"Road trip food. Beef Jerky. Chips. Whatever."
I peck him on the check, grab the money, and run my happy butt inside. The bell on top of the door makes noise, alerting the man at the counter of my arrival.
"Good afternoon, darling."
"Hey," I reply, slipping down the first aisle where the beef jerky is, grabbing a bag of regular and then teriyaki. I don't know which one he'll want. The chip aisle is next where I falter between Sour Cream and Onion Lays or Cheddar and Sour Cream ruffles? I say fuck it and grab them both, and a couple cherry coke's to last until we stop again.
I lay all of it down on the counter in front of the man, and he continues to stare at me. "And whatever is owed for gas on Pump 1, please."
He rings everything up. "That'll be one-hundred-seventy-two dollars and sixty-three cents."
I get the cash out of my pocket he handed me and realize it is two one hundred dollar bills. "Here you go."
Gas prices are ridiculous right now, and only getting worse each week. I can't imagine spending one-hundred-fifty dollars to fill up my car. Although, I have to remember he has a huge tank, and the miles to the gallon are poor. I'll never understand why men like trucks so much. They could save so much money driving a small car. Or maybe, it's an ego thing.
He hands me the change, and I run out of there as fast I can, feeling like he's staring at me the whole time. Creep.
"You in a hurry?" he asks, as I get in the truck.
"Let's get the hell out of here."
Once we are down the road, he asks me what the hell is going on. I told him about how the man was staring at me, and made me extremely uncomfortable, but maybe that's from the scary movies Jeremy had me watch yesterday. I'm not a scary movie fan at all. Never have been, but he talked me into watching a movie about a sister and brother that get run off the road and murdered. Not my cup of tea, and maybe it's making me paranoid.
He pulls me closer to him, and puts his arm around my neck. "Nobody’s going to mess with you. I'll make sure of it. Sit back and relax."
Before we hit Little Rock, we stay on the interstate and go through so many little towns, and it's interesting to see the different style types of homes and barns in the middle of nowhere. We make it maybe twenty-minutes before we bust open a bag of beef jerky, the teriyaki kind, and start chowing down. We should have eaten before we left, but oh well.
"So, be honest, are you excited about me being in Cambridge?" he asks, but keeps his eyes on the road.
Yes, but nervous, too. This is a huge jump from not even talking a month ago. The thought of possibly rushing into things is going through my head, but I try to keep myself from harping on it too much. "Of course. The plan was always to find you after getting my degree but then life happened. Things changed, but here we are now."
I never planned on meeting someone in college, and getting married, but I did. Maybe it's best things didn't work out, or I never would have gotten another shot with Aiden. Sometimes, I wonder if I should have caught on to his ways earlier than I did. Sure, I was overloaded at work, but he stopped being intimate with me as much, but I think I played that off as being exhausted from working all the time. I'll never understand how movies depict women as being ready all the time. I'm not going to lie, there are some nights where I want to curl up in bed and close my eyes with no thoughts of getting laid. Who has the energy for that after working fourteen hours? Not me. At least, not with Roger. Maybe that's why he started seeing his assistant, she was accessible to him all the time, and I wasn't. No excuse though. He's an asshole, through and through.
"Turn it up!" Aiden says.
Backstreet Boys comes on and no matter where you are, when I Want It That Way comes on, you have to sing it with all your might. He starts belting out the lyrics and it's like I fall for him all over again. The way he feels okay to be himself and not worry about what anyone thinks, it's freeing. He might have cared in high school but now.
The next two hours are spent bingeing Backstreet Boys and N'sync albums and finding out we still remember almost all the lyrics to all their songs. Go figure. I like all music, and not picky on what I listen to, Rock, R&B, Country, Pop, or whatever else. If I like the beat and the message of the song, I'll give it a chance. I'm an Equal Opportunity Listener.
We stop and get gas in Little Rock and then again in Memphis. We are on the last stretch before hitting Nashville and shouldn't have to stop again before making it there. I go ahead and try to find a hotel for tonight. I type in Luxury Hotels in Nashville and a bunch of listings come up. Some cost as much as one-thousand dollars a night, but that's ridiculous. I keep scrolling until I see Margaritaville Hotel. It's cheaper, but still nice and runs three-hundred-fifty dollars a night. I want to stay somewhere that going to be close to things to do, and restaurants, but then I see they have a fancy on-site restaurant and only a five minute walk to Broadway. Done deal. I pull out my credit card and go ahead and book the room.
"We have a room booked, and I'm so ready to have an actual meal, it's not even amusing," I say, patting my stomach.
He smiles. "I'm ready for dessert."