X 2040
Her hand slams against the dash and a string of curse words fly out of her mouth in record pace. I try not to laugh but I can't keep back the smile.
'Xena, you know how sensitive she is.' She turns, glaring at me.
'Look, how long are we gonna have to sit here?' The aggravated voice of our latest catch comes from the back.
'Shut up!' We both say in unison, not even bothering to turn.
'Hey I just added power boosters and new power cells. You think she'd be grateful.' Her hand slams against the dash again, this time causing the vehicle to power up. 'Ha!' She looks at me triumphantly. 'That's a good girl.' She starts stroking the wheel affectionately, like it's actually alive. She pushes a button, and we go screaming off into the traffic.
Xena loves to weave in and out of the lanes, even though every vehicle is going at least 100 mph. Sometimes, no make that every time I get in the car with her my life flashes before my eyes at least once. I'm fairly certain that she will get us killed one of these days.
'So how much will you get for me?' The grizzled man in the back seat asks with some amount of pride.
'600.' I turn to see the look on his face. His eyes narrow.
'Coin or paper?'
'Paper.' I laugh at his expression. 'You don't really think you're worth that much in coin?' I slap Xena's arm. 'He thinks he's pretty important.' Our captive grumbles as his ego becomes deflated, and he sinks back into the seat.
'Don't tease the animals.' Xena says as she maneuvers the car back into our lane, barely missing a freighter that screams at us as we go by.
'Xena, one of these days you have to let me drive.' She looks over at me with an amused expression.
'Yeah, when I'm dead.' When her eyes return to the road, she jerks the wheel to avoid a car that has stopped.
'At this rate, you'll kill us both.'
'Then you don't need to worry about it.' I grunt in frustration. I have very good driving skills, but she refuses to let me go five centimeters.
'Are you two always like this?' The voice from the back again.
'Shut up!' We yell.
After depositing our catch and receiving our reward, we're back on the road headed home. 'Xena, you think we could at least take a couple days off this time?' A sly grin crosses her face.
'You know that place you've been beggin me to go to?'
'You mean the one I wanted to go to on our honeymoon but you insisted on catching Raybar instead?'
'Yup.' She looks much too pleased with herself.
'Xena, I swear if you're playing with me.' I can think of about a million ways to kill her, all of them very slow and unpleasant.
'Nope, true story I swear.' Now I let myself get excited, hopping up and down in my seat.
'Really? But you hate places like that.' She glances at me cocking her eyebrow up.
'Whatever my baby wants, she gets.' This is quite an untrue statement but I don't care.
'You only call me baby when you're trying to butter me up.' I narrow my eyes at her, sure there's an ulterior motive. She doesn't respond, not even with a sarcastic comment. 'Xena!?'
'What? It's a chance to go to Kalimantan.' I sigh. This may be the only chance I get, but I fear I won't be able to enjoy it.