On the day the world that he knew ended, Bobby was in a strange town with the wrong girl. Not that the town was all that strange, just strange to him. Not that the girl was all that wrong, just...She wasn’t Mandy. Mandy was about five-hundred miles in his rearview and in many ways farther than that.
Layla on the other hand was less than a foot away sitting in the passenger seat of his car. She’d reclined the seat a bit, not lying down but enough so that she could stretch her bare legs out and prop her bare feet on the dash.
He didn’t know if she was just trying to relax or entice him. He hoped the former, feared the latter and knew it was probably a bit of both.
It was a mistake to bring her. An unfair mistake made out of desperation, fear and anger. None of which Layla deserved. But after Mandy had thrown the ring back in his face he’d, well, he’d overreacted. The trip was booked for two and he’d known that Layla would be more than willing to go
and so he took her.
He looked over at her again. She had her window rolled down and was leaning her head so that the wind caught her hair and playfully pulled it out the window. It was also blowing the top of her button down blouse open so that he could see the curve of her breasts. He and Layla had a history.
One going all the way back to high-school. They were the will they/won’t they couple. Always hanging out together but never dating. A couple that seemed to be perfect for each other and that everyone was rooting for but never quite ended up together. And truth be told, it was not from Layla’s lack of trying. But it was too much too fast for Bobby and he’d shied away from anything that could have brought them together.
Then college had brought Mandy and everything had changed.
And now everything has changed again.
Layla was moving her bare feet to the music and his attention was again brought to her legs, long for her height but shapely. And to think, you could’ve had them wrapped around you this morning, he thought.
Yes, but would it be the start of something or just him burying his sorrows over Mandy to hide them away in Layla.
He’d booked a trip to a bed and breakfast outside of Savannah Georgia, a place that Mandy had lived for a year as a girl but had never returned to although he had always wanted to. He’d popped the question and that was going to be their celebration. Then he’d asked another question that had ruined it all.
By chance he’d run into Layla, poured his heart out to her the way they’d always seemed to do with their heartbreaks and when it came to bitching about how much money he’d thrown away on this trip he got the bright idea to invite her to take it with him. An hour later they were in the car and leaving Chicago behind.
Things seemed okay at first. They were reminiscing, old friends, old time, catching up. She suggested they take a detour from their planned route and stop off in Columbus to visit her brother and spend the night. Savannah was a sixteen hour drive even detouring to Columbus and they’d need a place to rest the night. Bobby was actually thankful for the idea as he didn’t know what Layla expected from a night in a hotel room with him. The longer they drove the more frequently and heavily she seemed to be flirting and it was just beginning to dawn on him what she thought this trip meant. He hadn’t
decided what this trip meant yet.
The night at her brother’s went well. Beer and pizza and a couch that was more comfortable than he could have hoped for. Bobby was thankful for the distraction, both from thoughts of Mandy and from any potential happenings between
him and Layla. She seemed reluctant to let her brother see even the mildest of flirtations.
But the next morning he woke up to Layla going down on him.
He’d been dreaming of Mandy and had half awoken to think that it was her doing the deed but when he reached his hand down to run it through Mandy’s soft short waves, he found long straight hair in his grasp. Thank God he hadn’t called out Mandy’s name.
“Hey, whoa.” he said, trying to guide her off of him. “What’s...what’s going on?”
She looked up at him and smiled, her grey-green eyes still puffy with sleep.
“I thought I’d wake you up as gently as I could so we could hit the road.”
He pulled at her shoulders when she started to go back down, to lift her up to him, her hand never left his shaft, and saw that she was completely naked, her soft breasts pressing against his torso as he did. “Where’s-” he tried to
ask where her brother was but she interrupted him with a kiss. He helplessly leaned into it and her she pumped him with her hand. And he almost let her, God knows he wanted to but there was a pang. He would have liked to have thought it was for her, that he was taking advantage, that he didn't’ want to use her. But it was for Mandy. Guilt over Mandy.
He pushed her away. “We can’t.” he said and when he saw the disappointed look on her face he added, “Not here." She slowly let go of him and he covered himself as he slid out from under the soft warmness of her body.
She rolled over onto her back failing to cover her breasts. “Only nine more hours to Savannah, give or take." The look on her face, wicked. “I’ve waited this long.”
It was clear then, clear what she wanted, what she expected out of this and there was a big part of him that wanted to give in. Let it happen. Try to cover up the past with whatever he could find with her. For however long he could, for however long it lasted. He looked down at her, lying naked on her brother’s couch, smiling up at him and said...
“We forgot snacks.”
