by Summer, AJ
Because I’ve really gone off the deep end, or because he seems to really need it, I walk over to my black backpack and start taking out clothes. Just one change, and some underwear and socks. An old t-shirt to sleep in, too.
“Yeah?’ he asks with so much enthusiasm that I smile up at him.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
In two strides he’s in front of me laying a big, wet kiss right on my forehead. I laugh and push him away before making a big show of wiping his spit off my skin, though there really isn’t any. Not that it bothers him. Lewis leaves my room to go pack his own bag. As I put my toiletries and a clean towel into my bag, I say a quick prayer that I’m not making the biggest mistake of my life.
“Sure, we can handle it! You go have fun!” Livvy says in that cheery voice of hers over the phone. I’ve got my backpack slung over my shoulder and I’m halfway down the stairs when Lewis comes around the corner from the kitchen.
“You ready?” he asks. I hold up a finger and show him my phone. “Everything okay?” he mouths. I nod my head yes and throw him a smile. His answering beam is so huge that I forget what I was about to say.
“Uh … I’ll be back Monday morning.” I shake my foggy head. “I’ll open up. I’ve still got my keys,” I say, handing over my bag when Lewis tries to slip it off my shoulder.
“It’s fine Mia!” Alec shouts over the line.
“Okay, Okay. Jeez. See you guys on Monday then.” I end the call and follow Lewis to the front door where Aiden and Jenna are waiting for us. I’m feeling a little hurt that they don’t seem to need me at the parlor but it’s also a slow weekend for us and I didn’t even have one booking. Waiting for walk-ins sucks!
“You all set?” Jenna asks when she pulls me in for a hug.
“Yeah,” I reply, still hoping this doesn’t turn into a huge mistake.
“Okay. Have fun,” she says, giving me another hard squeeze.
I wonder if my friends think there’s something more going on between me and Lewis. Because to someone from the outside this might look like a spontaneous lovers’ escape or something. Aiden gives me a quick hug before pushing me out the door and then following us out. He closes the door behind him with a no-going-back-inside look on his face.
“What’s up with you?” I ask, looking between the two of them. They’re acting extremely suspicious.
“They’ve got the house all to themselves,” Lewis says with a wink.
Oh. Oh! I shake my head at them as I leave Jenna giggling on the porch. Lewis helps me up into his truck and buckles me in. He jogs around to his side and straps himself in before starting the truck and turning the stereo up. With one last wave to our friends, we pull out of the driveway. And now it feels like an adventure. A chance to just be free. After the past two months I’ve had, I think I deserve a bit of fun. I turn the stereo up another notch and Lewis turns his head to smile at me. Sitting back in my seat, I tap my hand to the beat and softly sing along to the song. Maria’s Square is about an hour’s drive from Bailey. According to Lewis the family we’re visiting stays on a farm a few miles out.
The sun is just setting and my stomach is growling something fierce, and we haven’t even been on the road for half an hour.
“Can I smoke?” I ask, trying to distract the rumbling creature residing in my stomach.
“Yeah, sure. Light me one, too,” he says, not taking his eyes off the road. “There’s some energy drinks in my bag at the back there. And some potato chips. Can’t have a trip without food.” I can just see the side of his grin.
“You’ve got food and you didn’t tell me!” I scowl at him while lighting the cigarette. I take a deep drag and blow it in his direction. He mock coughs and waves his hand in front of his face before reaching to take the cigarette from me.
“Thanks,” he says when I move closer and hand it to him. He rolls down his window and leans the arm with the cigarette out the window. I light one for myself and do the same.
“So who are we visiting?”
Lewis smiles one of those fond smiles you get when you think of someone dear to you. “Some friends of my dad’s. Really nice people. Aunt Sarah, she makes this bread, mmm, man I’ll have to ask her to make you some. That bread keeps me coming back.”
I laugh. Stretching between the seats I pull out one of the energy drinks and pop the tab. I take a sip and relax back into my seat. “So just the bread then?” I ask him.
