Begin Again 2: RESET || Nate Maloley

{ four }

"Just lay down and spread out," Nate said as he held the camera. I did as he said and he aimed the camera toward me. "Now you're in 4 places at once."

I laid on top of the Four Corners monument: where Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona & Utah meet. Nate took the picture and then we switched places. He was like a little kid at this simple monument. I took several pictures of his overjoyous face and more with the mountains behind him. Afterward, he just held me from behind as we looked at those same mountains, kissing on my shoulder. I was tempted to ship our phones to a fake address and just hideout here in the quiet and wide open space, but we had loved ones to think about too.

As we were heading back to the car, Nate got a call from Foosh. I made him answer it away from me because I didn't even want to hear his voice. I sat in the car with the door open and the radio on, examining my nails. When he came back to me, it was as if all the happiness we just created was sucked out of him. He rubbed his eyes, looking tired as he got back in the car.

"I guess Arizona will have to wait," he told me.

"Why?" I rolled my eyes.

"Change of plans," he exhaled. "We're doing an exchange instead of a pickup. Gotta go to this address in Utah and pick up the money from someone named Aaron."

"Brilliant," I replied with attitude.

Nate put the address in his GPS and we were on the way.

I had fallen asleep for a bit and then woke back up. I picked up his white backpack off the floor of the truck and rummaged through it, taking out the baggie of pre-rolled blunts & joints.

"Yo, chill, what you doin'," he asked almost defensively.

"We're down to six," I informed him.

"Oh...wait, what?" He said loudly.

"Six," I repeated. "Four blunts, two J's."

"Shit," he whispered. "Okay...okay we'll figure it out. Start with the J's first. Leave the fattest blunt for last."

. . .

I ended up falling back asleep after finishing that joint and slowly woke up to see more wide open spaces.

In a quarter mile, turn right onto Lee Road.

Nate made the turn and I inhaled deeply, waking up some more.

"Morning sunshine," Nate gleefully said.

I looked over at the dashboard clock with one eye open. "Afternoon."

We pulled up to the location and immediately the place seemed sketchy. It was a small house in an open field. It was definitely a good place if you wanted to be secluded from society and loved the view of the mountains. There was an abandoned 60's-looking trailer next to the house. Nature had taken over it and the weeds rose all around it, nearly matching its height. An old corvette was parked on the other side and it was eerily silent.

"I don't know about this," I said quietly.

"It's what we gotta do." He took me by the hand and we went to knock on the front door.

We waited and waited until we finally heard footsteps. The door opened and the guy I presumed was Aaron looked like he just woke up.

"I'm not buying what you're selling," Aaron said before almost shutting the door back. But Nate stopped it.

"We're Nate and Liv...Foosh and Evan sent us," Nate stated. "We're here to pick up the money."

"How do I know you're not lying?" This kid seemed harmless.