Ten Seconds of Crazy

by Randileigh Kennedy

  “Have you ever been on TV?” I asked directly. I couldn’t imagine any reason why he would lie to me about that. What difference did it make?

  “Not that I know of.” His mouth finally turned up into a smile. “Why, do I look like I could cut it as a TV star?”

  “Maybe, like on a soap opera?” I mused.

  He let out a slight laugh. “I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or not.” We neared the diner and I pointed to my apartment complex across the street. “I’m not a guy from TV. I’m just a normal, ordinary guy. I swear.” His voice sounded honest.

  “This one right here,” I stated, pointing to the stairs leading up to my apartment door. He parked the car and followed me up.

  “Nice place,” he said politely as we walked in my front door. Apparently he could lie to my face after all.

  “It’s just temporary. You know, until I figure out what I’m doing,” I said with a shrug.

  “I thought you figured it out already. You’re running away with me, remember?”

  “That’s temporary too,” I remarked with a devious smirk on my face. Sure, I could give in to a brief moment of insanity. I wondered if maybe it would even be good for me. But two weeks tops, and I would need a reality check. I was pretty certain I would be back working in the diner again before June was over.

  I was slightly embarrassed as I looked around my apartment. I had such few possessions to my name. The cheap crappy furniture came with the rent, and I didn’t eat at home much so I barely had any items in my dingy laminate kitchen. Yet somehow it was amazing how cluttered the place looked with just a few of my clothes and shoes strewn about. “So what all do I need? Obviously a swim suit. Probably some shorts and a t-shirt?”

  “Yeah, probably some extra shoes too. The ones you have on in the raft will probably get wet. You’ll probably want something to sleep in, and maybe like a dress or something, I don’t know. I’m not sure how high maintenance you are.”

  “Look around,” I said fluttering my hands around my apartment. “I’m obviously not picky about much.” I threw my long blonde wavy hair into a ponytail and headed into my room to change, closing the door behind me. A few minutes later I reemerged with my swim suit under a light, cotton sundress and a small bag with some extra shorts and shirts. I threw my Converse into the bag and slipped on some flip flops as we headed out. I took one last look around my shabby apartment. I guess I did need a week or two away from my life.

  The drive to our rafting spot along the Truckee River took about an hour. He put the top down on the car and we made small talk along the way. We didn’t get too personal - we mostly talked about how beautiful the area was, the weather, and the fact that I’d never been rafting before.

  “So how long have you lived in Mountain Ridge?” he asked with a prying tone to his voice. Apparently my somewhat vague responses to his questions earlier weren’t enough to quell his curiosity.

  “Only about a year,” I replied, still trying to keep the conversation light. “After I graduated from high school in Reno, I knew I needed to make a change. My mom decided to follow some new boyfriend to Oregon. She decided she wanted to farm Alpacas. That woman wouldn’t know how to care for a cat, let alone a farm creature.” I rolled my eyes, trying not to sound too angry about it. “Since I was no longer a minor, I knew my days of being dragged around with her love life were over. Somehow I ended up here. I’ve taken a few classes at the community college. It’s actually a pretty nice school. I mean I don’t want to stay here forever, but it’s a good start.” I stared out the car, taking in the pristine blue water of Lake Tahoe. It was beautiful and massive, but the calmness of the water also made it look simple in some way. I felt pretty simple too, so it made sense to me. It was actually starting to feel like home in some strange way. But then again, staying anywhere longer than three months would probably have that effect on me.

  “So your plan is what exactly? To waitress some more, finish college… Then what?” He looked over at me as he asked, and the sincere look in his grey-blue eyes coerced me into talking more.

  “I want to be a teacher,” I answered honestly. I’d known that my whole life. It was one of the only certainties I’d ever felt.

  “Why?”