His face loses some of the happiness and his voice turns gruff. “No, not just the bread. They’re just really great people and they don’t have kids of their own, so they get pretty lonely out there with all that space to themselves. Uncle Will is also getting old now and it’s a lot of work keeping a farm going, and well, as you can see, I have all this muscle.” He flexes the arm holding the cigarette and this time I snort, earning myself a disbelieving scowl that I could disregard his manliness like that. I hold out the can to him and he takes it. When he hands it back to me it’s empty. I kill my cigarette and throw it into the can, before telling him to do the same.
The first lights of Maria’s Square can be seen in the distance and I wonder what stories that little ghost town holds. I’m excited to meet these friends of Lewis. He seems really fond of them. Maybe I can help out, too. I don’t have all those bulging muscles, Lewis seems so proud of, but I’m sure he can find something for me to help out with.
“Do you want to get something to eat before we drive out there? There’s this burger place that makes a really awesome bacon and cheese stack. It’s right next to the railway tracks, so not the best part of town…” he trails off, shrugging. Lewis slows down as we enter the Square and the first thing I see is the bright lights of the casino. “Indigo” it says in big, bright blue letters.
“I don’t mind. Anything is fine with me,” I say, still looking at the casino. It has a big spraying fountain in front with thick green hedging illuminated by spotlights around it. The rest of the town looks, well, like a town. A few old shops, something that looks like a bar, called the Apple. The sign in front is a big green apple with a bite out of the one side. Scratch that. Is it a strip club? I swear I just saw a topless woman peek out that door.
As we drive further along you can see the town changing, from small shops, to drab little buildings with boarded up windows. We pass second hand stores, pawn shops and even a loan house on our way to this burger place in God knows where. Eventually even the street lights are dimmer. I slam the lock button on my door when we stop at a sign and a guy comes up to my window. He’s barely a teenager but his clothes are torn and filthy. Before he can get a word out, the light changes and Lewis pulls away and makes a right turn.
He finds a parking spot and climbs out. When I don’t make a move to follow him he walks around and waits patiently for me to unlock my door.
“Come on,” he says, pulling my door open. I look around nervously, scared of all the dark corners where the old lamp post in front can’t reach. I squeak when Lewis wraps his hands around my waist and lifts me from my seat. “I’ve got you. Now, come on,” he says, tugging me forward. I follow, hurrying after him. Lewis pushes open the door and the girl behind the counter smiles at us brightly.
“Good evening and welcome to the Burger Shack,” she greets us.
“Hi,” Lewis and I say together. He laughs as I shake my head. The girl seems enamored with him instantly. I try to give her the look, you know the one that says, this boy is trouble, but either she’s avoiding my face or she just doesn’t care. She’s a pretty young thing and boys like Lewis will snap her up and pick their teeth with her bones afterwards. To my surprise, Lewis places our order without so much as his flirty trademark wink. Huh?
The girl hurries around behind the counter to fill our drink order from the fountain and while she’s busy I use the time to check out the shop. There’s a retro style juke box in one corner and a row of red leather couches on each side of the shop. Red and white tiles line the walls and floors, and old black and white pictures dec
orate the open spaces above. Big white lightshades hang from the ceilings. It’s a pretty cool place for such a dumpy part of town. I have no idea how this girl even works the counter at night, I’d be shaking in my sneakers!
“Order’s ready!” the girl calls from the counter and I move back from the old Elvis picture I was inspecting. A big guy, with arms the size of my legs, is holding out our take away bag to Lewis while they seem to be chatting about some kind of game. A football game or something? The guy claps Lewis on the shoulder when he gives over our food and with a friendly wave they send us on our way.
When we get to the truck, Lewis lets down his tail gate and sits on it. “Sit,” he says, patting the spot beside him. Looking back at the diner behind us I wonder why we’re eating outside if we could be sitting in there. I thought he got the food to go because he was in a hurry. Smoothing his fingers between my eyebrows he gently rubs my frown line away. “Sit. In about twenty minutes, the train is going to go by here. It passes right by the farm we’re going to. It normally stops at the winery down the road to pick up a delivery for the next town over.”
