Road Trip (5 page)

Dad takes the first exit and pulls into a strip mall parking lot. Dad and Gus are poking around under the hood before Theo and I hit the ground. We’re stiff from the bouncing, so we walk toward the stores, Atticus at our side. I’m trying not to think how long this trip will take if we only get twenty miles before we have to stop again.

We’re passing a diner just as some guy is being kicked out. His arm is twisted behind his back as he’s propelled out the door. Theo and I dodge as he sprawls across the sidewalk, and we look past him to the person who threw him. It’s a girl. She’s a big girl, but I’m still surprised it’s not a man doing the heave-hoing. Her name tag says
Mia
, and for the second time this morning, I think how cool it is when people are labeled.

Atticus moves between us and the guy on the ground, and the hair on his neck goes up. He doesn’t bark or even growl, but he drops his head and raises his butt and backs away from the guy, trying to edge us farther away from him by nudging us with his hip.

“Get your filthy mouth out of here, Bobby,” Mia says in a calm voice. “I told you I wouldn’t stand for that.”

Bobby staggers to his feet, about to say something to her when he catches sight of Theo. Theo ducks his face and grabs my arm. Before Theo can drag me away,
Bobby takes a swing at him. Theo moves out of range and Bobby’s punch misses him, but the momentum—and Atticus’s nip on his ankle—knocks Bobby off balance and he teeters into Mia.

She slaps both hands on his shoulders and shoves him so hard I swear I see snot come out of his nose when he lands flat on his butt on the sidewalk. He makes a weird sound—I think she’s knocked the wind out of him. His mouth is opening and shutting like he’s a fish in an aquarium. Atticus makes a panting noise that sounds a little like a laugh: “Heh heh heh.”

“I’ve had it with this place,” Mia tells Theo and me. “This is the third loser I’ve had to toss this week and I am over it.”

Bobby gets to his feet, glares at us, and snarls, “This ain’t done.” I think he’s talking to Mia, but he seems to be looking at Theo. Weird. Bobby limps away and the three of us exhale. Mia glances from Bobby to Theo and lifts one eyebrow. Atticus sits down, the fur on his ruff still raised.

“You handled yourself like a pro,” I tell Mia.

“Bouncing bad customers wasn’t in the job description. I can’t take this anymore. I’m quitting. Wait right here.” She storms back into the diner. For some reason, Theo and I do as she says and stay put. I look at him and he shrugs. I pull out my phone and take a picture of Atticus in front of the diner. I wish I’d thought to take a
picture of Bobby, but I’m not really an action-cam kind of guy. I point the camera at Theo.

His eyes are locked on his phone. He’s having a text conversation with someone. His thumbs fly and he chews his lip while he waits for the reply. It’s not warm, but he’s started to sweat. I can see dark patches under his arms.

Mia comes flying out. “Okay,
that’s
done. Oh my gosh!” She’s looking at me. “You’re bleeding!”

I am? I reach up to touch my face.

“There’s blood! Did Bobby come back and hit you?”

“Oh, uh, no. Um, well, see, stress gives me nosebleeds. Sometimes.”

“He’s barely bleeding; it’s just a few drops.” Theo studies my face. He thinks Mia’s making a big deal over nothing. She puts her arm around my shoulder. I slip an arm around her waist, lean against her. Theo rolls his eyes. Probably wishing he were the one with the bloody nose. I smirk at him as Mia leads me to a bench.

“Here, tip your head back. I’ve got some tissue in my purse.” Mia crams tissue up both my nostrils.

“Nice look.” Now Theo’s the one who smirks. “Let me take
your
picture.”

I shake my head and snap a picture of the bloody tissue I pull out of my nose.

“Do you know Bobby?” Mia asks Theo. “Looked like he recognized you.”

“He’s someone I used to know, yeah. More like a non-friend of a friend.”

“He didn’t look friendly when he tried to deck you.”

Theo’s phone buzzes and he checks the text, frowns, and shoves the phone back in his pocket. He’s gnawing on his lip.

“Were you guys heading into the diner?” Mia asks.

“No, just stretching our legs. Rest stop,” I tell her.

