I rolled my eyes. "Lazy!" I called out to him. He waved a hand back to me, and Alex and I laughed. I turned to Alex with a small smile on my face. "Do you know how to siphon?" I asked him. He shook his head no and my smile grew across my entire face. "My love" I said. "I have some new things to teach you." I grabbed his hand and pulled him along.
After taking our time Alex and I siphoned some gas into the Jeep and we made it back to the camp to the others, the first thing I noticed was everyone sleeping. I laughed and looked over at Alex to see him smiling and shaking his head. Looking at them sleeping a sudden wave of tiredness washed over me. I stretch and yawn dramatically. But then suddenly a feeling flutters inside me. I look over at Alex and my eyebrows nit together. His smile fades and his eyebrows start to come together.
"Willow what's wrong?" He asks confusion in his voice.
I looked away from Alex down to the ground. I shut my eyes tightly and let the feeling wash over me. I saw in my mind's eye part of my premonition come into view. No. That's not right. What I was seeing wasn't in my premonition at all. This was a vision I was having. But the girl from my premonition was there. I couldn't see her face, just the back of her head and the clothes she was wearing. I could just barely see a silver glint from the gun that was tucked under the waistband of her jeans that was almost fully covered by her black leather jacket.
Then just as quickly as the vision came, it was gone. My eyes fluttered open to see Alex in front of my with his eyebrows frowned together. I stood silently trying to process what just happened. I've never had a vision on my own before. This was creepy, and why was I seeing this girl? Maybe she has something to do with me?
"I just had a vision." I said to Alex. "I've never had a vision before like that." Alex tucked some of my hair behind my ear, and I sighed feeling his touch.
"What did you see?" he asked me quietly.
"The girl from my premonition. She was just standing there facing away from me." I looked up at Alex in the eyes "I don't know what it means." I whispered.
Alex shook his head at me. "I don't either." He put his arm around my shoulders. "Come on you look tired, everyone has the right idea about getting some sleep before we leave tomorrow." I smiled up at him as he held my shoulders tightly. The next thing I knew he put an arm under my legs and cradled me to his chest and walked us to the tent. Alex and I snuggled in our sleeping bag and almost instantly sleep washed over me.
When I woke up Alex was still sleeping next to me. Around us the light outside is giving off a soft glow. The sun must be going down, I thought to myself. I quietly crawled out of the tent and zipped it closed behind me. I stood up and walked over to the truck to check the time. WHAT?! Its nine thirty in the morning? Holy crap. We all slept all night. Wow.
I turned away from the truck, to find only Sam and Seb awake. "Did you guys let Alex and me sleep all night?" I asked them.
"Yea we didn't want to wake you. Plus Liz slept all night too." Seb said to me.
"Ohh, that was very nice of you." I said back. "Are you guys ready to leave?" I asked.
Sam nodded. "Yea, pretty much. Just need to clear up the fire and roll up the sleeping bags."
"Cool. I'm going to go wake up Alex." I said and pointed back to the tent with my thumb. As I started to turn away Sam called out to me.
"Maybe you should just let him sleep. Knowing Alex he'll probably want us to drive nonstop for a while, so we're going to need all the sleep we can get." Sam said.
"Alex said he wanted us to leave first thing this morning though. I'm going to go get him."
"Alright." He said with a sigh.
I arched an eyebrow at Sam and crossed my arms over my chest. "You just don't want to get on the road yet. That's it isn't it?" I asked. He smiled at me and shrugged his shoulders. I rolled my eyes at him. "Lazy." I said as I turned back towards the tent.
I walked back to the tent to find Alex still sleeping. He looks so vulnerable when he sleeps, so at peace. I sat down next to him, and leaned over his face and softly kissed his lips. I traced his eyebrow lightly with my finger smiling down at him. Slowly Alex's eyes started to flutter open. He smiled up at me, and I smiled back. He reached up and gently ran his hand through my hair.
I bent down and kissed his lips again. "Good morning Mr. Kylar." I smiled. "We slept all night long."
He laughed. "What time is it?"