“Oh,” I say, wondering why he knows all this stuff. That thought flies right out of my head when Lewis puts a burger the size of my head in my lap. He puts my soda next to his in between us and starts to dig in. It looks so yummy when he eats, even though I know I’ll never be able to open my mouth that big. I press the bun together like Lewis did and take a big bite of burger, bacon and cheese. It tastes heavenly and thankfully no sauce drips out. Taking a sip of soda, I absorb the quiet night air and the star-filled sky. It’s so quiet and peaceful out here compared to the dark and scary corners surrounding us. Taking another bite a big drop of sauce spills out onto my fingers and feeling comfortable around Lewis I lick it off. He looks at me from the corner of his eye and a smile teases his lips. I smile back, careful to keep my food-filled mouth closed. I tuck half of my burger away in the wrapping paper when I can’t fit another bite in and clean my hands with the serviettes that he thoughtfully laid out.
“You missed a spot.” Of course I did. I reach for another serviette to clean my face.
“Messy eater,” he teases. Lewis beats me to it and gently wipes my bottom lip. Just a quick touch with his finger tip. My tongue darts out and wets the tingling part of my flesh that he just touched. His eyes narrow and he moves just a fraction closer, that’s when I see the spot of sauce on his chin. Using the serviette in my hand, I quickly raise it and dab the spot away.
“Messy eater,” I tease back. A chugging noise pulls my attention away from his face so close to mine and I peer into the darkness.
“That’s the train. Come on,” Lewis says, grabbing our empties and pulling me off his tail gate.
“Where to?” I ask as he pulls me behind him, first to the trash can and then to the front of his truck. He unlocks his door and grabs our bags before closing the door and locking it. “Lewis, what are you doing?” He pulls us towards the diner door. The big guy from earlier appears at the doors and Lewis throws him his truck keys.
“Better hurry!” he shouts behind us as we run toward the sound of the approaching train. A big white light shines on the tracks just before the train appears from around a building. It’s still picking up speed. A deafening blare sounds around us and I slap my hand over my ear. Lewis laughs like a lunatic, still running faster towards the approaching train. I’m really starting to get worried now. He doesn’t expect us to jump on the train, does he?
“Lewis, tell me we're not jumping on the train,” I huff almost out of breath.
“We are!” And then the field that we’ve been running through opens up and we are running right next to the train. The horn sounds again and Lewis shouts a loud, “We’re coming, we’re coming!” He throws our bags into an empty container carriage and then gently pushes me in front of him. “You need to jump!” he yells, still pushing me ahead of him. This is so ridiculous that now even I’m laughing.
“Okay,” I wheeze. I’m out of breath but having so much fun.
When my hand touches the side of the train a jolt of adrenaline spikes through my body. Lewis grabs hold of me and hoists me up into the compartment. For a second my feet dangle in the air while I lay face down on the dirty carriage floor, huffing for air. Then Lewis is in front of me, pulling me all the way in. He slumps down the wall and pulls me in between his legs. We both just sit there, catching our breath, watching the country side go by in the dark of night. I don’t think I’ve ever had this much fun. But will his truck be okay?
“Do you know the people of the diner?” I’m still breathing heavily but talking isn’t impossible anymore.
“Yeah, they’re old friends,” he says, squeezing me with his knees. Seems like Lewis has a lot of old friends in this part of town.
I settle back against him, noting his chest is barely moving, unlike mine that’s still breathing fairly hard. I’m shocked when he starts humming. It almost sounds like a country song, but I’ve never heard it before.
“You need to play that for me some time,” I say, turning my head to look at him.
“We’ll see. Now don’t get too comfortable, it’s almost time for us to get off.”
