Reckless (Wrecked) (11 page)

Sarah nodded.  “My thoughts exactly.  If I had known my life was going to come down to this, I wouldn’t have worn this disaster,” she said slapping at the long, tight, formal dress she just wanted to cut off her body with a pair of scissors at this point.

“What would you have worn instead?  A track suit?”

“No.  A short, black cocktail dress.  Preferrably Chanel.  And shorter heels, too.  I could have waltzed into Wal-Mart and bought an entire wardrobe for all of us in less than thirty minutes.”  Shopping was one of her special skills.

“Oh, right.  Like a Chanel cocktail dress wouldn’t stand out in Wal-Mart.  You so know how to blend, Sarah.”

“Thhpppbbtttt.”

“Mature.”

“Thhppbt.”

Candi changed the subject.  “I was thinking something when Jonathan was telling us about the wanted posters.”

“Oh, yeah?  What?  How delicious that bacon smells, sizzling across the street?  Because that’s what I was thinking.”

“No.  I was thinking that we have two problems with standing out.”

“Like …”

“Like it’s not just the FBI looking for us.  It’s that Baskov guy, too.  And I’ll bet he has more money than the FBI does.  What if he sends one of his hired assassins out after us?  All the guy has to do is ask questions around places like this and he might get lucky and find someone who saw four kids in prom clothes when there was no prom going on.  And he may have access to FBI resources since we know there was at least one mole in there.  Baskov probably has more than one traitor on the payroll, don’t you think?  They could totally have access to the leads the FBI comes up with around the country.  They’re everywhere, did you know that?  It’s not just Washington, D.C.”

Sarah listened to everything Candi said and the more she heard, the farther her heart sank down into her stomach.  “Damblammit, Candi!  Now I’m feeling sick again!  Way to go.  I was going to have bacon and sausage and … oh, god … shut up, Sarah … stop talking about food.”  She moaned and slid down in her seat.

“I’m sorry,” said Candi, sounding very contrite.  She turned around backwards, gripping the headrest with both hands as she looked at Sarah.  “I just didn’t want to be the only one with the nightmare in my head.  I actually was hoping you’d tell me I was nuts.”

Sarah shook her head, rubbing her hair into a knot on the seat behind her.  “No.  You’re not nuts.  You’re totally right, and
we’re
totally screwed.  The guys were right, too.  We need serious security if we’re going to be in a cabin.  Like death traps and guns and … attack dogs.”  She sat up, suddenly inspired by the idea of Cujo coming out and biting a bad guy’s nutsack off.

“Attack dogs?”  Candi laughed.  “Where are we going to get an attack dog?”

“Humane society.  They have tons of dogs, even some that are biters.  Let’s get one of those - one of the biting kind.”

“I’d prefer one that didn’t bite but
looked
like it could bite.  Intimidation factor.”

“I think an actual bite is much more intimidating than a hard look.”  Sarah sat up.  “As soon as we get to that diner, let’s look up dog adoption in their phone book.  I’ll bet there’s one near here somewhere.”  She looked around the parking lot and the places beyond.  “It’s a pretty big town, looks like.”

“I think it’s a good idea.  No, a great one.  Not only will we rescue a dog that might get put down, it’ll give us something to do so we don’t get too bored.  Training takes a lot of time and patience.”

“Oooo, good idea.  Let’s make a list of all the things we can do to not be bored in the middle of nowhere.”  Sarah looked around the car for a piece of paper but gave up about three seconds into the process, her stomach telling her she was better off just relaxing.

“I’ve always wanted to learn how to knit,” said Candi.

Sarah laughed.  “If we get that bored, I’m just going to turn myself in.”

“No, I’m serious,” said Candi, smiling.  “I want to make a scarf.  If I get good at it, I could make you one too.”

Sarah shrugged.  “Whatever floats your boat.  I want to paint.  I’ve always wanted to learn how to paint landscapes and portraits.”  She waved her hand in front of her face, already seeing a vision of greatness.  “I could create the next Mona Lisa.”

Candi coughed.  Or maybe she laughed, it was hard to tell.  But she said nothing.

“Whatever,” said Sarah, frowning at she-who-has-no-faith sitting in the front seat.  “What else?”

“The guys will want to do some kind of sports thing.  Well, Kevin will want to anyway; and he’ll force Jonathan to do it with him.”

“Baseball mitts and gloves.  Playing catch is easy to do in the woods,” said Sarah.

