Leaving Neptune and the speculative chatter on campus surrounding Coach Barry's murder, and possible links to Dean Odell's suicide had sounded like a great idea when Dick had suggested this trip. Unlike the sunny beaches and California coastline in Neptune, Weller was a hillside town higher up in the Valleys, it was charming in a woodsy… lets go hiking and see bears postcard kind of way. The sort of place her family would have dragged her to in a leaky tent and where someone like Dick could spend a few days paddling down the rapids in a canoe of some kind.
He had wanted to spend some time giving it a real shot before they climbed out of the 'make-out closet' but for Mac... she just wanted to have a frozen moment in time before the inevitable trainwreck, and to use this as a fact finding mission.. was there more to Dick than the guy who waved his penis triumphantly at her like an Olympic torch.
To see if the glimpses he'd shown her were the real man behind those walls he'd erected beneath the sunny exterior.
Before she found out for sure if two little pink lines were going to change everything...
She felt like she was going to throw up.
Again.
"Come away with me this weekend he said..." Mac muttered as she paced the bedroom in their private cabin.
She couldn't stand herself right now.
She held a small velvet ring box in her hand and it wouldn't be the potential morning sickness this time… nope, this was all the box in her hand… a small ring shaped box. The one she had found in Dicks travel bag… the one he had packed for their "special" weekend away together. Dick Casablanca's was her latest questionable life choice.
Glancing down at the small ring box in her hand she felt her stomach heave again.
The room suddenly felt like a small prison, it had been great fun yesterday.. messing around in the kitchen, laying about on the deck last night while he told her all about the stars and how they were different in all the different places he had been surfing. Turns out her blond bed warmer was a pretty good astronomer. Mac just thought they looked pretty, which made her feel a little uncultured for once while he started going on about the Greek myths and how they compared to Native American stories. Who knew he could actually teach her something?
They had gotten wild out in the forest park and the things they did would certainly have made the furry creatures blush. Parker thought she was away visiting family this weekend in San Diego and she was now beginning to wish she had really spoken to Veronica a few days ago.
What was Dick Casablanca's College Frat Play Boy doing with what looked like a freaking ENGAGEMENT ring?
He was out getting breakfast at the moment and had been going on most of the day about how he had the best surprise for her this evening…. Oh God no! Was he going to PROPOSE?
She picked up the phone again, no bars. No phone signal since they had passed by the nearest hotel about a 20 minutes' drive from here. She really needed to talk to someone… the town had been filling with lots of students down for a pre-spring break weekend. They held a few events down here every year but Mac had been too busy freaking out over the pregnancy test results from the Neptune Clinic. They were still mostly inconclusive, a potential positive. They would know more in the next three weeks when the blood test could be repeated after her period was missed again.
She had no idea who the father was… it was either Bronson, her adorable animal rescuing vegan hippie ex-boyfriend. Or the party mad incredibly sexy surfer millionaire Dick Casablanca's.
Now Dick wanted to PROPOSE? This was almost as bad as the morning she had first woken up and found herself wrapped up against his sleeping face. If her parents ever found out about the potential baby… they would be marching her down the aisle with him with a shotgun at her back.
She might not have been able to get a phone call out, but the cabin had a hard wired old school internet connection, she could email someone to come and pick her up. It was cowardly… but right now she had to escape from here.
This is why she should NEVER have agreed to allow her mother to use her car... it didn't matter that on campus parking was almost the same as her dorm rent.
TO:Wally-Baller, ParkerPerfection.
Subject: RESCUE ME!
SOS! LONG STORY….
Can someone please come pick me up by Mile Marker 85 outside Weller, California?
I really need an evac! No signal, no car. HELP!
Love Mac
She hit send and was rewarded a few minutes later by an instant message from Wallace.
WallyBaller: Whats wrong?
MacTheSnacc: I need picked up.
WallyBaller: Everything ok?
MacTheSnacc: Not really… can you come get me?
Wallyballer: Of course… are you safe?