He touches his finger to my nose, a serious look in his eyes. He holds my gaze with those midnight blues for a second longer before dropping his head back and staring up at the old carriage ceiling. A heavy sigh escapes his lips, his hands move around me, positioning me so I’m facing front before he lays his arms over his knees, not touching me anymore.
We sit in silence for a while, me just enjoying the peace and safety I’m feeling right now and Lewis, I don’t think he’s moved an inch since he turned me around. Not even a twitch. Maybe he’s fallen asleep? I shift a little to take a look, when his eyes pop open suddenly, scaring the yelp right out of my voice.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” he says, placing his palm over my heart. His fingers rest just over the swell off my breast and my thin strap top doesn’t really cover that high up on my chest area. I shift nervously and he moves his hand back. Standing up, he walks over to pick up our bags and pulls me up. “This is our stop.”
As the words leave his mouth the trains starts to slow. There are no lights out here and from where I’m standing it looks like I’m about to jump to my death. Is this how Kyle felt up on that cliff? Did he wonder if he’d make it out alive? I know Lewis won’t let anything happen to me, but my heart still beats just a little bit faster. I trust him. Wow, I really do trust him. So when he grips my hand tightly and pulls me closer to the open door I don’t focus on the black field ahead, I keep my eyes on him.
“So how do we do this? Just tuck and roll?” I’m fully prepared to just jump when his amused chuckle stops me short.
“No brave girl, I go first. I’ll catch you.”
“You serious? Won’t it just be easier if we jump together?” His fingers touch my jaw lightly.
“This isn’t an action movie, Mew. You can get hurt.”
“Ah, so sweet. But you forget, us kittens have nine lives. That’s eight more than you,” I tease, even though I’m really touched that he’s worried about me.
“I’m going first. I’ll catch you when you jump down.” He’s Serious Lewis again so I just nod my head. Waving my hand for him to get on with it, because the train is almost moving at snail pace now and I can see a small farm house not too far from us. Lewis hops out, landing firmly on his feet without a falter. He walks next to the cart at a brisk pace waiting for me to jump into his arms. Taking a quick look ahead to make sure I’m not about to collide with a telephone pole I drop into his arms. They clamp around me and my feet never even touch the ground.
The train’s horn blasts a loud farewell and I whistle back as loud as I can. Lewis laughs at me before letting off a whistle of his own. I wrap my legs around his waist and place a quick kiss on his lips. Just a tiny peck. Honestly, I surprise the hell out of myself and him. His hands palm my behind and hold me steady in his arms whi
le we just stare at each other under the blanket of stars around us. Here, beneath the moonlight, there’s no bullshit, no drama. It’s just us, and no problems for miles.
“Lewis? Is that you boy?” An unfamiliar voice calls from the dark. Lewis smacks me playfully on my behind and lowers me to the ground.
“It's me,” he calls back. He walks back to where he dropped our bags when he jumped out and slings them both over his shoulder. “This way,” he says, tilting his head in the direction of the voice. There’s a light on now that’s shining from the porch and I can see an older man standing there, waiting for us. As we get closer a woman joins the man, his arm goes around her shoulders, much the same way Lewis’s is around mine. We step into the light and I get a good look at the couple. The man’s face is weathered from years of hard work in the sun, with a decent copper colored beard growing on his jaw. He grabs Lewis’s hand and shakes it before taking mine. His hands are hard and knobbly, no doubt from hard work done on the farm.
“You must be Mia. This is my wife, Sarah and I’m William. But just call me Will,” he says. His wife steps forward and pulls me in for a quick hug. It doesn’t even last a second before I’m back at Lewis’s side.
“Nice to meet you,” I say, already feeling at ease with these people.
“Come in. I’ve set up your old room in the attic,” she says to Lewis, while taking my elbow and guiding me into the house. “I suppose you’d want to wash up? Trust Lewis to bring his first girl home on the train when he has a perfectly good truck,” she admonishes while showing us to the small wooden steps leading up to the attic.
