Call her ZADDY

Chapter 9- Car Ride from Hell

A deep rhythmic base blared from Mick's truck speakers as he drove Gabrielle through the cemented landscape of Honolulu. The small truck was speeding through the tiny, broken down streets, when Mick rammed left to get back onto the highway.

It was two years after their disastrous gallery introduction and today they were stuck in the car together against their will no thanks to Johanna who had forced them to escort her to the airport together.

Watching the ragged apartments and worn city streets pass by, Gabrielle thought about how ridiculous the both of them must look in his dumpster fire of a car. The whole tail end of the truck had been severely smashed during a recent car accident. Making matters worse, rather than fix the bumper, Mick had instead graffitied over the dent in big, bold white letters, writing, "I wish my girlfriend banged me this hard" The classic one liner gave a whole new meaning to the term rear-ended.

They had just reached a clearing in the traffic when a truck full of local boys, drove by and honked wildly before hooting congratulatory chants out the window along with bro like shakas in reference to the car's bumper. The unexpected attention set Mick off  like a firecracker. Within seconds, he stuck his head out the window and howled back to the pack, fist pumping his hand in the air helter skelter style. Gabrielle could still hear the passenger cars howls as she watched them speed off miles away.

——

"Ha, that was awesome,"said Mick when it was all over.

Gabrielle watched as the wind blew in his perfect hair before taking notice of his obnoxious congratulatory expression. His hands were tightly gripping the wheel, giving off the impression that he was white knuckling it from here On out.

choosing to ignore his elation Gabrielle sighed , "I can't believe Johanna's gone."

"I can," said Mick coldly , instantly switching gears. he grimaced before throwing his cigarette butt out the window.

"She only threw herself like ten million going away parties. I've said at least twenty different versions of goodbye to that girl. "It was time," he said finally.

Gabrielle watched as Mick's face darkened. It looked as if he were thinking back to a distant trauma and forcing himself to forge onward.

——

"Soooo...!!!" Mick said breaking the silence and trying to appear upbeat. "What type of music do you like?

"Oh, I'm not sure. I don't know.... "I can't think of anything," Gabrielle's  voice trail off before she coughed a fake cough. She knew where this was going. One thing being an artist had taught her was to beware of music snobs. They were the worst. As if to prove her point, Mick smirk smugly to himself in open judgement.

"Another pretty girl with no point of view," he muttered, while taking another drag off his cigarette. "So what do you like?

"What do you mean?"

Spitting out a flicker of tobacco from his lip, Mick aggressively shifted his car into third gear. "I mean do you have any hobbies? Is there anything cool that you are into? Do you have any passions at all besides going to the beach? Or are you just one of those princess girls that needs to be handled with rubber gloves?"

"What's that supposed to mean,?" Gabrielle demanded sitting upright. It wasn't hard not to read between the lines. this was quickly verging on a full blown attack.

Mick switched traffic lanes and sneered revealing a sharp snaggle tooth. "I mean are you one of those princess girls that can't do anything herself and has to be handled delicately with gloves?...."Or do you actually do stuff,"?

Too tired to answer, Gabrielle simply looked out her window while secretly fuming. She knew she didn't have to justify herself to him of all people, but she felt angry all the same. Old apartment buildings and palm trees flashed by in silence while she gathered her thoughts.

The truth was she was indeed a girly girl and considered herself " basic" in the most literal sense of the term. Sure, she liked to occasionally sit on the beach and gossip, and never passed up white wine and cheese plates with friends. So what. So sometimes watched reality t.v.? but did that make her Any less deep or interesting than Mick? Gabrielle reminded herself that her guilty pleasures , if they could even be called that, were far less toxic than whatever  trash he was into.

The thought caused her to glance over at Mick with contempt, and think about how great it would feel to dredge up all the dirt she had on him. She knew from Johanna that he was never not on something and slept with hundreds of women,  which was fine or whatever, but the way he went about it was gross. sleeping with his best friends girl behind his back, or cheating when he was in a monogamous relationship. That sort of stuff went against code for even the most sex positive groups . Rumor had it that slept with girls who were barely legal. And lastly she knew for a fact he had a history of sleeping with married women. His horrible track record immediately disqualified him from being cool on any level. Of course to someone like him a woman's passive interests held no cultural currency. He could clearly give two shits about women.

Scanning over his shark tooth chocker and hemp bracelets, it was all she could do not to laugh. He was the literal poster boy for misogyny. Not only was he a fuck boy, he was a total tool.

_______

"O.K., new topic," Nick started.

Staring up at her bare feet up on the dashboard, Gabrielle sat in silence. During the last several minutes she had chosen to give up any attempt to be polite. Case in point she was currently rubbing the red dirt from her feet all over his dash.

"So let me ask you something" Mick said, "why have you after all these years never given Ryan a chance"?

Gabrielle looked up from her toe nails, feeling taken aback.

"Ryan Johanna's roommate Ryan?" She asked in disbelief.

"Yeah him!! Hell, he's a good looking guy! Plus, he is obviously in love with you", Mick snorted as he glanced out towards the street, "so why did you never at least give him a shot?"

Mick fell quiet for a moment waiting for an answer. His fake enthusiasm was painfully transparent. Everyone in town knew how much Mick actually openly hated Ryan. That much was clear based on the way he was had almost wrenched saying Ryan's name. For the record she hated Ryan too, but by her judgement Mick was just as bad if not worse.

As far as Gabrielle could see they were two of the biggest assholes in town and equally preyed on women like it was a sport. Making them both entitled cavemen. They can have each other, she thought.

     "I never slept with Ryan because he looked like he'd be bad in bed," she blurted matter of fact.

Looking back down at her chipped nails, Gabrielle took in Mick's reaction out of the corner of her eye. For once he looked speechless. Gabrielle scooted into her seat with satisfaction after noting his shock. It should have been obvious to anyone listening that taking a swing at Ryan was her own passive aggressive dig at Mick. But Mick was clearly too dumb to get it.