Hell Has A New Name

6

She smiled when she spots him, he can't see her eyes behind her sunglasses but he can tell the smile is genuine. Her hair is hanging loose down her shoulders and she's changed from her cafe t-shirt into a black tank top. Juice has to make himself focus so he doesn't make an ass of himself.

"Hey stranger." She greets him, still smiling at him.

"Hey. You uh... you lead the way." He packed up his stuff and waited for her to start walking.

It was still hot out, maybe hotter than it was when he left this afternoon. He wasn't as focused on his misery now that he had someone to share it with for a while.

"Michael right?" He nodded. "I was worried I'd forget. I'm the best at names." She giggled, he smiled.

They walked through the big parking lot to her car. It wasn't fancy, a Nissan, newer model but not brand new. For some reason this relieved him.

"Where you from? If you don't mind me asking. I'm not from here either, just here for college. Moved here from Kansas."

He could tell she was nervous about having a man she didn't know in her car. She obviously didn't do this much. He figured the small talk was meant to make them both more comfortable.

"I wanted to thank you first of all, for uh doing this for me. You don't have too if you're uncomfortable." He sighed, his insides were getting shaky from anxiety. Meeting someone is always a risk, he didn't like taking too many of those. She didn't say anything, just nodded and started the car. "I'm from Queens. Was taking a solo tour of the east coast before I ship myself off to Nebraska."

"What's in Nebraska?" Her voice was calm and casual, she was relaxing.

"Family. Haven't seen them in a while, so I figured I'd include them in my road trip. I'll see a lot this way. Until now I haven't traveled much."

"Cool. That sounds like fun. You seen anything worthwhile so far?"

It was a good question, for a few reasons. It gave him time to think of an answer and any answer wouldn't be wrong. He wracked his brain for something he knew of on this side of the map that was worth mentioning.
"I've done a lot of beaches. Haven't spent too much time in each place unfortunately. I had planned on being in Nebraska in a few days actually. I've spent the longest here so far. I didn't plan this trip very well."

She sighed a little. "I'm a horrible trip planner. Some of my girlfriends and I wanted to drive out to California and stop at cool places along the way. We only gave ourselves two weeks to do it. We didn't plan for the time it would take to do things and get there ya know? We maybe saw a few neat things but mostly we were driving. Spent about three days in California for a music festival and then came back exhausted and didn't want to stop anywhere." She laughed at herself, the memory was obviously a fond one even if hadn't gone as planned.

He laughed with her feeling relief wash over him. "Should I be going with you to get a car then? Two bad planners cannot be a good thing." He joked with her, effectively getting her to keep smiling.

"So whatcha looking for? There's a car lot up here. Like used cars and stuff or there's a dealer on down a ways."

He pretended to think for a moment, and then gave up. "The used lot is probably best for this ordeal. I just need it to get me where I'm going. I'll sell it when I get back to Queens. Get something I'll keep."
He pulled out his phone, digging in deep to a part of him he wanted to let go. He had to turn on the flirty side of him that Tully had trained into him. He'd learned certain things inside with him, he could bat his lashes just right and the man would do anything for him. Juice figured if was going to be a used bitch then he could play too. He figured now was as good of a time as any to figuratively bat his lashes and ask for a car.
Papi? I need to buy something but I don't want to spend too much money.
He breathed in deep as he sent the message, disgusted with himself. It was just a means to an end, that was all. Eventually he'd be free of this, he wouldn't have to play this game anymore.