2. Road Trip

The final bell rang that day, but Simon didn’t feel too excited yet. They weren’t leaving until tomorrow at noon, when they would all meet up at Tommy’s place and get in his car to head North towards San Fran.

            As Simon walked out of the classroom and headed for his locker, a stunningly beautiful girl began to walk along beside him. He smiled. Jenny wasn’t his girlfriend, but she was his girlfriend’s best friend and a good friend of his own.

            “Hey,” she said. “Looking forward to tomorrow?”

            He chuckled. “Yeah. I call the backseat with Claudia, though.”

            She laughed. “You can have it. Claudia always steals my food whenever we go on road-trips, which is why I prefer not to sit next to her when we go on planes or buses or anything like that.”

            They arrived at his locker. He put in the combo and opened it up, then realized he had all of his conspiracy theory stuff all over the place. The Truthers.net logo was plastered on the back wall and he had photos of FEMA camps and Dick Cheney on the other walls. He had a few books about everything from the PATRIOT Act to big companies like Monsanto and Haliburton.

            He was about to close it over, when Jenny made a comment. “Oh, you’re into that stuff too?”

            “What? Conspiracy theories?” he asked.

            “Yeah,” she said, her eyes lighting up. They had a common interest.

            “I guess I’m kind of into it… Just a little.”

            “Looks like more than a little,” she said, almost laughing.

            Simon immediately realized how cute and undeniably gorgeous she was. Even more so than Claudia. He began to feel a boner coming on in his pants.

            “Yeah, I guess,” he said scratching the back of his head.

            “Some of my favorite ones are the moon landing and the Iraq War. There’s way too much shady stuff about the Bush Administration. Thank God we have a good president now.”

            “Yeah,” he said.

            “What are you looking into? Something about Dick Cheney?” she seemed really interested. He was enjoying this.

            “Nah, there’s some other bad stuff in the government than the Republicans. Something much shadier, I just can’t seem to get to the bottom of it.”

            “Well, I’m sure you’ll solve it. You are very smart.”

            “Thanks,” he said. “You are too.”

            She blushed. “Thanks.”

            He smiled and their eyes locked for a moment, staring into each other’s happy faces as their cheeks became rosy red.

            She giggled and turned to walk off. “See ya!” she called.

            “See you too,” Simon said. Then he went off to find his girlfriend.

^^^

The next day, they all met up at Tommy’s house. His green Jeep Wrangler with four doors was parked in the driveway and he was loaded bags of chips and snacks on top of the suitcases in the trunk when Simon arrived with Claudia and parked his car in the driveway.

            Simon and Tommy both were in t-shirts and shorts and Claudia was wearing short shorts and a pink t-shirt, but Simon was immediately drawn to Jenny, who was wearing a red top that exposed a good deal of her tummy and short jean shorts. She had denim sneakers.

            She had one hand on her hip and the other brushed her hair back as it flowed in the wind. Simon felt that boner starting to come on again, but he found the will to control his hormones. Especially as Jenny kissed Tommy on the lips as he turned around and embraced her down to her ass.

            Claudia gave Simon a kiss on the cheek and threw her arms around him. He put his hands around her waist and slightly under her shirt, feeling her soft skin. As she pressed her body against his he remembered the way she looked naked.

            Claudia put her mouth to his ear. “We’ve got a whole room just to ourselves. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

            Now the boner was back, as was a smile on his face. “Oh yeah,” he said.

            “Good,” she whispered. “I’ve got a bunch of Trojan Ecstasy in my purse. We’re going to have lots of fun.”

            She buried her face in his chest and hugged him tight. Simon looked up to see Jenny looking over at him despite her embrace with Tommy. She was smiling at him, and even though Claudia was cute and nice, he felt like the girl he should be hugging right now was not the one he was actually hugging.

            The boys and girls spread apart as Tommy’s parents came out. “Have fun kids!” his mom said.

            His dad added: “Drive safely!”

            “I will!” Tommy said.

            Simon put his and Claudia’s things in the trunk and then sat down next to his girlfriend in the back seat. Tommy climbed up front and Jenny rode shotgun.

            The California sun was shining down on them brightly and glistening off the hood as they pulled out. It made Simon think of lubricating Jenny with tanning lotion and playing at the beach in the sun before they would later retreat to a tent or a car for Jenny to remove her bikini and show him her tan lines and the best parts of her the sun did not touch.

            He pulled himself together. He had a hot girlfriend, and more than that she was nice and she loved him. They were going to have great sex on this trip and nothing was going to go wrong.