"About nine-thirty. I've only been up for a few minutes. Did you sleep well?"
He smiled "Yes I did. Are you ready to head for Nevada?" he asked, his voice laced with sleep.
"I'm so ready." I laughed "Liz is still sleeping."
"Well time for her to wake the hell up." He said with a laugh. "Are the guys up?"
I nodded. "Yea and Sam is being lazy this morning." Alex rolled his eyes and lightly trailed his fingertips down my cheek. "I'll go get everyone ready, you take your time to wake up and get ready ok."
"Ok."
I bent down and kissed his lips once more. I smiled at him as I headed for the tent door. I found my way back to the boys who were sitting on the logs around the wet fire.
"You guys ready to go? Alex is getting ready then we're all going to get on the road." I paused for a moment and looked around. "Where's Liz?" I asked.
Sam pointed his thumb to the Jeep. "She slept in the back of the Jeep last night. I think she's still asleep." He said with a small chuckle.
I rolled my eyes and headed for the Jeep. I looked through the dark windows to see Liz curled up in the back seat sleeping away. I opened the door and leaned in. I gently shook her shoulder. "Hey Liz, come on its time to get up. We're heading for Nevada today." I said softly to her. She stirred and slowly her eyes began to open. I smiled at her. "Good morning Sleeping Beauty. It's going on ten o'clock, and we're leaving for the US in about 20 minutes."
Liz made a grumpy noise and nodded her head as she sat up. Her hair was all over the place, as she saw me looking at her hair she gave me the evil eye and pointed back towards the camp site. I laughed and held my hands up in surrender. I backed away, turned and headed for the camp.
Alex was awake now and talking to Sam and Seb. I knew the one thing I needed to do before we left. I quietly snuck around the boys and headed down for the clearing that over looked the city. Once I had the city in full view at the bottom of the hill I sat down in the grass and hugged my knees to my chest. To think Alex and I were only here for a couple of months and so much happened. I almost lost him. But I found something, someone I never would have known even existed. To think, I'm not the only other half angel in this world. I let out a sigh and gave my head a sharp shake as if to clear it. Who is this girl? What does she have to do with me? If she does at all. She has to mean something eventually. She said my name.
I must have been in deep thought because suddenly arms were circling around me hugging me close causing me to jump. "It's time to go." Alex said in a low voice in my ear. He kissed my neck and tightened his grip around me. "Are you ready to get back to the states?" he asked me as he pulled me to my feet.
"I don't know." I said slowly.
Alex turned me around and held me at arm's length. He tried to look into my eyes but I wouldn't meet his gaze. "Babe, what's wrong?"
"That girl Alex… it's almost like she's haunting me." I sighed heavily. "I'm ready to meet her and get to the bottom of what she means to me."
Alex smiled at me and rubbed my back. "Don't worry; I'll be right there with you when you do. Come on the others are waiting on us." He put his arm around my shoulders and led me back to the Jeep.
The drive back into the US was easier than when Alex and I made our way in. The roads were clear, not an animal or person in sight again. Alex did the driving so far, with Sam driving the truck behind us. Alex and I had been talking, laughing, and listening to the radio. Both English and Spanish songs would come on, and Alex would always translate the words for me.
"Who is this by?" I asked questioning the lovely Spanish song that Alex was translating for me.
"His name is Prince Royce." Said Alex, as he glanced over at me.
"He has a beautiful voice, and the lyrics to this song are so sweet." I said with a smile. The song was called Corazon Sin Cara. Listening to Prince Royce talk about how he would love this girl no matter what she looked like on the outside, made me think of Alex.
Alex reached over and laced his fingers through mine as I leaned my head back on the head rest of my seat and looked out the window, my eyelids starting to fall heavy. The steady gentle rocking of the Jeep and the soft beautiful music of Spanish singing was starting to lull me off to sleep. Alex squeezed my hand gently, and brought my fingers up to his mouth kissing my knuckles.
"You can take a nap if you'd like. I'll wake you up when we get to the border." He said quietly.
"Ok." I whispered my eyelids were being taken over by gravity as sleep washed over me. The last thing I saw was Alex's smile and the sun climbing higher in the sky as my eyelid closed.
