by Jamie Knight
We rode on in silence for a few miles, watching the California countryside unwind right in front of our eyes. We both watched as the world that we knew slipped off into the rearview.
“Hey, did you see last night’s episode of Cops?” I asked, changing the topic.
Nadia looked like a deflated balloon. I could tell that she was disappointed that I had changed the topic. It was what I always did whenever the conversation would lean in the direction that it did, about Nadia and I being together. I just didn’t know what to tell her, so I figured that the smart thing to do was not to talk about it. And she would clam up herself, not pushing the issue any further. And, per her usual, that’s what she did.
“Yeah, I saw it,” she said, trying to engage in the conversation that she really wasn’t interested in. “That guy gave the cops a run for their money.”
“Yeah, he did,” I said, laughing heartily.
I snuck a glance in her direction and saw the disappointment plastered all over her face. I felt terrible and wished that I had the nerve to address the issue between us, but I just didn’t have it. I couldn’t imagine our relationship changing, not to be able to talk to her about anything and everything, and have her be there for me as a true friend. I didn’t have very many close friends, so I really wasn’t keen on losing one of the best friends that I had ever had. Every single romantic relationship that I had ever had, had ended tragically and horribly. I never spoke to the girls that I broke up with again. I didn’t want that to happen with Nadia.
No, I thought. I am being smart. The best thing to do is to keep being friends with her. Even though a small part of me felt like I wished that things could be different, I also felt like it was the smart thing to do to try to keep them the same.
Chapter Three - Nadia
I was starting to feel weird as we drove on. At first, I thought it was just the hurt of Josh’s refusal to talk about things, but then the odd sensation got worse. I was nauseous but starving, and nothing seemed to sound good to eat.
Maybe it was the burritos, I thought, as I downed the rest of my soda, hoping it would settle my stomach. It didn’t. It made it worse.
By the time the sun started to set, I was miserable. I felt like I could eat a feast, but still, nothing, in particular, sounded good. It was like my body didn’t know what to do. I was being twisted apart, and I didn’t know why.
My stomach growled so loudly that Joshua heard it.
“Maybe we should stop for something to eat,” he said, pulling into a dingy roadside diner in front of a motel.
I groaned, not wanting to eat more greasy diner food. But I was starving, and there was nowhere else nearby to eat, so I decided to give it a chance.
Once we got inside and seated in a corner booth, I ordered a chicken salad, hoping that that would be better than a greasy burger, but it wasn’t. For some reason, it tasted off to me. I pushed my plate aside, deciding that this just wasn’t the diner for me.
Josh feasted on fried chicken strips, not noticing that I was grossed out. He even pushed his basket of oily fries my way. The smell of potato was too much, so I pushed them back and had to glance out the window to help the roller-coaster in my stomach.
The booth seemed to sway slightly, giving me a headache, and the lights started to feel too bright. It was all irritating, but I wasn’t sure why. I had eaten at a lot of worse places than this before. Why it was bugging me now, I had no clue.
I closed my eyes, rubbed them, then pulled my phone out of my pocket, and stared at it. Hopefully, this would distract me. There were four missed calls from the last few hours. All from the same number — a number I didn’t want to see. As I erased the notifications from the call log, the phone started ringing.
“Ted’s calling again,” I said, rolling my eyes and sending the call to voicemail for what felt like the millionth time.
Ted was my ex. We had broken up a few weeks ago because I told him that I didn’t want a long-distance relationship. He was not okay with my decision and had sent me countless voicemails and texts saying that he loved me and wanted to work things out. I didn’t share his desire. I had been avoiding him since we talked a few nights before. However, I was starting to think that it might be a good idea to respond to him so that he stopped. I didn’t want to leave the country with things so unsettled.
My phone started ringing again.
“Ugh. I’m going to step outside and talk to him,” I explained, getting up from the table.
Joshua grabbed my arm and wouldn’t let go. “Don’t pick up the phone,” he ordered grimly.
