Two people walk down highway 140 in rural north Georgia. A girl, seventeen, with dark hair and light eyes and a boy, fifteen, brown hair and light eyes. The girl is in a short black dress and heels while the boy wears jeans and a long sleeved shirt. Both of them covered in bruises and scars.
"We've been walking forever," the boy whines. "I'm cold."
"So am I, Dipshit." The girl says. The air is white around her mouth. No cigarette could make that much commotion in the air. "It'll be a bit before we make it to the nearest gas station."
The boy grunts and they continue walking. They walk and walk until they come to a stop sign that keeps them from a side road.
"Do you see that," the boy asks.
The girl follows his gaze. A black ford escort sitting abandoned on the left shoulder. The two look at each other. The boy looks away first and runs to the car. The girl runs after him.
"Move," the girl says picking up a rock and throwing it at the window. The window cracks and the girl picks up the rock and bangs it against the glass until it shatters and she's able to reach a hand in and unlock the car. "Get in," she says sitting down and leaning over to unlock the other door.
When the boy gets in, the girl leans down and opens up a small compartment under the steering wheel. She grabs the wires and does a magic trick making the car come to life. She remembers how her mother used to do this every Friday night when their dad fell asleep.
"Can you teach me that," the boy asks. "Collette never showed me."
"One day," the girl says. She puts the car in drive and pulls onto the main road.
They pull up to a gas station and get out.
"Start pumping," the girl says, "I'll be right back. Be ready to get back in."
She walks into the store and sees the man behind the counter. He's a middle aged man with barely any hair left. She looks at him and the store fills with the noise of her clicking heels. They scream as she walks on them. Her pupils are small in the lighting.
"I'm going to need a pack of Winstons." She says leaning on the counter. She looks at the man and he smiles. When he reaches up the girl goes right for the punch to his neck. He drops his arms and lets out a choked gasp. The girl takes the opportunity to sock him in the nose making him stumble back and hit his head. He falls unconscious.
The girl walks around the counter and looks at the register. She'll have few minutes before he wakes up. She grabs all the money she can hold and she runs out of the store. She runs to the car and looks at the boy. He looks at her and jumps in the car.
They drive and drive until they find a motel. They check in and head to the room. A room with one bed. The woman looked at them funny when they walked in. The smirk on her face made Lorelei want to punch her and take the room, but she needed to be careful.
"Lorelei," the boy says when they enter the room. His nose wrinkles at the smell of the room. "What's that smell?"
"Sex," Lorelei says. She cringes at the smell. Lorelei! Come on baby make me feel good.
"Lorelei you okay?"
Oh Lorelei! Lorelei!
"Lorelei!"
Lore...lei.
"I'm fine Nathan. It's okay." She says after a minute of silence. They look at each other. How could two women have similar looking children even though they share no resemblance to the sperm giver. "I'm going to take a shower," Lorelei says. "I'll be back in a minute."
Nathan doesn't say anything but he nods. Lorelei walks into the bathroom and locks the door. She breathes in and out. The smell of bleach and lavender. This is her safe place.
It's been an hour since Lorelei went into the bathroom. Nathan sits on the floor and watches the door. He knows he's not allowed to go in the bathroom when she's taking a shower or a bath. Lorelei would beat the shit out of him if he walked in.
"You never walk in while a girl takes a bath. You never go in if they use the bathroom. You never go near the bathroom when a girl is in there. Respect her space. This is the one place a girl doesn't want to be bothered. Do I make myself clear?" Lorelei stands over him. Her eyes were a dark gray when she stood over him that day. A towel around her still wet body. She just got home from work. The smaller boy looked at her and nodded. "I understand." His cheek burning from the hit he had taken. "I understand."
Lorelei walks out of the bathroom. Her dress gone. All that's on is her underwear and bra. Nick would look hot in those panties. Those white, see-through panties.
"What have we talked about?" Lorelei says going over to the bed. Nathan blushes. He knows what she's talking about. She's always given him the lecture on staring.
"That it's bad," Nathan says looking at his lap. He notices that his little friend stiffened a little. Stupid hormones.
"Go take a bath," she says. "I'm goin' to bed. Take care of that by the way you don't want your balls to explode before that boy of yours sees them." With that she gets under the covers and rolls over.
Nathanwalks to the bathroom and shuts the door. He locks it behind him and walks to the shower. He looks at his reflection. Skinny and lanky. He had beautifully shaped cheekbones and full lips. Puberty is doing its job. Acne isn't his biggest problem, it was the constant up and down of his penis.
The boy looks at his jeans in the mirror. Yeah, it's there. He sighs hoping that if he gets in the shower that it'll go down on its own.
Steve looks at the six teenagers. He can't believe he was babysitting on a Friday night, but he needs money. College applications were a bitch to fill out and knowing that he got accepted by his random first choice of colleges he got in. His scholarship pays most of it, but he needs a little more money if he's going to buy books or food.
"Steve," Max says walking over to him. "Can I use your phone to call home? I need to make sure Billy didn't fall asleep or whatever."
"Max I can drive you home you know," Steve says. This was the fifth time he babysat all of them and Max needed to call home to make sure her stepbrother was actually going to get her.
"Thanks Steve, but I'm just going to call him." Max says. She's never let anyone bring her home.
"Go ahead. You know where it is." Steve says. He watches her walk to the kitchen to call. Steve turns his attention back to the other kids. Eleven sat a few feet behind the boys as they played Dungeons and Dragons. She liked to observe more than she liked to play the game. He watches how focused they look. Dustin and Lucas pass off a few curse words once in a while. Will looks at them and blushes. The poor kid couldn't say a curse word if he tried. He couldn't even say 'ass' without feeling guilty.
Steve starts to zone out when there's a few knocks on the door. He looks at the clock. Nine. Jonathan or Nancy or both probably. When he gets the door open he sees Billy.
The blonde looks at him. He shifts and looks at the ground. "Max," he says.
"Max! Billy's here!" Steve calls.
Max comes from the kitchen and looks at him. She notices a part of his face that's tanner than the rest of his face. It's been like this for the last three months now.
"Come on," Billy says. He refuses to look at Steve or at the other teenagers that start to come near the door. Billy shifts a little when Lucas appears. Billy would never admit it, but he's ashamed of what he did. He didn't mean for that to happen. But the idea of a boy in Max's life infuriated him. He knows what boys want. He knows what desires a guy has. Max is still innocent. She doesn't need someone to come in, do what they want with her, and leave her behind. "Please," Billy says looking at her.
Everyone freezes for a second. "Bye guys," Max says walking out of the house. Billy follows her and they head to the car.
"Since when does Billy say 'please'," Mike says.
"Since Max almost took his dick off with the bat," Lucas says.
Ever since that night, Billy has been trying to be more respective. But to the others and Max, the bat was what caused this change. But it wasn't the bat that made him this way. It was the talk he had with his dad after Susan drove Max to the snow ball.
They all shrug and go back to their game.
Max looks at Billy as he drives. "You know it's rude to stare," Billy says looking at the road.
"Why're you wearing makeup," Max says.
"I'm not," Billy says. He is but hell if he's going to tell Max that.
Max doesn't say another word and they continue to drive in silence.
The next morning Lorelei and Nathan get up. Lorelei put on her dress and Nathan put on his jeans and shirt.
"I'm thinking we head northwest. It's what ten already," Lorelei says looking over her shoulder to double check the time. "Maybe we can make it to Iowa before tonight."
"Why Iowa," Nathan asks. "What's in Iowa?"
"Why not" Lorelei looks at the bed they shared. She never thought of having her little brother laying in horrid, mystery stained sheets ever. "Just trust me."