Sea in Side
04-05-2011, 05:50 AM
He propped his knee up under the wheel and cracked his knuckles; he knew the annoyance would wake her up and made sure he saw her eyes flicker before he spoke.
How did we get here?
The stress of driving through the night had become visible in blood shot eyes and tangible in sandpaper stubble. He grabbed his glasses hanging from the visor and rubbed the lenses with the bottom of his tank top, careful to blow off the sand without abrading the surface. He was sitting on his towel which was all but dry around the edges and vaguely damp under his fluorescent board shorts. He put on his glasses and noticed he had missed a couple grains still lodged between the frame and the lens. After a long pause she finally rustled from her semi sleep in the passenger seat.
Don’t tell me we’re lost again.
She blinked a few times and rubbed her eyes, trying to bring the road map on her paper blanket into focus. She had slept with her bare feet on the dash with the seat reclined, a few grains of sand still grinding between her toes occasionally falling through and rolling down the vinyl ticking away the amount of patience she had left for this ‘little get-away’. She could see the cooler to her left in the back seat and checked for something to eat, hoping for fruit but finding only musty melted ice water and an apple core choking in a damp plastic bag.
You know that’s not what I meant.
Yeah, I know…
She let her voice smolder off, flowing out of the cracked passenger window, floating up into the trees lining the side of the road, settling like ash on the leaves after last night’s forest fire. She was sore, mostly from sleeping in an awkward position all night; she adjusted her weight…. It was early still and there weren’t many other cars on the road; she laid her head back and looked through the sun roof, letting her eyes glaze over as she watched the clouds, infinitely gray and uninterrupted. Eventually she realized she was focusing on two beads of water still clinging to the glass, barely hanging on in the head wind. She closed her eyes and waited until it was her turn to drive.
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She laid her head back and looked through the sun roof, letting her bright eyes fill with the blue sky, seemingly infinite and undisturbed by even a single cloud or disturbance, perfect. Her long legs stretched out like the road and possibilities ahead of them to her feet tanning on the dash. She used one foot to adjust the toe ring he had given her on their anniversary last year, hoping to wash out that tan line this weekend. She put her hand in his pocket feeling the warmth of his leg. After a short pause she reached a little deeper and pulled out a lighter.
He looked over his shoulder through his wayfarers and gave her a quick grin before turning back to the road.
Let me bum one too, baby.
(will be continued...)
How did we get here?
The stress of driving through the night had become visible in blood shot eyes and tangible in sandpaper stubble. He grabbed his glasses hanging from the visor and rubbed the lenses with the bottom of his tank top, careful to blow off the sand without abrading the surface. He was sitting on his towel which was all but dry around the edges and vaguely damp under his fluorescent board shorts. He put on his glasses and noticed he had missed a couple grains still lodged between the frame and the lens. After a long pause she finally rustled from her semi sleep in the passenger seat.
Don’t tell me we’re lost again.
She blinked a few times and rubbed her eyes, trying to bring the road map on her paper blanket into focus. She had slept with her bare feet on the dash with the seat reclined, a few grains of sand still grinding between her toes occasionally falling through and rolling down the vinyl ticking away the amount of patience she had left for this ‘little get-away’. She could see the cooler to her left in the back seat and checked for something to eat, hoping for fruit but finding only musty melted ice water and an apple core choking in a damp plastic bag.
You know that’s not what I meant.
Yeah, I know…
She let her voice smolder off, flowing out of the cracked passenger window, floating up into the trees lining the side of the road, settling like ash on the leaves after last night’s forest fire. She was sore, mostly from sleeping in an awkward position all night; she adjusted her weight…. It was early still and there weren’t many other cars on the road; she laid her head back and looked through the sun roof, letting her eyes glaze over as she watched the clouds, infinitely gray and uninterrupted. Eventually she realized she was focusing on two beads of water still clinging to the glass, barely hanging on in the head wind. She closed her eyes and waited until it was her turn to drive.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
She laid her head back and looked through the sun roof, letting her bright eyes fill with the blue sky, seemingly infinite and undisturbed by even a single cloud or disturbance, perfect. Her long legs stretched out like the road and possibilities ahead of them to her feet tanning on the dash. She used one foot to adjust the toe ring he had given her on their anniversary last year, hoping to wash out that tan line this weekend. She put her hand in his pocket feeling the warmth of his leg. After a short pause she reached a little deeper and pulled out a lighter.
He looked over his shoulder through his wayfarers and gave her a quick grin before turning back to the road.
Let me bum one too, baby.
(will be continued...)