Nick felt proud of his roadtrip skills perfected from years of travel back and forth between LA and Chicago. He was a minimalist when it came to packing his trunk, bringing only a few essential tools, extra gas and obviously clothes and a sleeping bag.
There were a few things though that were essential to make any trip feel decadent. The first was your own pillow from home. The smell, feel, shape lulled you to sleep wherever you were and nobody ever regretted throwing it in the back seat at the last minute.
Next was a cooler. You might think this was to keep your drinks cold but instead it was to bring everything needed for the perfect sandwich.
Eating out while driving gets old quickly. It takes time, energy, money and can quite honestly, rip your insides out if you aren't careful which truck stop you order the meatloaf special from.
Before Jess joined him on this roadtrip, he had been sailing by with his triple sandwich days that he would mix up by playing games with different colored cheeses and meats. Then she came along and it all changed. He would never look at roadtrip food the same way ever again.
The first thing she did was clean out his cooler. Sitting in their first hotel room, she took it to the bathtub and began to scrub the remnants of eight days of sandwich making materials from the bottom while whistling like a dwarf from Snow White.
"It just holds ice Jess, it doesn't need to be sterile."
"No Nick, it doesn't need to be sterile, at all, just not moldy, slimey and disgusting," she said rolling her eyes at him.
The second thing Jessica Day did to mess with the system, was the purchase of ziploc bags. All food in the cooler now was living happily encased in a waterproof bag. He had to admit, the cheese would probably live happier this way.
Next she completely fucked with the side bag. This was a bag that held snacks and bread and anything related to sandwich making that didn't require coldness. Usually this bag lived directly behind the passenger seat for easy access while driving.
This bag was small, easy to unload pretzels by the handful from, subtle.
But she fucked with it and now it was a shiny new plastic box with a lid that snapped on tightly and dangerously when trying to pry it open while driving through the Rockies.
"Nick, we just ate, what are you grabbing at again," she yelled while swatting at his arm, laughing.
"Woman, I'm driving, I need nourishment," he yelled out moving to her waist, tickling her until she squeeled and pulled his hand to her mouth, biting at his fingers.
He looked over at her, eyes sparkling and playful, yeah, it was just a plastic box, what did he care.
A minute later, she had turned her body towards the backseat, reaching into the plastic box, ass pointed towards a smiley Nick, looking for that bag she had saved for just this moment. Nick had to admit, he was extremely distracted by the ass when he took the baby carrot automatically from her hand and began chewing it.
"What the hell Jess, this is not a chip," he yelled again laughing as he begrudgingly finished it off.
She turned back around and giggled at his anger, snapping one in her own mouth and smiling back at him making a check mark in the air, a nod to another vegetable down Nick Miller's throat.
Lastly she messed with the actual sandwich as a meal definition. Nick pondered over how large of a gap the two of them shared in their views on meals, starting with the need for a plate. To him, it was a sandwich, it required nothing but hands and a mouth.
She would take out plates and prepare their sandwiches with vegetables, condiments and things that required spreading with knives. None of these items he had ever needed before.
Not only that but she also needed sides to go with their now two inch thick triangles sitting at planned angles.
"A person wants something crunchy with a sandwich, salty. It somehow brings out the flavor of the bread and counterbalances the softness," she said sitting on a picnic table overlooking mountains and valley covered in trees.
Nick thought about the softness of her skin on her neck as he reached over and stroked it slowly, listening to her explanation absently.
"Also, there should be fruit, sweet as a pallette cleanser when you're done. Specifically something fun to eat that isn't too messy in case you don't have water to clean your hands with afterwards." She took out of the cooler a small container of blueberries, wrapped in a ziploc bag and dropped a handful on each of their plates.
He only had heard sweet and fun to eat and shook his head out of his dreamlike trance and looked down at his now full plate of food.
She smiled up at him quickly and handed him a napkin and a bottle of water. Leaning over and kissing him on the cheek she squeezed his leg under the table.
"If you're good, I'll give you a cookie when you're done."
Eyebrows popping up and a smirk planted deeply on his face, he winked back flirtatiously before taking a bite of his sandwich.
"Cookies," he whispered.
She giggled back at him again, knowingly.
Yep, Nick Miller used to be a pro at roadtrip sandwiches but now he had ziploc bags and plastic boxes filled with unnecessary utensils and plates and well...now Nick Miller had a girl sitting in his front seat. A beautiful girl and he didn't care if she brought a four foot panda stuffed animal with her as long as somehow, someway she'd still be in that passenger seat tomorrow morning.
For now though, he used his napkin to wipe his face, chewed with his mouth closed and concentrated on clearing his plate, hoping for a chance at that cookie later tonight, in the hotel room...