“Road trip? Cool. Where you headed?”

“We’re on a quest to save a life.”

“Shut. The. Front. Door.” Mia’s mouth is hanging open.

“Yup. There’s a dog who needs our help and we’re going to save him from certain death.” I sound just like Dad. Now I get why he’s like that: I’d say anything to see that look on Mia’s face.

“I love dogs.” As if we couldn’t tell—she’s feeding Atticus a sandwich she pulled out of her bag and not even getting squeamish that he’s drooling all over her foot. “I’m Mia, by the way.”

“I’m Ben, this is Theo, and Atticus is the one slobbering on you.”

“Are you brothers?”

“Friends,” Theo and I answer together. Nice.

“That’s my Dad and Gus.” I point to them still working on the bus.

“You’re going to rescue a dog in a school bus?”

“It’s kind of a long story.” It’s not even lunchtime and my day is already a long story. Geez.

“Did you steal the bus?”

“Um, no, why would you ask?”

“
That
would be a long story,” she says. “I stole an ATV once. And a small sailboat. And a snowplow.”

“Did not.”

“Well, not at the same time. But you can see why I asked if you stole the bus.”

“Ohhhh-kaayyy.” Is this what career thieves or compulsive liars look like? She’s probably eighteen or nineteen, and there’s a lot of her crammed into a little waitress uniform. I count six earrings in the ear facing me, and she’s got purple and green streaks in her hair. Black fingernail polish and red cowboy boots and a ton of noisy bracelets. She’s not pretty, but there’s something about her that makes you keep looking, and the longer you look, the more interesting she is. I’ve never seen anyone like her.

Theo’s checking her out, too. “Did you really just quit your job?”

“Yeah. I should have left months ago. It’s a hostile work environment. Sharkey, he’s the owner, said the uniforms brought in the big tips. He’s the kind of perv who orders the uniforms one size smaller than what the girls tell him. The hem’s always creeping up and there are buttons missing in the front so you’re showing the
goods more than you’d like. Still, he promised that they didn’t allow touching, it’s policy. So when Bobby patted my bottom and said ‘You might as well go out with me because I’m gonna tell everybody we did anyway,’ I’d had enough.”

“What are you gonna do now?” What is with all the up-and-quitting jobs today?

“Follow my dream. This job just paid the bills while I got on my feet.”

“What’s your dream?”

“To be a triple threat.”

The only triple threat I can think of is the football player who can run, pass, and kick. I don’t think that’s what she means, even though she’s, um, hefty enough to hold her own on a football field.

Theo asks, “Singer, dancer, actor?”

“Not the kind in football,” she laughs. I turn red, embarrassed that I thought that a minute ago.

“Are you any good?”

“So far I’m just good at being told ‘You’re not really what we’re looking for’ and ‘Come back when you have more experience.’ ”

“Bummer.”

“Your dad’s waving at you. Introduce me.” She’s halfway across the parking lot before I can get to my feet. Theo and I jog after her.

“Hi, I’m Mia.” She’s shaking hands with Dad and
Gus. “These guys just gave me the guts I needed to make a major change.”

“There’s a lot of that going around.” Dad smiles at Mia and raises his eyebrows at me. I look away; it’s cute when
she
does it.

They’re chatting about chasing dreams; I’m not really paying attention. I’m watching Atticus watch Theo texting. Atticus is sitting with one paw raised and he keeps reaching out to scratch at Theo’s leg. He wants Theo to put the phone away. So do I.

“So, how about I come with?” Mia’s asking Dad and my attention is back on their conversation. “I’d like to help rescue a dog.”

“It ain’t a real bus route, ya know, stoppin’ to pick up people along the way,” Gus grumbles from under the hood. She looks over his shoulder.

“Nice ride. In-line six-cylinder, four-stroke-cycle diesel engine, right?”

“Finally. Someone who knows engines.” He glares at the rest of us. Mia’s in and we all know it. She texts her roommates to let them know she’s going on a quick trip and will be back in a couple of days.

She makes Dad show her his license and she sends his info along to them. She snaps a picture of all of us beside the bus and sends that, too, with our names. “No offense,” she says. “But a girl can’t be too careful these days.” We all nod.

