"Are you sure you know where you're going?"
James and his best friend, Lakyrra, were on their way to a kegger. They'd grown up together, wound up at the same college - Varden University - and now they were both going to their first college party together. The two 18-year-olds knew one thing for certain—there would be enough alcohol there to fill an Olympic-sized pool.
James frowned and turned his SUV left at the intersection.
"So...I'll take that as a 'no,'" Lakyrra smirked. Soon she was smiling at him. They were hopelessly lost and yet instead of getting pissed off about it, she was just smiling at him.
James started grinning like an idiot.
"What?" The girl's eyebrows went up.
"Nothing, it's just..."
"Yes...?" Lakyrra's eyes narrowed. "Don't make me tickle it out of you."
"I just love how you don't let stuff upset you. You just go with it. You're my adaptable little sidekick," he teased.
"I am not little!"
James chuckled at this. Compared to his 6'2 figure, she certainly wasn't big. Lakyrra was slender, maybe 5'2, with compact yet generous bubble-shaped breasts and a well-toned body. The girl's silky hair was rough but shiny as it swept down to the middle of her back. Her skin was the lightest shade of mahogany and accented her vivid, fudge-brown eyes. When those eyes were begging for him to do something, James found it very hard to say no.
"Hey, stop tickling me," he laughed. "Ok, ok, I'm sorry for calling you little, just stop! Hey, I'm driving here. You want me to run into someone?"
Lakyrra made a gesture at the country road surrounded by nothing but cornfields, hills, and forests. Not a soul to be seen or heard. "Hit someone. You're kidding, right?" She shook her head. "Why did our parents have to send us to a college that is literally in the middle of nowhere?"
Before he could really think about it, James reached out his hand and took Lakyrra's in a firm grasp, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Because the scholarships made it free. Duh. Besides, it's not as bad as all that."
"Oh? Isn't it?"
James looked Lakyrra up and down. For all she liked to pout, Lakyrra was versatile and courageous in her own way. In fact, that's what he loved about her. Like right now. They were lost in the middle of nowhere, and she was just rolling with the punches. That was just who Lakyrra was. No matter where they went, whatever happened, it was just the two of them against the world—had been ever since they were in 3rd grade together. In that one respect, not much had changed...except there was one thing which had...and in the biggest way.
"Hello? You there? Stop spacing out on me," Lakyrra said. She snapped her fingers near James' face.
"Sorry, just thinking."
The truth was, ever since last year James had started to feel something for Lakyrra...and it was a hell of a lot more than just the affection between close childhood friends. He hadn't yet found that opening to ask her the question that was burning inside of him. He thought she was starting to feel the same way though. Lately they'd been flirting a lot more. Maybe 'flirting' wasn't the right term, but James didn't know what to call it. What did you call it when your 'friend' came over to your dorm room late at night and the two of you got into a wrestling match in your underwear, then almost ended up kissing each other before said friend awkwardly said she had to go?
The sound of a siren interrupted James' thoughts. He and Lakyrra glanced back to see a police cruiser, of all things, riding their bumper.
"Was I speeding? Oh crap."
"Calm down, James. It'll be fine. We weren't doing anything wrong," Lakyrra reassured.
Three minutes later, James had pulled over to the side of the country road. A police officer got out and walked up to James' window. He looked at the two teenagers for a long while before gesturing at the two.
"Sir, Ma'am, I'm going to need you two to exit the vehicle and come with me."
"What? Officer, what's the problem? I haven't done anything," James protested.
"I'm Officer Drummond and this is Officer Hernandez." Lakyrra and James glanced back, startled to see a second officer had snuck up on the other side of the vehicle.
"Look what I found," Hernandez said. He lifted up a small baggie with a white substance and an open bottle of vodka. "In plain sight in the backseat of the vehicle. Looks like we'll have to book these two and throw them in lock-up. What a shame."
"Those aren't mine!" James cried. "What the hell's going on here?"
Officer Drummond leaned against the open window. His eyes were shielded with sunglasses, so James and Lakyrra couldn't see them. It added to the chilling effect of his next words.
"Listen, boy. You and your girl are going to do exactly what we say...unless you want us to take you back to town for booking. You feel like getting arrested today?"
"N-no," James sputtered. "Of course not. You can't do this, though. This is wrong! We haven't done anything! You just can't...you can't do this!"
"Clearly we can," Hernandez chimed in, leaning at the open window on the other side of the vehicle. His eyes veered toward Lakyrra. He was clearly undressing her in his mind, the way he leered at her. It sent a chill down James' spine as outrage surged in his chest.
"Look, this is illegal, what you're doing. You won't get away with it!" he warned.
Drummond just tapped his fingers on the window. "You let us worry about that, boy. Right now we have two respectable men of the law and two young teenage lawbreakers. Who do you think anyone's going to believe? Hmm?"