I grabbed my bag, slipped into a pair of flip-flops, and left. Halfway down the hall I realized that Ranger was following me.
I grinned at him. "Howdy."
"Yo," he said with a smile.
We left the hotel in silence. "Nice night," I said. It was warm and people were still out, talking and laughing and drinking.
"I've always liked working in Key West," Ranger said, looking around.
"So why did you agree to come bail me out?" I asked suddenly.
"Because I was coming down here anyway and I could use you as bait."
"And here I thought you did it out of the kindness of your heart," I said, rolling my eyes.
Ranger laughed. "There was some of that."
"Really?"
"Really."
Wow. Here was a guy I'd met a week ago via stealing his car. And he had been nice enough to give me medical attention free of charge, buy me a plane ticket, drive me to the airport, and wait with me for my plane to come. And then a week later he bails me out of jail. I hardly knew this guy, but somehow I knew I could trust his with my life.
"You must be a saint or something, buddy, 'cause everyone else woulda' killed me for stealing their car."
"Oh believe me, I was planning on it, but then I found you in the rest-stop bathroom and my motherly instincts kicked in."
I laughed out loud. We were two blocks away from the hotel at this point and we crossed the street to avoid drunken people piling out of clubs.
"Really," Ranger said, "I don't like seeing people get hurt, unless it's me who's hurting them. Even then it's not that fun to watch."
"Oh boy," I said.
We walked in silence for a while. The sidewalk we were on led us to the beach. Ranger bought us some ice cream at a little stand and we sat down on the sand. It really was a nice night. The sun had set already but it wasn't too dark. The air was warm and there was a little breeze. Waves rolled lazily in and out, washing over the shore. Ranger and I sat in silence, licking our ice cream and contemplating the universe.
"So you just up and left?" Ranger asked suddenly.
"Yep," I said, instantly knowing what he was talking about.
"And you never looked back?"
"Nope. I was too excited about where I was going."
"I tried to run away from home once," Ranger said thoughtfully, "I think I was about your age, too. I had just had a huge fight with my father."
"What happened?" I asked, looking at him.
"I made it about three miles away and passed a bakery. The sight of cakes reminded me so much of my mother I burst into tears and ran the whole way home. That was the last fight my dad and I ever had."
"Wow."
"Yeah."
"My parents were pretty cool. They let me do stuff. I've got two older sisters who are out of college and have their own lives, so I was pretty bored most of the time."
"Are you in contact with your sisters?"
"Stephanie I called a couple times, but she just got divorced and I don't know where she's living now. Valerie lives in California and I think if I ever called her she'd find me and drag me back home by my hair."
Ranger laughed softly. "Did you get along with them?"
"Steph and I got along pretty well even though she's nine years older," I said, smiling, "She's kind of my idol. I jumped off the roof the instant I heard Steph had done it once. Valerie is a couple of years older than Stephanie so we couldn't really relate. Plus she was Miss Perfect all the time and that bugged the crap out of Stephanie and me both."
Ranger laughed. "That reminds me of my sisters."
"Sisters are weird like that," I said.
"We should probably be heading back," Ranger said after a while, "God knows what the guys are doing without me."
I laughed and stood up. "Well aren't you the self-centered one."
Ranger stood and looked over at me. "It's true. Without me to calm them down they'd have probably hired many a stripper by now."
I laughed again. "I can imagine that."
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It was a quarter to ten when we got back. The boys were still in front of the TV watching a baseball game. Ranger and I came in right as someone hit a grand slam and everyone was jumping up and down in happiness…except for Tank who was pissed.
"White Sox ain't your team, huh?" I asked Tank, sitting next to him on the floor.
"No way, I'm all for the Cubs," he said, glaring at the TV.
The baseball game got boring after a while so I got up and grabbed my bag, rooting around in it for a stack of cards. I found one and held it up. "Anyone up for a game of poker?"
Jordan, Ranger's older brother, grinned at me from his place on the bed. "Only if it's strip poker."
I narrowed my eyes at him. "You're on."
It was a stampede to get around the little table in the mini kitchen. I shuffled the cards but before I dealt I laid down some rules.
"Okay, so here's the deal. Whoever wins gets to pick who takes off what. I'm not a legal adult yet, so it's probably illegal for me to be playing this with you guys, so I'm not going further than underwear." Nods of agreement all around. I narrowed my eyes at them. "And you can all keep your hands to yourselves or I'll shove your gonads halfway up your throat."
That got me a lot of winces, and the game was on.
I won a lot, so within half an hour all the guy's shirts were off. Before dealing again I took a minute to admire all the beautifully tones chests in a variety of color tones. "Holy crap," I said, "Stephanie will be so jealous when I tell her about this."
That got a lot of laughs. I reached over into my bag and pulled out the Polaroid camera I'd gotten earlier that day. I took a picture of the scene in front of me and this earned me more laughter.
"I never want to forget this moment," I said.
The game progressed quickly. Lester won the next hand, and he grinned at me expectantly. Everyone hooted as I shed my tank top. Thank god I hadn't taken my bra off.
By eleven everyone was in various stages of undress. I was only in my underwear—rainbow booty shorts and black bra—Ranger, Tank, and Lester were down to boxers, and Bobby still had on his cargos. Ranger's boxers were black silk. Tank's were red, which contrasted nicely with his dark skin, and Lester's were bugs bunny. Go figure. I kept taking pictures. All in all, it was a fun night. Finally we decided enough was enough when Bobby threw his cargos into the pile of black clothes, and everyone retreated to their rooms.
I looked over at Ranger, still in his black silk boxers. "Where am I staying?"
"I'm the only one not sharing a room, so you can stay here."
The problem was, there was no couch for me to sleep on. I could just sleep on the floor, I suppose, but that wouldn't be comfortable. For the first time in my life, was genuinely freaked out. Here I was, alone in a room with a guy I didn't know, in my underwear. My worst fear in the world was being raped. My friend was raped by her boyfriend and she never trusted a guy again. It shook me up, as well. That was the only thing I was afraid of.
Ranger noticed my panic. "I'm not going to do anything to you, Jamie."
I took a deep breath. "I know."
Ranger nodded and stood up. "I'm going to take a shower. Feel free to take the bed, and I can sleep on the floor." He said and disappeared into the bathroom. Holy wow. Did he just give me the bed? I pulled my sweats and tank top back on and crossed the room to the bed. I slid under the covers and stared at the ceiling, listening to the shower running.
I may have actually made some good friends. I had been hoping to meet some people I could make friends with and possibly travel with. I didn't want to travel alone, especially when I leave the country. It's not like I was going to ask Ranger if I could follow him around. I knew we were going to go our separate ways pretty soon, and I had the feeling we would probably meet again.
Ranger came out of the bathroom wearing the silk boxers. His hair was wet, hanging almost down to his shoulders. I watched him pull it back with a hair tie and amble over to the bed. He grabbed a pillow from beside me and laid down on the floor, beside the bed. I rolled over to look down at him.
"Don't you want a blanket?" I asked.
"I've slept in colder climates," he answered me, yawning.
"Alrighty then. It's nice of you to let me have the bed."
"I didn't want to send you into a panic attack. And besides, I don't think it would be legal for us to even share a bed."
I smiled at him and rolled onto my back. I let the silence float by for a second and spoke up again.
"Ranger, my buddy, I have a feeling this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."
Ranger just snorted. "Go to sleep, Jamie."
I smiled. I was right.
SO that's the story of How Ranger And Jamie Met And Became Friends. Time to keep working on my other stuff...
---Bowling for Shrimp
