Every square inch of the Ford Explorer was packed with boxes and suitcases. The space between the two front seats was filled with crushed cans of Red Bull and empty bags of beef jerky. Darrin, the smarmy frat boy behind the wheel, was definitely more interested in the sleeping, brunette beauty in the passenger seat than the desert highway in front of him.
It was obvious why. In addition to Amanda being about as near a 10 as one could get, she had just shifted in her seat and her perfect right breast now seemed close to popping out of her too-tight blouse. Was that part of a nipple he was seeing? Why couldn't this happen before the sun went down when there was more light? The boys at the frat house back in Dallas were going to want to see this. He reached back behind the seat and fumbled around for a moment before pulling out a small video camera. He alternated between watching the road and getting the camera rolling. He taped her for a few moments before he saw the sign welcoming them to Arizona. Just beyond that sign was a billboard for the Stateline Motel, exit now. The Red Bull just wasn't doing it and he was looking at seven more hours to L.A. She'd be pissed but fuck it; he wasn't going to risk his life for her. It might be different if she was his girlfriend, but she wasn't, she was someone else's.
He parked in front of the motel office and shut off the Explorer. He took one last stare before shaking her shoulder. "Hey, wake up, we're here."
She slowly opened her eyes and stretched her arms out. She quickly realized her tit was nearly exposed and scrambled to readjust. She looked around and was annoyed at the surroundings. "Here where? This doesn't look like L.A."
"It's not, we're in Arizona," came his casual reply. "We're still seven hours out."
"So why are we stopped then?"
"I'm beat, I can barely keep my eyes open."
"You swore to me you could make it without stopping."
"Yeah," he said with mock concern. "I don't know what I was thinking. Dallas to L.A. in one stretch is a long-ass ride."
She turned away and shook her head in disgust. What an asshole. She definitely would have done this a different way if she'd seen this coming.
"You're welcome to take over any time," he said, like that was a real option.
Amanda had gotten a DUI eight months prior and lost her license for a year. When she decided she wanted to take a break from school and move back home to California she posted a flyer in the Student Union for someone to drive her and her stuff in her SUV, she'd pay for gas and food. The deal was, though, they had to drive straight through since there was no money in the budget for a motel stopover. Darrin was the only one who answered the ad. After asking around, she found a friend of a friend who knew him and deemed him trustworthy enough to do the job.
So now here they were, in the middle of the desert, in a motel parking lot arguing about something that was not supposed to be an issue. She knew she was at his mercy and she hated it. She wanted to smack the smirk off of his face. "I guess the rooms are on your dime," she said, as she opened the door of the Explorer.
He watched her perfect ass walk into the motel office.
*******
Amanda emerged from the motel office restroom just as Darrin was receiving the room keys. She barely noticed him since she was knee-deep in a cell phone conversation with her girlfriend who apparently was not happy about the stopover. "Look, Claire, what do you want me to do? I'll be there tomorrow, it's the best I can do at this point."
Darrin walked up to her and shook the keys in her face. She shot him a look that clearly said, "fuck off" and turned away to finish the conversation. "I have to go, I'll call once we're on the road again."
He made a few obnoxious sexual gestures behind her back then looked over at the redneck desk clerk hoping for a laugh. He got one. She quickly turned around, wondering what the laughter was all about. They immediately stopped. Each received a dirty look before she turned her back to finish her conversation. "Yes, he knows about us and yes, we have separate rooms."
Darrin looked at the desk clerk again, stuck two fingers in front of his lips and wiggled his tongue between them. The desk clerk raised and eyebrow and smiled. "I love you too," she said, and closed her phone.
"So, I've got good news and bad news," he said. "Good news is we've got a room."
"
A
room? As in
one
room?"
"That's the bad news, they only had one left."
"You have got to be kidding."
"It's cool, though, 'cause the good news is it has two beds."
He held out her key. She stared at him for a moment with hate in her eyes then snatched the key from his hand. "This is so
not
cool."
"Oh relax, I wouldn't think of coming between you and Claire."
She was out the door before he finished the sentence.
Darrin looked at the desk clerk and smiled. "I am such a liar."
******
By the time an hour had gone by, she had calmed down and let him buy her dinner. He had traded in his obnoxious frat boy persona for a gentler, softer side. She wondered why he kept it suppressed. It was quite nice, actually.
They sat on his bed with vegetarian pizza, a couple of bottles of merlot and a lot of laughter. He was actually a funny guy. Who knew? Just as she sucked down the last drop of wine out of her plastic motel cup, he was offering to refill it. She turned it down at first since she felt a little tipsy, but since there was only about a cupful left, it was easy to persuade her to polish it off.