Huge thanks for the love! I felt like a first timer when I posted last night since it's been so long. All nerves, I tell you. And yes, I got the inspiration for this story when I was listening to that old Sammy Johns song 'Chevy Van'. That happens to me a lot. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter and thanks so much for reading! =)

Chapter Two

She hadn't thought this through very far. Her legs were killing her. Her back was killing her. It was brutally hot. Why hadn't she decided to hit the road when it wasn't the middle of August? She had slept in a park and had only been able to catch a ride from two truckers that had assumed she was some kind of prostitute. She hadn't made it very far at all and she was miserable.

She had used her last ten dollars at a small grocery store off the highway. She bought bottled water and granola bars. Ten dollars worth. That should keep her from dehydrating for a few days anyway. She had been so determined to just leave and restart her life that she hadn't even bothered to grab a pair of decent shoes. She had known it would be hot so she had changed into a tunic dress, grabbed her sandles and sunglasses and left. Now she was walking on the grassy shoulder of the highway, barefoot and wishing that she had just thought this through better, came up with a solid plan instead acting on impulse. She had a bad habit of doing that, acting impulsively, but never to this extreme. Then again if she had given herself time to let the doubts set in, she would have never left that apartment.

She stuck out her thumb as she walked, hoping that no cop caught her hitchhiking because she was sure that it was probably illegal. Hell, everything was now days. Honestly, she didn't think that she would have this much trouble hitching a ride. She was a female. She was showing off an ample amount of leg. Surely she looked harmless. They probably thought she was some doped up hippie. It was one of the downsides of preferring bohemian style clothing but today she was grateful for the light flowey material. It was keeping her from dying of heat stroke.

~H~

He had slept in the van and it had been a bad idea. He thought it was going to be pretty great since the van was only a two seater and there was a mattress already in the back. It was just a few steps down from an RV. He changed his mind when he had woken up covered in sweat. It wasn't like he was able to take a damn shower and he knew he smelled like ripe hell. He was surprised that he had slept a solid eight hours but that explained why the van was so damn hot. He'd been parked in the sunshine for hours.

It was after eleven in the morning so he wouldn't be catching breakfast at any fast food joints. Instead he went through the drive thru and ordered four dollar burgers and the largest sweet tea they had. He needed sugar.

Other than being a sweaty fucking mess he was feeling good about leaving. Sleeping in the van wasn't going to be so bad. He wasn't letting himself dwell on what he was going to do once he blew through the money he had stolen, which ended up being more than he thought he would end up with. He left the house with a little over five hundred dollars in his pocket and if he played his cards right he was sure that would get him pretty damn far. Far enough? He wasn't sure if he could ever get far enough.

He had scarfed down two of the burgers, ignoring the sting from his busted lip. The tea helped ease the sting anyway. The radio was basically shit but he found a station that played classic rock that came in with minimal white noise. He was feeling pretty good. He was happy about his decision.

And then he saw her.

The first thing he noticed was a pair of bare legs. Up ahead was a woman walking along the shoulder, her thumb up. Flicking his gaze from the legs to the road, back and forth, he let his eyes roam up a little further. A pair of sandles dangled from her hands, hips swaying to the rhythm of the song on the radio as she walked, auburn hair pulled back in a messy bun. The dress she wore was white, longer on the sides than in the back, flowey and loose like something a damn hippie would wear.

"Not your circus, not your monkey. Keep drivin'," he mumbled to himself as his eyes continued moving from the woman to the road. He did just that, ignoring the urge to hit the breaks. That was, until he glanced over as he passed her and she actually looked over. Her eyes met his for a second before she was gone and once he got a good look at her face he cursed himself for being a dumb ass and then slowed, pulling over. "What the fuck is wrong with you. So she's got nice legs. It ain't like you're gonna get between them," he muttered under his breath. He knew that wasn't why he stopped. He stopped because she didn't look a damn day older than him and bad things happened to girls out on the road. He just didn't want to have to wonder if this damn girl died the day he didn't pick her up.

"Hey, thanks," a breathless voice muttered from the passenger side window.

He steeled himself and looked over. She wasn't making a move to open the door, instead opting to study him from a safer distance. He didn't know what the hell to say to her and he wasn't going to just sit there and gaze into some strangers intense blue eyes so his gaze dropped to her mouth.

"Listen, thanks for stopping but you need to know up front that I'm not some kind of prostitute. I will not be putting out for a ride. I'm not going to give you a hand job and my mouth isn't going anywhere near your penis. With that said, you still up for giving a girl a lift?"

His mouth went dry and he was sure that his eyes were about to pop out of his head. He felt the heat rise up from his chest to his neck and then his face. Even the tips of his ears were burning hotly. He tried to think of something Merle might say in a situation like this but that just made the heat get hotter. He realized his mouth was hanging open so he closed it quickly. She was still staring him right in the eye, her head tilted slightly to the side as she studied him.

"Well? Can I get a ride without having sex with you or not?" One eyebrow shot up.

"Yeah," he managed. "I'll give you a ride. We're too?"

She pulled the door open and climbed in. "Anywhere."

