Crossing Destinies (A Pretender Story) #Wattys2019 #Wattys2021

Chapter II: Prelude Part 2

Chapter II: Prelude Part 2

Friday, May 24th, 07.10 a.m.

The following morning, Erin woke up quite early, as it was her habit. Even if she had slept far less than usual, she had rested well, and this surprised her, in view of the previous evening's facts. Well, all the better, she thought, opening the sliding panel trying to make no noise.

Jarod was already awake, seated on the bed with only his jeans on; he had opened his metallic case and placed it in front of him, and he was looking at its content. From the pale iridescent luminosity dancing across his face, Erin assumed it was a laptop computer.

Out of the corner of his eye, Jarod saw the movement and lifted his gaze to his amazing host.

"Good morning", he said friendly, and noticing her puzzled look, he hurried to find a quick explanation, "You caught me at work: I'm an on-line consultant of software programs."

"Oh!" she commented, flinging her legs out of bed. She didn't worry about getting dressed before: living closely in the narrow space of the motorhome, they would inevitably catch each other in scanty clothes, sooner or later, so it was better beginning at once to forget some useless modesties. Anyway, even Jarod didn't worry about getting dressed completely, she noticed, and so maybe he had already thought by himself about the topic.

"Full breakfast?" she asked him. Jarod closed the suitcase before answering her with a smile:

"Yes, gladly: I'm hungry."

As Erin busied herself at the stove, he made carefully his bed, then began to store his belongings in the wardrobe she had shown him the night before.

"Did you sleep well?" she asked him, shaking the non-stick frying pan in which she was cooking two eggs. Jarod saw that her hair was very long, reaching past the middle of her back.

"Very well, thanks. You, too?"

"Yes, and I'm surprised about it, because I was expecting nightmares."

"Because of yesterday evening?"

"Yeah. You know, I'm easily affected. I don't even look at horror movies!" Erin laughed, with a certain auto-irony that Jarod appreciated.

"As for this, I don't look at them, either", he admitted, "I prefer far more adventurous movies, especially science fiction."

"Really? I'm a big Star Trek fan, but I like Star Wars, too.."

As they breakfasted with eggs, bacon, cereals and pancakes with maple syrup, sipping a deliciously aromatic coffee, they chatted with great enthusiasm about those two sagas, true milestones of the science fiction genre.

Afterwards, Jarod offered to wash up and Erin took advantage of it to freshen up and get dressed.

"It strikes you!" she panted, coming out from the bathroom and referring to the cold water, "But it gives you a real energy blow."

"I'll try it, too", Jarod said; the first spout left him breathless, but he agreed with Erin.

They resumed travelling shortly after nine o'clock and began chatting again. Science fiction is a topic that, branching in an endless quantity of matters, makes one often jump from one thing to another; so it was for Jarod and Erin who, without knowing exactly why, found themselves speaking about music, sport, TV shows, but also about drugs, racism, occultism, topical news, and then about cars and motorcycles, fashion, even about make-up. They passed Los Angeles and noon arrived in a flash; the young woman slowed down and stopped the motorhome at an equipped layby.