CHAPTER TWO
“It’s ain’t the wildlife,” Grant repeats in a horrible southern accent, climbing into Frank’s car. Levi has taken my spot in the front seat, and from the way his hair is disheveled he and Frank must have worked out their issues—at least for now. “It’s the people.”
Nadine laughs like it’s the funniest thing in the world, even though the whole thing left me sort of unsettled. Kane’s face when he said it didn’t exactly scream ‘joke,’ but my friends could clearly care less about that.
“There’s no way he actually said that.” Frank groans, starting up the car as the engine roars to life. It’s loud, maybe a little louder than it should be. “Dude was just trying to scare you guys into buying some pepper spray or something.”
Levi shakes his head in agreement. “Probably… or maybe he was trying to scare his way into a certain someone’s pants…” His dark brown eyes flicker over to me, and I groan in response.
“It wasn’t like that at all,” I huff. “Drink your water and shut up, Levi. You weren’t even there.”
“Yeah, Levi.” Nadine adds with a grin.
“I’m just saying! Maybe he thought you were cute. It’s not like you’re dating anyone, Nico.” Levi blinks, head tilting curiously. “You know… Have you ever dated anyone? We’ve been friends for what—two years? You’ve never…”
Frank puts a hand on his boyfriend’s shoulder. “Lev, c’mon...”
Levi’s right, but it feels weird to hear it said out loud. “It’s just… not what I’m looking for. I don’t know.” A familiar feeling of emptiness builds in my chest. Like some kind of pressure I can’t rid myself of.
Love is… strange. It’s confusing, and scary. It’s even scarier when you’ve been around for twenty-six years and haven’t even held hands with a guy. I’ve basically sealed away that part of myself, and I guess that makes me weird.
“Nico will find a guy when he’s ready,” Frank says, focused on the road. We’re back into nothingness, a dark tarmac road surrounded by nothing but tawny sand and misshapen boulders. It’s sort of beautiful in its own way, although I doubt anyone else in the car feels the same way right now.
Nadine lets out a hum of approval, nudging me slightly. “Yeah. So leave him alone. When he gets a boyfriend we’ll probably never see him again.”
Grant laughs, glancing down at his girlfriend with a confused expression on his face. “Why do you say that?”
His nose crinkles a little, but Nadine beams at him. “Because he is so stinking cute that anyone with a brain will keep him all to themselves.”
I whine at that, wishing I could throw myself out of the car. She says it like it’s true—like people didn’t tease me for how I looked all my life. Like I wasn’t mortified at the idea of going outside in anything but baggy hoodies to hide my stomach.
I know she’s saying it with love but good god it’s embarrassing, and it’s not even true anyway. You can lose the weight but you can’t lose the years of mental baggage that came with it.
“Can we talk about something else, please?” My voice is quieter than intended. I sort of sound pathetic but hey, if it gets them off my back it’s not the end of the world.
“Okayyyy, sorry,” Levi says, offering up a smile before he turns his attention to the road. He glances down at the paper map Frank insisted we bring, before crumpling it up and setting it aside.
I shut my eyes and focus on the music playing through my earbuds. I don’t really know how much time has passed until I hear Levi speak again. “Frank, sweetheart… I don’t wanna be annoying, but… How much longer?”
Frank’s attention shifts to his phone. “Uh… An hour and a half? Two hours? …Maybe three?” Levi’s shoulders drop at that, but he doesn’t say anything else. He just shrinks into his seat, boredly scrolling through his photos app.
Obviously there’s no service out here. Frank made sure to download five different maps on different apps, and brought the paper one just in case. It’s smart. It’s good to be prepared, and for all the crap everyone’s been giving him about the trip at least he did everything right.
“You know,” Nadine hums, “that guy didn’t even ask me for my ID at the gas station.” She giggles after, taking a sip of her lemonade. Condensation drips from the side, reminding me of how thirsty I was two minutes ago
“That’s how you know we’re literally in the middle of nowhere,” Grant adds while wrapping an arm around her. “Or maybe you just look really old, babe.”
Nadine scoffs. “Mm… Well, if that’s true, he must’ve thought we were a nice old married couple. All wrinkly and gross together.”
Grant just rolls his eyes, smiling widely as he kisses her head.
Levi shifts in the front seat, and it’s like he’s about to say something when there’s a loud pop sound followed by low, strained, sputtering.
The vehicle goes quiet as we all sit there, and I immediately pick up on the fact that the car is rolling to a slow stop.
“What’s going on?” Levi’s voice cuts through the silence, although Frank doesn’t seem to have an answer for him. We come to a stop, and my stomach feels hollow. “Frank, what’s going on?”
