This couldn't be a worse situation. Our POS car broke down on the side of the road. My phone is dead and my idiot boyfriend dropped his in the lake at the end of our hike. Not that it would matter, I doubt there's any cell phone coverage out here. Chase, my boyfriend, has the car hood open and he's staring down at it like he actually knows anything about cars. Which is laughable, he's the most "city boy" man I've ever met; not that I know anything about cars either, but I'm a girl, I'm not supposed to know these things. We sit in the waning daylight for 30 minutes without any sign of human life.
"Why'd we have to drive out into the middle of nowhere for a hike?" I complain.
"I heard that the lake was really beautiful, I mean it was beautiful, I've never seen water so clear." Chase replies.
"Were you so mesmerized by the pretty water that you couldn't keep a handle on your phone?" I ask. Chase blushes.
"I told you, I stumbled on a rock and just let go. It wasn't on purpose." Chase responds sheepishly. I know I'm just being bitchy. None of this is really his fault, and I was the one who wanted to go hiking, Chase just picked the hike. I'm tired and hungry and right now I just want to blame someone for our misfortune.
"Hey look! Headlights!" Chase suddenly exclaims.
"Finally! It's about time one of these local rednecks drives by." I say as Chase and I start waving our arms frantically, trying to flag down the vehicle. The rusty, old, red truck rolls to a stop outside next to us. I look inside and see a burly, ruddy man at the steering wheel.
"You folks okay?" He asks with a twangy accent.
"Yeah, we're fine. Just some car troubles and two dead phones." Chase yells over the diesel engine. The man in the truck looks around at the surrounding. He's handsome for a hick.
"You couldn't have broke down in a worst spot, friend. But I'll take a look under the hood and see if I can't help you out," the man in the truck says. He slams his rust bucket in park and kills the obnoxiously loud engine. His door squeals as he opens it. When he stands up I'm surprised by his height. He looks clear over the cab of the tall truck. He crosses in front of the truck and tips his ball cap at me.
"Miss," he says to me. He's wearing a stained white T-shirt and jeans. His T-shirt barely fits around his substantial arms. His hands look rough and they're stained with hard work. I can tell that he's very muscular from hard labor. "Now this is a man," I think to myself. The man from the truck takes his ball cap off and turns it backwards before leaning over the engine. I bite my lip and lean over to get a better view of his work. His massive, scared hands touch here and there with clear knowledge of how an engine operates, or at least I assume so.
"Ah, thought so," he says as he rips a rubber tube from the engine like it was held on by sticky tape. "Wow, he's so strong," I think.
"These cars tend to blow a hose in the heat. I could fix it for ya, but I'd have to run back into town to get the part," the man says.
"Can't you just fix it here?" Chase asks. The man from the truck looks at him with a bored, demeaning expression. He turns the hose toward chase in me showing the massive hole that's been blow out the side of it.
"What? You think I can just throw some duct tape on that shit and it'll be fine? Besides y'all need coolant too. I ain't got the part nor the coolant with me. Those are back in town," he says obviously annoyed.
"Well, what about a tow? Can't we just get a tow," Chase asks.
"Nah, Gary runs a tow out of his little auto shop, but he's out fishing this weekend. Won't be back until Monday. Which means he can't fix it until Monday if that's what your next question is. Like I said, I could run back into town and grab the part and the coolant for y'all and have it fixed in about 5 minutes. I forgot my wallet at home, though." The man points in the direction he was headed. "So, one of you is gonna need to come with me to pay for the stuff. One of you should stay here and make sure no teenagers slash your tires or worse while we're gone."
"Well, what about..." Chase says as I cut him off.
"Chase, shut the fuck up. I'll go with the man and pay for the stuff. You stay here with the car and safeguard it," I say with a tone he should know not to question.
"I'm not sure it's a good idea, honey. Why don't you stay with the car and I'll go," Chase says.
"Quit being a bitch. I'm not staying here to fight off a band of teenagers. I'll be back soon," I reply as I fetch my purse out of the car. I start heading toward the truck when the man cuts me off and opens the passenger door for me.
"I...Well... It's Just..." Chase stammers.
"Dude, man up. It'll be fine," I say dismissively. I climb into the truck and the man shuts the door behind me.
"It'll be about an hour, maybe hour and a half. It's a drive into town and then I've got to convince Clive to open the auto parts store after hours. I imagine you're hungry. Want us to bring some food back for you?" the man asks as he walks around the front of the truck.
"No, no, that's fine. I've got a bunch of protein bars in my hiking pack," Chase responds. The man looks at him for a moment like he's got an ass for a forehead.
"Uh, huh, well enjoy 'em, I guess." Then the man climbs into the truck with me, slams his rusty door and turns over the loud engine. He puts his hand behind my seat and turns to look in the rearview as he backs up and turns around. I take a peek at his massive, muscle taught arm as it rests near my head. And then he's off down the road. Looking around at the interior of his truck I find that it's every bit as dirty and worn out as I suspected it would be.
"Guess cleaning this thing would be like putting lipstick on a pig, huh?" I say with a snarky attitude.
"Excuse me?" he asks while giving me a side eye.
"You must not go on a lot of dates, otherwise I'd imagine this bucket of rust would look nicer," I respond.
"Miss, this here is a work truck. It ain't supposed to be pretty. I use it around my farm and to get to town for work. You're clearly from the city so this probably won't mean anything to you, but a dirty truck is a sign of a hard-working man, 'round here women like hard working men," he says firmly.
"Hmm, guess I wouldn't understand. I'm more into the trust fund, finance guy who pays other people to clean his car." I know I'm being pretentious here, but I really want him to understand how inferior his lifestyle is to mine. He turns his head to look at me for an uncomfortable amount of time before looking back to the road. Then a mischievous smirk appears beneath his bearded face. Damn, he's handsome. Put that man in a suit and I'd be as slutty as I was in college. "What? Got something to say?" I ask, bitchingly.
"How's that trust fund, finance boy working out for ya today, darlin?" he says, amused with himself. Darlin? Darlin? Who does this redneck think he is calling me darlin?
"It's working fine. He provides me with a lifestyle I'm sure you can only dream of," I retort. The man just grunts and nods his head. Stupid fucking hick. What does he know? We drive for another 10 minutes in the desert with no sign of life. "Where the fuck is this podunk town? You're not just driving me out in the middle of nowhere, are you? You should know, I've taken self-defense classes, so don't get any ideas." He turns his head and slowly surveys me from foot to head, taking stock of me. His eyes are dark and intense as he measures me up. I can feel myself getting hot from the blatant way he checks me out. Then he smiles and turns his attention back to the road. "Like what you see, asshole?" I say to him.
"Are all city girls so bitchy?" he asks. My mouth hangs open at the disrespect. I go to say something but he cuts me off. "Hey, don't bother. Whatever clever thing you're going to respond with, don't. I'm being nice here doing you a favor. Don't push me lady," he says sternly. How dare he tell me what to do. I'm a business woman and I won't be talked to like that, especially from some inbred, hillbilly.