Road to Anywhere part 2

Thursday morning, I awoke to sunshine and nothing but blue skies. The radio on Jessica’s bedside table announced that there was no rain expected and the Californian beaches were looking awesome. The high was going to be 85. “We should hit the beach today, and watch the cute guys surfing.” Jessie suggested, over a glass of orange juice and some French toast. “Nah, can’t. Got to go home and have it out with the folks. You know.” I hugged her and said, “Call ya later, Jess.”

* * * * *

. “Hi, I’m Raymond. Need a lift somewhere, gorgeous?” I hadn’t noticed the blue sports car, slowing to a stop in front of me. The driver was tanned and had auburn hair washing over his square-shaped face and bright blue-green eyes that shone like reminded me of the ocean.

“Somewhere gorgeous, yeah. How about Seattle?” I grinned, pretending not to notice his pick up line. I threw my bag in the backseat, and hopped in the car. We drove away from my parents and away from my life in Carmel. Hopefully, I wouldn’t be coming back. “I don’t know if I can get you to Seattle, but I’ll try.” Raymond smiled.

“That’s fine.”

“So what’s your name, hon?” He asked casually. I didn’t want to tell him my real name so I said, “Reese.” Why not? She was my favorite actress.

“Oh, you mean like the actress? Or the peanut butter cups?”

I giggled. “The actress.”

“I can see you have her good looks!” I knew he was lying but it made me feel good anyway. I began to relax.

“You can’t be any older than 17, why are you running?”

“I’m not running.”

Raymond looked at me. His eyes were looking right through me. What was the matter? I couldn’t lie to a total stranger? “Look, as long as we’re riding together, you can be straight with me. Just like I will be straight with you. I know you’re running, I can tell you’re not just off on a vacation.”

I sat, silent for a minute, thinking. “It’s just family life. But I don’t want to talk about it, please.”

“Okay.” Raymond turned the stereo on.

* * * * *

We took I5 to Sacramento and grabbed some burgers and fries from good old Wendy’s. So tell me something about yourself. Like how old you are? What grade you’re in? Why you’re running away?” I sighed. Here we were, back at that ugly old topic. And the more that I looked back, the more that I realized running away wasn’t really going to solve anything. After all, I was still leaving the school and my friends wasn’t I? That’s exactly what I didn’t want to do! Realizing that, I felt a little bit nauseated. But something inside me, made me feel compelled to take this journey. I wanted an adventure. I wanted to get away from my parents, from my ‘rich girl’ life and do some things for myself by myself. I wanted to see if I could make it on my own. I was going to be 18 in three months anyway.

“So?” Raymond said, pushing his hair out of his face and leaning back in the booth. He touched my shoulder gently. “Hey, come on. I promise I won’t make you go back. I’m just curious because you look like the typical Beverly Hills beauty turning rebel.” Maybe that’s what I am, I thought. I told him about my parents divorce. He didn’t say anything for a minute. I sipped my diet-Coke, thinking he was probably going to tell me how stupid I was and lecture me. But he didn’t. “Sounds tough. But there’s more to the story, isn’t there?”

I was confused. “What do you mean?”

“I mean you want more than just an escape. You want freedom, am I right or am I wrong?”

And suddenly, I felt a chill down my spine. How could he know exactly what I was thinking? He seemed to know what I wanted without me having to tell him. I looked into his eyes and saw a gleam of knowingness in them. I was puzzled but I also knew that he was right. “Ok…yeah.” I said. My heart was pounding.

“Well, as much as I’d love to sit here and chit-chat, we better get going. I don’t think we’ll make it to Seattle by tonight anyway.”

“Right.” I said. I couldn’t help thinking that he must be a runaway too. He looked about my age, maybe a little older. Of course I couldn’t be sure. I was exhausted when we got to the car so I laid my head back on the seat and tried to go to sleep.