Audrey's Road Trip

by Susan Bella Ikin

  Emily asked what we were doing tomorrow, and James told her what plans we had made only that day. I had found out about a National Park just a short drive out of Vegas called Red Rocks, which was where U2 had filmed a concert back in the eighties. Emily seemed interested, so we invited her along. I thought that maybe we could find time to talk privately at some point, and I also hoped that Emily could make some more observations of James' behaviour, and maybe give me some tips about what to do next.

  We went on to see a Cirque de Soleil show, and then went back to our separate hotels to get some rest. Kerry and Andrew were obviously tired from their day, and went to sleep quickly, which was a blessing.

  As we had got some decent sleep, we were able to get up and get ready in good time, and so got to Emily's hotel quickly. Of course we couldn't get past the concierge as we weren't guests, even though we had been there before, so I called up to Emily's room and she authorized our admission. When we got to her room she was still getting ready, but we were able to leave soon afterwards, and took our car, as the National Park Pass was in the glove box and would get admission for everyone in the car.

  After a brief stop in the gift shop, we started driving the one way loop, stopping to look at one thing or another, Emily marveling at the colours of the rocks. We were impressed too, but we had been to so many canyons and parks that we had started taking them for granted, so it was good that Emily was with us, as I started seeing the scenery through her eyes and got a lot more enjoyment than I would have otherwise.

  We drove to the former quarry area, and James offered a hand to us both to assist with climbing some rocks. His touch seemed to linger a bit longer on me however, and I played up the helpless routine just a little in order to make sure he had to 'help' me often. I noticed Emily looking at us and then she flashed me a look that only I could see, and loudly announced that she had enough walking for a while, and would like to go back to the car. Emily took great pains to make sure we knew that she would be fine on her own, she was happy to listen to the radio and play games on her phone while we continued to enjoy our walk. This time I think James understood that she was deliberately removing herself from our little group, so that James and I could be alone, and with a small smile and a wink he threw the car keys to Emily, and she turned and left us.

  As we turned back to the path away from the car, and continued to walk, I thought it was time to take the initiative, and I took James' hand. He looked at me, but didn't say anything for a while. Finally, spying some large rocks, he steered me towards one and sat me down, sitting next to me. Looking at the other tourists, he seemed to satisfy himself that no-one was within earshot and spoke at last.

  "So, I've noticed a couple of looks passing between you and your sister, and now she has rather obviously left us alone. I'm going out on a limb here, but I think it's worth the risk - you like me, don't you?"

  "Of course I do James", I started on a lighter note, then realized that he deserved better than to be dismissed, "Yes, James I do. I have for a while, but there was never a good time to say anything. I didn't want to say or do anything around Andrew or Kerry, but I have had a bit of a crush on you for a while and-"

  I never got to finish what I was saying as James had grabbed my face in both hands, and was eagerly plundering my mouth. At first I was surprised, and my lips were firmly closed, but James nipped at my bottom lip, and when I opened my mouth in shock, he took advantage of my gasp by running his tongue around the inside of my lips and then exploring my mouth with it. After the initial surprise had abated, I found myself enjoying the kiss and wanting to prolong it, so brought my left hand up to the back of his head, holding him in place, and placed my right on his shoulder, massaging it gently. Slowly I felt myself being lowered to the rock so that I was almost completely horizontal, and James followed me down, without breaking the kiss. We were so disconnected from our surroundings, that it wasn't until another tourist slipped on the gravelly path and almost fell, making a lot of noise, that we guiltily pulled apart.

  I sat up, and looked at James without saying anything. He in turn, was looking at me. All of a sudden, a look of alarm came into his eyes, and he began to speak hurriedly.

  "I hope I didn't go too far just then, you were just telling me you had a crush on me, and then I jumped you. I hope I haven't scared you off, but I've had similar feelings for you for weeks, and I've been trying my best to hide them, but I lost the plot when you said what you said".

  "No, don't apologize James, that was niiiice. I've been wanting to do that for a while, but didn't know how to start, so I'm glad someone did".

  James continued:

  "Well, this complicates matters. I'm telling you now - now that I know how you feel about me, there's no way I am sharing a bed with you in the future, not like we've been sharing it up to date, anyway. I wouldn't be able to lie next to you night after night without rolling over and making love to you, and I don't want Andrew and Kerry listening to us like we've been listening to them all this time!"

  I bridled a little at first at this, what made James think I would have sex with him anyway, then I realized how stupid this attitude was, as of course that was what I wanted to do! So I agreed with him that our platonic bed sharing days were now over.

  "Besides," I said, "I'm not the type of woman to just jump in the sack with someone without getting to know them properly anyway. I know we’ve spent a lot of time in each other's company, so I guess if you think of our holiday in that context, we have been 'dating' for two and a half months now, but it's not really the same thing. I’d like to get to know you properly, you know, talk on a level that you just don't do with other people around".

