Journey to the Unknown

by Jacqueline Francis

  It was a statement, not a question, but Perry decided to answer for him anyway.

  “Yeah,” he replied, slinging his short arm around Kevin’s neck. “We’re best friends…and we’re gonna be best friends forever, right, Kev?”

  November, 7

  West Yellowstone, Montana to Salt Lake City, Utah

  Jasmin raced through the reception area back to her room. It was a little before seven and she still needed to shower before breakfast. She had a strict morning routine. Back home, it was the only thing that had kept her sane. If she hadn’t done it, she would have probably been diagnosed with clinical depression years ago. Like an animal raised in captivity, eventually loneliness and boredom starts to mess with the mind and her morning routine was simply to combat the boredom.

  Today’s workout was amazing. The air was cold and she’d felt every breath she inhaled. With the wilderness right behind her, it was calm and serene. She worked out for two hours every morning, until her muscles burned, until she felt like she had done something more than just exist. Every morning her only goal was to feel like she had actually accomplished something that day. So she pushed her body and mind to the limit every single day. Tae-kwon-do katas, kicks, jumps, flips, push-ups, crunches—she did it until she was ready to collapse.

  It wasn’t because of vanity. Her diet could never be described as healthy. She didn’t do it for the sake of conventional beauty. She did it because there was nothing else to do. And after this rigorous workout, she’d go back inside and study. Theorems, equations, chemical reactions—she loved it. But it was empty, one sided. It could never love her back.

  That was all changing. No studying today. This was the start of a new chapter. She was going to take life by the horns, experience everything it had to offer. Good or bad, she didn’t care. She was going to take control and not just be a tiny blimp on the radar of existence.

  Last night, she’d made a list of her objectives for this road trip. It wasn’t a long list, but it was a start.

  1) Try a mind-altering substance

  2) Get a tattoo

  3) Have some sex

  4) Do something scary

  5) Make lots of friends

  6) No matter what, no regrets

  Certain things on her list would be more difficult to achieve than others. Number three, for instance, was definitely going to pose a problem. She’d never had sex, never even kissed a guy before, so having a one-night stand wasn’t an idea she was fully comfortable with yet. Maybe if she merged it with number one, it would be a lot easier to let loose. And like everything else, the first time was always the most challenging and then after that, it would be smooth sailing. She didn’t know many guys, but Nish once told her that most guys would sleep with anything on two legs, so it couldn’t possibly be that hard to find a willing candidate. She’d done her research. Theoretically, she knew exactly what to do. All she had to do now was find someone so she could put it into practice.

  She just needed to put herself out there. She’d done it yesterday and it was already looking promising. One day into her trip and she could already tick off number four. She’d picked up a random hitchhiker and although it scared her senseless, it worked out fine.

  Kevin wasn’t too bad. Grumpy and rude, but he was a Scorpio. She knew that with ninety-nine percent certainty, and Scorpios generally weren’t very open or forthcoming…Well, at least that’s what she’d read.

  He was so mysterious. It was part of his Larry the Lumberjack appeal. And that was the reason why she couldn’t make up her mind about him just yet. He was terribly abrasive, but there was something about him, a distant loneliness she could relate to.

  When she’d first seen him, she’d almost jumped out of her skin. He genuinely looked like a serial killer, but she’d soon realized that it wasn’t the look of a murderer; it was the look of a man who had just given up on life. The way he stared out of the window the whole drive there, it was like he was waiting for something, yearning for something. She only recognized it because that feeling was familiar to her as well.

  She slotted in the key and it jammed. It was one of those antique door handles; long, curvy and old. It took a bit of fiddling before she heard it click open.

  “Hi.”

  A combination of things happened when her startled brain registered his unexpected voice behind her. She jumped. Obviously. It’s a natural reaction to shock. She also spun around, but only her upper body agreed to that sudden movement. Her feet didn’t get the message quick enough and stayed planted in one spot, which resulted in one leg twisting around the other as she turned. Of course, at that point the door decided to slide open with her still gripping the handle. She was tipping, falling backwards because the door was moving but her feet weren’t.