“How do you know about the engine?” I ask Mia.

“I know a little bit about a lot of things. You never know when you’re going to need stuff, so I try to keep my eyes open.”

“We’re not sure how long we’ll be gone,” I try to warn her. “Dad’s not really a planner.” I hope he hears the disgust in my voice even as I hope Mia doesn’t. I wish there was a way to be charming to her and make Dad know I’m mad at him. “We’re supposed to be in a hurry to get there, but I wouldn’t count on it.”

She shrugs. “I can take a couple days. It’ll be a good story. A person in my line of work needs to collect life experiences; makes my art more authentic.”

“Saddle up, then. We’re heading out. Put some ice on that nose,” Dad says to me as he jumps on the bus, Gus, Theo, and Atticus behind him. Mia and I drop into seats as the bus lurches out of the parking lot. Theo hands me a wad of paper napkins filled with ice from the cooler.

I watch Atticus hop onto the seat and lean against Mia as he looks out the window. She puts her arm around him and nuzzles his ear. I take their picture. Mia grabs the phone, studies her image, and makes me take another one she likes better. “Always looking for good head shots,” she tells me. “And a picture with a dog will make me more memorable. He’s very handsome.”

I take a couple of shots of my iced nose and send
them to Mom. She’s sent a few texts. I press Save without reading them. Maybe later.

Theo’s texting again, chewing on his thumbnail. Gus seems to have fallen asleep. Dad’s singing along with the radio.

I take the ice away from my nose and check for a new leak. I’m good. So I’ve stopped dripping blood and I’m sitting on a school bus talking with a kinda-hot girl who’s just decided to run away with us. I usually have trouble talking to girls. I’m pretty shy and can never think of what to say. Apparently rescuing a dog makes it easy to keep a conversation going. Good to know, though I’m not sure how many times I can use the technique. Probably more than the average person, given how nuts our family is about dogs and saving them from being put down.

“I like you, you’re impulsive,” Mia says.

I glare at the back of Dad’s head. “It kind of runs in the family.”

“You don’t sound happy.”

“Not so much.” Because pretty soon I’ll be quitting good jobs and disappointing kids. It’s a slippery slope, this impulsive thing. And she should talk. She just walked away from her job and got on a bus with a bunch of strangers to rescue a dog.

“You guys have a beautiful aura,” she tells me.

“That’s not something a person hears every day. What’s it mean?”

“You have good energy, I can tell. I’m sensitive to that, and chakras. It’s a gift.”

This is turning into a very weird trip. But a few hours ago, I thought I’d be stuck in the truck listening to Dad, and here we are on a bus with three other people and I’m eight rows away from him with a girl who’s getting prettier all the time. And she’s smiling. At me.

The girl who smells like pancakes and bacon, Mia, points out the cows on the side of the road and then we bark at them. No one else thinks this is a good idea. They’re wrong.

I’m going to have to bare my teeth at Theo and my boy if they look at her that way again. I lifted my lip at them when they hesitated by her seat the last time we stopped for gas, and they got the message and sat behind her. She’s mine. They can talk with her, but they can’t sit next to her.

I’ve seen the Bobby person who tried to hit Theo. My boy and I were taking a book to Theo’s apartment and he was in a car parked at the curb. Waiting. And when Theo answered the door, his shoulders were tense and he kept looking past us. I think Bobby was right when he said it’s not over. Theo knows that and that’s why he keeps texting. Mia knows, too; that’s why she keeps watching Theo.

The Fiery Inferno

“Does anyone but me care that we have no idea where we’re going or how long it’s going to take to get there?”

I get a chorus of sleepy no’s. We’ve been on the road for six hours, one speeding ticket, four pit stops, and one drive-thru crisis (Dad wrongly guessed the height of the bus and we took out the lane sign at a hamburger place).

I know we only left home this morning and we’re on a well-traveled interstate, but I have visions of running out of money and gas and being forced to live in the wilderness with Dad. He’ll love it. He’s probably hoping we’ll have to eat small animals we catch with sticks, and strain drinking water through our underpants from puddles on the side of the road.