I looked at him like he was insane and pulled my arm away from him. “Uh, okay, dad,” I snapped sarcastically, taking a few steps toward the door with my phone in hand. After Josh’s discussion avoidance in the car earlier, I was not in the mood for his advice.
“Ted is a jerk and never appreciated you,” Joshua called out, his words a jumbled mess.
Was he nervous? Scared? Either way, Josh was starting to really irritate me. Plus, the other patrons were beginning to stare. Ignoring the phone again, I went back to the booth and sat down on the puffy red bench, not wanting to give the restaurant a show.
For some reason, Joshua calling Ted a jerk really bothered me. I practically saw red. “You know, you aren’t exactly a saint, Joshua,” I said, my voice hushed. I punctuated my point by slamming my fingertip into the tabletop. “You don’t exactly treat the women that you date well, either.”
More than one of Joshua’s girlfriends had come to me for advice on how to keep his eyes on her. I couldn’t help. He was always in love and out of it faster than other people could blink. Any issues he had with my love life were hypocritical.
Glaring at me, he leaned forward in a rage. “How dare you?” he said, slamming a fist down on the table, almost knocking the plates over. “I do the best that I can!”
Everyone in the restaurant was staring at us. There went my idea of not causing a scene.
I felt like my head and heart were going to explode with frustration. “How dare I?” I asked incredulously. “How dare YOU! You’re sitting here acting all holier-than-thou like you’re the best guy in the world, and you aren’t.”
He sat back and rolled his eyes. “I never said that I was,” Josh snapped, his voice so loud he was all but yelling. “I just said that Ted isn’t a good guy, which you know already, Nadia. Why are you being such a bitch about it?”
It was my turn to get furious.
“A bitch?” I huffed, as I knocked over the basket of fries. “A bitch? So, now we’re resorting to name-calling? Well, if I’m a bitch, then you’re an asshole.”
I slammed my hand into the table so hard, one of the waitresses yelped. Fueled with rage and embarrassment, I grabbed my purse and slid out of the booth, but not before I flicked an oily, ketchup covered French Fry onto Josh’s shirt.
He glared at me, about to open his stupid mouth once more, but I didn’t let him get the last word. I stormed off from the table, out of the diner door, and started walking down the road. I was livid. I didn’t even want to be near Joshua at that moment.
About a block down the road — in front of a small pharmacy — I stopped mid-step when I realized that there was a problem. I didn’t have my purse, and Joshua had the keys to the car. Without money or my ID, I was going nowhere — not to mention that I wasn’t even sure which small California town we were in.
Crap, I thought.
The only thing that I could really do was eat crow and go back to Joshua.
I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to see that smug look on his face, the look that said that he was right, and I was wrong. I knew that Ted wasn’t the best guy in the world. Still, I wasn’t about to give Joshua the satisfaction of knowing that he was right, especially after acting like such as asshole. I was not going to spend the rest of the trip with him if he was going to act like that. And I couldn’t understand why he was doing it.
Unable to th
ink straight, I started back down the road, unsure of where I was going or what I was going to do.
Chapter Four - Joshua
I paced back and forth outside the dinner for what felt like an eternity. Nadia really had walked off, and I had no idea where she was going.
What my best friend has said really irritated me. Was I really that bad with women? I tried not to be, but somehow, something always went wrong. There was a little voice in the back of my mind that said the same thing was happening with Nadia now, I couldn’t figure out why. We had gotten into fights in the past, but this was new.
Walking down a dusty highway alone was crazy. Nadia didn’t usually act that way. What if she got hurt? I’d never forgive myself.
Then, I saw her. Nadia was marching back to the car, her head up in the air pridefully. Her eyes still held fire, but I didn’t care. I was just happy that she was back and that she was okay. I ran over to the car, taking long strides to clear the distance between where I stood and where the car sat.