He looked over at Layla, her long brown hair a tangled swirl dancing around her head. “Uh, what?”
“We forgot snacks." She hit the button to roll up her window. “We ran out yesterday. Gotta have snacks. It’s not a road trip without snacks.”
“Right, yea,” he said still trying to shake out of his thoughts and hoping she didn’t see the effect they were having on him. “Want to me to stop at a convenience store?”
“There’s a Wal-Mart off the next exit. That way we can get what we want without having to take a loan out of the bank." She laughed then, in a way he hadn’t heard her laugh since high school. High and giddy. A pre-Mandy laugh. What am I doing to her, he thought.
“Yea, yea,” he said. “Wal-Mart sounds good."
He took the next exit into a small off the highway town called Grandville. The exit was took them on a quarter mile loop that ended in a stop light hanging over an old two lane highway. On the opposite side of the road stood a blue and white sign that said Welcome to North Park.
“Didn’t that exit back there say Grandville?” he asked.
Layla grunted something that was supposed to be “I don’t know.” He guessed that she was already ready to go back to sleep.
Bobby put his blinker on and waited for the light to change.
“Do you think the first time we make love we should do it on the beach?" She still had her legs propped up on the dash and she was playing with the fringe of her cutoff jeans.
He looked at her for a moment without answering, that strange guilt feeling bubbling up in his chest again. He wanted her, he couldn’t deny that but he loved Mandy. But it was more than that now. Another kind of guilt was creeping in on him. He wanted her but not in the way she wanted him. He knew this was only a rebound thing, hell, he was already regretting bringing her with him. He should have just come alone and licked his wounds and tried to figure out what to do next. But now...now there was this.
She seemed to see something in his face because she scrunched up her nose.
“Nah, you’re right. Having sand up your asscrack is not the most romantic way to start off your sexual relationship, is it?" She placed her hand on his thigh. “I’m really glad you stopped me this morning. It would’ve been wrong, ya know? Not the way we wanna start this out.”
Yea, Bobby thought, having sex in a place I reserved for me and my new fiance is a much better choice than your brother’s couch.
“I’d much rather it be us alone, surrounded by candles, soft music playing." She squeezed his thigh. “This has been a long time coming. I don’t know what the hell took us so long."
Bobby looked up at the unchanging light and wondered what kind of fantasy she’d cooked up in that pretty little head of hers. Yea, they’d had great chemistry in high school and everyone thought they’d end up together but he’d always know that that would never happen and even if it did it would one of those short hot love affairs that ended just as quickly as it had started up. He didn’t remember why they’d never gotten together but there had to have been a reason. There had to have, why else wouldn’t-
The light changed and he hit the gas a bit too hard. The jerking of the car made Layla yelped breaking off her unheard babble about what was meant to be.
“Sorry,” he said but she only laughed.
“Damn, Bobby.” she said through her giggle. “Did I get you worked up or is it the snacks?”
He didn’t answer, just smiled what he hoped was an innocent smile. A few moments later he pulled into the Wal-Mart parking lot and found a parking space.
“So,” he said shutting off the car. “What kind of snacks do you want?”
“Oh,” she said, her voice already taking on that hurt sound like she wasn’t getting her way. “Am I not going in with you?”
“Oh, you can if you want,” he said. “I just thought you might want to stay out here and relax while I pick the stuff up. Might be quicker.”
She looked at him for a moment and he thought she was going to say something. Maybe guess that he was up to something. Then she smiled. “Oh, yea, okay." She put her finger next to her mouth like she was in deep thought. It was an oddly sexual look and he felt a stirring of want for her. Dammit, this was a terrible place to be in. What the hell was he going to do once they got there? How was he going to avoid having sex with her when they were all alone in a bed together in a romantic bed and breakfast, most likely with alcohol involved? He wanted her, she wanted him but this was the worst idea in the world. They’d both only end up more hurt than they were right now. But how to avoid it?
“Chips.” She nearly screamed. “Get Pringles that way we don't’ have to deal with tearing bags. And Slim Jims I love a fucking Slim Jim. And Mountain Dew. Gotta have caffeine.”
“That it?” he asked.
“All I can think of, get whatever you want and take your cell. I’ll text you if I think of anything.”
He wouldn’t be forgetting his cell. He pulled the handle to open the door and she pulled him back by the arm. He turned to look at her and then they were kissing. Her mouth on his, soft and warm and inviting. She tasted sweet and smelled of vanilla. Before he could think to pull away, she did.
“That’s how I should have woken you up this morning." She smiled and let go of him and stretched out on the passenger seat again, her legs up on the dash, her arms above her head. All soft curves under tight then fabric. Dammit he was in trouble.
“I’ll hurry,” he said.
“I bet you will,” her eyes were closed and a smile of contentment showed on her face. He got out of the car.
As he walked away he looked back at her through the passenger window. Would it really be so bad to be with her, he thought, maybe she really loves you. He shook his head and walked faster toward the store. That was the last time he saw Layla alive.
The sun punched through puffy clouds. Beams of light streaked the late morning sky and Bobby pushed his sunglasses up on his nose. There was an odd smell in the air that reminded him of burnt pancakes. He couldn’t remember ever having smelled burnt pancakes but that was what it brought to mind all the same. He looked around but couldn’t see any signs of anything burning but there was a smokestack off to the west of the Wal-Mart building and she supposed it was coming from there. He’d come to this conclusion just in time to stop himself from bumping into someone.
Mandy?
He almost called her name before realizing the impossibility of somehow running into Mandy so many miles away from home. Saving himself some embarrassment for when she looked up at him it was clear to see this wasn’t her. Similar short dark hair but that was where it ended. She smiled and he apologized and she was gone.
He pulled out his cell phone, brought up a black text screen and started a message to Mandy. Stopped and dialed her number instead. He’d been through enough these last couple of days, no sense in being a coward and hiding behind a text message.
He got her voicemail.
He sighed before the beep and then said in a low calm voice. “Mandy, hey, I’ve been thinking as I hope you have and I think that if we really try and if we really love each other; and let’s face it a guy doesn’t ask a girl to marry him and girl doesn’t answer yes unless they do, that we can work this out. We can compromise and...and we can make this work. I love you." He ended the call quickly, not wanting to screw up what he thought was actually a decent message by yammering on.
So much better than the night of the fight.
He opened up his phone again, closed it, opened it again. This time he texted her instead of calling. For some reason he thought that’d get her attention quicker.
“I’m sorry. I understand. I love you enough to not bring a child into this world.”
Why hadn’t he just said that that morning?
He put his phone into his pocket and walked into the store. Since they’d converted all the Wal-Marts into Super Wal-Marts, adding grocers to the department stores, they seemed fuller. More people occupying the food center than any other part of the store, bringing about a more frequent occurrence of one of Bobby’s biggest pet peeves. Conversations blocking the aisles. He could understand running into people you knew and wanted to say hello or even catch up a little. But it always seemed that they’d stand right in the middle of the most popular and therefore populated aisles and have a family reunion. With their two point five kids in their carts and talk about what was going on with little Johnny or how Carl always hogged the remote and oh, how was Susie doing at college. It never failed that after looking up and down the aisle, sometimes the same aisle a few times, he’d find the item he was looking for right on the other side of Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Jones as they gabbed about how such and such wore such a low cut blouse to church last Sunday. In the chip aisle, it was two pregnant women, one wearing scrubs and pushing a too full cart the other wearing a t-shirt that didn’t cover her ample belly that read Watermelon Smuggler who seemed to be bitching about how some doctor couldn’t seem to get a decent ultrasound image if the baby had been posing. Near the bread, it was two elderly women, their husbands looking defeated and forlorn, discussing the weather. When he was looking a lunchmeat, a pretty young mother was being chatted up by guy wearing too much cologne. She wore white sneakers and a black mini-skirt, which Bobby noticed because of an intricate and textured tattoo of a dragon that slithered its way out of her sneaker, around her calf and ended just below the back of her knee. Her would-be suitor seemed to be working his best lines and finding himself far more charming then she did while she waved a rattle in from on her infant child and compared bologna prices. Saved by the ringing of her cell phone, she actually stepped aside from the lunchmeat and away from Mr. Smoothtalker, allowing him to step in and check out the lunchmeat. He pulled out his own cell and texted Mandy the list he’d already grabbed and asked her what lunchmeat she wanted. As he was grabbing some smoked honey roasted ham for himself he got her response of oven roasted turkey.
“Oh, what the fuck, Bev, if you only knew.” Tattooed girl said into her cell as she brushed past Bobby and grabbed up a pack of Bologna. “Why don’t you quit will all the excuses and just admit that you’re afraid.”
Her voice wasn’t exactly shrill but Bobby was glad that he didn’t have the opposite phone pressed to his ear. Whoever Bev was, Tattoo had obviously had enough of her bellyaching.
Tattooed girl threw her bologna choice harder in the cart then was necessary giving Bev a loud huff that ended more like a growl. “Fuck him,” she said, obviously not caring who heard her. “He’s fucking you, so fuck him right back.” She listened for only seconds before, “Fine,” she let out an aggravated laugh, “fine. I’ll talk to you later then.” She flipped the phone shut and began to walk past Bobby as he finally laid eyes on the turkey meat. With a glance over his left shoulder, he saw that Mr. Smoothtalker was waiting patiently in the wings. He cocked a smile at her, aiming for more of that charm but coming off more smarmy than cute.
“Bad day huh,” he said.
“Look,” she said, her tone sharp, her volume twice as loud as his. “You really think you are getting in my pants. What? Would you like me to keep him in the baby seat while you have your way with me in the front of my car. Or would you actually spring for a motel? Did you forget the wedding ring on your hand or did you just think that since I wasn’t wearing one I wouldn’t care. Go stick you dick in a freezer and then take it home to your wife.” With that, she walked away through a small crowd of people who’d stopped to watch her thrash him.
“Ouch,” Bobby said under his breathe and his cell phone vibrated in his hand.
“COOKIES!!” Layla’s text informed him.
“Cookies,” he repeated and turned his cart toward the cookie aisle.
Thankfully, the cookie aisle wasn’t nearly as crowded with chatty people discussing the obesity plaguing America. Only a few others were looking at the cookies section. An older man with a golf hat and a cane and another young mom with a little boy in the back of the cart. Bobby looked over the cookie section thinking that Layla preferred chocolate chip or anything with peanut butter in it and planning on getting her both. He passed the old man and stood behind the cart that carried the little boy. His mother, a dark haired dark-skinned woman a little more plump than the previous and a lot more quiet, had been down on her haunches to get a better look at the selection on the bottom row. Her boy, his white-blonde hair cut into a buzz, sat with his back leaned against the back of the cart. To Bobby he was a little big for the cart he wasn’t supposed to be in, (but hey, whatever makes the kids happy right?), hummed along to a song that only he seemed to know the melody to.
And there they were. Chocolate chip and peanut butter chip cookies. Two birds, one stone. Bobby leaned down to pluck them from the second self when something flew over his head barely catching the tips of his hair, feeling like a fly buzzing in just before landing.
“Bam-O!”
Bobby looked up to see the boy in the cart was now leaning over the edge of the cart. In one hand he held an open pack of crème filled cookies and in the other he was readying another for aerial assault.
“Hey,” Bobby began but stopped to dodge the next cookikaze.
“Bam-O!” The boy cried again and when he saw that he’d yet again missed his target, he stood and grabbed another cookie from the pack. The cart swayed beneath him but he kept his balance.
“Caesar. His mother called from the other side of the cart. But she didn’t stand. “Stand still dammit.”
Caesar didn’t listen, he curled the newest cookie with his index finger, stuck his tongue out of the side of his mouth, and his right eye pinched closed as he took aim. This time as he hurled the cookie, his body shook the cart harder. Bobby tried to dodge the cookie it caught him in the left shoulder. Not painful but very annoying. Maybe Mandy was right to question kids.
“Caesar!” His mother called again and this time she stood. She had tired deep-set blue eyes and wore a flowered blouse that looked like it’d seen better days.
Or had had one too many days around Caesar, Bobby thought.
“What the hell are you doing, boy?” She grabbed his shoulder and pushed him back down into the cart. “Want me to tell your father when we get home?”
That’s all the boy needs, ma’am, Bobby thought, a choice.
“Bam-O,” Caesar said, the devil in his grin as he chucked a cookie at his mother. She gave Bobby a tired look and a weak smile. Bobby smiled back with what he hoped contained encouragement and decided that he wanted something warm from the deli.
He walked the length of the long side aisle when snack cakes stole his attention. Reaching for his choice, his cell vibrated again in his hand. Layla with more request, he thought but when he looked down at the screen the words that appeared there quickened his pulse, sent a warm rush through his body and a smile to his face. Just four little words but he took them as encouragement.
Mandy: Where are you?
She was looking for him. Was probably even at his apartment. Which meant she was willing to talk. He looked up, knowing exactly what he needed to do. He needed to go home. He’d just have to tell Layla how it was and that what was happening between them was a mistake. She had to know that. He left the buggy with the items he’d gotten inside and started walking toward the door, his spirits rising with every step. When things changed it took him a moment to notice he was so high on the moment but only a moment. Everyone within his line of sight fell to the ground. They didn’t lean forward of fall backward. No tripping or stumbling. They just crumbled up upon themselves like a puppets whose strings had been cut and they all fell down.
Then came the screaming.