  James regarded me for a while.

  "I never thought you would be the type of woman that you’ve described Audrey, I wouldn't expect any less than a 'getting to know you' period. In case you're wondering about my intentions, I was never planning to sleep with you when we started this road trip, I haven't even got any condoms with me, so nothing could ever have happened anyway".

  I started walking back to the car, and threw a final comment over my shoulder as I walked.

  "Well, isn't it lucky that I'm on the pill. Hormonal problems you know, lucky for me, as it turns out", and with a smile to myself, I kept walking, hearing James fall in step behind me.

  Ok, so now I really needed to talk to Emily and get some advice on what to do next. We had just over a week to go, and although James and I had our own beds at the hotel, we were sleeping in the same room, and I was sure I would have difficulty sleeping tonight, knowing that he was little more than an arm's length away.

  James

  I had no idea how to take Audrey. One moment she was giving off ‘don't touch me’ vibes, the next she was telling me that she had a crush on me, and her response to my kiss left me under no illusions that she was telling the truth. How long had she known? Her advice that contraception wasn't an issue was unwelcome too - sometimes the only thing stopping me from wanting to flip her onto her back and run my hands all over her body was the knowledge that I could not go any further, and now she had taken that constraint away from me.

  I caught up to Audrey and grabbed her hand, since it seemed that we were going to pursue some sort of relationship, we could start with the basics, I thought. Audrey turned and shyly smiled at me, and tickled my palm with her finger. Now that was cruel, did the woman not know what impact her smile and little touches like that would have on me?

  We arrived back at the car to find the windows down, but Emily nowhere to be seen. At first I thought she might be laying down in the back seat, or had gone to the toilet, but when I approached more closely I saw that the car keys were on the front seat, why would she have left the car unlocked with the keys visible, and have walked away? I looked around, and then caught Audrey's eye, she looked similarly confused. Audrey suddenly exclaimed and bent down, straightening with Emily's bag in her hand. This did not look good. I saw a man sitting in his car next to ours, and app
roached him to ask if he had seen a blonde woman at our car. He looked up from fiddling with his camera and said that he had seen two women near the car, but they had got into a wagon and driven off. He thought the blonde woman was driving, and the other woman was in the back seat, but wasn't sure as he had been taking photographs and only looking around between setting up shots.

  Audrey had been going through Emily's bag, and pulled out her phone.

  "She never would have gone off like this, not leaving her phone here, who does she know? I'm calling the police". She dialled and then made a frustrated noise. "It's not connecting!"

  I looked over her shoulder at the caller display, and realised that she had been trying to call triple zero. I took the phone from Audrey, and dialled 911, putting my arm around Audrey as she was starting to cry. I was put through to the police, and at first they tried to tell me that it was too soon to panic, that maybe Emily had left with someone else that we didn't know, but then Audrey took the phone from me and told the person on the other end that Emily was involved with an actor, and that he had a stalker. That was news to me. Who was this Richard, I wondered? There was a pause, as apparently the person at the other end of the phone checked Audrey's story, and then they said that a car would come out to see us.

  When the car came, they took statements from us, and took details from me of the registration number of the car that the man had been in. He had driven off while we were talking on the phone, but I had taken down his number, thinking that he might be able to describe the mystery woman and the car that Emily had left in.

  We drove back to Emily's hotel. As we had her keycard from her bag, we were able to show that to the concierge, and so we were admitted without question. Using Emily's phone, Audrey called Richard several times and left messages for him to call back urgently. I called Andrew and Kerry and told them that we had been delayed and would not return to the hotel that night, but would drop the car back to them if they needed it. I sat next to Audrey, holding tight to her for comfort. Audrey said she didn't want to talk to her parents yet, she wanted to talk to Richard first.

  When he called, Audrey was really upset and after passing on some basic information about what had happened, began crying, so I took the phone from her. I spoke to Richard and asked if he had received a ransom demand, and he hadn't. He had been working all day, and so his phone had been shut off, which meant that the messages from Audrey were the first he had heard of the events of the day. Richard explained a bit about his stalker, asked us to stay where we were, and told us he would be on the first flight he could get.

  I tried to get Audrey to lie down in the bedroom and get some sleep, but she refused. She was too upset and spent her time pacing the room, making tea and coffee that she didn't drink, and looking sightlessly out of the window at the Vegas lights. I sat there helplessly, wanting to comfort her, but every time I approached her, she told me she was fine and kept doing whatever it was she was doing.

  As I thought one of us should have a clear head, I tried to doze on the couch, and so I missed the noise of someone trying the door, only noticing when Audrey jumped up and ran to the door, snatching it open. I checked my watch and it was pre-dawn. It was Richard, and he walked into the room, dropping a bag in the hallway as he entered.

