This Crazy World

Part 15

Jess drove past the state line, into Pennsylvania, finally seeing an end to this trip. Just then the rain that had started an hour ago picked up even more, making it impossible to see further than a hundred feet in front of the car. And that's when his cell phone decided to ring.

He sighed as the signal pierced through his music, clashing with the cords of Frantic. The sound was a bit muffled, coming from inside his backpack, but still annoying. He continued driving; hoping whoever it was would get the message and after six signals it stopped ringing.

Thirty seconds later it started again. He glared at his backpack in the rearview mirror and cursed whoever it was who was calling at this hour and searched the road for a place to stop, finding an empty bus stop and pulled over to the side of the road.

He left the engine running, remembering the fuse for the parking lights blew a week ago, and unbuckled his seat belt, reaching back for his bag. He answered on the sixth ring.

"This better be important," he growled into the phone as he turned the stereo down.

"Took you long enough," Luke said accusingly.

"Yes," Jess agreed, relaxing back in his seat. He hadn't expected Luke to call quite this soon. "It's dark, it's raining, and I don't particularly feel like crashing into a tree while looking for my annoying phone."

"Oh." Some of the anger ran out of Luke, but he could still hear Taylor's irritating voice in his head.

"So, I'm parked now," Jess said. "What did you want?"

"Taylor was just here," Luke informed him.

"He comes in almost every day," Jess said pointedly.

"Yes, he does," Luke agreed. "But it's not every day he comes in and accuses me of causing a traffic accident."

"Huh, how'd you do that?" Jess asked.

"I didn't do anything," Luke said sharply. "You did."

"Hmm…" Jess said slowly, "I'd say parking at the side of the road to answer your phone was the exact opposite."

"Jess!"

"What?"

Luke sighed in frustration. "You switched the lights on the traffic light!"

"I did?" Jess asked, feigning innocence.

Luke took a deep breath, trying to calm down again. "You could've killed someone," he finally said.

"What?" Jess asked with a small chuckle. "I didn't even shut it off. I just changed the glass in two of the lights."

"I know," Luke stated. "People have been staring at it for the last half hour, not knowing what to do."

"Huh," Jess said and smiled to himself.

"Could you be serious for just a second?"

"I…" Jess thought it over. "No, I don't think so."

"You know what the worst part is?" Luke asked, but didn't wait for an answer. "Now they're all out there, blocking the entrance to the diner, arguing about what to do about it."

"What's there to argue about?" Jess wondered, truly curious.

Luke shook his head and watched the group outside the diner, sending them a glare every once in a while. "Taylor is bringing a repair guy, but he doesn't come until this afternoon."

"A repair guy?" Jess asked, not able to keep in his laugh. "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously."

Jess smiled to himself. "This turned out so much better than I ever thought it would."

"Better?" Luke asked astonished. "You have any idea what could have happened?"

"Relax," Jess scoffed. "The town was fine before the light was even there."

"I know that," Luke agreed. "But people apparently can't think for themselves any more now that it's there."

"Did they consider just switching the glasses back?" Jess asked. "It wasn't exactly hard to do. They could even turn off the power."

"I don't think they've gotten that far yet," Luke muttered, sending an angry glare out the door. "They're still arguing about whose fault it is."

"Huh." Jess smirked. "I thought they'd already decided it was me."

"Um, well…" Luke hesitated.

Jess' smirk widened. "What?"

"Well," Luke mumbled. "I kinda told them you left last night."

And Jess could no longer stop himself from laughing. "You did what?" he got out, shaking his head in amusement.

Luke sighed. "I told them you left early last night, and that the traffic light was working then."

"Uncle Luke!" Jess exclaimed, faking horror. "Are you lying to the town for me?"

"Well, technically I didn't know it was you until just recently," Luke tried.

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that," Jess said, still chuckling.

"So…why did you do it?" Luke asked then, changing the subject.

Jess stopped laughing instantly and rubbed a hand over his face. "Figured actually cutting it down would be a bit too noisy."

"Come on," Luke prodded. "We both know that's not it."

"I should get back on the road," Jess muttered, avoiding the question.

In the diner Luke frowned. "The least you could do after I covered for you is tell me why you did it."

"Look, you practically bribed me with that traffic light to come up for this visit," Jess said. "I just cashed in."

"Cashed in, huh?" Luke asked slowly, sounding far from convinced.

"Yeah," Jess maintained.

Luke sighed. "Ok," he said, letting it go. "So, you almost home?"

Jess nodded slowly. "Yeah, just about."

"Ok."

"Yeah, I should get going…" he trailed off.

"Yeah, sure."

"Have fun with Taylor," Jess smirked.

"Thanks," Luke muttered.

Jess chuckled. "Bye."

Luke muttered a bye and Jess hung up his phone, tossing it onto the passenger seat. Taking a deep breath he leaned his head back against the seat for a moment. Then he sighed and checked his rearview mirror before getting back onto the road for the last part of the trip.

After a minute he raised the volume of the stereo again, letting the end of St. Anger drown out his thoughts, and concentrated on the road.