He frowned, studying her as intently as she had him. She looked tired and hot, like she had been in the sun for a while. Her bare shoulders were pink and so were her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. "Guess that's good cause that's exactly where I'm headin'," he muttered as he pulled back onto the deserted highway. "Just tell me when to stop."

"Sure thing," she said quietly.

He felt like a fucking idiot for stopping. He should have just kept going. The van was silent since he had to just turn off the radio once the station faded out all the way. The silence was thick and awkward and he kept glancing over at her and every time he did he would catch her looking at him.

"I'm Carol," she said after what felt like twelve hours but had probably not even been thirty minutes.

He snorted. "Daryl," he said quietly.

"We rhyme."

He looked at her again and this time he didn't look back at the road right away because she was grinning at him and it lit up her face. When the hell was the last time he had a reason to smile like that? He felt the corner of his mouth lift before he looked back over.

"So, how old are you?" She asked.

"How old are you?" He countered, not wanting to tell her that he was only eighteen in case she was older than him.

"Eighteen."

"Yeah, me too," he said, glancing at her from the corner of his eye.

"Are you going to tell me where you are heading now?" She asked after another few minutes of silence.

To buy a little time he grabbed the cup and took a few long sips. "I don't have anywhere specific in mind. I'm just goin'."

"Really?" She asked, turning in the seat and tucking her legs under herself.

He nodded.

"So, you just get in fights and travel around?"

He shook his head. "I don't run around getting in fights."

"You have a busted lip and I noticed your knuckles right away. I was kind of having second thoughts about riding with you when I saw your hand."

He looked at his knuckles. Bruised and battered. "I got in a fight but I don't make it a habit of getting into fights."

"So, we're heading west and we have no destination in mind?"

He felt his brows come together in a frown. "We?"

She sighed. "Hey, it was worth a shot. I'm just trying to get as far from Georgia as I can. You can't blame a girl for trying to bum a ride for as far as she can get."

He turned onto the exit ramp, heading towards the interstate. He knew he shouldn't say anything. He didn't know her and it wasn't his problem. "How far west you want to go?"

"I need to get to California."

He merged into traffic, unable to look away from the road to gauge her expression. "What's in California?"

"Dreams. I want to be a photographer."

He snorted. "That seems like one of them dreams you can catch anywhere."

"I guess."

This was fucking crazy. "And you're gonna hitch rides all the way there?"

"I don't have a choice. Sometimes you find yourself in a situation and the only thing you can do is remove yourself. I was stuck in a rut and so I packed a bag and I got out of it. It won't be easy but I think once I get out there, I can make something of myself."

Her words seemed to bounce around in his brain before he was able to reply. When he did the words tumbled out of his mouth before he could do a damn thing to stop them. "You wanna go to California then I can probably get you there. How much money do you got?"

He risked a glance at her now because the van had grown quiet again. She was staring at him with eyes as wide as saucers. "Are you kidding me right now? Because if you are then that's really mean."

He shook his head. "I don't got anywhere to go either."

"I don't have any money," she said quietly. "But I can try to get some. I mean, people do this all the time, right? There has to be a way."

He shrugged. "I guess maybe I'm bout to find out." What in the fuck was he doing?

"What's that smell?" She asked suddenly.

He flinched at the question. It was probably him after sleeping in the van all night and sweating all over himself. "Uh, I don't know."

"I swear, I've only been away from my apartment for two days and I want real food so bad that I'm smelling phantom burgers."

He breathed out a sigh of relief and reached between the seats, pulling out the bag. "Here."

She snatched the bag from him quickly. "Oh my God. You've got to be the best thing that's ever happened to me in my entire life. A ride, a willingness to drive cross country with a stranger, and now burgers. I think I'm in love with you."

He scoffed and shook his head, that awful fucking heat blazing across his face again. If nothing else, at least this trip got a whole lot more interesting.

"And you aren't going to try to rape me in my sleep or anything? You don't look like a rapist but you never know."

He rolled his eyes. "Trust me, you ain't gotta worry about anything like that."

"You think I'm a dog, don't you?" She asked around a mouth full of food.

He looked at her quickly, a scowl on his face. "What the hell? I never said that!"

She smiled. "Well, you aren't interested in sexual favors. It must be because you think I'm a dog."

What the hell was with this girl? "Not everybody is out there for that. It don't mean they think you're a dog."

"Is that where we're sleeping?" She asked suddenly. She was turned in her seat, looking into the back of the van. "I slept in a park last night. This is gonna be way better."

His grip on the steering wheel tightened. He hadn't thought about that. He wasn't going to sleep with this girl in the back of a fucking van. But he didn't want to sleep on the ground. Not that he wouldn't. He wasn't some kind of chivalrous guy or anything but if it was him sleep in the grass or some girl then he'd rather just sleep in the grass himself. "You can take the van. Whenever we stop I can crash outside."

She shook her head and turned back around. "You don't have to do that. We can share."

Goddamn it... "You don't even know me."

"I know we're stuck with one another for a while, if you're serious about getting out west. We'll have to get to know each other eventually."

He didn't say a word to that. He had a feeling it wouldn't have done him much good to argue.