Ten Seconds of Crazy

by Randileigh Kennedy

  The desk clerk smiled at us and handed over a silver key attached to a large plastic key ring. We made our way out of the lobby and Reid pointed to a door with a giant nine on it.

  “Open her up,” he said, tossing me the key. He walked around the back of his car to open his trunk. He pulled out a small duffle bag and locked up the vehicle as I slowly unlocked the door. I could see the lights were already on and the place smelled like the bleach mixture we used at the diner to wipe down the tables. That had to be a good sign. At least something in the room had to be disinfected.

  Without warning, Reid scooped me up in his arms and I let out a slight squeal. It startled me, and I wasn’t sure why he picked me up.

  “Men are supposed to carry women over the thresholds of fancy hotels, right?” he said with a boyish grin. I smiled at him and he walked us inside, setting me down near the first bed. “Do you want to pick yours first? It’s like a motel ritual, the first one in always gets to pick their bed. My brother and I would fight about that all the time.”

  “I’ll take the one away from the door,” I said sheepishly. I’d probably seen too many horror movies. We set our bags down and we each started pulling out clothes to change into for dinner.

  “What’s that?” Reid asked, gesturing underneath the bed.

  “Very funny,” I mused, letting him know I wasn’t the type to fall for a trick like that.

  “I’m not teasing you, there’s a suitcase under your bed.” He reached underneath, pulling out a decent-sized black suitcase. “Should we open it?” He had such a mischievous look on his face, and I didn’t blame him. I was curious too. But it felt kind of wrong.

  “We should probably just take it into the front office,” I suggested. “The last guests must’ve left it in here.”

  “Don’t you want to know what’s in it?”

  “Look around,” I laughed. “It can only be one of two things. A dead body or someone’s personal items. I don’t think we should mess with it either way.”

  He smiled at me and slowly unzipped the bag.

  “Reid, this is so wrong,” I scolded him while giggling. He gently rummaged through the suitcase.

  “Do you want to hear my idea?” he asked with a raised brow.

  “Only if your idea is closing that back up and turning it in.”

  “Exactly. Tomorrow morning when we check out. But tonight…” He held up a man’s black suit. It actually looked somewhat new and expensive. “Let’s dress up. We’ll go out, have a good time, then we’ll fold it all back up like it never happened. Look, there’s something for you.”

  Reid held up a beautiful white summer dress. It was simple in a way, a high neck with no sleeves, but it looked elegant and soft. It reminded me of a dress you’d see at some hoity-toity yacht party.

  “I don’t think that will go with my Converse,” I snickered.

  “You’re in luck,” he replied, holding up a pair of really tall heels. “What size shoe do you wear?”

  “An eight and a half,” I answered, reaching out to touch the shoes.

  “Can you just put your feet in cold water or something right before slipping them on? So they’ll shrink?”

  “That may be the dumbest comment ever uttered by a man,” I said laughing. “Was that in the boy version of Cinderella or something?” I held the shoes in my hands, studying them. The label read Louboutin. I was terrified to think of how much they cost. I had never owned a pair of shoes even marginally comparable.

  I thought of my mother as I held the shoes. She often gave me new shoes growing up, but they never looked all that new. Not the way these looked. It wasn’t until I was about nine when I realized where she got all my shoes. We were at a fast food restaurant, sitting in the play area. I was too old for that section anyway, but my mother didn’t seem to know what else to do with me. As we were leaving, another mother from the play area stopped my mom. She watched her slip a pair of kid shoes in her purse. I was so embarrassed I didn’t realize it before. There had been prior occasions where my mother had ‘accidentally’ grabbed the wrong pair. She claimed she simply forgot which shoes I wore to the restaurant that day whenever she was questioned about it. When I was little, I thought she was really mistaken, mixing up my shoes for another pair. It turned out she was just stealing an upgraded option. I shook those thoughts away, ashamed and embarrassed by them.

  Reid walked out of the bathroom, fully dressed in the handsome dark suit. He wore a crisp white shirt, and I tried to stifle my smile. He looked amazing. Then I glanced down further, noticing the pants were a couple inches short. I giggled.

