Home in Nevada

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕆𝕟𝕖

Jeffrey drove faster than usual down the freeway, gripping the wheel tightly. The view had been the same for hours, and he hated this drive through the desert.

To make things worse, he was nervous as hell.

"So anyway, it ended up being nothing," Lucy continued, leaning back in the passenger seat. "I blew the whole thing out of proportion. Fuck! Can you believe I said that, though? To her face!" She laughed, but Jeff didn't react.

She glanced at him, still smiling, her eyes curious as she searched his face for a response.

"Hey, Jeff... What's up with you?"

Jeff shook his head, snapping out of his daze. His eyes were still on the road, but his mind had been elsewhere.

"What?"

It came out more as a statement than a question.

"Jeff, what?" She chuckled, grabbing his arm and hugging it to her chest.

Don't get the wrong idea—Lucy wasn't into guys. At all. One of Jeff's ex-girlfriends from freshman year of college, Emily, ended up dating her. Kind of a weird rebound thing before they had even broken up.

Okay, Emily cheated on him with her.

Emily and Lucy actually went out for a few months after that. Jeff had basically finalized a plan to secretly murder Lucy, but then they started genuinely hanging out after Lucy and Emily split. That was when he realized Lucy was actually fucking awesome. They had a lot in common.

It turned out Lucy was also his best wingman. Women were way more receptive when she helped him out, for some reason. Having a girl's approval mattered, he guessed.

He practically considered her his best friend at this point, which was why they were both driving six hours back into the shithole that was Nevada to spend Thanksgiving with his parents.

He grew up in a small town east of Reno. His parents moved to California right after he graduated high school, about four years ago. They stayed a year before deciding to move back, but Jeff stayed to finish college. He had graduated this year and was already starting a new job. His first real job.

He hadn't been back to Nevada in four years.

His parents had really guilt-tripped him into making this drive.

Lucy was there for moral support. Also, her family had kind of disowned her, and he hated knowing she was alone on Thanksgiving. Jeff's current girlfriend, Tiffany, wasn't mad about it. In fact, she seemed really supportive of Lucy, too.

"Yo, you're really quiet today," Lucy pried again.

Shit. Jeff was going to have to say something.

"There's something I have to tell you because you're definitely gonna notice," he finally admitted.

Lucy's hazel eyes widened, practically lighting up like Christmas lights.

"What?" she asked, loving the fact that he had to come clean about something. She was reading the moment correctly, and it made Jeff's heart race with nervousness.

"Okay, so..." Jeff looked over at her briefly. "Shit, dude... How the hell do I put this?" Jeff yelled, hitting the steering wheel and gripping it even tighter.

Lucy looked over at him in shock, her mouth open, but she was still losing a fight not to smile from ear to ear. She let him continue, quietly waiting as her eyes looked him up and down and her mouth closed.

"Um—" Jeff sighed, regaining his composure somewhat. "You're gonna see, but this is kind of a shitty town..."

"Okay..." Lucy rolled her hand, motioning him to go on.