            As they got out of town and hit the highway, Simon looked out the window at the breathtaking landscape beyond and thought about the two names that his heart and his hormones wanted.

^^^

Tommy blared the latest hits on the stereo and they all rocked out and ate chips, slurped soda, and had a contest to see who could burp the loudest. The junk food in their stomachs seemed to give pretty impressive results.

            Claudia gave a modest belch, and Tommy gave a pretty big one.

            “How about you, Simon?” Jenny said, turning over her shoulder to look at him. The smile on her face convinced him to do it. He sat up straight, took a deep breath and opened his mouth, feeling the gas coming rushing up his esophagus –

            “Buuurp!” He sighed and sat back. Jenny looked impressed.

            “Good job,” she said. “That was bigger than Tommy’s.”

            “Wait till I get more soda and food in my belly,” Tommy said, rubbing his grumbling stomach.

            “My turn,” Jenny said. She swallowed the rest of her Coke can and did the same thing Simon did, but let out one of the biggest belches Simon had ever heard: “Buuuuurrrrrpppp!”

            Everybody laughed. They ate more chips, drank more soda. Claudia and Jenny gave some more burps. Tommy turned up the stereo. They all laughed and had a great time.

            Simon caught a glimpse of something in Tommy’s mirror. It was a black sedan from the early 2000s, an unmarked Ford Crown Victoria. Simon glanced over his shoulder and saw that the car was about 50 feet behind them. The windows were tinted, so he could only see a vague shadow of the person who drove it.

            Something was off about that car, but then Claudia leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. She pulled and away and laughed. He laughed too. The car stereo was blaring “Celebrate good times, come on!” and as the song continued on, Tommy bopped around in his seat.

            Jenny drained another Coke can, crumpled it up, and belched. Tommy laughed and howled, but lost control of the wheel for a moment and the car went skidding off the road.

            For a moment, Simon thought they were going to die, but then Tommy pulled the car back onto the road. Simon looked around them. They had left the L.A. area and were in the Mojave Desert. It was barren and empty except for this road and the few cars on it. Other than a truck that passed them a few minutes ago there was only the black sedan behind them.

            Simon didn’t think it was following them yet, but when they reached the road that led to the highway route that headed out to Las Vegas and a few other minor road junctions that the Crown Victoria didn’t turn onto, he began to get nervous.

            Music was still blaring and everyone was still having a good time. Everyone but him.

            “Tommy, I think we’re being followed,” he said.

            “What?” Tommy said. He was feeding a potato chip into Jenny’s mouth.

            “I said we’re being followed. Look behind us!” he said.

            Tommy looked in the mirror. “So what?”

            “It’s been following us ever since we got onto this road.”

            “So?” Tommy asked.

            “Well, don’t you find that a bit suspicious?”

            Tommy shrugged. “You’re just paranoid, Simon. Reading up on too many conspiracy theories has made you all jumpy. Where would that car go? There’s practically no other roads out here.”

            “There are a few,” Simon said.

            “Just relax, Simon,” Tommy said, rolling his eyes. “You’re going crazy.”

            Jenny looked back. “I think his paranoia is cute.”

            Tommy chuckled. “Hear that, Simon? My girlfriend thinks you’re cute.”

            Claudia looked over and smiled. “Wouldn’t be the first time she was right about something.”

            They all laughed. Simon smiled and, looking back, Jenny did too. But neither Tommy nor Claudia realized they were smiling at each other.

^^^

It was late afternoon when they pulled over at the gas station, a relative busy juncture given that it was the only game in these parts. Tommy pulled right up to a pump and they all stepped out, the roof over the gas station shielding them from the late afternoon sun, which was descending towards the horizon out on the desert.

            “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Claudia said, kissing Simon again.

            He looked over to see the black car pulling into the gas station and his heart sank. It didn’t pull up for gas, just up to a parking spot in front of the convenience mart. Outstepped a tall man wearing a dark suit and sunglasses, which reflected off the fading sunlight as he glanced around. Simon remembered where he had seen him before:

            It was Detective Kenner, the man who had investigated the murders back in the fall. He had come out of the In-N-Out Burger when they had gone in there, the place where Alexis wound up being punched by Kathy who she would eat a few minutes later and not even know she did so. Kenner had been in the door way when they were first coming in and Simon later learned he had talked to Principal Emerson and told him the situation was under control.

            Simon hadn’t heard about him since, excerpt for when Bobby mentioned him last month. And now it was all starting to make sense. But then Kenner looked towards him and he quickly kissed Claudia on the mouth. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kenner stop staring at them and slip around the building.

