"So, how did you meet Dave?" -- Kevin said, half-turning around in the passenger seat to look at the backseat where Abby was sitting, - "He told us so much about you, but never that."
"Senior year in college," -- Abigail said, - "He was dating my roommate then."
"Wait," -- said Dan from the driver's seat, - "You mean to tell me you are Stacey's roommate?"
"The fat girl?" -- Kevin blurted before he could catch himself, and quickly added, - "Sorry. Sorry about that."
"You didn't even know my name, huh?" -- Abby said quietly, and everybody fell silent for a long while.
For years and years Abby has been tall and gawky with small breasts. She grew up a shy and nerdy kid, and when she went away to college, her freshman fifteen became freshman fifty, and then sophomore seventy - mostly in her hips, thighs and belly - she wore a C cup, but her old B cup bras still almost fit. Maybe the weight gain was somehow hormone-related, because around the same time her interest in boys became much higher than it was before.
Dave had noticed her then: she had consoled him after a bitter fight he had with Stacey, and he kissed her on the lips before he left. The next day they bumped into each other on campus and he asked her out, and a few weeks after Abby had a real boyfriend. They dated until the graduation, and then Dave had to move away -- he found a job in a city about two hundred miles distant, and Abby was still working at her campus job. So for the last year and a half they sort of kept an on-going long-distance relationship, with frequent e-mails, phone calls and occasional visits.
Dave was not her first man; she lost her virginity at 17 in high school, at a party after the prom , when she let a drunken football player drag her upstairs -- she was curious what it would feel like. It was not very painful and even a little pleasant, but it was over very soon. Dave was much better in that respect.
"It's not like we ever been introduced properly, you know," -- Dan broke the awkward silence, - "you used to be, like, very shy around us all the time."
"That's because I had a terrible crush on you before I lost weight," -- Abby wanted to say, because it was the truth, but instead she said "It's all right, I am less shy now."
"You're still kinda shy," -- Kevin smiled, briefly eyeing Abby up and down, - "Baggy clothing, hair in a bun, no make-up? Come on, girl!"
Abby gave a polite laugh. She never liked Kevin -- he was sort of a jerk. She'd much prefer it if Dan were to make a comment on her appearance: she used to dream about him long before she started dating Dave -- and, to tell the truth, she still thought him very hot. But Kevin... ugh. She could never imagine Kevin touching her or kissing her or running his hands up and down her body.
It was starting to get dark -- it was November, after all. A few weeks ago Dave called Abby and told her that his friends would be in town, and could give her a ride to the city so she could spend Thanksgiving with Dave's family.
"Shit," -- said Dan, - "do you hear that?"
"Your engine is making noise," -- said Kevin, - "I told you I heard it before. It's that sort of rattling noise."
"Shit, and we are in the middle of fucking nowhere."
"What's going on?" -- Abby asked, alarmed. As if to answer her, the engine made a terrible scraping sound and Dan slammed on the brakes.
The engine died.
"Shit," -- said Kevin. -- "We are fucked. Why the fuck didn't you check the engine before we drove two hundred miles?"
"Shut up," -- Dan growled, - "Don't fucking "I-told-you-so" me. Fuck. It's starting to rain."
"It's your fucking fault," -- Kevin kept at it, - "We are miles from a nearest mechanic, I remember this stretch."
"Shut the fuck up!" -- Dan flared, and Abby pressed herself into the seat: this was disturbing.
"You shut the fuck up!" -- Kevin replied, - "and admit this is your fault."
"OK! OK!" -- Dan spat angrily, - "it's my fault. Happy now?"
"I told you so," -- Kevin said smugly, - "so what are we gonna do now? Do you have triple-A?"
"No," -- said Dan, - "do you?"
"Nope," -- said Kevin, - "but I think there's a motel about a mile from here. They might have gas, but we probably should get a couple of rooms anyhow."
Abby breathed out, feeling safer, as the men stopped fighting.
"We can get one room if they have two beds and a pallet," -- she smiled, - "I trust you guys."
"Absolutely," -- said Dan, a little faster than Abby would have liked, and Kevin suppressed a chuckle. Abby blushed: she did not want to be wanted by anybody but Dave her boyfriend, but it would be nice if these two men had not dismissed the idea of something inappropriate happening between her and them quite so quickly.
They pushed the car to the shoulder of the road, got some necessities out of their bags, and went down the road looking for the motel. It was already dark and starting to rain when they glimpsed the neon sign.
The lobby was empty, and they had to ring the reception bell twice until the clerk came up. He was a thin, bony man with Hulk Hogan mustache and his receding hair in a ponytail. As he approached the counter, he finished zipping up the fly of his blue jeans.
"What can I do you for, folks?" -- he asked.
"We'd like a room, sir," -- said Dan politely, - "one room with twin separate beds and a pallet or a couch. For one night."
"Don't have no rooms," -- said the clerk indifferently.
"What do you mean no rooms?" -- Kevin asked irritably, - "You can't be full; there are no cars in the lot!"
"Renovations," -- replied the clerk. -- "most rooms don't have water or electricity right now."
"Are there ones that do?" -- Dan inquired, - "Can you turn the water on in one of them?"
"Dude, our car broke about a mile back," -- said Kevin, - "we got to have a room, or we're gonna sleep in the lobby."
"You ain't gonna sleep in the lobby," -- said the older man curtly, - "And maybe I can get water and power in one of the rooms that ain't torn down yet," -- he paused, - "What's in it for me?"
"Um," -- Dan hesitated, - "We only have cash between us for one room, unless you've got an ATM here."
"We got an ATM. We don't got money in it."
"Dude, please," -- said Kevin, - "we'll send you a big tip when we get home, honest."
"No vacancy," -- said the clerk.
"Please," -- Abby spoke up, hoping that the man would have a harder time refusing a reasonably pretty girl, - "can you please let us stay? Is there anything we can do for you?"
The clerk's cold blue eyes suddenly came alive. He eyed Abby up and down with a thin smile.