"Hey Willow." I heard Alex calling to me quietly. His fingers were still laced with mine as my eyes slowly started to flutter open. "We're coming up to the border. You're about to be an American citizen again." He said with a smile as he shook my hand trying to wake me up.
"Mmmhhmmm" I grunted as I sat up and tried to smooth down my hair. "How long have I been asleep?" I asked as I glanced out of the front window to a dark night, small specks of stars in the sky.
"All day long." Alex said with a laugh. "I thought you would miss becoming legal again." He smirked.
"Shut up." I said to him in a still groggy voice with a smile. I leant over the center console and kissed his cheek. "How far are we from the border?" I asked as I ran my hand through Alex's hair.
He brought my hand to his mouth and kissed each of my knuckles. "Look out the window we're coming up on it now."
I had to force myself to look away from his gorgeous face and look out the front window. Up ahead from what I could make out in the dark, sat six toll booth stations side by side, with towering chain length fence running on both sides out into the distance.
"Once we cross through that, we'll be back in the US baby." Alex said. "Sam's from Texas so he'll be taking over lead driver from here until we get to New Mexico." Alex pulled over and held the brake as Sam and the others pulled up next to us in the truck.
"My turn to lead." Sam hollered through the window in his loud Southern accent with a smile. "It's basically a straight shot all the way to New Mexico. So just follow me."
Alex gave him a nod and off went the truck in front of us. We sat watching the truck roll slowly through the toll booth check points, beyond the fence, and start to pick up speed on the other side, into the dark dessert night. Alex and I glanced at each other with smiles. Alex slowly took his foot off of the brake still holding my hand, and gaze.
"Ready to do this?" He asked me with a smile.
"Hell yes." I said with an ear to ear smile.
Driving through Texas was nice. We drove all night long, only stopping twice for restroom breaks and to get gas. As we headed more into the US, we started seeing people again every now and then. Some at gas stations, some driving in the opposite direction than us. Surprisingly the drive didn't take long at all; by the time the sun came up we had finally gotten to New Mexico. We all decided that because we all could take shifts sleeping and driving we wouldn't need to stop to make a camp and sleep. I didn't mind one bit, spending alone time with Alex during the drive was great. We talked about everything that had happened in Mexico. About Seb, about Kara, about Razel, about the council, and the terrorist attack and we hashed them all out. We agreed that we were stronger than all of that, and we weren't going to let it come between us.
It was my turn to drive the Jeep, I was behind Liz in the truck and we were nearing Nevada now. I had one hand on the wheel, and the other Alex was holding in his lap as he slept next to me. I ran my thumb over his knuckles and glanced at him. I un-tangled my fingers from his as my cell phone started ringing.
"What's up?" I answered.
"Hey, hey. Get ready we're about to be in Nevada." Liz said back.
"Really? Awesome. How far until we are?" I asked. Then I paused as we past a sign saying 'Welcome to Nevada.' "Haha, I guess that answers my question."
"Yep. We're all hungry, what about you two?" Liz said. I could hear Sam and Seb holding a deep conversation about sports in the background.
"Well Alex is still sleeping, but let's find a place we can go in, sit, and use the bathroom. I've got to stretch my legs." I said with a laugh.
"Agreed. We're coming up onto a town; we can stop there and find a place to eat."
"Sounds good to me." I said.
"Cool." She said. As she was hanging up the phone I could hear her yelling at Seb. "Seb! Stop touching the radio! I hate country music." And with that she finally clicked off the phone.
I laughed and put my cell down in the cup holder. I reached over and shook Alex's arm talking to him soothingly. "Hey Alex, we're in Nevada. We're all gunna stop and get something to eat. If you wake up I'll buy you some coffee."
Alex stirred in his seat. "Coffee sounds good." He said running a hand through his hair and blinking at the sunlight shinning down on him.
"Did you sleep ok?" I asked linking my fingers through his.
"Yea. You said we're in Nevada? How long have we been in the state?" he asked scrapping a hand down his face rubbing his eyes.
