Thank you so much to Bamphire, who helped me edit this story.
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Giada was in a long distance relationship with her boyfriend Jamal that like most had been anything but easy. When she had started dating him, their senior year of high school, she hid it from her parents. Her strict Italian family did not want her dating a black man. They had found out about him when she was at college, and although it was still a struggle at times, Giada felt after almost a year since then, her parents were finally beginning to warm up to her boyfriend.
Jamal and Giada were both finishing their first year of college now, but they were thousands of miles apart at opposite ends of the state. To teenagers that was like different planets. Although they called each other nearly every day, they seemed to fight a lot.
When spring break came along Giada and Jamal flew back to their hometown and visited their parents the first day. Giada had planned a trip to Vegas, so they could spend quality time together for the rest of the week. Giada's parents made comments about not getting married or she should never come back home. She only shook her head and rolled her eyes.
Jamal arrived at Giada's at seven in the morning to pick her up. He texted her that he was outside and a few minutes later Giada came out the door wearing hip-hugging jeans and a low cut blouse that showed the cleavage of her ample breasts. She dressed to impress, not wanting the girls in Vegas to draw too much of Jamal's interest. She was used to a lot of attention from men, but she was fiercely loyal to Jamal, even when some guys didn't care that she had a boyfriend.
She carried a small bag and her purse to the car and got into the passenger seat. They were only on the road for a half hour when she had fallen asleep, because she wasn't used to being up so early. She slept for about an hour and woke up to a phone ringing. Jamal quickly clicked off his phone and shoved it into the cup holder.
"Who was that?" she asked.
"Uh, just one of my friends"
"Who?" she questioned again, with a hint of jealousy.
"Someone from college. My partner in Chem lab," he replied in an offhand manner.
Giada wondered if it was a girl. Jamal had cheated on her a couple of months ago, but she was trying to forgive him and move on. She wasn't able to go back to sleep. Jamal pulled off the freeway off-ramp to a gas station. While Jamal went inside to get something to drink, Giada glanced at the phone that remained in the cup holder and picked it up. She clicked it on and started looking through the recent calls. The missed call was from "Jenna." She saw quite a few calls from that number. Giada pressed the "call back" button and after ringing once, a woman answered the phone.
"Oh baby, I miss you already," the woman on the phone said.Giada grimaced in anger, but remained quiet. She put her ear next to the phone to listen.
"I can't wait for you get back," the woman on the line continued. "My roommate is going to visit her parents next week, so you can sleep over." Giada hung up the phone.
"That bastard," she swore aloud, returning the phone to the cupholder. She waited impatiently for her boyfriend to come back. He walked towards the car and gestured for Giada to open the gas port. Giada clicked the button and Jamal began to pump the gas. He smiled at her and she gave a big fake smile back. After they were finished at the gas station, they pulled back onto the freeway. Jamal sipped on the soda he had bought at the mini-mart.
"Do you want any?" he asked.
"Are you cheating on me?" she asked, crossing her hands under her breasts.
Jamal, taken by surprise, spit the soda out onto the dash.
"No. Why are you accusing me?" he asked.
"Who is Jenna?"
"No one, just... some girl," he said. "I told you she's my Chem lab partner."
"I saw your missed call and redialed her number. She said she couldn't wait for you to sleep over," she said with a snarl.
"Come on baby," Jamal said. "Nothing happened."
"Damnit Jamal, you said you were gonna change!"
"I'm sorry baby, I swear it will never happen again," he promised.
"I'm tired of you making promises to me. Stop the car."
"Just calm down baby."
"Stop the car!" she screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Ok, ok," he said pulling to a stop. She opened the door and got her stuff from the back seat before getting out of the car.
"I never want to see you again you bastard. Get out of here," she said, and slammed the door.
Jamal rolled down the passenger window. "Baby we aren't even to Vegas yet, at least—"
"Stop calling me baby and get the fuck out of here you two-timer!"
"Ok, if that's the way you want it," he replied.
He accelerated, the tires screeching as he sped away. She stood by the road, very angry. She shook her head, and started walking down the freeway with her bags, swearing.
It was no longer than 10 minutes or so when a Honda Odyssey honked once as it passed her and pulled over on the shoulder. The door on the side opened and a tall college kid stepped out.
"Need a ride?" he asked with a grin. He was wearing some baggy jeans and a sleeveless shirt that revealed his muscular arms. His chestnut-colored hair was buzzed short and brown eyes seemed friendly.
"No that's ok," she said.
"Are you sure? Are you walking all the way to Vegas?" he asked.
"Well ... no, I guess not," she said approaching the van. "Thanks," she said with a nod. She was still a bit mad from the encounter with her boyfriend.
"I'll help you with that," he said.
"Ok." She handed the bag to him and looked into the van. There were three other guys in the vehicle. They all looked pretty cute and athletic, almost like a clothing store advertisement. "You said you're going to Vegas?" she asked dubiously.
"Oh yeah Vegas baby!" The exclamation came from a young man with light brown hair and pale skin sitting in the back.
"Kyle's a big gambler," said the guy next to her. "Hop in and we can get going. It's fucking hell out here," he said mopping the sweat from his brow.
Giada gave one last look to the hot desert outside, and then she entered, sitting next to Kyle.
"Let me squeeze in here," the guy who had first greeted her said as he sat next to Giada and closed the van door as she slide over a bit closer to Kyle. The two guys that flanked her were very hot, she thought to herself. Giada started thinking about how Jamal had hurt her. If he cheated on her then maybe...
The driver started getting back on the freeway.
"How long were you walking?" said the young-man with muscular arms.
"Only a few minutes," Giada confessed.
"Damn, we got lucky," Kyle said.
"Really? Don't you mean I got lucky?" Giada smiled, a bit put off.
"I just meant..." he struggled for words.
"Eh ... shut up Kyle," the driver said. "Hey girl what's your name," he asked turning his head. Although the driver was black, his eyes were hazel colored with long thick eyelashes. Giada stared into his beautiful eyes.
"Giada," she said coyly. "Are you guys models or somethig?" she asked.
"No," he chuckled his reply, "just dumb jocks in college."
"Giada, that's a pretty name," the guy next to her said. "I'm Marlon," he said holding out his hand.
"Hi Marlon," she smiled, as he took her small hand in his, giving her a gentle yet strong handshake.
"I'm Tyrone," the driver said, "and this fool," he said putting his hand on the head of the guy in the passenger seat, "is Chris." Chris batted his hand off.
"Cut it out man," he said.
Tyrone was very muscular with caramel-colored skin, a wide chest, and a general V-shape to his torso while Chris had much darker skin and was of medium built.
"Kyle and I were on the same football team in high school," Marlon said.
"I was the one that got blamed for not catching his shit-ass throws," Kyle joked.
"Whatever bro," Marlon retorted. "Chris's on the UCO team with Tyrone and I," Marlon explained.
"Ok," Giada nodded. "So you guys decided to go to Vegas for spring break?" Giada asked tentatively.
"Hell yeah," Kyle said.
"That's cool," Giada said.
"So are you hitching all the way to Vegas?" Marlon asked. "Isn't that kinda dangerous. I mean especially for..."