  So there she was, staring up at this gorgeous creature while hanging very ungracefully on the handle of a door. She wanted to unwind her legs, stand up and try to save a bit of her dignity, but she couldn’t stop staring at him.

  He shaved and now she could see perfect, fleshy lips that looked extremely tempting. Beneath that burly beard was actually a very boyish face: soft, rounded cheek bones, but a strong, defined jaw—a boy meets man kind of handsome. His dark brown hair was tousled like he hadn’t bothered to style it when he got out of the shower, and that unkemptness only added to his appeal. She’d noticed his eyes yesterday, but the lack of facial hair made them stand out. Stormy, cobalt blue eyes with powdery gray flecks. They were as mysterious as he was.

  Cephalization: the accumulation of sensory organs resulting in the formation of a head. And what a fine job nature had done with this one. He was mesmerizing, which was why she was still a tangled, squirming mess hanging on hopelessly a foot off the floor.

  “Howzit,” she greeted casually.

  “Need help?”

  “Nope. I’m good. Just…practicing a new dance move. Pretty cool, right?”

  He looked amused, but didn’t smile. “You’re the embodiment of coolness.”

  Eventually she decided it would be easier to just let go and fall to the floor. Once her back hit the carpet with a light thud, she uncrossed her legs and took a few seconds to soak up all that embarrassment.

  She felt his hands on her upper arms and he effortlessly lifted her up like she weighed no more than a feather. She gripped onto his arms for added support until her feet were firmly on the ground again. He wasn’t very tall, but he was still a head taller than her and the sturdiness of his frame seemed to engulf her. Being so close to him was unnerving in a shivers-down-the-spine kind of way. She felt her face heat up and her breath caught in her throat. Was this what flustered felt like? If it was, then she liked being flustered. He wore a tight, black cotton top and she could feel his strong muscles beneath the fabric.

  “These are nice,” she said, giving his biceps a quick squeeze. “Very nice. This too.” Her hand did a quick brush over his chest and she felt hard, defined muscles there as well. “Very nice. And you smell really good. So clean.”

  “Your approval means the world to me.”

  He grabbed both her hands and gently pushed them off his body. She took that as sign that he didn’t like being touched, at least not by her.

  “Are you ready to have breakfast?” he asked.

  “I’ll be there just now.” His eyebrows creased at the phrase and for a second she thought she might’ve spoken another language, so she tried again. “I wanna shower real quick.”

  That he understood and he gave her a slight nod. She waited for him to walk away and then dashed into her room. She was in and out of the shower in no time. She dressed in a thick pair of sweatpants and a fluffy pullover, then she briskly made her way to the dining hall and sat down at the table across from him. “Did you order yet?”

  “Still deciding. Not really hungry.”

  She opened the menu, which was not only restricted to breakfast options. Her eyes skimmed over the lunch meals. There were a few things that caught her attention, different fo
ods she hadn’t tried before and she was feeling adventurous. “What are Rocky Mountain oysters? It sounds…exotic.”

  He glanced up. “I wouldn’t try that if I were you. It’s fried bull testicles.”

  Suddenly she wasn’t feeling so adventurous anymore and decided on waffles. He got bacon and eggs. Their food was delivered and she jumped right in. He cut his bacon into little strips, but then just picked at his plate, only taking an occasional bite.

  “This is so good,” she said. “You wanna try some?”

  He declined with a shake of his head.

  “Yours looks good too,” She reached over the table to take a small piece of bacon from his plate.

  “You’re not even gonna ask?”

  “What?” she replied through a mouthful of bacon and waffles.

  He let out an irritable sigh. “Nothing.”

  “You’re so grumpy, Kevin. And your personality really doesn’t suit your face. You’re gorgeous, so pretty—in a manly way, but really, so pretty. And without the beard, you are…mind-blowingly hot. I could just look at you all day.”

  “Please don’t.”

  “Plus, you’ve got that sexy chest and arms thing going on. You’re absolutely dreamy.”

  “Do you know that if you keep your mouth closed, your thoughts will actually stay in your head?”

  “I don’t think you even know how good looking you are. Girls probably throw themselves at you. You must have a lot of sex. And you’re a Scorpio. They’re the most sexual star sign. Are you very…active in that department?”

