There was a long silence in the cab when I finished my story about Katia and me, I guess my story brought us both down a little, I didn't mean it to, but there it was. Soon enough, though, Virginia and I began chatting again, about a ton of different things. I found myself liking the brown-haired, brown-eyed young girl. I had been put off by her earlier comment about trading sex for her room back in Bullhead City, but when I asked her about that, it seemed that it was more of a boyfriend/girlfriend thing, not the outright sex for money thing I'd first thought.
I know a girl with her looks would have to have a fair amount of experience with sex, at least in my experience. Her eyes were deep and dark, the kind of eyes that people get lost in. Her complexion was tan, and under the quick fix up of the bruise her boyfriend had laid on her, and her smeared tears, she had fine features. Her voice was melodic and pleasing, and she seemed very bright, and sharp, asking a lot of questions.
She was shorter than me, about 5' 3" and around 130 pounds, and shapely, with full breasts and a generous ass. Out of my league, that was for sure, but a girl can look, and dream, right?
"I thought I loved him," Virginia said, talking about her boyfriend, AKA 'Mike the Ass Hole.'
"At first he was sweet to me...the sex, well, I didn't really care about that so much." She hesitated. "Then he got into that whole crystal meth thing. I could see things going downhill rapidly. And now, now I've got to be more responsible. There's more than just me to think about." She was referring to her pregnancy, which had apparently brought about the abrupt breakup with 'Mike.'
As we pulled into a truck stop just on the far side of Albuquerque, I told Virginia that I had to take a ten hour break so that I didn't go over my hours of service "I'm not about to lie on my log book," I told her. "Trucking's my life, I don't want to lose my CDL.'
"Well, thanks for the lift all this way - I don't know what I would have done without you," she said. Her smile looked kind of too bright to me, y'know? Kind of a 'stiff upper lip' look?
"Umm, you still don't really have any prospects, do you?" I asked her. She looked apologetic.
"No, but I've imposed way too much," she said.
"Look, I don't want you to think I'm coming on to you, though you ARE really cute, but how about we finish this trip together? I can drop you off at your parents, I've got a pretty big cushion of time going this way, and I'd welcome the company..."
"Seriously?" she asked, her brown eyes on mine. "You REALLY wouldn't mind? Oh, but I'm costing you money..."
"Well, you can pay me back when you get to your parents. It's only meals and stuff anyway," I said. "You can sleep here in the back tonight, it's a little cozy for two, but I promise, I'll behave." I smiled, and she smiled back.
"I'd like that," she said.
"Oh, and my house is in Fort Smith - you know, in Arkansas - so we can overnight there tomorrow, okay?"
"Sure," she said.
"Okay, since that's settled, let's go get sump'n to eat, and then a shower, okay?"
"Wow, a shower would be GREAT!" Virginia said. "I feel as grubby as hell."
We hoofed it over to the restaurant, which was fortunately set up as a diner rather than the usual brand name fast food place. It would be nice to have something closer to real food for a change. We both showered first, and when Virginia came out of her shower cubicle, I whistled.
"You sure clean up good," I said.
Virginia blushed. "Hey, speaking of looks, you said something earlier today.....is it okay if I mention it?"
"Umm, sure," I said, not knowing what she was talking about.
"Umm, you said that you had a face like shoe leather. You're a good looking woman, Linda, you shouldn't put yourself down like that. I'll admit you've got a pretty good tan, though..." she looked apologetic.
I remembered the brief frown that had passed over her face when I said that, in telling Katia's story.
"Well, I appreciate it, but this mug has been through a lot. It's okay that I'm a little weathered, I don't mind." I did mind, though, everyone wants to look good, and accepting age is kind of tough, at least for me. I'd gone through my life, and what did I have to show for it? 38 years old can be ancient, depending on where you've spent those years.
Virginia looked dubious. "If you don't mind, I could show you a few things you can do, I had a job at a spa for a year. How about when we get to your house, okay?" I shrugged. I'd never really gotten into lotions and such since entering the military. Travel light, or don't travel at all.
We finished up in the female trucker's locker room - and thank god for those, I remember the old days - and I put my arm around Virginia's back, she put her arm around my back and we stood looking at the mirror. "Looks like we BOTH clean up pretty good, huh?" She squeezed my hand.
"We sure do," she said. We headed down to the restaurant. It was a pleasure to tuck into their meatloaf. Virginia had the pan-fried chicken. We each had two beers, well, I had two Buds and she had two O'Doul's. As I said before, I don't drink much, and never before driving, but I had a mandated 10 hour break, so I didn't see much problem with it this time.
"Oh, this is GOOD!" she said, wolfing the meal down.
"Don't eat the bones, now," I kidded her. She pretended to throw the naked leg bone at me. It was nice to have somebody to kid with on the road.. I rarely ever have passengers. We finished up with 'pie alamo'.
"'Alamo?'" she asked.
"Just something from when I was a kid," I said. "I used to call pie with ice cream, 'pie alamo,' cuz I didn't know any better, and my parents thought it was cute."
"Tell me about your family," Virginia asked.