On the day of their adventure, Kya pulled up to Lin's first thing in the morning in an old Volkswagen minibus with a baby blue body and white top.
Lin slung her rucksack in the back, which had ample seating and cushions, and hopped in.
"Nice hippy van. Should've guessed."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Lin smirked. "Means your ride is very charming."
Kya gave her side eye. "This my baby. I spent a lotta years living outta this thing."
"I thought it'd be the other way around."
Kya considered a moment and followed with a delayed burst of laughter.
"I get it. Because babies live inside their mommas." She shook her head. "That was a very bad dad joke."
Lin shrugged. "Wouldn't know. Never knew my father."
"Oh? Want to talk about it? We've got nothing but time."
"Not really."
"Fair enough." Kya wasn't one to force touchy subjects but she wanted Lin to know she was there either way.
They pulled onto the two-lane state route with orange groves stretching for miles and the occasional car passing by in the opposite direction. The sky was cloudy but not overcast, and the sun warmed the breezy air, a pure morning.
After a spell, Kya took one hand off the wheel and gripped Lin's. "It's all happening."
"By the way, continuing our baby talk…" Lin began.
Kya took her hand back. "Yes?" she said nervously.
"Don't worry, I'm not trying to give you any ideas. Just curious – do you have any children?"
Kya shook her head. "No ma'am. Never wanted any, at least I thought I didn't. But you know, there's the point in almost every woman's life where, even if they didn't want kids, if they're hitting that age, then I dunno. Sometimes. Out of panic, I guess. How about you?"
"Uh uh. I'm not one of those women. Never wanted kids – don't even know how to act around them. In fact, that's what broke up me and my first love – he wanted kids, and I didn't. Later I realized it was more than that, but hey. The perks of getting old is more time to reflect."
Lin rolled down the window and the chill air blew her hair all higgledy-piggledy.
"Thing that bothers me," Lin continued, "is when people I hardly know ask me personal questions about my love life."
"Exactly. It's like, stay the hell outta my life! If I wanted a husband, a baby, a white picket fence, I'd have one already."
Lin's heart swelled. She had to control herself from leaning over and kissing Kya right then and there. Would have done it too if not for the driving.
"You get me. I never thought in a million years someone like you would get me."
Kya grabbed Lin's hand and kissed the back of it. "Again with the backhanded compliment, but I don't know – it's sort of endearing coming from someone like you."
Kya's kiss sent a shiver down Lin's spine. Even though they just started driving, she couldn't wait until they were done for the day so she could snuggle up next to her.
"Touché."
They pulled up to a gas station, and Kya filled the tank while Lin went inside and bought sandwiches from the deli. They sat at a bench with their paper map spread out on the table, eating sandwiches and loosely plotting their course. The map kept blowing away, so Lin grabbed a couple of nice stones and placed them at the edges.
"So, we're going to California. Taking the southern route, then trailing up north to Canada in the Beautiful British Columbia. How's that to start?" Kya said in between bites.
Lin shrugged. "Never been to either, so sounds good to me."
"Mmmm this sandwich is dee-lish! Who woulda thought? And at a random deli in a lonely gas station."
"Eating sandwiches is a great American pastime."
"Road trips too." Kya got the idea to tease Lin, added: "I can think of something else that tastes even better." She took another heaving bite of her sandwich.
"Oh, and what's that?" Lin was genuinely curious, and Kya found this endearing.
"Never mind, you'll see." She winked.
The landscape transformed to a dusty, desolate trail with brown hills undulating in the distance.
"Music?" Kya said, after a long spell of silence save for the whooshing of passing wind.
"I'd thought you never ask. Do you have any Beach Boys?"
"Yes! I love Beach Boys. Ahh, it's so nice to have someone to be old with. The last girl I dated – the twenty something - never heard of them and then when I showed her, she said it wasn't her 'vibe.' Lissen, I know vibes, OK? I spent my life vibin'."
"Kids these days," Lin teased.
They cranked up Pet Sounds, which Kya happened to have recorded on cassette tape.
The taped turned and 'Wouldn't it be Nice" bellowed from the old speakers while they both sang along.
Wouldn't it be nice if we were older?
Then we wouldn't have to wait so long
And wouldn't it be nice to live together
In the kind of world where we belong?
