Naruto rolled over in the backseat of the truck, which thumped delicately over a pothole, sending him and his bag flying. The other teen in the front laughed at his sour face, and asked, "Why so glum, Mickey?"
The driver got a shoe to the face, and they succumbed to the silence a while longer. Naruto looked up an eternity later (though the clock was moving slow, so it could have been ten minutes), and stared numbly out the window. A sign that said Solana Beach flew past them overhead, and the blonde teen took an alarmed look at the speedometer.
"Why are we going so fast?" the hitchhiker cried in alarm. The driver snorted.
"Psh, yeah, like you're the only person I'm dropping off. I'm don't know what you have in San Diego, and I'm not gonna ask. But I have more errands than just hauling your runaway ass down to the border."
Naruto frowned, but nodded. The bleak sun peaked over the skyline, with the tiny town of Solana Beach in his view. Only an hour to freedom, he thought with a rush of satisfaction.
He tried to shut his eyes, but blinding red and blue lights forced them open and panic rose in both teens' stomachs.
"Aw shoot,"' Naruto was internally freaking out. The driver slowed to a mere 30 mph, and pulled over to the side of the road, where the cop car trailed them to the shoulder.
An older man walked up to the driver's window from the gumball car. He leered into the truck, and raked his eyes over the blonde driver, and Naruto, who obviously wasn't legal. He shifted nervously in his seat.
"I'm going to have to ask you two to step out of the car for a moment," he grinned. The brunette driver shook her head.
"No sir, I'm afraid I won't do anything until you tell us why we were pulled over." The cop's smile faded, and he glared at the driver.
"Fine," he snarled. "You were speeding at roughly 70 miles per hour through a 35 zone. You are aware that this is reckless driving and I can't take you in for this right?"
Blondie didn't blink. "And you are aware that I can lose you your job for attempting to perform a search and arrest two harmless kids without going over their rights, correct?"
Naruto was impressed. He had a feeling this wasn't Driver's (as he dubbed the driver in his head) first run in with these kinds. The sun was almost completely obscured by the waterline.
The cop's eyes narrowed further, if that was possible. Driver didn't back off, however.
"May I please see your credentials? I've met some pretty shady cops in the past, and I'm sorry officer, but a young girl like me can't take any chances."
The man pushed away from the rusted truck, snarling, "I'll let you two off with a warning this time. No get out of here!"
Driver floored it, and soon the teens were back up to seventy on their way down San Diego County. The sky was dark blue, and the water glimmered angrily under the glare of the streetlights.
Rush hour had ended hours ago, Naruto noted as they sped quickly down the highway. The surf on their right had receded, and was tossing calming in the Twilight.
The driver was the first to talk, "I get a couple of those guys sometimes. You can't do anything except ask questions. They're all pedos, the lot of them." She grinned at Naruto through the mirror. "I bet you're running away cause of a girl, am I right?
Naruto looked annoyed. "Nope. You're not the first to ask. My mom's moving to Florida with her new 'spouse'. My friend told me to lay low down the coast, and to come back up in a month or two."
Driver laughed. "Is he a druggie?"
"My mom is."
"Ah."
The stereo had a few kinks in it, as Driver explained. You had to bang it a couple hundred times before it worked static free, but once it did, it was worth it. Naruto hummed along with his feet dangling out the window until Bob Dylan came on.
"Dammit, turn that off!" Naruto demanded. Driver turned and looked at him incredulously.
"Turn of Bobbie D? Are you crazy? This man is an artist!"
"He sings like a dead parrot!" Naruto retorted. "He can write, but he can't sing!" He got a shoe to the face and a promise that he'd understand it one day.
The sun was gone from view, and the bars were full. The truck was almost out of gas when Driver pulled into a hole in the wall dive. Naruto looked up from where she was nodding off.
"A drink?"
"Nope. Cash. I hope you know how to hock joints girly-boy. Two dollars apiece." And with that he was handed two baggies. One with rolled joints and an empty one marked 'cash'.
Naruto walked into the bar, and nearly choked on the fumes. How could anyone enjoy this? The petite teen took a seat at the bar, and smiled at the bartender, who shook her head disapprovingly at him.
The woman had a rough smoker's voice, "You here with Caroline, kid?"
Naruto looked confused. "Who?" The woman, who looked older than she was underneath all the makeup, pointed to Driver from across the room, who was chatting up some dock boys with a little baggie out in front.
Naruto nodded. "I guess. She's taking me down to San Diego, but we're out of gas."
The woman nodded knowingly. "Sorry hun that you had to get caught up in one of her schemes. It's alright. I'll take a joint."
Naruto smiled, and pulled a tightly wrapped one from the first baggie. "This good?"
Smoker-lady laughed. "Course it is. Here's your two bucks. Spend wisely." And she was off to serve a group of loud and drunk men who were clanging their glasses on the bar top.
He made his rounds to all of the tables, and had at least fifty dollars when he found 'Caroline' lounging across the truck hood with an uncapped beer.
"Give me the cash," the girl demanded. She ripped the baggie from Naruto's hand. Counting through it, she looked up suspiciously.
"I only had 15 in here. Where'd you get the extra twenty?"
Naruto shrugged. "Guess they just felt bad." Driver smiled with all her teeth.
"If they felt this bad, I might have to keep you around for a bit. You've just filled the tank, and our stomachs!"
He hesitated. "Is that a good thing?"
Driver nodded. "Oh yeah." And she uncapped another beer that was balancing precariously on the hood and handed it to the boy.
They each took a big swig. There was a tattoo parlor across the street, and several patrons were wolf-whistling at the kids on the hood.
"What's your name?" Naruto asked. "I can't keep calling you Driver." Driver snorted, and took another swig of the decidedly delicious beer.
"Jo. My name's Caroline Josephine cause my parents were crack heads, so I just go by Jo. Not Caroline, not Josephine, and definitely not Blondie."
Naruto flushed.
A group of boys were lounging outside the bar. One of them wandered over and offered Jo another beer. She looked at him for a few moments, grinned, and took it.
"Hey lovely, thanks a butt ton. This here's my new tag along, Naruto, call him sweet cheeks or darling."
Naruto looked at her incredulously. "Excuse me?":
"You're excused. Hey, Driver, Sweet cheeks, same difference." The boy who had handed Jo the beer gave another one to Naruto.
"You look like you need it," he said. He nodded, and clinked glasses.
They talked- small talk, meaningless stuff you could start a fire with. The pot smoke from around was stifling, and it drowned out any progressive ideas or thoughts Naruto might have had.
The boy had dark hair, and dark eyes. He kept glancing at Naruto curiously. He shivered under his stare, and downed the beer.
Jo laughed like a horse and it trailed away as she followed an older boy to his beat up blue Chevy. The dark haired boy took Jo's spot on the truck, and offered the runaway another beer. He declined, feeling the alcohol haze his mind. He had to get away. This is what he'd been warned of. A boy getting him drunk and trying to do stuff. Naruto shimmied off the hood, and wobbled back into the bar. The smoker-lady was wiping a glass with a nasty rag, and staring concernedly at the teen.
"Hey wait!" the boy called. "What's your name?"