  “Hey, so I’m a little taller than the suit owner,” he said, following my glance down to his ankles. He pulled up the black socks he had on to fill in the gap. “But the jacket’s nice, right? I don’t even care how bad it is, I’m rockin’ it.” He was grinning ear to ear, and despite the short pants, he still looked better in the getup than I would’ve imagined. “Just dinner,” he begged, hoping I would agree. “We can pretend like we’re important people. And as long as they don’t look down at my socks, they’ll never know,” he explained with a laugh in his voice. “Then we’ll come back, put everything away just like we found it, and we’ll turn it in first thing in the morning.” He continued smiling at me with his perfect mouth and I was quickly losing all willpower I had to say no to him.

  I reluctantly grabbed the dress and the heels and went into the bathroom. After all, there was a good chance it wouldn’t even fit. That would certainly be a sign that I shouldn’t wear it. I was taller than a lot of other women I knew, so the dress would probably be too short. I couldn’t wear it out if I felt uncomfortable in it. I carefully pulled it over my head and looked in the mirror. I had to admit, the dress fit perfectly on my tall, slim frame. I slipped on one of the shoes. It wasn’t too tight per se, but definitely a little stiff. It was almost like they were begging me to wear them in a little bit.

  I opened the bathroom door, feeling a little hesitant. The smirk on his face told me he liked the dress, so I didn’t see the point in changing back. I was happy to see that despite the tall heels, he was still a couple inches taller than me. I guessed he had to be at least six-foot-two. Together we definitely looked far more exquisite than I felt with all my nerves.

  “Just dinner,” I stated, holding out a firm finger to appear more serious. “Then everything goes back in the suitcase like this never happened.”

  “Deal.” He held out his hand to me and I grabbed it, more so to steady myself from the height of the tall shoes. His hand felt firm in mine, and I hoped I wouldn’t regret this.

  We climbed into his car and found an Italian restaurant nearby just a few blocks over from our motel. The ambiance was relatively elegant, and we certainly fit in with the dinner crowd in our nice clothes. I was relieved, however, to see the prices on the menu were still reasonably average.

  We each ordered some salad and pasta and Reid insisted on a bottle of wine. Thankfully I wasn’t even carded. Apparently not too many nineteen year olds were out drinking and dining in Louboutins.

  “So if we’d never met, what do you think you’d be doing right now in this exact moment?” he asked, looking at me from across the table. The warm glow from our candle centerpiece was definitely working in Reid’s favor. His skin looked soft and his smile somehow seemed even more radiant. He had a slight dimple in his left cheek and the lines around his mouth added to the charm on his face.

  “I would probably be watching old movies with Maria,” I guessed. It was something we did pretty often together. We didn’t exactly get out much.

  “Which one is your favorite?”

  “Easy, Princess Bride,” I answered quickly. “It was my mom’s favorite movie, so I watched it a million times growing up since it was one of the few movies we owned. I’ve always loved that one.” I pulled off the silver ring I regularly wore on the middle finger of my right hand. I passed it over to him and watched him read the script around the band.

&nb
sp; “As you wish,” he read, turning the ring over in his hand.

  “That’s the best part of the movie,” I explained, sighing. “Have you seen it?”

  He shook his head no.

  “The love of her life simply says ‘as you wish’ to all her requests. And then he stops at nothing so they can be together. It’s so simple, but kind of beautiful.” I suddenly felt a little bashful as I said it. It probably sounded stupid, but something about it resonated with me. I guess the idea of someone granting my wishes was my ultimate dream. That I would just wish for something and someone would be at the ready to make it happen simply because they cared too much for me not to.

  I took the ring back from him, feeling a slight shiver through my body as my fingers softly grazed his open palm.

  “Sorry, I’m really not usually so mushy about stuff like that.” I slid the ring back on my finger. “I just like the simplicity of it. I wish life was that simple.”