Lin noticed Kya's hand had moved to her leg and was sliding up her inner thigh. She gasped at the sensation and placed her hand atop Kya's to help it along. Then she reached over and reciprocated, feeling Kya's body contract momentarily at the touch before relaxing into it. The two women touched each other atop their clothing, sliding their hands in and underneath occasionally as the rest of the album played.
From afar, Kya spotted a hitchhiker, a young man with a contagious smile and pearly white teeth that shone a mile away.
"Should we?" She gave Lin a glance.
"Should we what?"
Kya nodded in the direction of the hitchhiker. "Pick him up."
Lin turned to Kya with wide, incredulous eyes. "Are you serious?"
"For the most part, I try to keep a balance between silly and serious, but in this case – very."
Lin was silent, and Kya continued. "Hey I used to be one of those kids. Besides, I can see auras, and he's radiating good vibes, even from here."
"We can't just let juju stuff dictate our lives!"
But Kya was already pulling over. "You can protect me if things go south," she said with a smirk.
Lin folded her arms and braced herself as the hitchhiker approached. He looked up through the passenger window at Lin, who gave him a devil of a look before turning her head forward and staring off into the middle distance. The man recoiled but eased up again when he noticed Kya's smile.
"Where ya headed, Kid?" Kya said.
"Howdy ma'ams. Heading West to Hollywood, gonna be in the movies," The young man drawled.
Lin rolled her eyes.
"We're headed that way. Hop in!" Kya said.
"Awesome! Wait – y'all aren't gonna kidnap me and use my beautiful body to do bad things, are ya? Like, you're not cannibals or rapists, right?"
Lin turned to the young man and with a deadpan face, said: "No, but if you try anything funny, I will hurt you and lock you up."
The man gulped and chuckled awkwardly. His big green eyes betrayed an innocence about him that put Kya at ease.
"Oh don't listen to her. She just wants to make sure you're not gonna hurt us!"
He lifted his right hand. "Scouts honor, I am a good boy – I mean," He lowered his voice an octave, "Man."
"Weren't you just talking in a southern drawl a second ago?" Lin said suspiciously.
"Oops, oh yeah. Gotta work on that. I'm practicing for this role I'm going for. Haven't even made it to Hollywood yet, and I've already got an audition!"
"OK, calm down," Lin said. She gave him a once over. The young man was a fine specimen with bouldering muscles and silky black hair and a little cowlick that swooped down his forehead. "But I can see it. You'll make it, kid."
Kya's heart was brimming. Was grumpy Lin being nice?
The young man came 'round the back and got in with his large rucksack. As he walked around, Kya checked him out in the side mirror and said: "Oh my God, I'm cured!"
Lin chuckled. "Hope not, for my sake."
"You know I'm not."
They both gave each other a look, and the young man climbed in completely oblivious to their exchange.
He sat on a cushion and leaned in toward the middle.
"The name's Bolin."
"Hello. I'm Kya, and this is Lin." She said, pulling back onto the road.
"Gah this is so awesome. Just the three of us on the open road. Adventure, going to Hollywood." Bolin said all wide-eyed. "Hey, be honest. Before I slipped outta the southern drawl, was it believable? I mean, do I look and sound like a hero… of the South?"
"No." Lin said.
Bolin shrank in his seat, and Lin felt a little bad about it, added. "But like I said, I don't doubt you'll make it. You just have to compete with the thousands upon thousands of other beautiful people who show up to Hollywood hoping to make their dreams come true."
"Yeah! And I'm gonna do it!" Bolin said excitedly. "And I'll have you mature ladies to thank for that. What are you – sisters? Lovers?"
The two women exchanged a knowing glance and Bolin figured it out pretty quickly.
"I like you, kid. Excuse me, Man." Kya said.
"Aw, I actually don't mind be called kid. Sounds like Billy the Kid – who I'm absolutely not anything like in real life. Just like the name. Maybe the outlaw stuff is cool too, but not the murder."
Lin shot him a look. "Outlaws and vigilantes. Dealt with a few of those in my life. They're A-nnoying."
Bolin laughed nervously and Kya put on music. As a pleasant surprise, Bolin seemed to groove to just about any old thing that played.