The Pros and Cons of Hitch Hiking
Acepilot

Disclaimer: Inspired by and partly based on the album of the same name, written by Roger Waters. Contained lyrics were written by Roger Waters and remain copyrigted by him, and his property. I am making no money from this story.

Author's Note: For the purposes of posting here I was forced to remove the lyrics, thus sterilising this story a bit. The complete version, with lyrics and artwork, can be found at the Animatoon's forum, in the PG-13 section. Hope you enjoy this, anyway, and please review.

Part I: 4:30am (Apparently They Were Travelling Abroad)

So, here we are.

Phil DeVille stared at himself in the mirror and wondered quite when his hair had turned that grey. He wondered how those wrinkles under his eyes had become so prominent. And he wondered when his eyes stopped sparkling with mischief and became so dulled by defeat.

Another day, another dollar. One more hopeless day of nothingness after another. And for what?

"Phil? Are you coming to bed soon? The light's keeping me up."

He cast a glance to the door that led into the bedroom. "I'll be there in a second."

For a marriage with no spark, for a life with no fun, for a present with no future.

He splashed some water on his face, as if to blot out the evidence of age that he saw there before stalking into his bedroom, making sure to flick off the light as requested on the way.

He looked at the bed, where his wife of so many years - the mother of his children - lay.

Facing away from him. Toward the far wall.

There was a time - not that many years ago, he liked to hope - that the very sight of her lying there was enough to work him into a frenzy of lust. Now they barely made eye conact anymore. Once time-honoured traditions of after-work cuddles by the fireplace and love-making to the wee-small hours had been replaced with cursory greetings, silence at the dinner table and two people whose lives intersected only when neccesary, frequently not when wanted.

He was worried she was cheating on him.

But she wouldn't do that.

Would he?

He pulled back the covers and slipped beneath them, tempted for a moment to wrap his arm around her waist and hold her, but deciding against it at the last minute. Best not to wake her...she was unbearable when grumpy.

He stared at the ceiling for what felt like forever...then -

"Wake up! You're dreaming!"

Phil jolted back to conciousness with a start, barely realising he had, indeed, ever left. He glanced at the clock for a bare second, noting that he must have been asleep as it was now 4:30am. He looked over at his wife, who had woken him. "What?" he muttered fuzzily.

She glared sleepily. "You were dreaming," she mumbled. "Go back to sleep."

Had he been dreaming? There was a strange, blurred picture in his minds eye, something he couldn't quite grasp.

Then, it came to him. "We were moving away from the border," he decided, seeing it as clear as day.

"Huh? What border?" she asked, now clearly asleep herself.

Phil shook his head to clear it of confusion, before finally laying his head back down on the pillow and allowing sleep to properly claim him.

[lyrics removed

I rub at my eyes distractedly, trying to stay awake in the tempting face of sleep. I glance over at Kimi in the passenger's seat, who is taking advantage of her off-shift on the driving to catch a nap, and part of me regrets not doing so myself earlier. We're well past the border gates now, but part of me still gets nervous everytime I cross the national lines. Driving around Europe is considered fun by many, but I think next time I'll give it a miss.

Though it has had it's...advantages.

I glance in the rear-view mirror at the two hitchhikers. One, the male, is slumped and asleep but still giving off an air of...arrogance - danger, almost. His purple hair is brushed back out of his eyes, which are currently shut, of course, but I remember them being disconcertingly piercing. I let my stare drift across to the woman -

Who, to my shock, is awake.

[lyrics removed

The devastatingly beautiful blonde winks at me in the rearview and I grin back at her in response. It's been like this since we picked them up just outside of France, but I don't know if she's spoken a word.

I want to hear her voice.

"Anyone hungry?" I ask, loudly, startling the two sleepers from their rest.

Kimi mutters that she is, but falls quickly back to sleep. The man nods, saying "Yeah, I could go a bite," in a thick New York accent - contradicting the near-perfect English tones he spoke to me in when we first picked them up.

The blonde merely nods.

[lyrics removed

Under the guise of stretching my legs, I follow her around the back of the service station, where a single, flickering light globe provides a dim sense of light. She launches herself at me, and I feel her lips touch mine without hesitation or doubt. "I thought you'd never come," she whispers against my mouth, and I nearly buckle at the sound of her voice - it feels like some deliciously forbidden fruit.

"What's your name?" I ask - I can think of nothing more than that to say, and I can't rest until I know it.

"Angelica," she says, sliding her lips along my jaw. "Yours?"

"Philip," I tell her, for some reason using my full name. As if it means something that is unique and only for this moment.

Only for this girl. Not for my wife, who only ever seems to call me Phil.

[lyrics removed

"I think if we stay much longer our fellow travellers will begin to wonder where we've gone," I mutter, though the temptation to strip her bare and make love to her here and now is a very real thing.

"No, they'll never notice," Angelica tells me. "It'll be dusk before long."

I go to contradict her, noting that it's barely past 4:30am, but sure enough the sun is setting on the westward horizon and casting everything in a surreal orange glow.

Funny time of day for it to be doing that, really.

Disregarding the uncharacteristic solar cycle, I turn back to her. "Would you like to see something special?"

She said:

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Part 2 coming soon. Please review!

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