One For The Road ✔ | A short novella |

9. Nevada

Chapter Nine

Nevada, Las Vegas

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"But when we wake it's all been erased, And so it seems only in dreams." Weezer - Jessie

Searchlight, Nevada, 11am - August 16th

Jessie

The hot asphalt from the parking lot burns the soles of my feet, because some idiot decided it wasn't worth double checking that all her belongings were loaded in the car and not left down the side of the motel bed before hitting the road. 

And as I wait and listen to the dial tone on my phone ring and ring, I make a mental note to ask my mum if I can use the 'emergency' online fund to buy a new backpack, flip flops and bikini because mine are in Phoenix, Arizona and neither I nor Ellis can be arsed with the sixteen hour round trip to get them back. 

I am so mad at myself I could cry. And it's also why I'm calling my mum - to have a little sob, away from a napping Ellis and the noisy tourists in the lobby of our Vegas hotel. 

There's one other reason that I feel so shitty, forgotten backpack aside, which I can't tell her about. I doubt it's acceptable to tell her that I had another confusing dream about Ellis, which I haven't been able to shake the feeling or memory of for hours. 

It was the type of dream that doesn't feel like one until you've opened your eyes and reality smacks you in the face. In my case this was realising that Ellis had been asleep on the floor the whole night, as far from me as possible due to another small double bed situation.

As I wait for the phone to connect again, I playback the dream, scene by scene and then I have to stop because once again, I leaves me feeling horribly helpless. 

It can only ever be a dream, and besides, Ellis only ever wants to kiss me when he's drunk. 

Do you ever wonder if the person you're dreaming of has ever dreamt of you? 

I do. 

Often, I think that the law of probability must mean that in the ten years Ellis has known me, I surely must have crept up in one of his dreams. Somewhere, some how. There's been 3650 opportunities for it to happen. 3650 nights! 

Even a cameo, a bit part would be alright with me. 

"Darling!" My mum's shrill voice cuts through all thoughts of Ellis and his potential dreaming habits. 

Lifting my soles off the ground, I fold my legs up on hotel entrance steps and lean against the wall of the hotel. "Hi mum. How are you?"

"I'm good thank you but am missing you!" She shouts this, as if by doing so it makes it truer, not that I doubt her at all. "Are you okay? How is the trip so far? Where are you now? What's the weather like? Is it hot?"

"One question at a time," I laugh, though it's kind of nice to hear her voice. "I'm pretty tired."

"Are you in Las Vegas yet?"

My eyes scan the tiny lot of El Rey's Motel in the tiny wilderness town of Searchlight and it's large rotting sign. "No. We stopped over at a motel as Ellis was about to fall asleep at the wheel."

My mums voice catches. "Oh gosh, is he okay?"

"He's fine," I assure her, even if I'm not quite certain of it myself.