyes felt heavy; the rain was pounding on my windscreen and the wipers were making a gentle rhythmic clunking sound as they moved frantically to clear the rain. There seemed to be nothing on the radio, my mind wandered as the monotony of the wet tarmac rolled on.
The air was humid, with thunderstorms expected, so I turned on the air conditioning in an attempt to keep the windscreen, and my brain, clear. The cool air blasted my face, but I was becoming increasingly drowsy. I opened the window for some proper fresh air. The fat rain drops spat on to my face, momentarily providing a stimulus, but I knew I'd need a break from driving soon, or I'd likely drift off.
At this point, I'd been travelling for three and a half hours. At best, I still had another six or seven to go. My petrol gauge showed that I had just under a quarter of a tank left; I decided that the next service station I came to, I'd have to take a break.
I was somewhere near Lancaster when I decided to refuel and rest, pulling off the slip road and into the car park of the services. I parked as close to the entrance as I could, pulling into a space and switching off the engine. I sat for a moment, hoping that the rain would subside, but there was no respite. I had to go in, but knew that the first few seconds would see me completely drenched, not least because I'd left my coat in the boot of the car.
Opening the door, I braced myself for the deluge and the inevitable pain in my legs and back that came from driving for so long. I hurried to the boot, grabbing my coat out and slamming the door. It was a near impossible mission to try and put it on, so I threw it over my head ran for the entrance, my head down to shield my eyes from the driving rain.
I got into the entrance and shook my coat off. I was absolutely piss wet through, my t shirt looked like I'd sprayed it on. I spied the toilet sign and headed towards it, deciding I'd use the hand dryer to dry myself off.
Walking past the café, I noticed a large clock on the wall: 1820. I stared at the clock as I walked, working out that I would probably get back to the barracks around 0100, depending on how many more stops I would have to make to stop myself from falling asleep. As I looked back across the café, I noticed a girl sat alone reading. She looked up and seemed to be watching me as I walked. I'd been wrong about these things before, so I looked over my shoulder to see if she continued.
She smiled at me as our eyes met, I smiled back, and she looked down, as if to continue reading.
'Oh; technical' I smiled to myself as I turned into the toilets. A technical is when two people check each other out; basically means you eye fucked each other.
And that was DEFINITELY a technical.
I dried my t-shirt and the inside of my jacket as much as possible before heading back into the lobby and café area. Instinctively I looked for the girl at her table. Fuck. She'd gone.
I scanned the room, hoping that I'd spot her, but nothing. I went and got a coffee and sat at the hard plastic table.
I closed my eyes briefly and pictured her; I wasn't sure what she'd been wearing under the table, but the fitted shirt she wore had accentuated her full breasts and petite shoulders. Her pretty face had rested on a manicured hand as she stirred her coffee. I was threadders now, having seen her, I'd hoped for a bit of flirting at least as a way to distract me from the driving hours ahead. I pondered the image of her in my head some more, recalling her dark hair, swept into a ponytail, revealing a slender neck.
I had only had a few sips of my coffee, when I realised how awake I felt. I put it down to the combination of my drenching from the storm and the mental stimulation of the girl.
I bought a couple of Red Bulls and a sandwich from what must have been the most expensive shop in the world; British motorway services being the modern equivalent of Dick Turpin. The rain had eased to just spitting so I ran to the car, fuelled up at the petrol station and continued my journey.
I'd been driving for another three hours, wide awake thanks to the Red Bull kicking in, and was lost in my own world, singing and dancing away to David Guetta at full volume.
It was just before 2200 now, the motorway was quite quiet and the rain was just a patchy effort. The clouds had mostly cleared, and the sun was low in the sky, making a bright orange smear across the horizon. 'Red sky at night; shepherd's delight' I thought to myself. As a kid I was told that that meant that tomorrow would be a better day.
I hit the M5 motorway, unaware that my journey was about to get considerably more interesting.
Singing and cutting shapes with my arms, I passed a rather sporty Audi. I looked at the driver. She looked at me.
"Fuck!" I exclaimed. It was her; the mysterious girl from the services. My heart leapt with excitement and I realised I was grinning like an idiot. She smiled and laughed at me and I instantly felt embarrassed at the dreadful car karaoke display she'd witnessed. I decided to brazen it out, returning her smile and winking at her. Shockingly cheesy, but it worked as she blew a kiss back to me. The play stopped as soon as it had started, as I saw lights flashing in my rear view mirror, apparently the impatient twat in the car behind me didn't appreciate the fact that I was flirting.
I sped up and moved in front of her to let him pass. Looking in my mirror, I saw her dancing, singing and looking at me, mocking what she'd just seen me doing. I chuckled to myself and held up my index finger. She responded with an exaggerated gasp and moved to overtake me. Pulling alongside me, she blew a kiss and waved as if she was going to exit at the next junction. Instead, she sped off, demonstrating the fact that her car was more powerful than mine. I tried to catch her, but my car just didn't have the uptake because it was full of kit.
About two miles later I caught her, only because she had slowed to allow me to. Coming alongside her, she gave a sarcastic disappointed face and tapped her watch. I shook my head and nodded in agreement. I wanted to know more about her so I fumbled in my glove box and found a pen and an old envelope, scribbling as thick as I could 'Hi im Daz' and held it up for her to read. She squinted, reading the message, smiled again then fumbled around in her car.
She evidently found what she had been looking for and wrote on the window 'Im Alex'. She'd used a lipstick. Genius. Not only was this girl pretty, she was creative. She wound down the window, apparently trying to clear the message. As she wound it back up, the lipstick smeared in long streaks. Using a tissue to try and wipe, she ended up smearing it even more. I couldn't help but laugh; maybe she wasn't so bright after all! She looked embarrassed, but managed to clean it off a bit before I moved in front of her again. Looking in my mirror she was miming something, pointing at me, then moving her hand in front of her mouth back and forward.
Fuck, she wasn't doing what I thought she was, was she?! That's the blowjob sign?! I raised my hand and shrugged my shoulders to express that I didn't understand. She came alongside me and repeated the sign, pointing down the road. Damn right I wanted her to suck me off! I smiled widely and nodded, repeating the sign back to her and giving her a thumbs up to show how much it would be appreciated. Her face went through a few expressions within seconds; confusion, realisation, shock, and then finally fits of laughter. She shook her head and signalled 'NO!' With a slower motion she tilted her hand back and forth in front of her mouth then decisively pointed at a sign.
I looked at what she was pointing at.
SERVICES COSTA COFFEE
The realisation hit me like a punch to the gut 'FUCKING DOHHHH!' it was a sign for the next services and she had been signalling do I want a coffee, mimicking sipping a cup. I slapped my forehead and shook it signalled 'sorry' and gave her a thumbs up. She laughed and moved in front of me and I followed her off the exit to the services.
We pulled up next to each other and she gathered together her things as I got out. My legs had stiffened again and I felt all my joints clunk as I straightened up. The rain had stopped but the air was still humid and damp. The natural light had completely gone now, and my eyes adjusted to the electric glow of the lights. I closed my door and she got out of her car. I moved to the front of mine, looking her up and down for the first time.
This Alex girl had a fantastic figure. A dark coloured fitted skirt came to her knees, her high heels emphasising her slim legs. The white shirt I had noticed earlier hugged her slender waist, and as I caught her side profile her breasts looked high and firm. Even in her heels, she was smaller than me, perhaps 5'3". She looked at me as she locked her car, putting her bag over her shoulder.
I heard her voice for the first time:
"Hi, we haven't officially met! I'm Alex!"
"Hey Alex, I'm Daz, pleased to meet you!"