  He cringed and crossed his arms over his chest. “On the awkward scale of one to ten, where one is accidentally stepping on someone’s toe in an elevator and ten is coming home to find my parents in a BDSM orgy with the neighbors and some midgets…and gerbils…On that scale, this rates about a thousand.”

  She reached for another tidbit of bacon. “Did that actually happen?”

  “No. I’m just trying to describe to you a situation that would be less uncomfortable than this one.”

  “Why are you uncomfortable?” For the life of her, she couldn’t understand why he took offense to what she’d said. It was a compliment. “I’m just stating a fact. Would you be uncomfortable if I told you the sky is blue? No, because the sky is blue. You’re hot, Kevin. I don’t understand what the issue is.”

  Agitation pressed his lips into a tight line. “What you think of me is an opinion, not a fact. A fact is me telling you that you’re fucking crazy! And seriously annoying.”

  “There you go with that grumpiness again,” she shot back. “It’s such a shame. That face is wasted on you.”

  “Are you done?” He was already standing. “Can we leave?”

  Despite the fact that he was really pissed off, he still met her outside her room and carried her bags to the car. He packed everything into the boot, got into the passenger seat, and slammed the door shut.

  “Are you still mad?” she asked as she started the car.

  He turned to face her and his angry eyes were boring holes into her. “Seatbelt,” was the only thing he said before facing the window again.

  “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  She strapped on her seatbelt, switched on the GPS, and headed towards the road. They sat in silence for about twenty minutes and it started becoming unbearable. The very reason why she’d wanted a companion was because she hadn’t wanted to suffer like this. His head was against the window and his eyes were closed, but his breathing wasn’t deep enough for her to believe he was actually sleeping.

  “You awake?” she asked.

  “No.”

  “You wanna talk?”

  “No.”

  “I have a ton of music on my USB. I can put on a few songs and we can sing along like they do in the movies. It is a road trip after all.”

  “It’s a fuck no from me for that one.”

  They fell back into silence and it was so, soooooooo boring. “Hey, Kevin.”

  He didn’t answer.

  “You wanna play a game?” She waited a few seconds and when he still didn’t answer, she decided to respond for him. She cleared her throat and put on her best male voice, trying to make it as low as possible to mimic him. “Yeah, sure, Jasmin. That’s a swell idea.”

  He didn’t move or open his eyes, but he spoke then. “I would never use the word swell.”

  In her normal voice, she said, “How about I-spy?” Fake male voice. “That’s a dumb game!” Normal voice. “Gosh, Kevin, you are so grumpy.” Fake male voice. “I’m not grumpy.” Normal voice. “You kinda are.” Fake male voice. “I’m super-hot so it’s okay. And it’s not grumpiness, it’s my dark and mysterious charm.” Normal voice. “No, that’s just plain grumpy.” Fake male voice. “Yeah, I guess. You know what I think it is? I think I’m just intimidated by you because of your gigantic shlong.”

  He chimed in again. “I sure as fuck would never use the word shlong. And you either have penis envy, or a severe identity crisis.”

  She ignored the real Kevin and carried on talking to the fake one. He was much more fun. “Just because mine is huge and yours is just kinda…average, that’s no reason to be intimidated, Kevin.” Fake male voice. “I don’t believe you, Jasmin. There is no way someone could be so spectacularly awesome and have a big shlong.” Normal voice. “Well, believe it. It’s big, Son. It’s massive. I’m talking extraordinarily massive…like a rapper. I don’t wanna brag or nothin’, but on windy days I gotta strap it down to my ankle so that it doesn’t fly up and hit someone in the face.”

  He finally opened his powdery blue eyes and looked at her, seemingly more amused than he was this morning when she was hanging on the door handle. His jaw twitched, but he didn’t smile.

  “Come on, Kevin. You can do it.” She reached over and gently pinched his cheek. “You’re so close. Just smile.”

  There was a flicker of a smirk and for a second—only a second—she saw someone who might actually be likeable. It disappeared just as fast and then he took her hand off his face and placed it back on the steering wheel.

  “Hands on the wheel. Eyes on the road.”

