[Aldo]
The first few miles are awkward as hell. We’re like kids who just realized the weekend is ours and don’t know what to do with it. My mind’s racing, and I can only bet hers is too. The curve of her body still lingers in my hands and in my mind.
And what an ass I am, jamming my foot in my mouth the other day, trying to explain things by telling her who her brother is…
“Dawn,” I begin, overtaking a truck. “About the other day…”
She looks up from her phone and waits.
“I want to apologize.”
“For what?” she asks.
“The way I explained things.”
“You mean how you hooked up with me and then explained it all as me being Andre’s sister?” her brows arch
“You’re really not gonna make it easy for me?”
Dawn laughs. “Hell no! What kind of apology was that?”
“I didn’t get to apologize.”
“And you’re trying now by bringing it back up? Unbelievable. How you kept a girlfriend for a couple years is beyond me.” she says try to bite back a smile.
“Well, Lindsey didn’t make me nervous. You make me nervous.”
Dawn goes red, like a nearly ripe tomato.
“The reason I bring up Andre is-”
“I don’t want to hear about my brother if that’s the reason you won’t be honest with me,” Dawn cuts me off. “How long did you know he was back anyhow?”
“I picked him up from the airport,” I admit.
Dawn shakes her head. “He’s always needing help. I wonder when he’s gonna help himself?”
We fall into silence. I merge back into the slower lane and keep driving.
“Just change the channel,” Dawn says, rolling her eyes as she flips through radio stations. “Look, let’s put the other night behind us. We need to survive this trip. If you keep bumbling along with apologies, we’ll just be bickering like an old couple.”
“I wasn’t bickering,” I mutter.
“Strict rules: just business and driving,” she continues.
“And pee breaks,” I add.
“Yes, them too.” Dawn settles back in her seat. “We’ll be civil.”
“Civil as a couple lawyers,” I reply.
Dawn points a threatening finger. “And we’re keeping it that way.”
We drive for hours like this. The tarmac passes under us while the AC keeps us cool. The landscape doesn’t change much, just sticky heat and rolling gray skies from an incoming storm. We eat on the road and barely stop.
Then, just after lunch, Dawn blurts, “You gotta pull over. I gotta pee.”
“You should’ve gone at the gas station,” I say.
“I didn’t need to then.” she contends.
“Well, I didn’t need to either, but I went, didn’t I?”
Dawn rolls her eyes. “Just pull over, dammit!”
I chuckle but slow down. She heads off the road a bit, just into the tree line, definitely not hidden. There’s nothing she can hide from us here. She squats down and begins relieving herself. She looks relieved.
That’s when I roll forward slowly.
I take my foot off the clutch and let the truck go.
Dawn screams!
Squatting and trying to keep her pants from getting pissed on and her shoes from getting splashed, she’s doing this awkward squat and still going.
Cars start tooting their horns when they drive past, and I’m gone. I put on the breaks and can’t control myself from laughter.
I’m crying by the time she gets back in the van. She’s fuming. I don’t even try to keep driving, I just laugh and laugh until I see she’s folding her arms and giving me daggers.
“Worth it?” she asks.
“Worth it,” I reply, wiping my eyes.
“Mmhmm,’ she says. Then quickly reaches over and flicks my dick.
I recoil and grab my junk, trying to sink my ass through the bottom of the chair. “My dick,” I choke.
“Oh, your dick?” Dawn quips, dripping sarcasm.
“That hurt,” I rub it a little. It’s dull and aching. “Jesus, you flick with a little lead weight on your finger?”
Dawn laughs and shakes her head. “Only the beginning.”
“Oh, come on?” I say, pulling back out onto the highway. “That was funny!” ”
“It was not,” Dawn says, but I can see her trying not to smile.
“It was, and you know it. See, dudes can get away with pissing on the side of the road. Everyone’s seen a willy they shouldn’t have while taking a road trip.”
Dawn snorts. “What the hell is a willy?”
“You know, a penis!”
Dawn laughs now and clutches her stomach. “Just say penis.”
I shake my head and keep grinning. “You know what I mean. It’s expected of men. We’re savages. But ladies?” I shake my head. “Uh uh, you’re more sophisticated. A lady waits.”
“Sounds like you and your sexism have been hanging around Andre too much.” She’s still got her arms folded, but she’s grinning.
“That’s why it’s funny. A lady squatting in the low grass…” I fade away and keep grinning.
“I’m just impressed I didn’t piss all over myself.”
I crack up again.
“I didn’t even splash my shoes either.” Dawn shakes her head. “I’m proud of myself.”
“I’m proud of you too.”
Dawn shakes her head and smirks as we settle into silence. We cross the Florida border into Georgia as the sun flees west.
Everything looks the same except for one thing: the sexual tension between Dawn and me.
Damn.