She's almost drifting off to sleep when his gravelly voice breaks the silence.
"So, where are you going?"
It's been three hours since he's said anything to her, having lapsed into stony silence since their last almost-conversation. It takes her by surprise, and for a minute she thinks she's hallucinating, then she remembers she left her mushrooms with the last generous soul who picked her up, right before he dumped on the side of the road in the middle of the desert. So, it's definitely not that. "Wherever the wind takes me."
"The wind's not taking you anywhere. I am, and I want to know where."
God, he's so pissy. She wonders why he even bothered picking her up if it causes him this much annoyance. She closes her eyes again, picturing the waves of the ocean the last time she saw them. L.A. wouldn't be a bad place to find herself again. She has friends there, a few beach bums and aspiring actors. It leaves a whole continent between her and the problems she's been running from for years. She can get her head together and start over again. "Los Angeles."
"How convenient."
"Isn't it though?" His venom is contagious, and the urge to poke at him is overwhelming. She opens her mouth to ask some inane question, to draw him into a conversation he doesn't want to have, but he's way ahead of her.
"What were you doing in the middle of the desert after dark?"
Her eyes pop open again, this time in surprise. "Not hitchhiking, officer. I promise. Did you know that's illegal?" She feigns innocence, batting her eyelashes at him cartoonishly before snorting with laughter.
The cheerful noise fades away, and she peers at him curiously, but can't discern anything from the blank expression on his face. Clearly he's not amused.
She sighs, and tries to think of a way to explain her predicament. "Ever heard the expression 'Gas, ass, or grass'?" He grunts in response and she continues. "Well, as you can probably tell, I have no money for gas, and even though I have more than enough ass, that's not exactly what the expression means, so I offered 'grass' as a form of payment for taking me to Phoenix."
"And?"
"As soon as we got far away from the bright city lights, that third option didn't seem to be enough for the gentlman, and since I didn't have any money…"
Danny blanches, pressing his lips together in a thin seam of displeasure. Anger coils up inside of him, a feeling that is never very far from the surface. "Did he-"
"No, no." Mindy looks at Danny a little strangely. He's taken his eyes comlpletely off the road for the first time since she got in the car, and he's looking with some kind of protective anger. It's not something she's familiar with. "He tried, I suppose, but then I tried to gouge his eyes out, and he ended up tossing me out instead." She tries to imbue her words with a lighthearted confidence, but fails, an unexpected quaiver trembling out on the last syllable. She's the first one to look away.
It's exactly what he expects to hear, but it still makes him angry. "You shouldn't be hitchingn rides from dangerous assholes. Don't you have a family or something?"
His sudden curiosity is surprising to her, and she finds herself saying the words that up until now she's managed to keep tamped down. "We haven't talked in years."
Danny lapses into silence again, keenly aware of Mindy breathing a little unevenly beside him. He knows what it's like to have family that's worthless, but it still stings a little when he thinks of her not having even one person to call. "Surely your mother-"
"I'm too… ashamed… maybe that's the not right word. I just need some time, ok, before I can face them. They're good people, but I can't handle their disappointment right now."
"Well, you said you didn't kill anyone, so …" He's trying to be funny, to wipe away the sad expression that has taken over her face. He doesn't like it at all. It's such a startling contrast to the lazy smiles she's been so inexplicably full of.
"I did something much worse."
Now his interest is piqued. The grim way that she drops her confession has him on tenterhooks, hands involuntarily gripping the steering wheel in anticipation. He unconsciously leans toward her, eyes still focused on the road. "Worse?"
"I dropped out of med-school."