“Hey, I’m glad you’re back…” I began, trying to catch my breath.
“I only came back for my purse,” she snapped, pointing into the widow at the bag sitting on the seat. She waited with her hand on the door handle for me to unlock the door.
“We should talk,” I tried to explain. “I’ve booked a room and…”
Nadia waved her hand then slung her purse over her shoulder. “No need,” she said, putting up a hand as if she were silencing me. “I just want my purse, and I’ll be on my way.”
This was ridiculous. “Please, can we talk,” I begged, knowing how stubborn she was.
Nadia took a few steps back from me and folded her arms, staring me up and down. “You really embarrassed me back there,” she admitted. “And I’m not exactly sure why. The only way that I’d even be willing to have a conversation with you is if you apologize.”
I sighed deeply, feeling my whole body deflate. “I’m sorry,” I said. I really was, but more than anything, I just wanted us to stop being mad at each other.
“That’s it?” she asked, her eyes wide “You’re sorry?”
“Well, yeah…” I said, flashing a smile in her direction and running a hand through my hair. “Do you accept my apology?”
Nadia tapped her foot in the dirt, still visibly fuming. Then, it was her turn to sigh. “Yeah, I guess so…” she said, her voice trailing off.
The hesitation in her voice wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear, but I knew that it was the best that I was going to get at the moment. We both just needed time to cool down and calm down.
It had been a long day of driving, so I had booked a room on the second floor of the hotel. After grabbing our bags, we climbed the stairs to the room and went inside. It wasn’t a fancy place, only two twin beds with faded floral coverlets and a small sitting area, but it would do. Nadia walked over to the wooden table and chair and sat with her arms folded, still sulking angrily.
“How was your walk?” I asked, trying to lighten the mood as I plopped my suitcase onto one of the beds.
She cracked a smile, even though I could tell that she didn’t want to. “It was okay,” Nadia answered curtly, not even looking at me. “It was actually pretty nice.”
“Good,” I said, grinning at her.
After a few minutes, we were back to reminiscing like the old friends we were. Nadia’s whole mood seemed to change when we talked about a night that we ended up going out together with some of our friends, and we had to basically drag her out of a bar before she ended up fighting a girl.
“Drunk Nadia is something else,” I said, shaking my head as I remembered carrying my best friend over my shoulder and tossing her into my car.
She nodded. “Yeah, whatever, punk! At least we always seem to look out for each other.”
“Yeah, we do,” I agreed.
For the first time that day, I really looked at her. Nadia’s dark brown eyes lit up as she talked, and her smile radiated as she laughed lightly as she remembered picking a fight with a complete stranger.
Everything was back to the way that it usually was. And I was happy about that. I was so pleased that I walked over to where Nadia sat and tried kissing her. She pulled away hesitantly. My heart sank. I thought that she wasn’t into me or something. Then, she pulled me in and kissed me with so much hunger. It was such a turn on.
I kissed her back, feeling that same hunger gnawing at my body. I swept her into my arms, carrying her over to the bed and laying her down in the center. She gazed up at me, her chest heaving as her breath came quicker, and I slowly crawled onto the bed over her, resting my weight on my legs on either side of her.
When my lips found hers again, her arms wound around my neck, and she pressed her body against me as I drew her lower lip between my teeth and sucked it lightly. I ran my hands down her sides, just brushing lightly over the curves of each breast, and she gasped and arched into my touch.
There was something oddly satisfying about this tease, even though I was barely touching her. Watching her writhe and pant for me, seeing that arousal glaze over her eyes, it was delicious.
I slipped my hands under her shirt, skimming over the soft skin beneath. I felt her tense up a little as my hands moved across her belly, and I had to tuck away a grin, remembering how ticklish she could be. And while the idea of reducing her to a giggling mess always held a certain amount of appeal, I didn’t exactly feel like shifting the mood just then.
I brushed the underside of her breasts with each thumb, and she let out a little hiss of pleasure, breaking our kiss and panting softly. She looked up at me with an expression laced with need.
