"The problem with going to Vegas for Spring Break," Lucy thought as she wiped the sweat that was beading on her brow, "is that the Mojave Desert has no idea what Spring weather should be." She tried fanning herself with the large bookmark she'd stolen from Levy when they had set off that morning.
"Hey Red," drawled the brunette in the front passenger seat, "Have ya figured out what's wrong with yer bucket of bolts, yet?"
"Cana, please do not refer to Carla as a bucket of bolts!" the red haired woman scowled at her friend. "You'll hurt her feelings and then we'll never get to Las Vegas."
"Fine, have ya figured out what's ailing your scrap pile yet?" Cana asked with an unapologetic grin.
Erza glared while Cana continued to grin.
"She seems to have overheated and the radiator might have a leak," she reported back to the inhabitants of the car.
There was a group moan.
"We still have a couple of bottles of water back here," Levy said offering one to the sweating driver. "Could you use those to cool it down?"
"We might need to save the water for ourselves," Erza answered after taking a swig from the proffered bottle. "I know it's Spring Break but there doesn't seem to be much traffic so it might be awhile before someone can come along to help us."
""It's too bad there's zero cell service out here," Lucy commented, "because this is totally someplace that a mobile phone could be useful."
"We might want to move outside into the shade of the car," Levy suggested. "The temperature inside this car could get to be 130 to 172 degrees Fahrenheit after only an hour."
"How could you possibly know that?" Lucy asked incredulously. "I mean I know you're smart Lev, but that is quite the fun fact to pull out of the air."
"Are you forgetting I did that report on children and pets left in the back seat of cars during the summer?" she asked.
Lucy shook her head and grinned. She had been bombarded with all sorts of horrible facts while Levy had been working on that project.
The blue haired young woman continued, "I remember reading that, 'at 70 degrees on a sunny day, after a half hour, the temperature inside a car is 104 degrees. After an hour, it can reach 113 degrees.' And then, when we were planning this trip, I checked to see what the average temperature for this area is in May and it's usually around 92 degrees, which means that it could easily get to 130 in here. That's just much too hot for us humans."
The other three occupants of the car simply gaped at the blue haired girl.
"Lev, I knew you were an egg head, but I don't know how you remember all that kind of stuff," Cana said and chuckled.
"It's a blessing and a curse," she smiled back at her friend. "I can remember the useless minutiae that would make me a Jeopardy champion, but always seem to forget the important concepts and vocabulary. Until I'm out of the class," she added.
"Well let's not just sit here and stew in our own juices," Erza said. "I think we've got some beach towels we can use to make a canopy as we wait."
The first car passed by half an hour later. There was no way to miss the girls' car with the raised hood, an international signal for help needed, but the other car sped past without so much as slowing down. The girls hadn't been watching too carefully as they were deep into a game of "Never-Have-I-Ever" and missed seeing the car approach. The second car passed an hour after the first, going in the opposite direction. They also failed to stop despite the girls waving their arms and calling out for help. After two more cars had passed with as many hours in between, Cana was completely fed up. When the next car was spotted on the horizon, she stripped down to her bikini and stood in the middle of the road with her hand clearly indicating that the car should stop.
Stop it did.
Two young men got out of the car. The driver was sporting bright pink hair, mirrored sunglasses, a white t-shirt with a picture of a flying blue cat and the words "Don't worry! Be HAPPY!" on it, cargo shorts, and a big smile. His passenger had dark hair, a string necklace, khaki shorts, and some sandals on but no other discernable clothing. He also had a smile, though it wasn't the wide, lecherous grin his friend wore.
"You ladies seem to be in need of some help," the pink haired boy volunteered as he swaggered toward Cana. "How can we offer our…" he looked at Cana over his sunglasses, raised his eyebrows suggestively, and paused for good effect, "services?"
"Natsu, don't say that with such a leer in your voice," the dark haired man reproached, "They'll think we're pervs, kill us, dump our bodies in the desert, and take off with your car. And we will have DESERVED IT," he added with a poke to his friend's back. Natsu swiveled around to glare at his friend.
Lucy laughed. "I don't think anyone deserves to be dumped in this desert," she said and giggled.
"If anyone does, it's Natsu," he replied and grinned at the blonde. "I'm Gray and this is Natsu. We'll be glad to help you any way that we can."
"I'm Lucy, this is Levy, Cana, Erza, and of course Carla," she pointed to each girl as she said their name and then waved in the car's general direction.
"So, what's the rust bucket's problem?" Natsu asked.
Cana grinned while Erza glared.
"It's overheated and there might be a leak in the radiator," Lucy volunteered. "Erza is usually pretty good at keeping her car going, but this might be too much even for her."
Gray had wandered over to look under the hood of the car. "Oh yeah, I can still smell the coolant. This puppy isn't going anywhere any time soon."
He and Natsu shared a look and then the pink head nodded.
"It's only about 13 miles back to Baker, there's likely to be a place that can fix it, or at least a cooler place to wait until arrangements can be made," the pink haired man looked at the girls. "Would you ladies be okay with taking a ride from strangers?"
"One problem Natsu," Gray said. "There's six of us and only five seats, four if you want to be comfortable."
"No problem stud," Cana said with a smirk, "We can squish together in the back. No one'll even know."
Gray shook his head. "That won't work. Natsu's car is very well known by the highway patrol and they wouldn't mind having another reason for pulling him over."
"It's the old fox, chicken, and feed riddle isn't it?" Levy said with a sigh.
All eyes just stared at her.
She waved off their attention and continued on. "We don't want to send just one of us with both of you because, please don't take offense, but both of you could overpower her, have your way with her, get rid of the body, and then just strand the rest of us here."
"That's reasonable," said Gray.
"No offense taken," came from Natsu.