  I thought back to second grade. It was the first time in my life someone cared about me. Mrs. Peterson, my teacher, noticed I didn’t often come to school with a coat on. Some nights my mom never came home and I was left to dress myself the next day. Other times she would be passed out on the couch and I couldn’t wake her to ask where she’d put the stuff I’d laid out for school the night before. But Mrs. Peterson noticed. She cared. She kept a purple coat in her closet, and on days I didn’t have one it would be slipped onto my coat hook before recess. On days I didn’t have socks on, I would find some in the pocket of the coat. A lot of times she couldn’t finish her own lunch she’d packed for the day, so she would send me home with the sandwich she didn’t eat. It wasn’t until I got older than I finally realized the sandwiches she sent home with me were never for her.

  “I don’t know, I love books. I love working with kids. It just seems like a good fit for me,” I replied with a shrug. I would never utter out loud that the real reason I wanted to be a teacher was to save any other kid from the kind of life I had. I wasn’t sure I’d even saved myself yet.

  We switched the conversation and made some more small talk as we finally pulled into the rafting outfitter. Reid got out of the car and shook hands with an overly tan guy with long blond shoulder-length hair. He had on neon shorts and seemed friendly. They set up our raft and paddles and he explained the route, noting there would be a steady stream of busses out by the endpoint to bring us back to the car when it was over.

  “Are you ready?” Reid asked with a beaming smile on his face. He had a grey bag slung over his shoulder and a cooler in his other hand.

  “I apparently have no other obligations today,” I replied with a smile. I suppose there could be worse ways to spend my unemployed life. Rafting down the river with a handsome stranger I barely knew seemed like a good idea. Especially since I was more certain by the hour that I would be back in the diner tomorrow, begging for my job back.

  We loaded in the raft and headed out. The route Reid had chosen was very slow and simple. It was mostly just floating with the current, with about ten minutes of light rapids towards the end. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky.

  We settled into the raft and Reid handed me a drink from the cooler.

  “So can I ask you a question?” he said, taking off his t-shirt. His blue swim shorts hung low on his hips and I couldn’t help but stare at his perfectly toned abs.

  “Is this the ‘get to know each other’ segment so you can figure out why I would be crazy enough to run away with you?”

  “Deep down aren’t you wondering why I’m delusional enough to ask?” He stared back at me with his piercing eyes. He was right. I did want to know more. Surely there must be more to it.

  “What are you running from?” I asked directly. I figured we may as well get right into it.

  “My parents’ disappointment,” he answered honestly. “It’s kind of ironic, really. Growing up I always thought my older brother was the screw-up. I was the golden boy. And then somehow that all changed. I don’t know.” He paused, looking into the river. “My dad always pushed sports on us. I played Lacrosse and football. My brother chose to be an Eagle Scout. He made my dad crazy.” He smiled as he thought about it. “My parents also wanted us to become engineers so we could work for my dad’s company and eventually run it. My brother enlisted with the United States Marine Corps literally the day he turned eighteen. My parents were so pissed.”

  “So how could you possibly be disappointing them? It sounds like you’ve checked all your boxes. You’ve done everything they wanted.” I studied his face. His life sounded normal. Surreal even. I couldn’t figure out why his eyes looked so sad.

  “That’s what I can’t figure out,” he said softly
. “Somewhere I got off track.” He slowly maneuvered his paddle through the water to keep us from floating into a small embankment of bushes. “My brother and I were best friends growing up. We were different in so many ways; he was the crazy one and I was the obedient one. And then once he joined the Marines, he was gone all the time. He came back occasionally. But things just weren’t quite the same at home while he was away.”

  Reid fell silent and I knew he didn’t want to talk anymore about it. I guess the subject of parents wasn’t the best topic for either of us. Obviously there was no explaining the depths of my relationship with that insane woman who led me around for eighteen years of my life.

  “Maybe we should lighten the conversation. That was too heavy for inflatable boat banter.” He smiled at me and I felt relaxed to be hanging out with him on such a warm June afternoon.