“Please touch me,” she whimpered, “Please…”
The soft, breathy desperation in her tone as she begged made my already-stiffening cock throb and twitch. I slid my hands higher, and she moaned, and when my fingers were just a hair’s breadth from her nipple, I slowly traced a circle around the pebble-hard, sensitive bud.
She whimpered again and squirmed underneath me, her hips arching up and grinding against me. “Josh, please,” she begged me again, “I need more. I need you.”
The words hit hard, on levels I didn’t expect, but before I could let myself get wrapped up in those thoughts and emotions, I pulled my dick out of my pants. I shoved her shirt up over her head and bent down to take one of her nipples between my lips.
“Oh, fuck,” she gasped, and the hands that were gently wrapped around my neck turned to nails raking down my back.
While I continued to suck her nipples, teasing, and alternating between both, I tugged her pants down over her hips and tossed them aside. I gently pushed her knees apart, giving me full access to her dripping pussy. I traced a slow, torturous path along the length of her slit, and she let out a little growl of frustration that made me chuckle.
I plunged a finger between her folds, and she moaned. My finger explored the soaking wet skin until I found the spot I was after. And when I hit it, she cried out. “Fuck, yes!”
I continued to stroke her clit, experimenting with different little patterns and speeds until I found the one that made her nails dig in a little deeper, the one that made her moan my name.
“Oh, yes, Josh, just like that,” she moaned, “Fuck, that feels so good.”
Her moans made my cock twitch, and I wanted her so badly I was almost a little lightheaded. I couldn’t fucking take another second, so I shoved her thighs apart a little further and plunged inside her. Her tight pussy was so slick with her juices that I drove in deep with ease, and I heard all of Nadia’s breath escape her in a little whoosh.
The tight, wet heat felt fucking incredible, the walls of her pussy wrapped around my shaft like a vice grip. But I needed more. I stroked her pussy slowly at first, drawing out the pleasure that wracked my body. And if her moans were any good indicator, that same pleasure was tearing through her as well.
“I’m so fucking close, Josh,” she rasped in my ear, her leg
s twining around my waist, “Please make me cum.”
I drove deeper and deeper into her, thrusting faster and fucking her harder, my hands cupping her soft, lush tits and squeezing gently. She arched against me, and I felt her whole body start to quiver as her pussy walls clamped down around me tight.
“Oh, fuck, Josh, I’m cumming, oh!” she threw her head back and howled in release.
And I didn’t stop, continuing to pound into her and reach for a climax of my own. She clung to me tight, her legs still locked around my waist and giving me the optimal angle to drive every last inch into her. And while I continued to move in and out, I felt her pussy twitching and pulsing around me, either with aftershocks or the beginnings of a second orgasm. Or maybe both.
“Fuck, Nadia,” I groaned, “You feel amazing.”
I could feel a tightness, could feel everything in me starting to tense and ache as I grew closer. I continued to thrust, and Nadia continued to buck against me.
“I’m cumming again!” Nadia yelled, gripping my shoulders hard.
“Me, too,” I groaned, feeling the pressure inside me reaching a breaking point.
As Nadia cried out and I felt her shatter underneath me, the pressure burst, and pleasure washed over me as I poured out my release.
We fell back onto the bed, looked at each other, and laughed. It started off as small chuckles at first, and then we were laughing so hard that tears were springing from our eyes.
Nadia spoke first. “We have got to stop doing this,” she said, shaking her head.
“Agreed.”
It seemed like this was our pattern, though. Whenever I would break up with a girl, I would have sex with Nadia. And when Nadia was going through something, we would have sex then, too. It seemed like we were always taking our frustrations out on each other.
After a moment or two of silence, Nadia looked over at me with a frown. “You need to leave, Joshua,” she said, her voice taking on a sadness that I hadn’t heard from her before. At least not with me.