            He pulled away from his girlfriend. “Be right back, baby. Just going to the bathroom.”

            “Don’t take long,” she said as he walked off to follow Kenner. He stopped at the corner of the building and peered around to see that Kenner was walking all the way around to the back.

            He followed him and hid behind a dumpster at the back corner. Kenner was standing just a few feet away from the edge, but Simon could hear him loud and clear.

            “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” he said angrily. “I’ll retrieve the motherfucking object, just give me time. You’re the one who relegated me to cop duty for the past eight months. I mean, really? You people couldn’t have gotten me a better job? I mean, being a homicide detective in Malibu is boring as shit. At least traffic cops get to hand girls in bikinis parking tickets at the beach. All I’ve done for the past eight months is clean up your shit.

            “This is your damn program, and yet I have to pick up the pieces. It was me who cleaned up that party mess, the murder cases, that rich girl’s house – twice, and don’t even get me started on the Valentine’s Day thing. You’ve seen what happens when one of these things gets loose and you decide to sit back and observe for scientific data or whatever the fuck. I’ve kept so much shit under wraps then when this damn job is over, I demand a promotion. And get me the fuck out of Malibu.”

            Simon kept listening. There was a pause. Then: “What do you mean the Huntress is getting sent in? Look, no disrespect sir but I can handle this myself. The Huntress gets caught up in all her fetish-y stuff and –” He stopped. Simon leaned around the corner. Kenner was standing with his back to him, nodding. “Yes, I understand. Kenner out.”

            He hung up. Simon hid behind the dumpster as Kenner walked past. Simon ran all the way around to the other side of the building, his heart racing. Who was the Huntress? What was going on? Was the “object” the shrink ray? Could he have been right all along? But then he suddenly had a bigger question:

            What had he stumbled onto? Who was Kenner talking to? How far up did this go?

            Suddenly, Jenny grabbed his arm and pulled him into the convenience store. Tommy and Claudia were still out by the car. “Tommy said we should buy some more snacks. Since we ate all the ones we already had.” She burped.

            They both gave little laugh and walked up and down the aisles. They went their separate ways but then met up again in the gum aisle.

            “Hey,” he said.

            “Hey,” she said.

            Simon saw a pack of Hubba Bubba and reached for it. Jenny did at the same time and their hands met as they leaned down to grab it. He looked up into her eyes and she looked into his.

            Then they kissed.

            It was short, but sweet. The best thing Simon’s lips had ever touched.

            But then that moment was over, as they pulled away and guilt poured over them.

            “I’m sorry,” Simon said.

            “Don’t be,” she said, smiling but looking sad at the same time. “I don’t want to hurt Claudia’s feelings. She likes you so much.”

            “And I don’t want to mess with Tommy either. He and I are good friends and all he talks about is how much he loves you and wants to have sex with you.”

            She crossed her arms and sighed. “That’s the problem. All I wanted was to sleep with him a little while ago, but when he said we should wait my respect went through the roof with him. Now, here we are a month later and he wants to do it again. But now I’m not sure if I want to.”

            “That’s the thing about us teenagers,” Simon said. “Our hormones don’t know what they want. We just have to learn to control it.”

            She nodded, looking down at her shoes. His eyes were drawn to her exposed belly button and tummy. “I agree. But I do want to have sex, it’s just…” She looked him up and down, then stared into his eyes. “I’m not sure if I want to do it with him.”

            Simon realized what she meant and rubbed the back of his head. “I feel the same way about Claudia now.”

            “We just can’t tell either of them that this happened,” Jenny said. “Go on like things are normal.”

            “Sure,” Simon said. But now he didn’t know how things could ever be normal again.

^^^

After they paid for their snacks, they got in their car and Tommy drove them off down the open road as the sun set on the horizon. Simon was pleased to see that Kenner’s car was not following them anymore, but he still felt worried about what he had heard.

            They drove for another 40 or so minutes and arrived at the California Star Motel just after dark. They parked in front of their room and Jenny, Simon, and Claudia began taking bags up to their rooms on the second floor while Tommy headed over to the reception to check them in.

            Unknown to all of them, a girl dressed in an all-black cat suit that displayed her sexy curves crouched in some shrubbery and watched the teens with some night vision binoculars.

            The Huntress had her prey in sight, and she rubbed her grumbling stomach and licked her lips with anticipation, knowing that soon she would get her meal.

TO BE CONTINUED