  We floated down the river and took in some sun. There were other rafters out as well, and I wondered what they thought of us. I imagined they would guess we were dating. One of those sweet, loving couples who knew each other well, basking in the sunshine without a care in the world. It was amazing to me that no one would ever guess we were simply two strangers, floating down a river in a yellow rented raft.

  “There’s a spot up here,” he said, motioning ahead to a small island area near one side of the river. “I thought we could pull up there. We can eat some food, maybe go for a swim?” I nodded in approval and we made our way over to the resting spot.

  We pulled our raft up onto the rocky shore and Reid laid out some towels and took the cooler out of the raft.

  “I’ll be back in just a minute. I’m going to swim over there,” he explained, pointing about thirty feet across the water to a heavily wooded area. I could see a small trail through the woods, but there weren’t any other rafts near that spot.

  “Do you want me to join you?” I asked, standing back up from the striped towel I just sat down on.

  “Nah, I’d rather you didn’t. I’m going to take a leak over there. You’ll probably want to miss that.” He smiled as he said it, and I sat back down on the towel. He leaned back into the raft and I saw him rummage through the grey bag he brought. He pulled out some kind of plastic bag and discretely put it in the back pocket of his swim trunks, probably assuming I didn’t see anything.

  Classy. This guy was ditching me to go smoke weed.

  I smiled as he motioned he was swimming out to the area he previously pointed out. I didn’t necessarily care what he was about to do. I just wish he hadn’t hid it from me like that. I’m sure he had plenty of secrets. It’s not like we knew a lot about each other. But what if he had other drugs in the car? That definitely wasn’t my scene. I hated the way I felt slightly different about him in that moment.

  I jumped into the water, floating up on my back in the slow river current. The water was pretty cold, but the sun warmed my exposed skin. I wasn’t even sure how much time had passed but eventually I felt a hand on my back and I shrieked, completely startled.

  “I didn’t mean to scare you,” Reid said apologetically. “I said your name but your ears were under water.”

  His dark brown hair was spiky from the water, and his smile radiated as we swam back up to the shore by our raft. He pulled two wrapped sandwiches out of the cooler and handed one of them to me.

  “Where did these come from?” I asked, not really remembering him pack up the cooler earlier when we left his motel.

  “The gas station next to the Stay-the-Nite,” he said apologetically. “One was my lunch and the other was going to be my dinner tonight. Sorry, if I’d known you were coming I would’ve planned this better. You threw me for a loop back there at the diner this morning.”

  “This is fine. This is nice, actually,” I replied, leaning back on my towel.

  “I guess now that I have a travel companion I need to rethink my plans,” he said sweetly.

  “You don’t have to change anything for me, trust me. I’m easy going. These gas station sandwiches have a shelf life of like, three weeks. That’s actually kind of amazing. People freak out about mayonnaise left out at a barbeque for an hour, but no one cares that these things sit out on a shelf for a month. It’s kind of fascinating.”

  He smiled, and I felt comfortable with him. It was as if we were old friends, simply making conversation on the beach.

  “I promise you a real meal later. We’ll get in the car and we’ll just drive. And then anywhere you see that looks good, we’ll stop.” Reid slid his knees up to his chest and I could see his muscles flex as he did it. “And we can get double twin beds at the next seedy Stay-the-Nite motel we find,” he teased.

  “I’d rather sleep in the car,” I replied with a laugh. That statement was actually somewhat true. I’d slept in a car before. At least this was a nice shiny red one.

  “I’m starting to think we’re meant to be together,” he replied with a boyish smirk.

  CHAPTER 5

  After our rafting excursion ended, one of the busses took us back to Reid’s car as promised. We got pretty wet during the last ten minutes of the river. The rapids were decent sized for it being a beginner’s route, and we got a good amount of water in our boat. Reid put on a dry shirt and somehow slipped on a new pair of shorts while we were standing in the parking lot. I however wasn’t so stealthy, so I just opted for a dry pair of shorts and a tank top over my swimsuit.

  “Cassidy Jones, do I have your permission to drive you out of the state of Nevada?” Reid asked, dramatically putting both of his hands on the steering wheel. The top was down on his car and I knew the real adventure was probably just beginning.