  And that was the end of that. He closed his eyes again, rested his head against the window, and remained quiet for the rest of the trip.

  She didn’t bother him. Instead, she plugged in her USB and sang along with all the songs she knew. She took in the landscape as they passed through Idaho. Just like Montana, it had that serene kind of beauty. God had made it so tranquil in its wide, open splendor that this road was the only urban convenience man had dared to taint it with.

  She drove for almost five hours and it was just before one o’ clock when she finally stopped. Her ass and stiff legs were most grateful to have reached their destination.

  “We’re here,” she announced chirpily.

  Kevin stretched and rubbed his eyes lazily. “Are we stopping for lunch?”

  “No. We’re going sightseeing, silly.”

  “Where are we?” he asked, looking outside at the unfamiliar surroundings.

  “We’re in Salt Lake City.”

  “Utah? What the hell are we doing in Utah?” He seemed to be working it out geographically in his mind. “Shouldn’t we be in South Dakota…or Wyoming? Somewhere there?”

  “We would, if we took the I-90 East, but we took the I-90 West. We’re not going straight down. We’re going around.”

  Somehow she’d manage to piss him off again. “That’s thousands of miles off course, Jasmin! This is something you should have told me before I jumped into the fucking car!”

  “You curse a lot…And, you know, you’re seeing this as a bad thing when it’s not. One often meets his destiny on the road he chose to avoid it.”

  “Did you…” His eyes shut for a few seconds. He was seething, virtually foaming at the mouth. “Did you just quote Kung-Fu Panda to me?”

  “I didn’t know you watched it. I…I thought it sounded kind of wise…and mystical.” Her attempt to calm him down h
ad obviously backfired so she decided to be more serious. “I was trying to avoid the snow. If we went the other way, we would have gotten delayed by snow anyway…I think, but I read that Arizona, New Mexico, Texas—they don’t get snow. This route may be longer, but for someone who has never even seen snow, it’s safer. And for you, less snow means less delays.”

  “It’s November. There wouldn’t be any snow.”

  That sort of stumped her. “Well, how was I supposed to know that?”

  He took a deep breath, sat back and placed his clasped hands over his forehead. He was calmer, but still annoyed. “But now you wanna go sightseeing. That’s a delay.”

  “Kevin,” she said softly, “this is the first time I’ve ever done anything on my own. This is the first time I’ve ever felt like I was living my own life. I want to see everything. We skipped Idaho, but I want to explore every other state we go through. I didn’t tell you because I thought it was obvious. Who goes on a road trip and doesn’t take the time to experience what’s around them?”

  Wariness and uncertainty played on his face. “How long are you expecting this trip to take?”

  “Three, maybe four weeks.”

  “Weeks?” he choked out. “Three to four weeks?! Fuck, Jazz!”

  She didn’t know when her name had gone from Jasmintha to Jasmin to Jazz, but now wasn’t the time to bring it up. “Are you in a rush? Do you need to be there by a specific date?”

  “No.”

  “Then what’s the problem?”

  “I got a girl waiting for me at home. I told her I’d be back in a couple days.”

  Oh. So he had a girlfriend. It was something she hadn’t thought of when she was groping his biceps earlier. But it was only for a few seconds. Completely forgivable.

  “And I’m on a tight budget, Jazz.”

  “So maybe later we can sit down, look at both our finances and plan this thing properly. Okay?”

  An irritable groan rumbled in his throat. “I just want to get to Florida! Is that so hard to understand?”

  “Look,” she began with a heavy sigh, “let’s put this down as a case of miscommunication. Now we can fight about it, or accept it. Either way, it doesn’t change the fact that we are in Utah right now and I’m going to explore. You can sit here and sulk in the car, or you can come with me. That’s up to you. I have been restricted my whole life and I’m tired of being dictated to. I am certainly not going to let you or anyone else tell me what I can and can’t do on this road trip. I’m willing to help you, Kevin, really I am, but on my terms. You won’t talk to me, so I can’t empathize with your situation, but you can empathize with mine. I don’t expect you to understand. Heck, I don’t even expect you to be nice to me, but for goodness sakes, can I just have a little fun without you trying to ruin it?”