Road Trip

2-The Hitchhikers

"'Making my way downtown, walking fast, faces past and I'm-' What the fuck Jessica that's my jam!" TJ objected, frustrated that Jessica immediately switched the radio station.

"We are not listening to that, I rather listen to Banda for 5 hours than that shitty song." She explained, disgust evident in her facial expression. "How about we listen to...Macklemore!" Jessica turned the volume all the way up, keeping her eyes glued to the road.

"HELL YEAH FUCKING RIGHT THIS MY JAM!" TJ gasped excitedly. "'Can we go back, this is the moment, tonight is the night, we'll fight 'til it's over, so we put our hands up like the ceiling can't hold us, like the ceiling can't hold us!'" Jessica joined in, fingers tapping to the rhythm of the song, laughing at TJ's terrible dancing.

The girls' jeep was the only car on the road for what seemed like miles. The top of the jeep was down, the winding was blowing through their hair, and the sun shown like never before. This was the perfect start to what was to be the be perfect summer.

***

As they continued driving, TJ spotted something off to the side of the road.

"Hey...what is that?" TJ wondered aloud, pointing at the growing speck just on the horizon.

"Uhh, I dunno. But there's smoke rising from it..." Jessica replied, worry creeping into her voice. As the distance between the girls and the speck lessened, it became more evident that it was in fact a car.

"I hope everything's okay. Should pull over and see if anyone needs help?" TJ asked worriedly.

"I don't wanna pull over, this is how people get raped, killed, and discarded in a ditch on the side of the road, TJ." Jessica warned.

TJ pointed to the two guys standing beside the car. "Dude, look! I think they're stranded or something."

"TJ we can't stop. It's really not safe, I mean we're the perfect victims for them right now." Jessica said reasonably.

"But there's smoke rising from the hood of the car, which most likely means that there's something wrong with the engine. Let me at least go take a look." TJ begged, wanting to help the strangers.

"No. I'm not stopping. It's not safe!" Jessica replied firmly. As the jeep drew nearer to the two people, they began to wave frantically, hoping the girls would stop, but to no avail.

"Jessica stop! They look like they're in serious trouble!" TJ yelled frantically. "If you do not stop, I will jump out of the car."

"Okay, okay!" Jessica slammed on the brakes. "Fine! But I'm staying in the car, in case we need to make a quick getaway. And if we die," she added. "It will be all your fucking fault."

TJ unbuckled her belt and hopped out of the jeep. "I'll be right back." She said, jogging over the boys.

"Do y'all need some help?" She asked the boys, eyeing the smoking engine.

The curly haired one replied, "Umm, yes thank you. Our car seems to have broken down and we don't know why." His accent very apparent in his speech. TJ nodded and gestured towards the hood of the 1973 ruby red Hornet. "May I?" She asked.

Curly hair grinned, showing a dimple in his cheek, "You may."

TJ returned the smile and walked closer to the classic car. She popped the hood and peered into the engine. She gingerly brushed her fingertips over it, to see how hot it is.

"How long have you boys been out here?" She asked, eyes still glued to the engine of the car.

"Ehh not too long. For about an hour or so." The blonde one answered, accent so think she could barely register what he was saying.

"Okay good, so then the engine shouldn't be too hot." She mumbled to herself. She then rolled up the sleeves of her button shirt, and plunged her hands in. She lowered her head under the hood, trying to locate the problem.

Her patience running thin, Jessica turned off the jeep and got out. She called to TJ, "Are you alright? Are you done yet? Can we go now?" She ignored the two boys.

"Almost! Just gimme a sec!" TJ called back. She removed herself from under the hood, wiped her grimy hands on her cutoff jean shorts and turned to the boys. "It looks like something's wrong with your radiator. Either that or there's not enough water. But there's no way y'all can drive this beauty anywhere." TJ said, admiring the car.

The blonde one cursed under his breath and the curly haired one kicked the ground in his scuffed brown boots. "Damn it!" He said, frustrated.

"What da hell are we s'pposed to do now?" The blonde asked to no one in particular.

"Well, you could always call a mechanic and they could come out and get your car and have it fixed the next day." TJ offered. The boys' expressions somewhat brightened. They nodded their heads in agreement.

"Sorry, we never properly introduced ourselves. I'm Harry." The curly haired one said, stretching out his hand toward hers.

"The name's Niall." The blonde one said, smiling at TJ. She shook both their hands and introduced herself.

"I'm TJ" she began.

"Can we go now please?" Jessica said, walking over to the group.

"-and this is my friend Jessica. Please excuse her rudeness." TJ finished, giving Jessica a hard look.

"Hello Jessica." Harry said, offering her his hand. She ignored him and turned once again to TJ.

"Look, they're fine. Can we go now PLEASE?" She begged.

"Not yet." TJ hissed at her. She turned to the boys, smiling, "I can give y'all the number for a mechanic if you want."

"That'd be great thanks!" Niall said. TJ read the number off her phone for the boys.

"Shit. Me phone's dead. Haz, what about you?" Niall asked Harry.

"Yep, mine too." Harry confirmed. "Would it be too much trouble if we asked to borrow yours?" He asked politely. Jessica grabbed her phone from her back pocket and wordlessly held it out to him.

"Thank you." Harry smiled, but she didn't answer him.

"Uhh, I don't think you have service..." He said. She grabbed her phone out of his large hand and checked. It was true. She turned to TJ to see if she has service, but she didn't either.

"Welll, I guess y'all are stuck here, sorry that we couldn't be much of use, but we gots to-" Jessica began to say.

"We can give y'all a lift!" TJ offered.

"WHAT?!" Jessica almost yelled.

"Yeah, it's no problem at all. The next town is just a few miles out side of Georgia, and we were heading that way anyways." TJ explained further, completely ignoring Jessica's outburst. Harry and Niall looked between the two with bemused expressions.

"Are you sure?" Harry asked, more so to Jessica than to TJ.

Jessica once again ignored him and turned to TJ. "If I end up dead because of you, I'm gonna haunt you for the rest of eternity." She huffed, glaring down at her. She then turned on her heel and stomped to the jeep. TJ chuckled and said to the boys, "I apologize for my friend's unpleasant behavior. She's usually not like this." The boys smiled and brushed off her apology.

"It's quite alright. We're sorry to impose on you both." Harry graciously said.

TJ laughed and said "Don't worry about it. Come on," she gestured to the boys to climb in. "We've got a long drive ahead of us."