“What about archery?  I think Jonathan would love that.  It’s all about physics and geometry …”

“Good call,” agreed Sarah.  “And he could put arrows in the bad guys’ hearts if they came for us.”  Sarah felt especially excited about that part.  With a biting dog and an arrow-shooting boyfriend and brother, their odds of survival were already going up.  Maybe she could learn how to launch a few herself, be a modern-day Robin Hood.

Both girls were silent for a while, Sarah busy trying to imagine what she’d do all day, every day, with no school, no phone, and no internet.  “This is going to seriously suck,” she said finally.

“I know.  It’s depressing,” said Candi.  “We’re going to miss graduation, probably.”

“And home-cooked meals, and the crowning of the prom king and queen, since they never did it at the dance.  I wonder who will win with you guys gone.”

“My guess is it’ll be Gretchen and Barry,” said Candi, curling her lip in disgust.

“Yeah.  Total pity-card, though.  No one will vote for them because they deserve it,” said Sarah, sniffing. 
Stupid cheater and his ho-bag home-wrecker.

“You’re better off,” said Candi.  “Stop making that face.  You’re going to wrinkle permanently.”

Sarah immediately straightened her expression.  Those friggin wrinkles needed to stay the heck away from her.  “Thank you for the reminder.”  She sighed.  “So what else do we need to do?  Now that we have the security problem figured out, we might as well solve all the rest of our problems.”

Before Candi could respond, Kevin and Jonathan walked up to the car and got in, a bag in each of their hands.

“So, what’d you get us?” asked Sarah, eager to see how awful their choices were.  She opened the first bag and found jeans.  “We told you not to get jeans!”

Kevin snatched them out of her hands.  “Those aren’t for you.  They’re for us.  You get shorts, just like you ordered.”

Sarah frowned at him.  “Touchy, touchy.”

“I’m tired and I’m hungry, so just put your stuff on and let’s go eat.”

Candi pulled out a small t-shirt with a rainbow pony on the front.  “What in the heck?”  She held it up towards Sarah.  “I think this one is yours.”

“Oh, hellsbells no it’s not.  This one’s mine,” she said, pulling out a blue one still in the bag.  She opened it up, but the back of it was facing her.

Candi started laughing loudly.  “Oh, yeah.  You’re right.  This one’s mine.  That’s yours.”  Candi scrambled to pull her dress down and put the pink shirt on.

Sarah slowly turned it around, her face going white when she saw the front of it.  “I’m not fucking wearing this.”

“I thought you were going to stop cussing,” said Jonathan.  There was no censure in his voice, but that didn’t matter.

“Did
you
buy me this nightmare?” she asked accusingly.

Jonathan’s face went red.  “Uhhhh … maybe?  I thought you’d like it … think it was cute … or not …,” he finished lamely.  “Sorry.  I guess I’m not good at shopping for girls.”

Sarah took a very deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to find her happy place.  She gave him a tight-lipped smile.  “Fine.  I’ll wear it.  But when people point fingers and laugh hysterically like Sugar Lump is right now, you’d better just be prepared to suffer my wrath.”

“How about you go into the Wal Mart and buy something else?” suggested Kevin.  “Wrath-suffering doesn’t sound like much fun, and we already have enough shit to deal with.”

The girls got into their new t-shirts and black gym shorts in record time.  Thankfully, the bottoms weren’t as much of a disaster as the tops were.  After donning their flip-flops and doing their best to right their hair, they nearly ran to the Wal-Mart.  First, they stopped off in the bathrooms, and then they started walking towards the clothing department.

A man in a pea-green t-shirt and dirty jeans stopped them before they were ten feet into their trip.  He looked like he was in his thirties, his hair slicked down to the side with something gross - probably not normal gel from the looks of it and very possibly just the oil from his scalp.  Sarah shuddered at the thought.

“Excuse me …,” he said, holding up a hand to make them stop.

“Yeah, what?” asked Sarah.  “We need to shop, do you mind?”  The guy was blocking their path and obviously thought way more of himself than he should have.  He was eyeing her up and down, practically drooling. 
Perv
, she thought, grimacing at the idea of this turd getting anywhere near her.

“Just relax, babe.  I just wanted to ask you a question.”

“What?”

“I just wanted to know if you really do?”

Sarah frowned at him, annoyed and completely confused now.  “If I really do
what?”

He gestured at her shirt.  “If you really do like choo-choos.”

