Escaping Reality

Chapter 6: Cherry Red Ride

I snapped out of it. I'm in a time crunch and I need a car. I had done some research ahead of time and discovered that there was an Exotic Car Rental service by Enterprise in the airport. I also knew that I was not yet old enough to rent a car, that's where my seat partner came into play. Betty was a couple of paces ahead of me so I turned on the speed walk.

"Betty, wait up" I called.

"Oh hi there Lincoln, are you walking this way?" she said with a smile as she turned around and waited for me to catch up.

"Ya ya," I spit out. "Betty, I-I was wondering if, um, maybe you could rent a car for me? You have to be twenty-five to rent a car so I was planning on just taking an Uber everywhere I go but a rental car would realllyyy save me some money and time" I reemphasized drawing out my words.

Her facial expression changed from sweet to tentative. I could tell she didn't like the idea of renting a car for some high school kid she had only known for a couple of hours. We walked in silence for a while as she mulled things over. She let out a few "hmmms" and "uhhhs."

Before she could respond I quickly stated, "I can show you my insurance card and my driving history, we can exchange contact information, and I'll even throw in a hundred bucks on top of the rental fee!"

She gave me a quizzical look and let out a sigh.

"Please Betty, I'm begging you. I want to fit in during these college visits, I'm already here all alone at least if I had a car I could arrive in style." I proceed, really hoping that she didn't think to ask why my parents hadn't just rented me a car ahead of time.

"I suppose" she finally said, her voice still layered with skepticism.

We walked over to the rental kiosk and Betty began to fill out the paperwork. The Enterprise worker appeared to be fresh meat, his nervous stance screamed "today is my first day on the job." He didn't even raise an eyebrow that a Miami native was renting an exotic sports car for a week in Miami. As soon as the paperwork was complete we strolled out of the airport, I handed her a large wad of cash, she handed me the keys, we hugged and headed our separate ways.

Before I got too far I heard her shout "Please be careful!"

I looked back, offered her a half-grin and jokingly screamed "No promises!"

When I got to the enterprise parking lot I couldn't help but let out an ear to ear smile. I was in another state across the country and if my math was correct nobody had even the slightest clue I was missing yet. While all my classmates back home were stuck in the classroom I was climbing into a cherry-red Porsche convertible. Everything had gone according to plan, actually, everything had gone better than planned. I knew I had done my due diligence researching everything but I didn't expect this kind of luck. Betty was a gift sent straight from heaven. And getting an obvious rental car worker was just the icing on the cake.

I unlocked the Porsche, starting it with the press of a button. I threw my carry on in the back and promptly rolled the top down. The car came with Bluetooth audio and within seconds I had synced the Miami playlist I had created weeks earlier. It was a Porsche 911 Cabriolet painted cherry red and oh boy was it a beauty. Its exterior was so sleek, your eyes were just naturally guided from the front to the back of the car. The interior was significantly nicer than the 2000 Nissan Altima I was driving back home. The stitching was done with such great craftsmanship I was wary of even sitting in the seats. This was easily the nicest car I had ever been inside and it was mine to drive for the week. The smile had not left my face as I fidgeted with all the different gadgets and compartments.

As my hands gripped the steering wheel I could feel the leather perforations on the tips of my fingers. The power of the engine traveled through the steering wheel to fingertips through my arms and to my soul as I cruised out of the parking lot. A soft satisfying thunder accompanied each rev of the engine. I plugged in the address of my hotel and zipped my way down to the interstate, the wind blowing through my hair in an almost movie-like fashion.