MacTheSnacc: Yes… but I just really need to get home.
Wallyballer: I'll see you in about 2 hours.
MacTheSnacc: THANK YOU! XXX
She sighed in relief, now all she had to do was pack her stuff and get out of there. Dick was away with the car so she would have to hitch a ride with one of the groups staying next door. A tall Hispanic girl named Rochelle from the bonfire kegger last night had offered to drive her into town earlier if she needed anything.
"Hey… are you still heading into Weller?" she asked as she approached the girls on the porch.
"Yeah, I was just about to do a beer run… you have a fight with your boyfriend?" Rochelle asked sympathetically.
"No… nothing like that… I just got Cabin Fever. Need to be near a cell phone signal" she smiled awkwardly.
"UH… ok, no problem… does now work for you?" Rochelle smiled as she kissed her girlfriend on the cheek.
"Now is Perfect" Mac nodded enthusiastically.
"Cool.. laters babe" she said as she pecked her partner on the cheek.
"Do not forget the shrimp chips!" Jane her girlfriend replied, spanking her on the back of the legs.
"Like I ever do?" Rochellefrowned and rubbed her sore leg. "I'm just parked over here" Rochelle replied pointing to the red pick up.
"Wow… your car looks…" Mac began as she looked at the rusty coloured Chevrolet.
"Like that rust bucket in Twilight… I know… my dad thought it was hilarious because I'm so pale" Rochelle confirmed as Mac put her stuff into the back seat.
"Hey it moves…" she laughed.
"Exactly.. you sure you are ok? You look a little green" Rochelle told her.
"Must be all this fresh air" Mac dismissed.
"Does he know you are leaving?" Rochelle enquired.
"He's not my boyfriend.. not really.. we uh.. have been…. Hanging out… but now it's a little awkward.. so I need to go…" she spluttered in explanation.
"You getting picked up okay?" Rochelle asked, concern in her voice.
"Yes.. my friend is coming to get me" she told her.
"They travelling far?" Rochelle quizzed as they pulled out of the log cabin estate.
"Neptune" Mac replied.
"Neptune… as in the planet?" Rochellejoked.
"Hahaha no… Neptune as in.. Kane Industries… Aaron Echolls.. Connor Levine.." she said name dropping some of the more well-known things about her home town.
"Oh yes! I think my Ex moved there" she smiled at Mac.
"So what has you down here?" Mac asked politely.
"Dirty weekend, break from college.. we are down for the festival" Rochelle told her. "My girlfriend is a basest for The Meditation Sisters" she explained, mentioning the name of a local Indie band who Mac had started to listen to recently after Piz's recommendation.
"Shut up!" she beamed. "I love those guys… Blindspot under the Moon is one of my favourite songs" she gushed.
"I'll have to tell her you are a fan" Rochelle smiled "We have some t shirts and Hoodys in the back if you want one"
"Oh I couldn't…" Mac replied.
"I insist.. we always end up with too many extra smalls and they have been laying in there for weeks" she insisted. "You sure you want to leave?" she enquired.
"I wasn't going to… but then I found something that is pretty much a deal breaker… I had to get out of there" Mac told Rochelleas she tucked the blue streak of hair behind her ear.
"Enough said… well, I'll leave you wherever you want, and I'll give you my card, you have any trouble getting a rid, call me, or hells even just text me to let me know you got picked up ok?" Rochelle warned.
"You are being so nice to me…" Mac said as she shook her head.
"What can I Say? I'm a sucka for gal in distress" Rochelle flirted as she handed Mac the card with her details on it.
A notification interrupted Veronica from her conversation with Parker. She placed the textbook Parker had volunteered to help her with in its rightful place and slide her phone from her pocket. Her evening hangout with Mac's roommate turned into teabags more than tequila but Parker took the change in plans like a champ. Swapping shifts last week so she could finish up the Menapace case did have these kind of consequences.
Wallace: Need to borrow your car.
"Everything okay?" Parker asked, giving the small blond a quizzical glance.
"Not sure..."