"Are you suggesting they could take me?" Erza asked, shocked at the very thought.
"Never! As long as they have your full attention," Levy replied. Continuing on she said, "You guys aren't going to want to loan us your car because we could just take it and leave you here to die in the desert."
"We would never do that," Lucy protested.
"Seems reasonable," said Natsu.
"We could send three of us with the two of you, that way the girls aren't out numbered, but that leaves one of us alone out here and that could be dangerous, too." Levy stopped talking lost in thought.
"What if we mix things up a bit?" Gray asked.
All eyes looked at him.
"What if we have Natsu drive two of the girls back to town and I stay here with the other two? That way there are always more girls than guys, the two with Natsu can make arrangements while he comes back for me and the other two, and everyone can be safe."
"That sounds reasonable," Levy said approvingly.
"Okay by me," Natsu said with a smile.
All the others nodded their agreement to this plan.
"So then, the question becomes, Who's going and who's staying?" Levy said.
"I need to go," Erza said. "It'll be best to get someone working on Carla as soon as possible."
"I'll go with her," Cana said with a wink at Natsu. "Someone's got to keep an eye on you two."
Lucy and Levy shared a glance. Cana was a first class flirt and it seemed that Natsu was, too. They were so glad to not be in that car.
Once the car had taken off with Cana and Natsu in full flirt mode, Levy pulled out her book. She sat in her spot in the car's shade and was immediately lost in another world.
Lucy and Gray were left to make awkward small talk. At first there were long pauses of silence, but soon they were chatting freely. Lucy learned that Gray and Natsu were roommates at UNLV and that he was studying to become an elementary school teacher, which surprised her. Natsu was a theater major, which didn't surprise her at all. It was when she found out what they did for employment that she nearly choked on the tepid water she was sipping.
"I'm sorry, you and Natsu do what?" she asked incredulously.
"We're back up dancers for shows at the Bellagio," he said with a shrug. "If you're a guy that's reasonably able to stay on the beat and don't mind wearing sparkling speedos in public," he shrugged again, "you can make good enough money." He grinned at Lucy. "It's not as bad as it sounds and since I don't have a full scholarship, I need the work."
That led to many more questions.
After an hour and a half a tow truck was seen in the distance. When it pulled to a stop in front of Carla, Erza hopped out. She was followed by a behemoth of a man. He was tall, broad shouldered, with long black hair and several piercings. The name tag on his work clothes read, Gajeel. He went straight to the car to get it ready for towing.
"Erza, what are you doing here?" Lucy asked. Then looking down the road she asked, "Isn't Natsu following you?"
"I thought he left an hour ago to come get you," the redhead said furrowing her brows.
All of the girls looked at each other and then said aloud, "Cana."
Gray snorted.
"Sounds like Natsu was side tracked by our friend," Lucy said apologetically.
"He's easily side tracked," Gray said. "Especially by pretty girls," he added.
A new arrangement was made. Since Levy was showing signs of heat exhaustion she would ride back with the tow-truck driver and Erza. The girls would track down Natsu and bring his car back to get Gray and Lucy, meanwhile Gray and Lucy would start walking back to town.
Lucy ran to the car to get her sun hat from the back seat where she'd left it. Erza surprised Gray by giving him the cap she was wearing.
"Alien Fresh Jerky?" Lucy said bewildered as she looked at the hat.
"It's one of the few shopping experiences to be found in Baker," Erza explained. "I went there while I was waiting for Gajeel to finish servicing another customer."
Lucy wasn't sure if Erza realized what that sounded like but everyone else did.
"Yer car's ready to go," Gajeel said then got into the driver's side of the tow-truck.
"We'd best be off," Erza said pushing Levy ahead of her into the truck.
"Well you heard the lady," Gray said smiling at Lucy, "We'd best be off."
The walk back didn't last long. Levy had easily tracked down Cana and Natsu to the only eating establishment that served alcohol and had no problems getting the keys from the very tipsy Natsu. She caught Lucy and Gray up as they drove back to town.
"We're meeting Natsu, Cana, and Erza at the Mad Greek, since we've all missed lunch," she informed them. "By the time we get back to town we should know what's going on with Carla."
The others were waiting as Lucy and company walked in. Erza's face was a study in misery.
"What's wrong?" Levy asked as they sat down.
"Carla's radiator is completely shot," she said with a groan. "They don't have the part here, but it'll be here in the morning. And it's going to be cheaper to have them fix it here than to have it towed home."
"I guess we'll be staying the night, Levy said.
"Already taken care of," Cana said with a cackle as she finished a transaction on her phone. "I've just booked us into the Bun Boy Restaurant and Motel." She broke into uncontrollable laughter in which the words "Stayin' with the Bun Boy" and "Better show me the buns boy" could barely be made out. Natsu joined in with her laughter.
"Oh dear," Lucy said.
"Ya know," Gray leaned over to be better heard by Lucy, "it looks like Natsu's having a lot of fun with your friend." They both looked at the two people that were oblivious to the rest of the world. "We don't actually have to be in Vegas for a few days," he added thoughtfully. "And with the way Natsu's swaying there's no way he's going to make the drive home without getting sick in the car."
"Yeah, no way," Natsu agreed.
"Maybe we should at least stay here for the night?" he asked tentatively
Lucy smiled at her desert adventure partner. "That would be really nice," she said.
"Excellent!" Cana exclaimed. "Everyone raise a glass," she ordered.
Two uzos and four milkshakes were raised.
"To Carla," she toasted. "To her broken radiator and the knights in shining armor willing to rescue damsels in distress."
"Carla!" they echoed. Everyone took a drink.
Lucy and Gray looked at each other.
"Thank you Carla," Lucy thought to herself. "This looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship."