by Britney King
Amelie gripped her head. “I don’t take pills.”
Jack rolled his eyes. “Why’s that? You don’t seem to have a problem taking anything else.”
“Well, smart ass… for starters, because the guy who killed my dad was high on prescription drugs.” She shook the bottle and tossed it in the back seat as though it burned her hand just to hold it. “But also because these drug companies are just trying to get you hooked on their stuff, that’s why. Hey! Where are we, anyway?”
“A few hours outside of Austin.”
She gasped. “Austin! Why are we going to Austin? Jack! I don’t want to go home. Why are you taking me home?”
Jack glanced over at her and frowned as he noticed that she’d crossed her arms and was in full-blown pout mode. “Because, kid. You can’t seem to behave yourself at camp, and they were about to kick you out.”
Amelie shifted her whole body in her seat a faced him. “Please don’t take me home, Jack. Please.”
“Where, smarty pants, do you suppose that I take you, then?”
“With you.”
Jack laughed hard. “That’s hilarious. Um, no. You are not coming with me.”
“Why not?” she hissed.
“Well,” he said, holding up his hands making quotation marks in the air, “for starters, because you are a pain in my ass who had caused me nothing but trouble for the past seven days.”
Amelie slapped her thigh. “Really, Jack? Seven days? Exaggerating much? Anyway… as I recall, you were the one who busted in the rec closet and beat the crap out of my boyfriend.”
Jack glared at her and then focused back on the road. “He’s not your boyfriend.”
“Whatever. If you take me home… I’m going to tell everyone that you kidnapped me. Because you did kidnap me, Jack. You know you did. You took me against my will.”
“You were wasted, Amelie. And you are not blackmailing me.”
She grabbed the wheel and turned hard. “We’ll see about that.”
Jack pushed her off and steadied the car before slowing and pulling off on the shoulder. He pushed his door open and went around to the passenger side. “Get out.”
Amelie didn’t budge. She fixed her gaze and stared straight ahead. “What in the hell are you doing?” he screamed. “You could’ve just gotten us killed!”
She leaned over and rolled up the driver side window. Jack rushed back to the front of the car as soon as he caught on to what she was doing. She locked the doors and killed the engine. “What the fuck, Amelie? We’re not playing games here.”
She smiled and held up the keys, dangling them in front of him. Jack’s face reddened, and he pounded on the window. “You’re dead, kid. DEAD!” he yelled.
“Take me with you. Promise me you will… and I’ll unlock the doors.”
Jack held up his middle finger and pressed it against the glass. She flinched but only a little as he slapped the glass one last time for good measure. It was futile. Amelie sank back in her seat and let her head fall back. Jack couldn’t let her win this battle… that much he knew. He’d wait her out he told himself. He’d just sit and wait her out. He headed further off the shoulder, into the brush and took a piss. Then he walked a few feet further and sank down into the grass. He watched her down that entire bottle of Gatorade. Eventually, she’d have to pee. Until then, he’d just wait. Unfortunately for Jack, it was turning out to be a very, very hot day.
FIVE
Jack wiped the sweat from his forehead as the hot early July sun beat down on his back. He was growing angrier by the minute, and Amelie was apparently growing hotter by the minute. She’d cracked the windows just slightly, though still not enough for him to fit his hand through. Instead, she’d stripped down nearly to her underwear, which only further pissed him off. He couldn’t not look at the barely dressed girl sitting in the front seat of his car. He couldn’t decide whom he was infuriated with the most—her or himself for being attracted to her in the first place.
He folded his arms across his knees and rested his head there, pondering his options. At some point, he must’ve dozed off, because the next thing he knew someone was tapping him on the shoulder. He looked up, startled, to find Amelie standing over him holding a bottle of water. She was barefoot, in cut off shorts, no top, and a pink lacy bra. He stared at her hair tied up on top of her head and felt a feeling he couldn’t place. It was fury, he assured himself.
“Here,” she said thrusting a bottle of water at his face “Jesus. I can’t believe you’re so stubborn you’d rather die out here than take me with you.”
Jack hesitated, and then decided he was too thirsty to be obtuse, so he grabbed the bottle, gulped the water, and refused to look at her.
“Fine. I’m sorry.” She sighed. “There. I said it. Now, will you take me with you?”
Jack stood and brushed the dirt from his shorts. “You need to call your mother before she has the police looking for you.”
“My mother’s in Europe. Trust me, no one is going to be looking for me, Jack. Did you have to force me to say it? Is that what you wanted to hear? That she sent me to camp and fled the country? That I’m all alone…”
Jack sighed, unfazed. “Fine then. I’ll just take you back to camp.”
“Fine!” She called over her shoulder as she climbed back in the car and slammed the door.
Jack got in and started the ignition. “You have no idea how close I am to murdering you.” He picked up her tank top and hurled it at her. “And put your god dammed clothes on, would you?”
Amelie slid the shirt over her head and promptly started crying. “I don’t understand why you hate me so much,” she gasped between sobs. “What did I ever do to you, anyway?” Jack sat there staring at the blubbering snotty mess slumped over in his front seat, his mouth agape. What in the world is happening here he asked himself? How in the hell did he get himself into this? And more importantly how was he going to get himself out of it? After a few minutes, her sobs seemed to subside, so Jack put the car in gear and got back on the road. From the corner of his eye, he watched as she crossed her arms and pressed her forehead to the passenger side window as he made a U-turn and headed back in the opposite direction, back toward Camp Hope.
After a while, she finally spoke. “Jack?”
He looked over. Damn, she was beautiful. Which is exactly why he was in this mess, he thought. “What is it now?”
“I have to pee.”
Jack pulled off at the next exit and into a gas station. Amelie looked confused. “Are we out of gas?”
“No. Why?”
She looked at him as though he were the densest person on the planet. “Because we’re at a gas station.”
Jack shrugged. “Yeah. You said you had to pee.”
“I can’t pee here!” she shrieked. “Gas stations are filthy. I’ll catch god knows what in there!”
Jack shook his head as though maybe he hadn’t heard her. “You’re seriously shitting me, right?”
Amelie frowned. “No. I am not shitting you. I can’t go to the bathroom here.”
He blew out every last drop of air he had stored in his lungs and put the car in reverse. “All right, fine. Tell me… where you can pee then, Princess?”
Amelie pointed at a restaurant across the street. “Over there.” She let out an exaggerated laugh. “Geez, you know nothing at all about women, do you, Jack? In the future, for the love of god and all women, puhleeze take a girl some place decent if she has to use the ladies room. We’re not like you guys. We can’t just whip it out and go wherever. Restaurants are usually a safe bet. Their bathrooms are cleaner than your average place because they have a reputation to uphold. Gas stations, they could care less. People buy gas regardless. But people generally do not eat in filth.”
Jack rolled his eyes. “Great. I learn something new every day...”
She winked at him. “Glad I could be of service.”
He watched her disappear into the restaurant. Although he wouldn’t go thro
ugh with it, Jack knew if he were smart, he would just leave now and let her find her own way home. That girl was nothing but trouble. And he was in for a world of it.
After twenty minutes passed, and Amelie hadn’t come out, Jack furiously went in after her. He found her standing just outside the restrooms on the pay phone. When she saw him coming toward her, Jack noticed something on her face shift, though he couldn’t quite read her expression. Amelie abruptly hung up the phone and practically ran toward him with a huge grin plastered across her face.
“Who were you talking to?” Jack asked.
“Two things. First, what do you think of this voice?” She changed her voice so much she gave off a bad British accent. She didn’t pause long enough to allow him to answer the question. “And I called Camp Hope.”
Jack stared. “And?”
She clapped her hands and grinned. “And they bought it.”
He stepped closer and grabbed her wrist. “They bought WHAT, Amelie?” Jack demanded through gritted teeth.
“Ouch.” She wiggled her wrist away, stepped up on her tippy toes, leaned forward, and kissed him on the forehead. His mother used to do that. “Oh, Jack. Jack, Jack, Jack… you have GOT to lighten up. Come on, I’ll fill you in in the car,” she said and turned on her heel without waiting to see if he’d follow. He watched her walk right out the door.
Of course, Jack followed. What choice did he have when she said his name like that?
Back in the car, Amelie placed her hand on top of his. Jack stared at it but didn’t make a move to pull away. “Ok, so… I need to tell you something. But first, you’re going to have to promise that you won’t be mad. Promise me you’ll keep an open mind.”
He pulled his hand away suddenly. “I’m not promising you anything.”
“Jack, please.”
He shook his head. “Nope. Just tell me what you did. No more games, all right?” Whatever it was, of course he was going to be mad.
“Fine. I’ll tell you. But you can only freak out for a second. Just get it over with and be done with it, ok?”
Although he tried his best not to show it, Jack had to admit that he was amused. He cocked his head to the side and raised his eyebrows, but he didn’t respond.
Amelie scooted over in her seat until she was so close he could smell the jasmine in her hair. Oddly enough, it smelled of jasmine, and not vomit as he would’ve thought. “All right… I called Camp Hope and pretended to be my mom. I told them I picked Amelie up… and by that I meant me, last night… because she… or I… whatever… you get what I mean, right… was sick. I said that Amelie called from a pay phone crying, and I just took her not bothering to check her out because, for one, I was worried and two, because all of the lights in the counselors office were off. And guess what, Jack? After giving me… who they of course thought was my mom… a very stern lecture about safety, and the importance of following procedure… they bought it. They freaking bought it! I’m free! We’re free!” Amelie was grinning from here to ear. She was apparently so pleased with herself that she practically hurled herself into his lap. Her enthusiasm was so contagious that, for a brief second, Jack forgot to be mad. She studied his face, leaned up, and kissed him. On the mouth this time. And then, for reasons even he couldn’t explain, all of sudden Jack forgot he was supposed to be mad at all.
SIX
Jack drove to a campground that a gas station attendant had said was located on the outskirts of town. “What we need is… sleep. And showers,” he remarked as he pulled in.
“Definitely showers.” Amelie smiled. It wasn’t a bad place to stay. But it wasn’t great, either. Jack parked the car and shuffled through his backpack. “Wait here,” he ordered before disappearing inside a building clearly marked “Business Office.”
Amelie opened the door, walked around to the rear of the car, and surveyed her surroundings. She stretched, undid her hair, brushed her fingers through it, and retied her ponytail. She rubbed her eyes. The day was wicked hot, the heat seemingly endless, and there didn’t seem to be a breeze in sight. Jack emerged from the office, frowned when he noticed she wasn’t in the passenger seat, and tossed a set of keys in her direction. She caught them mid-air. “Get in.” He motioned to the door. “We’re in number nine.”
Amelie climbed back in the car and pulled her shirt over her head. It was just too damned hot. She shut her eyes and hung her head out the window as they made their way down the endless gravel road letting the warm air rush across her face. “There it is.” Jack said, interrupting her reverie. She opened her eyes to see that he was pointing at a small travel trailer. “Our place for the night.”
Her eyes lit up. “Whoa. That’s awesome. I’ve never stayed in a camper before...”
Jack shook his head. “I guess there’s a first time for everything, kid.”
Amelie fumbled with the keys and unlocked the door as Jack hauled their things from the car. Inside, she proceeded to open every nook and cranny within the tiny space. “This place is so cool. There’s like… everything a person could possibly need in here.” You would’ve thought she was visiting the Taj Mahal and not some shithole campground, Jack thought. This would be the thing Jack would remember about Amelie for the rest of his life. No matter where she was, she always made it seem as though it were the grandest place on earth. When he was with her, she had a certain effect on him that made him question whether or not it might be true. This must be as good as it gets, he’d shake his head and think. For the rest of his life, he never met another person who made him believe that more than she did.
