The Emerald Desert

The Highway to Hell

My eyes glanced out of the car window, watching as the heat bounced off the sand, causing the air around us to ripple. The desert was painfully boring, the only thing of interest being a lonely cactus that stood in the unrelenting sun. A saguaro cactus, more specifically, it's green skin the only sign of life in this barren wasteland. I grimaced and poked my head through the gap between the two front seats where Mom had her nose poked in a book and Dad had his iron grip fastened to the wheel.

"Mom," I dramatically gasped for air, "turn up the AC!" I extended my hand towards the thermostat but she quickly swatted it away. Her lipstick-stained lips were pursed as she expressed an emotion of despair. 

"Oh honey, I know. But the cooler is as hard as it can go, baby. Well, without losing any more gas, of course," she glanced at her husband who was behind the wheel. 

"Yep, and you know we're almost there! Just another... 4 hours," his feigned optimism died down as I groaned in exasperation. I looked to my left where my older brother slept, his left hand was draped over his lap while his right hand was propped underneath his jaw. Drool had begun to dribble out of his mouth, I shook my head and went back to staring at the seat in front of me. 

This is what I have been reduced to. A chair-staring, sweaty girl. Great.

-.-?-.-

In the distance, the sign of a petrol station came into view. By now, the sun had begun dipping beneath the horizon and the once brilliant blue sky was now tinted with hues of pink, red, and orange.

When we arrived at the station, Dad hopped out of the car, took out the nozzle of the gas pump and began pumping the car with gas. Inside, a man, well, a boy, more accurately, was manning the counter. He had a magazine between his hands, and the cover had a picture of a man in a freshly pressed suit looking smug. My eyebrow arched with curiosity as I made my way towards the convenience store, and I adjusted my pink, heart-shaped sunglasses over my face. 

The bell above the door rang as I entered the store, I picked through the contents, my eyes occasionally lingering on the boy as to see if I had caught his interest yet. No dice, I stepped towards the counter and I flashed him a smile.

I pretended to be interested in the many packs of gum that lined the shelves towards the bottom of the counter, crouching so I could pick out a specific flavor of bubblegum. I picked it up, fiddled with it, and tossed it in front of the boy. 

The boy picked up the gum, sighed, and placed the pack in front of the scanner. It beeped once, and he pressed a couple buttons on the register before turning back towards me.

"That'll be 1 dollar and 6 cents," his voice was deep and gravelly. His appearance was rugged, and he had dark hair that was swept to the side. He was tall, around 5'11? 6'? He also was kind of muscly, he probably played a sport for the team in Barstow. 

"'Kay," I said before pulling out my wallet and fishing for the dollar through the many bills I had stacked throughout the crevices of the leather. 

The boy didn't respond, but I saw his eyes glimmer when he saw the stamp of Louis Wuitton pressed into the wallet.

"So, I haven't seen you in town. You new?" he asked, "I know everyone in town. But.. not you." 

I smiled, "Yeah, I'm new," I extended a hand, "I'm Claire."

He took it and flashed back his own smile, "Oh cool, nice to meet you. I'm Simon."

"So how long have you been working here, Simon?" I said his name with a certain flare, trying out the word in my mouth. 

"Uh, about 4 months," he started placing the gum in a plastic bag, "I started it as a summer job, it's not really fun though." He placed the plastic bag on the counter before gesturing towards the magazine that was face down next to the register. 

"Oh, cool," I nodded towards him, "so just to confirm... you live in Barstow?"

He nodded.

"Alright, well... I'll see you around then," I picked up the bag before placing the correct amount of change on to the counter. I walked outside where Dad was finally finishing putting the gas in the car, and by then I began to realize how beautiful the sunset was.

Okay, well, it wasn't LA. But it's still really pretty... Maybe it won't be that bad.