“Hell if I know...” Frank mutters while undoing his seatbelt.
He steps out, and we all watch as he goes to the front and pops it open.
A cloud of dark gray smoke rushes out, dissipating into little wisps.
He looks at us through the windshield, and his face makes one thing clear: this is not good at all.
Grant pulls away from Nadine, joining Frank near the hood. They both just stare at it, and after a good few minutes of them just pacing and probably arguing, all five of us are standing on the road.
“Can’t you just call someone!?” Grant asks with crossed arms, staring at Frank with a bewildered expression. “Can’t you fucking do something? I mean come on! You didn’t get this piece of shit checked out before deciding to drag it across the damn country!?”
Something on Frank’s face shifts, and the way his fists are clenched to his side tells me I can’t talk us out of this one. “You think I didn’t fucking do that!? Huh!?” He shoves Grant back, rage lighting up his face. “It’s not my fucking fault, dude! I just—fuck! Come on!”
“Frank…” Levi tugs on his arm, causing him to just chill for a minute. He takes in a heavy breath of air, stepping away from everyone as Levi seemingly consoles him. It’s hot, it’s tense, and now we really are trapped in the middle of nowhere.
A literal nightmare.
“There’s no signal…” Nadine holds up her phone, waving it around to try and find a bar. I pull out my own phone to be greeted by my lockscreen: a cute drawing of a tabby cat. Like she said, there isn’t any signal, and I don’t think we’re going to find any.
Grant sighs in defeat, kneeling down to lean against the front of the car. “This is so fucked,” he mutters just loud enough for me to hear. “So, so, fucked. We’re gonna have to walk, aren’t we? The gas station was like… an hour back. I mean, how long is that even gonna take?”
“Babe, calm down…” Nadine kneels down next to him, hand on his shoulder. “Maybe it won’t be that bad. It… shouldn’t it get dark soon? I mean… at least it’ll cool down a little, right?”
That doesn’t seem to help at all, since Grant opts to just lean in and rest his head against her chest wordlessly. Nothing I can say will help, so I just turn back to the car. Before I climb inside, I see it: an old black van complete with a spare wheel on the front.
Part of me wants to wave my hands up and see if they can help, but I just stand there with the grace of a deer caught in headlights instead. Still, they slow to a stop, and when the tinted window rolls down I’m face to face with a grinning man.
“Car troubles?” His voice is deep, but he speaks loudly—with confidence. I don’t have to turn to tell everyone is looking at him. “That ain’t no good. Y’all need some help?”
His accent is strong. Even stronger than the gas station guy’s. His smile doesn’t fade, and he runs a hand through his slick-backed hair. It’s jet black, and it probably would be a little wavy if it weren’t for the copious amounts of product in it.
I’m not the best judge of character but he doesn’t come off all that bad to me. Maybe a little overcompensating, but that’s all. The grin he wears seems superficial, as if he’s mimicking the cover of a magazine. It’s not like we have any other choice right now, anyway.
“Something’s wrong, uh, with our car.” Frank says, pointing at the open hood. “You know anything to help? We’d… really appreciate it.”
“Ah… y’all are city folk, huh?” He pushes the van door open, stepping out to come take a closer look.
The first thing I note is that he’s taller than the rest of us.
His baggy blue overalls are dirty at the bottom, covering what I presume are black boots.
“I can prolly help y’all. But… I don’t think I can get to it tonight. ”
Frank purses his lips, exhaling through his nose. “So you want us to just stay here all night? It’s scorching hot, and—”
“Relax,” the stranger shakes his head. “Y’all can come back to the farm. Have something to eat, rest for a bit, and we’ll come back tomorrow.”
Levi’s brow furrows. “Won’t somebody just steal the car? Then we’ll be even more stuck…”
The stranger smirks, eyeing Levi up and down. “Now who’s gonna want to take some busted ol’ thing? I promise y’all it’s gonna be fine for one night.”
“Sorry, what’s your name?” My words leave my lips before I can process them. The stranger’s attention turns to me, the wolfish grin he has only growing wider.
“Damien.” He steps closer, and I feel a sense of unease. “You?” A large hand shoots out, hanging in the air His brows are slightly arched, jawline strong. Can’t say he isn’t handsome, even if he’s not my type.
I blink, clearing my throat. “Nico! I’m Nico. It’s… nice to meet you.” I offer up my friendliest smile, taking the hand and giving it a shake. His skin is rough, calloused—the hands of someone who must do a lot of physical work.
“Nico,” he repeats, “nice to meet you.” There’s a beat of silence before he turns to the rest of the group expectantly, chuckling a little. “And y’all?”