Sarah looked down at the choo-choo train decal on her shirt, a big puff of smoke coming out of its stack, the accompanying lettering declaring to the world how she allegedly felt about locomotives.  Then she looked up and gave him the most sarcastic smile she could possibly muster before answering, “Not when they look like you do, I don’t.”  And then she stormed off in a huff.  Candi followed behind, an occasional snort escaping to mix with her giggles.

***

The girls made short work of the shopping trip.  They bought not only clothes but necessities like bottled water, trail mix and antacids for Sarah’s occasional stomach issues, shampoo, conditioner, soap, gel, a brush, a comb, and toothbrushes and toothpaste.  Candi added knitting needles, yarn, a how-to pamphlet, a Scrabble board game and a deck of cards.  Sarah found a somewhat heavy-duty archery set in the sporting good section, a couple of mitts and a baseball.  Their cart was loaded.

“I cannot wait to brush my fuzzy teeth,” said Candi as they walked out to the car.

“You’re telling me.  I can’t wait to get out of this
I Love Choo-Choos
t-shirt.”

Candi giggled again.  She couldn’t help it.  Every time she saw that silly picture of the lunatic smiling train it just killed her.  She wisely decided to keep her comments to herself, though.  Sarah was on a hair-trigger with her mood.  She needed some food or they were all going to suffer.

“Let’s go,” said Sarah.  “Time to eat.”  Sarah pulled off her blue shirt, not caring who saw her in her bra, putting on the white tee she’d bought instead.  It had a cute flower design over the front, kind of surfer-girl in style.  It suited her tan and highlighted hair.  Candi left the pink rainbow pony shirt on, shoving the bag filled with toiletries down by her feet.  “I’m starving.  Breakfast?” she asked, looking over at Kevin.

He nodded, winking at her but saying nothing as he pulled out of the parking lot and onto the road leading to the diner.  He looked like he was too tired to even speak at this point.  Candi reached over and rubbed his upper arm.  “I’ll drive next, okay?”

He nodded again, putting on the turn signal to go into the restaurant’s parking lot.  Once there, they unbuckled.

“Should we split up?” asked Jonathan.

“What do you mean?” asked Candi, her hand on the door handle.

“I think we should eat separately.  As couples.  Sarah and me, and you two.”

“Do you really think that’s necessary?” asked Kevin.

“Maybe it’s overkill, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.”

Kevin shrugged.  “Fine.  You two go first.  We’ll follow in a couple minutes and sit on our own.  Give us some of the cash.”

Jonathan took the envelope out of the hiding spot they’d made behind the middle armrest in the back seat and handed Kevin a hundred dollar bill.  After collecting the shopping change from the girls, giving him and Sarah thirty dollars to use for their breakfast, he opened the door and stepped out, coming around to get Sarah’s door for her.

Once the door was shut and they were alone, Candi leaned her head on the headrest, facing Kevin.  “Are you scared?”

He turned sideways and took one of her hands in his.  “Nah.  Just tired.  My brain’s a little muddy right now, so maybe I’ll be scared after I’ve slept.”  He laced his fingers in hers.  “Are you?”

“Yes.  Very.  At that house … I’ve never seen so much blood … never in my whole life.  It was nothing like the movies.  You could smell it, even.”  Her stomach churned a little with the memory of it all.

“Yeah.  Pretty disgusting.  And that guy was totally bad news.  Zero conscience.  If we had let him up, he would have killed us in a second.  I can’t believe you guys fought him off and were able to tie him up without our help.”

Candi smiled.  “You’ll have to thank your sister for that.  I hardly did anything.  I was sleeping when he came in.”  Candi shuddered at the idea of ending up like those FBI agents had.  It would have been not only her worst nightmare but also her parents’ too.

“I think our time on the island really was good in that way - it got us fit and doing things we normally wouldn’t have,” said Kevin.  “I mean, we stared death in the face in that lifeboat and on our way back home … and lived to tell about it.”

“Yeah, and you
literally
stared death in the face when your head went into the water right in the middle of all those sharks.”

Kevin chuckled.  “Yeah.  Man, I was so scared I nearly pissed myself.”

“Really?” Candi shook her head.  “You were so cool about it.  And sick.  I didn’t think you even knew what was going on, really.”

Kevin lifted up her hand and kissed the back of it.  “The first day or two was fuzzy, but after that, I remember everything.  Every last detail.  I never want to forget it.”