Open Road

Chapter One

It was going to be my day off.

"Nicole?" My dad called from the front of the shop.

I was sitting cross-legged on an old barstool in the back room, surrounded by mechanical nick-nacks. It's mechanic's heaven in here, it's not exactly what I'm proud of in this shop. My family has owned a mechanic shop ever since before I was born. It was never really one of the things I valued about my family. My family's moved all around the country. Currently, we live in Arizona. I go to a public school an hour from where we live. My parents really couldn't care less about whether I go to school or not. Their rule is , ' You drive to school you get an education, you don't drive, you die alone here.' Which one sounds better? But still, a day doesn't go by without me wishing we lived back in Colorado. Wonder why? That's a different story.

Anyway.

I was playing Flappy Bird on my phone, getting more and more frustrated each round. I heard my dad call and I rolled my eyes.

"Yes?" I answered, somewhat tired of all the chores and duties he had set out for me.

"I need a favor of you," he said cheerfully. "You get to drive on this one."

That perked me up. I rarely ever get to drive on tow truck emergencies. I shoved my phone into the back pocket of my old, faded denim shorts and shuffled out of the back room. I saw my dad holding the phone's handset loosely in one hand.

He whispered. "The guy here says that his car died on the side of the road, and needs a truck to take him back to civilization." He chuckled. "You want to take Ol' Blue?"

Ol' Blue is the name of the super old tow truck at the shop. Apparently, it belonged to my father's father, so it runs in our family. I'm continually surprised that it still works. It is my dad's favorite thing on earth. I think he likes that old truck more than me he likes me.

"Sure." I said casually. I searched around the desk where my father was standing and found the keys labeled Ol' Blue. I walked out the garage, and swung open the old truck's door. I hopped inside and wasted no time starting the car. Before I knew it, I was off.

• • •

The road was empty and seemed extremely long and dusty as I drove steadily along. I had the windows rolled down so my long black hair flew with the wind. I punched the power button on the radio and a song unknown to me started playing.

Don't break me down,

I've been traveling too long,

Ironic, I thought.

I didn't pay much attention to the rest of the song because just as soon as the next verse started I saw a black sedan, with black tinted windows might I add, pulled over on the side of the road. There was a guy standing next to it waving his arms frantically. As I approached him, I noticed he too was wearing all black. Eventually, I pulled the truck over behind the black car. He sprinted to my window.

"You've got to help me, mate." He gasped, and clutched a hand over his chest. He said it like, you've goh ta help may, mayte.

"Hey, calm down." I said, taking the hairband off my wrist and tying it around my hair. I tightened my ponytail before I asked what the actual issue was. He looked away from me and then back.

"Wait, you're a girl."

"Thank you for that, Captain Obvious." I said skeptically. I shooed him away from my window and reluctantly stepped out. The very first thing I noticed about this guy was- He is not too bad looking at all. He was wearing a simple black tank top, and black jeans, and black converse. I thought my outfit was dull today, but my plaid button-down and denim shorts looked quite colorful compared to him.

"I asked for Benny! From Benny's Towing?!" He pouted. Benny's my dad. Is this guy for real?

"Well, I'm Benny's daughter." I said nonchalantly. "I can leave, and you can be stranded here though. If you wan-"

"NO!" He interuppted. "And sorry, about that, I just wasn't expecting-" He looked me up and down. "this."

I laughed. "Well, okay. I'll go ahead and take that as a compliment. What's the problem?"

"I don't know!" He said, exasperatedly. "It just kinda died . . ."

I raised my eyebrows and nodded. I'd heard this story before. I gingerly lifted up the hood to the shiny black car. Hmm, I thought, definitely the engine. The engine's completely dead. I wonder what the heck he did to have such a high quality engine just die out. Looks like if he's going anywhere today, he's gonna either need a new car or me to drive him around in this.

So I told him all this and he was much more chill about it than I thought he was going to be. You know, considering the whole ' frantically waving arms thing '?

"So what do I do?" He asked, shrugging his shoulders a little bit. "How do I get anywhere then?"

I giggled and said, imitating him, "Haow dooeh geh annywar thun?"

He chuckled. "I guess my accents kind of funny, yeah. I'm Australian."

"I could tell," I replied. "Now, in terms of transportation for you. You're going to have to get a new car or have me drive you around today."

"I think we both see the obvious solution."

"Yep." I shuffled back towards the back of the old truck and expertly hooked up the shiny black car to it. I quickly opened the door of the truck once I was finished. I sat down in the drivers' seat and waited.

And waited.

"You wanna walk?" I called, drumming my fingers on the open window.

He took the hint and immediately made his way over to the passenger seat. As soon as he sat down, he pulled out a pair of headphones and stuck them in his ears. I looked disapprovingly at him and reached over and took one of them out.

"Excuse you?" He asked, defensively.

"To be driven anywhere, you actually have to tell me where you need to go."

"Oka-" He started.

I reached over and took out some papers from the glove compartement.

I added, "Also, you're going to have to tell me your name, and sign these."

I handed him a pen, and he took it. He signed everything he needed to sign. Which gave me some quality time to look at him. He light-dark brown hair had dyed blond streaks in the front. I found that appealing for some odd reason. His nails were dirty and chipped, as if he picked them every now and then. His skin was the color of sandstone. To me, he probably wouldn't have been considered cute. This guy was hot.

Was I going to tell him that? NO.

He handed the papers back to me and gave me a look that said, leave me alone. I shrugged and asked him where he needed to go.

"My name's Calum Hood. And also, I need to get to Phoenix." He said casually.

"Phoenix?!" I exclaimed. "We're like two hours from Brisbee. Phoenix is literally three and a half hours from here!"

"Okay." Calum said.

I sighed and shoved the key in to start the car.

This is going to be a long drive. I thought. Literally.