"Take good care of her, girls. She's a beauty." The mechanic told them. The car keys, with the black rabbit foot keychain, dangled from his grease marked pointer finger.
"We will. Thanks." Sara grabbed the keys, cutting off Tegan's own hand from reaching for them. She spun around and made her way through the glass doors, heading straight for their big green vehicle.
Tegan followed closely behind, complaining. "Why do you get to drive? You drove last time."
"Because I'm the one with the keys." Sara retorted as she jammed the key into the lock.
Tegan stopped beside her, not ready to lose the argument. Sara swung the door open, and was immediately pressed against it as Tegan tried to worm her way into the driver's seat. Her battle was short lived, however, by Sara pulling one of her expert karate moves. Tegan stumbled backwards before losing her balance completely and tipped over onto her bottom, her hands scraping against the rough blacktop as she tried to catch her fall.
"What the fuck!" She hissed, lifting her hands close to her face to inspect the damage. Her red palms were littered with small pebbles and blood was starting to squeeze its way through fresh cuts. She looked up to Sara, pissed. This was not the road trip she had been expecting.
"Just get in the van, Tegan. We're already late," Sara sighed, feeling bad for hurting her sister, but not enough to apologize. She climbed into the vehicle and slammed the door shut, tapping her fingers along the steering wheel while she waited impatiently for Tegan.
Tegan huffed and stood up, wiping her pants off with her bloody hands. She walked around to the other side and pulled the door open to the living quarters part of the van. She pulled the door shut and leaned against the door of the mini refrigerator, beginning to rummage through the small storage areas for antibacterial wipes, which were usually reserved for makeshift showers when they had to go days without a real one.
"What are you doing?" Sara asked, her patience somehow wearing even more thin as Tegan dilly-dallied around in back. She put her hand on the back of the passenger seat and craned her neck around, watching Tegan as she scrubbed at her hands.
"Exactly what it looks like I'm fucking doing. Just drive, I'll ride back here." Tegan yanked on the curtain dividing the two sections of the van, shutting Sara out in one swift movement.
"Fuckin' bitch," Tegan heard Sara mutter as she started the engine and pulled out of the auto shop parking lot, heading east towards their next Ontario destination. Tegan let her head fall back against refrigerator with a thud, hoping to keep the tears welling in her eyes from spilling.
It hadn't even been twenty fours since their little tryst but already she could feel her relationship with Sara changing and she knew that it was her fault. Sara was at least making an attempt to act normal, but Tegan would just boil with negative emotions she wasn't sure even had names each time she laid her eyes on Sara. All she saw was Sara's eyes glazed over with lust while she bounced up and down on Tegan's lap. She shook the visuals from her mind, knowing she had to get her head leveled by tonight. It was unacceptable to put on a bad show, no matter what the circumstances were.
Minutes, even hours could have passed while Tegan just stared up at the ceiling or out into the countryside as it passed them on the highway. She listened to the faint sound of the heavy music Sara was playing as she drove, the calmness of it all helping put her mind at ease, but not as much as she needed. She needed outside help, but since her and Sara drank all of the beer she bought last night, and Tegan had smoked all but two of her cigarettes, which she was saving for later, it only left her with one option.
As if reading her mind, Sara drew back the curtain and looked at Tegan through the rearview mirror. "Is there any pot left?" she raised her eyebrows.
Tegan smiled to herself, happy to know that Sara was also affected by their actions enough to need a release. "Uhmm.." Tegan began, sitting up on her knees to dig through the cabinet they usually stored their drugs in. She pulled out a small rolled up sandwich baggy and unraveled it to reveal a small broken up amount of the green bud. "There's a little bit, but no papers," she sighed.
"Where's my bowl?" Sara scrunched her eyebrows together.
"It broke last week, remember?" Tegan replied, feeling herself starting to get annoyed at Sara again. If she wouldn't have left the bowl on the floor before they went to bed that night then Tegan wouldn't have stepped on it when she woke up the next morning.