I smiled at him. He's adorable. "About twenty minutes. We're about to find a place to go in and eat, are you hungry?"
"Willow, I'm a guy. I'm always hungry." He said.
I rolled my eyes glancing at him. "You've got that right." He laughed and leaned over the center console tucking a piece of hair behind my ear and kissed me below my earlobe. I blushed and he squeezed my hand.
Liz led us to a small dinner. The parking lot was packed with cars, and all of the neon signs in the windows were lite up and blinking. I pulled the Jeep up next to the truck and cut the engine Liz and the boys already getting out and heading for the front door of the dinner. Alex started to unbuckle his seat belt, and pull the handle for the door when he paused and looked at me with an eyebrow raised.
"Willow come on. Aren't you hungry?" he asked as he rubbed my elbow.
I was still strapped into my seat, clutching the steering wheel tightly, but my eyes had gone wide as I starred at the dinner. I was getting a strong feeling about this place, but for some reason I couldn't put my finger on it. Slowly I reached for my seat belt and unbuckled the clasp. I sat silent and watched as the others walked through the front door of the dinner and walk over to a booth next to a window.
"What's wrong?" Alex asked me in a low voice.
"I'm just getting a really strong feeling from this place." I said, my voice coming out in a whisper.
"A good or bad feeling?" He asked his hand inching towards the gun that rested underneath the waistband of his jeans.
"I don't know yet." I said as I open the Jeep door and climbed down. Alex and I walked in and I told him I was going to go wash up before I ate and to order me a club sandwich and a side salad.
After I used the bathroom and was at the sink washing my hands a girl came into the bathroom. I glanced up looking at her through the mirror… and had to do a double take, this time starring at her, my hands covered in soap midair, eyes wide, and mouth hung open. This girl was as tall as Alex, perfect hour glass body with shoulder length brown hair, the color of her hair extensions was blue with gray little flicks. Just like Alex's eyes. Her skin tone was a soft sun kissed gold; she obviously spent a good amount of time in the sun. She has soft Hazel eyes, a small button nose, and lips that had a natural up turn to them; as if she was naturally giving a small smile. Her fingernails were painted a rich coal black. She had two sets of small diamonds in her ears. She wore an off the shoulder long sleeved green and black striped shirt showing black bra straps, black skinny jeans that had safety pins going up the side but wasn't holding together her jeans, just there for decoration. The shoes she was wearing were neon green Converse sneakers with black laces that matched her shirt.
It was the girl from my premonition.
Standing at the sink next to me, she put her big purse down on the shelf just below the mirror. She dug around in her purse and came out with a small tube of pink lip gloss. She uncapped the tube dipped the wand in a few times and brought it to her lips. It left her lips a bright shimmering pink with little silver crystals; the color was great against her skin tone. As she rubbed her lips together she finally glanced over at me making eye contact.
She smiled a big kind smile at me, and I realized that I was still starring. I smiled back, blinking a few times and looking away. I finished rinsing my hands off, drying them with a sandpaper feeling paper towel. When I looked back at her in the mirror she was still looking at me, only now her smile had faded, and she was eyeing me carefully. Then something flashed in her eyes and her smile grew back again.
"Hi. I'm Nat." she said as she held her hand out to me. "Well actually my names Nattallia, but I go by Nat." I wasn't sure what to say just yet so I just shook her hand. "Lip gloss?" She held out her tube of lip gloss to me, and I took it with a slight hesitation. "That color will look great with your skin tone." She said cheerfully with a smile as I applied lip gloss to my lips.
"My names Willow." I said after rubbing my lips together and handing back the small tube.
"Wow, what a beautiful name!" She smiled turning back to the mirror and fluffed her hair some.
"Thank you." I said with a smile.
She turned back to me biting her bottom lip, giving me a look that said she was deciding in her head still if she should say it or not. Finally she said. "Can I tell you something? And please, please, don't be offended by it."
I blinked taken aback a little. "Ohh, umm sure. Go ahead." I said nervously.
