Dirt Roads

Chapter 1

I sighed, drumming my fingers across the steering wheel. I glanced at the blue numbers on the dash displaying the time. 10:42. He was almost fifteen minutes late. I huffed my annoyance and turned my attention back to the glowing phone screen in my hand. My right hand thumb scrolled the screen upwards absentmindedly. Paying attention to the bs that was on Facebook for the night was the last thing on my mind.

Where is he?  My mind flew through all the possiblities, almost as fast as my thumb was scrolling.

Suddenly a truck roared into the parking lot. My heart and stomach did flip flops. Is that Him? Is he finally here?! But the butterflies were squashed as the truck went to the other end of the parking lot. The truck sat right next to the doors of the Dollar General, the lights from the store illuminating the cab of the truck giving it an eerie feeling. The guy shut off the roar of the engine, the two small beams of like cast across the building ceased with the noise. He turned and nodded at me.

Shaking my head I turned my attention back to the semi harsh glow of my phone screen. I looked out my drivers window and watched as the sets of two lights zoomed here and there on the highway. Doubts formed once again in my head. Maybe it was time to leave, give up. He probably wasn't coming anyways.

My phone chimed with a notification, as if it knew what I was thinking. I opened the Snapchat to reveal a picture of a frosted over car windshield. I forgot it was cold here. The words stood out against the darkness of the picture.

Biting back annoyance I quickly snapped a pic of the Ford symbol on the steering wheel and typed back It's Febuary... in Missouri. What did you expect? And where are you?

I watched the circle go round and round as the picture sent. A reply came almost immediately. A dark picture of the inside of a car popped up on my screen. I'm coming. But it's cold and my window is frosty.

I rolled my eyes, seething with irritation. The blue numbers read 10:52. We were supposed to meet almost half an hour ago! I watched the cars zip and so on

My mind wanders back to the day that this all started. A wave of emotions wash over me as I think about the few pictures I saw that made me swipe right across the screen. The image of the adorable brown haired boy with the dog Snapchat filer on his face posing with a puppy in the background, that's enough to make any girl melt. Everything about him screamed attractive to me. The hair swished across his forehead to the roundness of his face, right down to the dazzling white smile.

Just thinking about it made my heart jump and my stomach flutter. I dipped the sweat from my hands across my pant legs as the reality set in again. This was the first time I get to meet the boy I've been talking to for the last week. I hoped more than anything that we would get along and become friends, and the other side of me knows both our intentions for the night.

I've never had a one night stand before. My pulse races and my cheeks flush at the idea. It was exciting, but at the same time I liked this guy and I didn't want it to just be a one night stand. I wanted a friendship. Deep down maybe I wanted more than just a friendship... dare I say a relationship?

My phone buzzed again. Another snap. This time the picture revealed a dark road with two headlight shinning, leading the way. No message was written but the message was clear. Here I come. 

My pulse raced again. I have no idea where I was, and I was about to meet someone who very well could kill me if he wanted. Although he seemed really nice, but it's always the nice ones... Right?

Movement on my right side caught my eye. I watched as two employees came out of the store, one turned and locked up the door then they both walked to the awaiting cars. One looked my way, a quizzical expression flashed across her face, but she turned and got in the car. Both cars made their ways out of the parking lot leaving me completely alone. Greeeeeat.

I snapped a quick picture and typed The employees have even left. That's how late you are. I huffed, and rubbed my forehead. Why oh why do I make such stupid decisions.

I glanced at the highway once more, my escape route. The bridge over to Missouri just a quick minute away. It glowed as if calling me, telling me this is the right thing to do. Go home. Five minutes and I'll be safe in my apartment again.

Chime. I looked at the new picture that covered my screen. It was another picture of the road. This time it was clearly a highway. The yellow lines stuck out, seeming to make the picture move.

He really is on his way. Hope sprung in my stomach again. My palms started to sweat. This is it!

I looked at my reflection in the mirror, fixing a bit of makeup here and there. Wiping away some of the blush I brushed my cheeks with and sighed. Annoyed with myself I flipped the mirror back up. I'm not that girl, I don't do the makeup and the hair or perfume.

Another notification flashed in my vision. Another picture of the road, more than likely closer than the last. Headlights came into view on my right side, and my heart skipped a beat. Is that Him? Finally?

I watched, trying not to be too eager. Sweat formed instantly on my palms again. I cursed under my breath and wiped the wetness away. I had every right to be nervous but that didn't make it any less annoying.

My heart dropped as I watched the two headlights grow closer and the car came into view. A car, not a truck. I huffed as the little red four door made its way to the stoplight directly behind me, pause for a minute, then continued to drive the direction towards the highway.

I turned my attention to my phone in my hand. I opened Instagram and scrolled, not paying attention to the pictures, comments, and posts displayed on the screen. Another set of headlights reflected from my side mirror into my eyes. Annoyed I shifted my position without looking at the new mystery car coming my direction.

It wasn't until a truck at least twice the height of my Ford roared in next to me that I looked up from my screen.

Oh shit.  Was I really ready for this? I gazed up at the darkened cab, trying to see any movement. It was hard to see into the cab since how the cars sat next to each other.

This thing is bigger than the picture. I thought as my phone chimed. I have no idea why but the fact that he has a truck this size and with this much power was extremely hot.

Oh hey. The words stuck out aganst the darkened picture of my car, the glow of my phone clearly illuminating my face.

This is it. This is him.  I thought as I took another picture as a reply, very unsure of where to go from here.