"Shit," Sara groaned, "Do you have any more cigs left? Just dig out the tobacco and put it in one of them."
"I was going to save them for after the show." Tegan grumbled. She began digging around through more cabinets to try to find any other solution.
"Just buy more cigarettes tomorrow. C'mon Tegan, I know you'd rather get high." Sara pouted. She tried to reach into the back to place her fingers on Tegan's wrist to coax her.
Tegan recoiled from the contact, but still caught Sara's puppy dog face in the mirror. Her honey colored eyes were wide and begging. Tegan mentally berated herself for being so susceptible to her younger twin. Being the oldest, she always felt the responsibility to take care of Sara and make sure she always had what she needed and wanted even if it was something as small as getting high and meant Tegan had to make sacrifices for herself. Sara watched as Tegan reached for her carton of cigarettes and she leaned back into her seat, satisfied.
With the help a broken guitar string on the floor, Tegan meticulously dug the tobacco out of one of her cigarettes and dumped it into the small garbage bin. She poured the rest of the pot into her empty cigarette and rolled the tip together. She handed it up to Sara and climbed into the passenger seat, buckling up.
"Well it's not going to light itself." Sara commented, the makeshift joint already between her lips.
Tegan rolled her eyes and reached behind her seat, grabbing for the purple lighter on the ground. She sparked it and held it to the end of the joint while Sara inhaled. Sara's eyes momentarily closed as the smoke burned her lungs before popping back open to keep her eyes focused on the road. She lowered the window a few inches and blew the smoke out before handing the joint to Tegan.
Tegan held it between her thumb and pointer finger, inhaling slowly. She formed her lips into a small circle and tapped her cheek with her pointer finger as she exhaled. A string of tiny, perfect smoke rings escaped her mouth one after the other.
"Show off." Sara grabbed the joint and took another hit. As she let the smoke slowly roll out from between her lips, she inhaled it right back through her nose.
"Right back at ya, sis." Tegan laughed. She took the last hit and flicked the butt out the window then started searching around the ground by her feet. She pulled her hand back up, holding one of Sara's many books she insisted on bringing along, and held it right under her bottom lip. The thick smoke trickled down along the book before flowing downwards and disappearing into the air along with all of their problems.
Sara smiled, glad to know that things would feel normal even if only until the effects of the drugs wore off. She picked up the overflowing CD case resting between her seat and the middle console and handed it to Tegan. Tegan flicked through it, knowing just what they both wanted to listen to. She slid the disc into the player and turned it up, waiting for one of their favorite singers, Bruce Springsteen, to start singing.
With the good music filling their ears and relaxing drug in their system, the hours passed quickly on the road until Sara was pulling into the back lot of the bar they were scheduled to play at. She hopped out and hurried to the back, unloading her guitar and case that carried her microphone. Tegan followed closely behind with her own gear. They were met with a bouncer at the back entrance, quickly explained they were tonights performers, and he led them into a small back room.
They rapidly unpacked their instruments, checked the clock to see they were almost forty minutes late, and moved as fast as they could onto the small stage. Sara strummed the strings of her guitar quietly while Tegan finished setting up her microphone. She looked out into the small crowd of people chatting and sipping on beers. She smiled apologetically and moved her own microphone a few inches closer, letting it carry her voice through the building.
"Hey everyone," she started. The people in the crowd turned their heads, listening. "We're Sara and Tegan and we want to apologize for being a little behind schedule. Our vehicle broke down the other night and we had to scramble to find money and get it fixed."
"Sorry," Tegan adds in before turning back to tuning her guitar.
"I don't know what was wrong with it, but Tegan's not allowed to drive anymore." Sara continued, laughing.
Tegan lifted her head and leaned in to her own microphone with a smile, "Woah, hey, hey. It was not my fault! Don't listen to her guys, she's the evil twin."
"Psh, yeah right." Sara scoffed with a playful smile. "Ready?"
"You bet," Tegan nodded, and cleared her throat. Her fingers found their position on the neck of her guitar. "Well this one's called More For Me. 1..2..3..4.. Had a bad day, as bad as they come..."