"Well its just." She sighed. "You're much prettier as a blond then a redhead." Huh? I thought. Blinking at her again, she saw my expression and quickly added. "No no no no no. It's just that… your roots are showing." She said pointing to my hair. "I can see that you're naturally blond not red. And to be honest, blond is great on you. I mean the red is nice, but not that shade. Maybe like a strawberry but not a cherry. And you have very pretty eyes, and blond accents green very well." She said with pride.
I looked at my reflection in the mirror and ran a hand through my hair. "Oh, I didn't think about that when I decided to color it." I looked back over at her hair and found my eyes going straight to her extension. The one the color of Alex's eyes.
Nat smiled at me. "You like it?" she asked and I looked away. She giggled and lifted up a piece of her hair and unclipped the extension. She held it up next to my head and squinted her eyes at me for a second, then brought a knife out from her purse and cut the hair piece so it was as long as my hair. She moved some of my hair aside and clipped it to the right side of my head. "There, perfect." She smoothed some of my hair over it, then stepped back and motioned to the mirror.
I turned to the mirror and saw the blue and gray extension was nestled in my hair next to my eyes, perfectly complimenting the two together. "Are you sure it ok for me to have this?" I asked looking at her in the mirror.
"Of course it is. I have thousands. Literally." And with that she pulled a new one from her purse. This one was brand new and still in its plastic. It was purple, just like in my premonition.
"Can I ask how you know so much about hair?"
"I'm the top hairdresser on the west coast." She said with pride and a big smile.
"Oh wow. Have you been at it long?" I asked leaning against the sink.
"No, but I wish I had." She said as she clipped the new hair piece in her hair, and crumpled up the plastic throwing it in the trash can. She glanced over at me with a smile. "You know, I can take the red out for you if you'd like. Make you blond again." She looked up at my roots. "Just curious how much did you pay to have someone do that to your hair?"
"I did it myself." I mumbled, suddenly embarrassed.
"That explains it." She said. Then added quickly when she saw my expression. "I just mean, your roots and ends don't look very damaged. Have you ever dyed your hair before?" When I shook my head she continued. "That's good. Don't if you can help it. Coloring is the worst for hair; it makes the hair dry and cracked. Trust me you don't want that." She glanced down at her watch then cursed under her breath.
"I'm sorry did I keep you?"
She shook her head at me. "No I just forgot I have a nail appointment again. Honestly I forget every month." She said with a small laugh. She opened her purse and threw in her lip gloss tube and pulled out big black and purple sunglasses, a twenty dollar bill, car keys, and a small business card. Nat held out the card to me. "Here, this is the address, and phone number to my salon. I take appointment and walk-ins. Also I give every new customer four free sessions for whatever they want. And I mean whatever. I even do facials, manicures, pedicures, tweezing, and waxing's. All free the first four times you come in. tell your friends too."
"Ok. I'll give you a call in the next couple of days and set up an appointment." I said with a smile.
"Cool." She said putting the sunglasses on top of her head and swinging her purse onto her left shoulder.
"I'll walk you out." I said sliding the card in the back pocket of my jeans.
Nat and I headed out into the dinner chit-chatting. We departed at the front counter where Nat put down her twenty dollar bill, and a waitress put down a white Styrofoam package in front of her. She picked it up and turned back to me with a smile and we said our goodbyes. I walked over to the table with the others and stood at the end of the table watching Nat wave and say hello to people as she made her way to the door.
"We thought you fell in the toilet Willow." Sam said.
"Shut up Sam." Alex said to him. "Hey Willow, you ok?"
"Bye Willow." Nat said as she passed by me heading for the door.
"Bye Nat." I called back to her.
Everyone at the table went silent and turned to look out the window to watch Nat walk out the door and into the heat of Nevada. Alex stood up next to me and put an arm around my waist pulling me protectively close to him. We all watched as Nat walked over to a smoke gray… Porsche Carrera. She opened the driver door, bent in and placed her things on the passenger seat. When she stood back up she paused leaning against the door. She locked eyes with me through the window and winked, just before pulling her sunglasses over her eyes, climbed into her car, and driving away down the road.