  “But where’s the fun in that?” Reid mused, taking a sip of his wine. “I really don’t think I’ve ever seen that movie, but that’s all there is to it? He says ‘as you wish’ and then it’s happy ever after? No townie Jerrys or scary motels or short suits?” He smirked at me.

  “Well there’s some torture and poison and stuff,” I said, beaming back at him. “I guess nothing is ever easy. But she knows without a doubt that he’ll come rescue her. I guess I just want to be rescued from my own boring life.”

  “Welcome to the road trip,” he said with a huge grin, raising up one of his hands. “We don’t know where our next meal is coming from and you’re wearing seven hundred dollar shoes. Nothing boring about that.”

  I couldn’t help but continue to smile back at him. He was right, my life sure took an interesting turn when I met him. “What about you? What’s your favorite old movie?”

  “Definitely Back to the Future,” he said quickly. “When you climbed in my car and made that DeLorean reference, I knew that was it. You were meant to be in my passenger seat.” I laughed as he said it.

  The waitress set down our plates of pasta and the aroma surrounded us. We each took a bite and marveled at the taste. It was definitely one of the better tasting meals I’d ever had.

  “So what’s the plan? What’s our next stop?” I asked as we ate and drank some more wine.

  “Utah,” he stated matter-of-factly. “Back at the hotel, I actually have some pictures of the place we’re stopping. I’ll show you. It’s absolutely beautiful there. It’s always been one of my favorite stops off the highway.”

  Utah was one of the few western states my mom never moved us to. I had no idea what to expect.

  “I’ll explain a little more to you eventually. Maybe after we’ve had more wine. Then it’ll sound less crazy to you,” he said with a smirk, filling up my glass from the bottle on the table. “It’s not even nine yet. Do you want to call it a night after this? Or we can head out somewhere else if you want to stay out a little longer. I saw a dive bar across the street from the hotel. That could be fun.”

  I looked down at my fancy dress and my expensive shoes. It was way too nice of an outfit for a dive bar, but at the same time I did kind of want to stay out a little longer. I actually really enjoyed Reid’s company. He was kind and thoughtful and fun to talk to. I thought a few more drinks may loosen us both up a bit.

  We finished our food and Reid paid the check as soon as the waitress set down the bill. I felt a little bit awkward about it. I definitely didn’t want him paying for everything along the way. I knew it was his trip, and he would be making a lot of these stops whether or not I was with him, but he didn’t need to buy my food.

  We drove the couple of blocks back towards the dive bar and pulled into the parking lot of a small brick building labeled Rick’s Place. At least we only had to cross a small street to get back over to our hotel room.

  We opened the heavy door leading into the bar and everyone’s heads turned as we made our way inside. The first gruff man we passed, probably in his early sixties decked out in a Harley jacket, snickered as he noticed Reid’s short pants. We both smiled, but Reid didn’t actually acknowledge the man. He just grabbed my arm and confidently led me to a table towards the back of the bar. He put his hand on the small of my back as we reached the table, which sent a tingle through my body. We sat down and I took the small place in. It was dimly lit and less than half full.

  “Shots,” I stated as the waitress came by our table. Reid raised his eyebrows at me in surprise.

  “We have two dollar Lemoncello shots tonight,” the waitress replied.

  “I’m buying the drinks tonight. Keep ‘em coming,” I said smiling. I wasn’t even sure what a Lemoncello shot was, but how bad could it be? I think I was finally ready to fully embrace my current situation. I was out in a dive bar in the middle of nowhere Nevada with an extremely hot guy with a nice convertible. Not to mention I still had the Louboutins on. I was pretty sure my life had peaked at this moment.

  The waitress brought over four shots for us to start with. Honestly the wine from dinner was already settling in so I wasn’t sure how much more I would even be able to drink tonight, but I was at least willing to put in some effort.

  “To ten seconds of crazy,” Reid said lifting up his shot glass. We clinked them together. “I’m really glad you got in the car, Cassidy Jones. I did not see that coming.”

  We gulped down the shots and my face scrunched up as the tart liquid passed down my throat. I held up the next glass and we clinked those as well.