  Richard sat on the chair opposite the couch where I had been sitting, and I grabbed Audrey's hand and pulled her down beside me. Richard then told us that the police in LA would be contacting the police in Vegas and giving them all the information they had. As Richard talked about the things he knew about the stalker, I could tell her was playing down his concerns for Audrey's benefit, he and I held eye contact for a while, a silent message passing to me from him that things were not looking as good as he was trying to pretend.

  Audrey suddenly yawned wide, and Richard said:

  "Why don't you and James take the bed, I can take the couch, we'll try to get some sleep as I think we will be busy later".

  Audrey exclaimed “James isn’t my boyfriend, we’re just friends, travelling together with some other friends”.

  Richard looked at me, and I very slightly shook my head at him. This wasn't the time for explanations, Audrey was too upset. But I urged Audrey to take the bed anyway, I said if she was worried about not hearing the phone she could leave the door ajar.

  As it turned out, not only was the couch a sofa bed, but one of the comfy armchairs folded out to make a single bed. We all settled in to get a few hours’ uneasy sleep before the morning.

  We woke up early, and Richard called Emily’s parents straight away, and made the arrangements for them to fly over on the first flight he could get. He then surprised me by booking the two rooms either side of Emily's room, so that Audrey could have one, and her parents could have the other when they arrived.

  Richard took me aside and said that I could stay with Audrey if I wanted, or with him, or go back to the hotel we had been sharing with our friends, it was my choice. I told him that I would stay with Audrey as I thought she needed support, and thanked him for being so concerned for her. Audrey absently took the keycard that was offered to her, so I asked Richard to keep an eye on her while I went back to the hotel where I expected to find Kerry and Andrew. I packed Audrey's bag, and my bag, and after telling my friends that a family emergency had arisen, left the car with them as I didn't know when we would be back, and caught a cab back to the hotel where I planned to stay with Audrey. I couldn't imagine leaving her alone right now.

  When I returned, I went straight to Emily and Richard's room, as Audrey was holding on to her keycard, so Richard had given me his, so I could enter the hotel without having to deal with the concierge. I saw the two of them sitting side by side on the couch, looking very familiar and at ease, and was struck by an unbelievably strong wave of jealousy. Richard was very good looking, and Audrey was very vulnerable. I tried to keep my emotions off my face, but obviously I wasn't successful, as Richard gave me an odd look when I entered the room.

  I set the bags down. Audrey pounced on hers and yelling out “Bags the first shower” wheeled it to the bathroom.

  I sat down and looked at Richard, not saying anything. It was more than likely that I was overreacting, he was obviously worried about Emily, but I couldn't help myself. He regarded me silently for a while, then said:

  “Audrey and I were talking about Emily. They are very close you know, this is very difficult for her, for us all”.

  I nodded and sat back in the chair.

  “It’s a pity that Emily didn’t have her phone on her you know”, I started to say, “because if she had it, they could probably trace it and it would help to find her”.

  Audrey came out of the room, and I took the keycard for her room from her, and took our bags next door, and had a long shower while I was there. Afterwards I went back to Richard and Emily’s room, and we passed the whole day waiting by the phone, ordering in room service when we got hungry. For a lot of the day I sat next to Audrey, either holding her hand, or just sitting close enough that our sides touched, trying to offer comfort, which she seemed prepared to accept.

  Finally, the phone rang, and Richard scrambled to answer it. Emily had been found, and she seemed to be relatively unhurt. She had been found out in the desert by a trucker and was being driven in to the outskirts of town, where she would be met by a police car and an ambulance. Richard asked where the truck would arrive, and we all ran to Emily's car. Despite my objections, Richard insisted on driving, and he drove like a madman. When we arrived at the nominated place, we could see that Emily must already be there - a truck was parked next to an ambulance and we could see people moving around the back. Richard just pulled up the car and leapt out, not remembering to take it out of gear, or even to put the handbrake on, as it was an automatic the car started moving forward. I lunged forward and secured the car, then Audrey and I followed in the direction that Richard had taken.

  By the time we got there, Richard was already hugging Emily, and Audrey piled in as well. I
heard the paramedics telling the police that Emily was ok and noticed that a crowd was gathering. People either must have just been attracted by the flashing lights or else they had recognized Richard, as I noticed several people had their phones out, taking pictures. I grabbed Audrey and turned her face to me, I didn't think she needed to lose her anonymity just because her sister was in love with Richard, and it was obvious that they were in love.

  As soon as the police said they were happy for Emily to go, I got behind the driver's wheel of the car, and Audrey got into the front seat, leaving Richard and Emily in the back. We drove back to the hotel, and Richard carried Emily in from the car, Audrey following closely, and I tossed the keys to the valet and followed them all in. Richard didn't put Emily down until we were all inside the hotel room, and then Richard was busy checking over Emily's bumps and scrapes, and clucking over her sunburn. Emily was trying to swat Richard's hands away, embarrassed that Audrey and I were there, but Richard ignored her. After Richard decided that Emily was all right, and went to run her a bath, Audrey gave her sister another hug.