Instincts

Golden

Note: 18+  content
How had Allegra convinced Andy to let her drive his car? It didn't take a lot, she simply had reached her hand out to him and smiled.

Andy had giving the keys with no complain, and she had skipped all her way down to the car, excited to drive.

She put the windows down, tuned to her favorite local radio station, and turning up the volume to a Lady Gaga song Andy couldn't even make the words to, Allie drives away. He assumed they would go south to Santa Barbara, but Allegra takes the 101 North.

Andy can't remember when was the last time someone drove him around, probably his mother before he got his license. Laurie had her own car, and if they were all going somewhere, it was him who drove.

"I want you to enjoy the view." Allie had said when he gave her the keys.

The problem is he had no interest on the ocean or the clear skies. His eyes always find a excuse to stare at her, and his hands, unoccupied by the wheel, have nothing to do and Andy can think of a hundred different way he could be using them.

The further she drives, the easier it becomes to breath for Allegra. They go for about 45 minutes talking about the weather and eat some Starbucks breakfast they stopped to get. There, in the car with the window down, the ocean view, and Andy, mostly because of Andy, she feels untouchable, light. She wants to reach her hand out, take his, and put it over her thigh.

"When I was little." She takes a break from singing the pop songs on the radio. "I used to look out the window and think about how I would get a car and just drive. Drive up the road as far as it went. I wanted to see what was at the end of it." A small laugh escapes her mouth. "Sadly my car has had the check engine light for a couple months now."

"Tell me you have not been driving your car." Andy groans.

There is a mischievous glee in her eyes when she turns to look briefly at him.

"I will get it fix eventually."

"You can only drive a car like that so far before it breaks down." He murmurs.

She knows he isn't talking about the car, no really; his voice is heavy, it weights down on her shoulders.

"There are bicycles, motorcycles, those weird hoverboards, and also, if you are able, two feet to walk on." She looks ahead. "There is always a way to keep moving."

Andy has no words, but the silence is not too bad when he gets to hear Allegra sing her silly songs and just watch her.

When they pass Pismo, Shell, and Avila Beach, he finally asks.

"We are we going?"

"You will see."

To him, it appears that the further north they go the farthest they move from the coast. She exits the freeway, and Andy finds himself staring at fields and hills.

Welcome to Los Osos. Allie lowers the windows back down and sticks her arm off it, opening her fingers as if caressing the wind. The road goes through the town and up a wooden mountain, it has Andy even more confused. Then, as they keep going up, the woods open up and Andy finally understands why it is called the Golden Coast. He can see the whole of Morro Bay from up there, and the side of the mountain is covered in bright yellow and orange poppies and other wild flowers that bathed in the sunlight they look just like...

"Gold." Allie says. "You see why they call it Montaña de Oro?"

The view turns back to woods when the car has to make a turn. That's how it is for the next 5 or so miles. Since it's the weekend, and there are cars park on the side of the winding road, people hiking down the hill to the beaches below or into the forest. They start to descent and reach the beach.