  “May I not live to regret this,” I said with a smirk as we drank the second shot. It tasted a little better this time around now that I knew what to expect, but it was still pretty powerful. I raised my hand up toward the waitress and she proceeded to bring us four more shots.

  “Wow, I didn’t think you had it in you,” Reid said jovially. “I feel like the next hour is going to be quite interesting.”

  Loud rock music was reverberating in the background and some locals were playing pool and darts around the bar. It definitely wasn’t a place I would choose to frequent on my own, but then again, when was I out drinking on a weeknight? Or ever for that matter. It was the perfect atmosphere for us in this moment. It was far more relaxed and less stuffy than the restaurant.

  “All right, so let’s put it all out there. Tell me all your secrets,” I said, slugging down another shot. Any more liquor and I probably wouldn’t have any secrets left by the end of the night.

  “What do you want to know?” he replied with a grin. “I don’t really have any dirt. No criminal history. Three point four GPA. Other than luring beautiful women into my car at restaurants, I don’t really have another other hidden talents.”

  I smiled at him as he spoke. “Do you really want to be an engineer?” I pried. I knew that’s what his parents wanted, but I wasn’t sure if that was what he really wanted.

  “Kind of, yeah,” he answered honestly. “I mean sure, I was kind of pushed in that direction by my dad. But I actually kind of enjoy it. I don’t know that I would want to work for my dad as soon as I finish school though. I kind of want to get out there on my own. Just to see what I could really do with it.”

  We slugged down another shot and I asked the waitress for some water. I really enjoyed conversing with Reid. I didn’t want to mess that up by getting sick, so I figured I needed to pace myself a little.

  “Your turn for secrets. That whole probation officer story. Was there any truth to that?” He smiled at me, waiting for my answer. I never thought I would tell another soul about what had happened. Well, of course at the time it seemed like the whole universe knew about it. But I hadn’t uttered a word about it after running away from Reno. I never even told Maria. But there was something about Reid that put me at ease. It was like telling an embarrassing story to your best friend. Although it had been quite some time since I had a best friend.

  “Oh no, here it is,” I said, tipping my head back. “Yes,” I said reluctantly. “I w
as crazy once. Once. But it was bad enough that I want to stay clear of crazy. Which is why you make me nervous.”

  He looked at me reassuringly, as if anything I said wouldn’t make him change his mind about continuing our adventure together. He stared at me intently, waiting for the story.

  “It was senior year of high school. Oh my, this is mortifying.” I reached out and grabbed the last shot in front of him and slugged it down. “So my mom and I had moved to Reno the beginning of my senior year. She promised we wouldn’t move until after I graduated. It was such a weird experience for me, everything kind of just started falling into place. I made some friends, got to sit at the ‘cool’ table… and the big cliché, I started dating the quarterback. It was like a high school movie.”

  “I’m failing to see the downside of all that,” he said with a slight laugh. “Sounds like every girl’s high school dream.”

  “It was, for awhile. Then prom came around, which I was not all that into. But of course I had to go, because my ‘friends’ all said I couldn’t miss it. Not showing up would be ‘social suicide’ they claimed. So there I was with the quarterback, Colton, and he had to leave about a half hour after we got there. He said he wasn’t feeling well, so he went home and told me he just needed to sleep it off. He said it was probably just food poisoning from dinner. Well, the prom was boring without him, so I eventually cut out early. I went by his house to see how he was doing. I didn’t want to wake up his parents, so of course I went around to his window, like I often did to sneak in when our parents didn’t know.”

  “I assume he wasn’t in bed like he said he was?” Reid asked sympathetically.

  “Oh no, he was in bed all right. With my friend Annalise. Their prom clothes were everywhere and I made eye contact with him through the window and I honestly lost it. I went all Carrie Underwood on him.”

  “What exactly does that mean?”

  “There was a baseball bat out in his neighbor’s grass. I literally smashed up his entire truck. Headlights, the windshield, everything.” I shook my head, completely embarrassed for sharing the story with him. It definitely wasn’t my finer moment.