Sara felt the words strike her in the chest, feeling like the lyrics fit a little too perfectly to yesterday even though Tegan had written the song months ago. Out of the corner of her eye she watched Tegan sing. One side of Tegan's top lip twitched up as she sung, or more appropriately, growled out the words with her eyes shut tight in concentration as the passion consumed her.
Tegan's eyes remained shut through almost the whole set, letting her mind feel nothing but the music. When she opened her eyes to the sounds of the crowd clapping and Sara looking at her with a small smile, she grinned back.
"Thanks a lot you guys," Tegan spoke, her hand running across her short hair wet with sweat. "If you're interested Sara and I will be over at that table," she pointed to a small card table set up just off to the side of the stage, "for a little bit selling our CD, Under Feet Like Ours, and a few shirts."
"Thanks," Sara said, her lisp more noticeable than usual.
They packed up their stuff, sat at the table while anyone who wanted bought merch or asked for their autograph, then headed back out onto the road. Tegan stuck the key into the ignition and drove out of the parking lot, feeling content.
"You were great tonight, Tee." Sara patted her on the shoulder.
Tegan smiled back at her, the feeling of Sara's gentle touch warming her entire body. The rest of the drive passed smoothly, the pair discussing the show and the relaxing week off they had ahead. Tegan pulled into the campground entrance and to Site 27, the one they had made reservations at over a month ago.
Sara jumped out and headed straight for the woods to find some firewood to light up their area while Tegan pulled out their camping chairs and some food and placed it by the fire pit. She was just returning from the van with both of her and Sara's guitars when Sara walked up, arms full of twigs and branches. Sara looked at Tegan curiously, her eyes darting from Tegan's face to the guitars in her hands.
"Wanna jam?" Tegan asked nervously, her tongue toying with the back of her lip piercing. She was hoping Sara wouldn't say no even though it was an unusual question and they had never played together just for the fun of it.
"Sure." Sara nodded with a smile. She dropped the wood into the pit and lit a crumpled up piece of paper with the purple lighter and placed it in between the branches before settling in her chair next to Tegan with her guitar. She let Tegan taken the lead, unsure of what Tegan wanted to play.
Minutes passed of them strumming random chords and just bouncing off of what the other would play. It wasn't productive and no real songs were played, but that was the point of it. They were just relaxing and bonding until a boy and girl around their age rode by on skateboards. The girl heard and saw them playing guitars and stopped, eyeing Tegan up and down during an intense acoustic solo.
"Hey!" She called out to them.
"Hey," they replied in unison, looking up to the stranger and the boy beside her.
"Sweet ride," the boy commented. He picked up his board and walked up to the van, checking it out.
The girl picked up her own board and walked over to Tegan and Sara by the fire. "I'm Kayla. Are you guys musicians or something?"
"Yeah, kinda. I'm Sara." She said, setting her guitar down to lean against the arm of her chair.
"I'm Tegan. What's up?" She grinned at the girl, checking her out. She had long blonde hair, hazel eyes, and was wearing a short summer dress.
"I'm Eric," the boy shouted and ran up to stand behind Kayla. "We're just hanging out. Are you guys camping here for a while?"
"Until next friday." Tegan answered.
"Awesome," Kayla grinned. "We're having a small get together tomorrow night if you wanna come. You could bring your guitars and play some stuff if you want. That'd be super cool."
Tegan's lit up and her smile grew wider. "Sounds fun. Yeah, Sara?" She looked at Sara, waiting.
Sara met Tegan's eyes with her own, her lips turning down into a barely there frown. She knew that twinkling look in Tegan's eye, and what it meant. Their relaxing week of just spending time with each other, which was badly needed to keep their relationship from falling apart, would now turn into a game of Tegan trying to get this girl to have sex with her. Sara looked back at Kayla, then Eric, both of their faces glowing with anticipation.
"Yeah." She muttered unenthusiastically.