  “Ten seconds of crazy,” I muttered to myself. “Hit it.”

  He smiled back at me and we pulled out of the rafting lot towards the main highway.

  “I will now formally introduce you to… the Road Trip Playlist.” His thumb hit a button on his phone and a loud, unfamiliar song came through the speakers. Reid started singing all of the words, looking quite animated as he made hand gestures to up the dramatics.

  I definitely didn’t recognize the song, but I really enjoyed it. Although better than that, I liked watching the charisma of this handsome guy next to me in the driver’s seat as we drove down the highway with the wind blowing through our hair.

  “Do you know this one? “The Outsiders” by Need to Breathe? It should be our road trip anthem.” He smiled over at me as his hands still drummed on the steering wheel.

  I shook my head no, letting him know I hadn’t experienced that song before this moment. I thought I had a pretty eclectic taste in music. I listened mostly to county stations, but I liked everything from classic rock to old school gangster rap. There were a few genres I didn’t find all too appealing, but even then I’m sure they fit some type of mood or scenario. I agreed with Reid that the song seemed perfect for a road trip play list.

  “Next up is Brett Dennen. Do you know him?”

  I shook my no head again, smiling.

  “Oh, just you wait. I’m going to change your life, Cassidy Jones.” He turned up the next song even louder and I smiled as he sang all of the words. We drove like that for quite awhile, listening to music and taking in the wind and scenery all around us. I still questioned why on earth I was sitting in this passenger seat, watching this handsome dark haired guy sing me loud, high energy songs. But at the same time, as absurd as the situation was to me, I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else at the moment.

  Hours passed easily as we continued to drive down the highway. The warm sun felt magnificent on my exposed shoulders and I often laughed at Reid’s commentary as we talked about music or some of the random things we saw along the highway. At one point we saw an abandoned green couch on the side of the interstate. We speculated about what type of conversation was had after the vehicle occupants eventually realized their couch was missing out of the back of their truck. It didn’t make sense that anyone would’ve dropped it in such a spot on purpose. Reid stopped the car and insisted I sit
on the weathered furniture so he could take a picture of me. I felt ridiculous for a moment, sitting on a couch on the side of a major highway. But it also made me giggle, and his smile felt so warm and genuine as we laughed about it.

  Around seven o’clock as the sun lowered towards the horizon, Reid pulled off the highway to get some gas.

  “I’ll have to check the map to see exactly what town this is. But it looks like a decent place to stop for the night if you’re okay with it?” He waited for my response as he stepped out of the driver’s seat to fill up the tank.

  It dawned on me in that moment that I really hadn’t given much thought to our sleeping arrangements. We joked about it earlier, briefly, but now that moment was an awkward reality.

  As if he read my mind, he pointed to a motel sign across the street.

  “All rooms have double queen beds,” he read off of the black and white sign loosely hung near the entrance of the motel. “It doesn’t look as sketchy as the Stay-the-Night back in Mountain Ridge. Would you be comfortable with that? Sharing a room? Or would you prefer your own?” He spoke with such a genuine courteous tone that I could tell my answer actually mattered to him.

  I thought back to the wad of bills I grabbed from my nightstand before we left. I probably only had about three hundred dollars on me. I definitely didn’t want to use my credit card if I didn’t have to. Especially with my newfound unemployment, I knew I needed to be smart about spending what little I had.

  “We can split a room, that’s fine,” I said nonchalantly. Honestly, looking around the outside of the motel and the sign announcing the rooms were only forty-eight dollars, I was nervous about staying alone anyway. Reid was right, it wasn’t as dilapidated as the prior motel, but it wasn’t exactly the image you’d see on tourist brochures.

  Reid replaced the gas cap once the tank was full and we drove across the street to the motel. I grabbed my small bag from his back seat and we walked into the small, outdated concierge area. And by concierge, I mean dingy 1980s lobby.