Jack sank backward onto the tiny sofa and tried to tune her out as she rambled on. “Amelie, I have to head back to Dallas in a few days, at minimum. So I need you to consider what your plans will be when the time comes, all right?”
Amelie turned and looked at him nonchalantly. “All right.”
“In the meantime, I need to get some sleep. You should do the same. I plan to head out pretty early tomorrow.”
She opened and closed another drawer. “It’ll be like a real road trip!” she exclaimed a little too enthusiastically. “Where to…?”
“Where is it you want to go? You know… with all of your ‘freedom,’” Jack said as sarcastically as he could manage.
Amelie considered the question for a moment. “I don’t know,” she said and smiled. There it was—that smile again. Her smile faded just a little, and then she shrugged. “I was thinking… somewhere with you.”
When Jack woke in the dark, it took him a few seconds to remember where he was. He squinted as he checked his watch, but in the pitch black of the camper, it was too dark to read the time. He pushed himself up and felt his way to the tiny bathroom. He flicked the light switch. Damn. Too much. He flicked it back off.
He fumbled around the camper a bit, and with no sign of her anywhere, he made his way to the door in search of Amelie. Except for the stars, he found that it was nearly pitch black outside, too. He stepped out onto the steps and stretched, allowing his eyes to adjust.
“Hey, sleepyhead,” he heard her voice say. Jack turned his head in search of it. “Over here. To your right. In the hammock.” Jack walked in the direction of her voice until he touched the side of the hammock. “Can you believe these stars?” she whispered. She patted the space next to her and scooted over. Jack hesitated, so she reached for his hand. “Here. Get in.”
He climbed in next to her, trying not to touch her body to his. He adjusted his position several times trying to get comfortable before finally ending up on his back, his hands resting behind his head. “Doesn’t it all just make you feel so small, Jack?” He didn’t answer. She didn’t give him time. “This, I mean.” she continued, motioning upward at the sky. “It’s hard to believe we’re just these two tiny specs in the entire universe. It’s kind of crazy when you think of it that way, isn’t it? Sometimes it seems like our problems are colossal and then… this… and you realize that in the grand scheme of things… maybe they’re nothing at all.”<
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“Hey. You think I can get that on a pillow somewhere?”
She punched his arm. “Geez. Why do you always have to be so serious? What is it with you? Really… Would it kill you to indulge me just once?”
He laughed. “Maybe. But isn’t that what we’re doing here, anyway? Indulging you.”
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Good one, Jack. You should try stand up comedy sometime.” She let out a long sigh. “Anyway, while you were crashed out, I went for food. I left you a sandwich in the fridge. Did you see it?”
There were so many things Jack wanted to say in that moment, things that he couldn’t quite spit out. If his father weren’t right about him, then these were the things Jack might’ve said: He would’ve told her that he hadn’t seen the sandwich because getting to wherever it was she was at, was all he could think about. He would’ve thanked her for this, for being here, for everything. He would’ve told her that she was the first person he could recall in a very long time that made him feel wanted. He didn’t say any of those things though. Instead, he pushed himself up, threw his legs over the side, and ran toward the safety of the camper. “Food? Did you say we have food?” he called back.
Inside the camper, Jack literally stuffed himself on all of the junk Amelie purchased. Junk, by the way, that he never would’ve eaten had he not been so hungry. His father always said ‘you are what you eat.’ Since he’d already consumed a candy bar the night before, this would have to be his last indulgence, he warned himself. Satisfied with his resolution and determination, he popped the tabs on two coke cans and made his way back out to the hammock. He found Amelie sitting up this time, her legs swinging back and forth over the side of the hammock. Jack could almost recognize the little girl in her, the little girl he’d met that first summer. Although hardly a little girl now, he knew she was still in there somewhere. He handed her one of the cokes and plopped down beside her. “You know, Jack…” She started and stopped, before starting again. “I’ve been thinking…”