Road Trip (PM for join - looking for one female co-writer)

Road Trip

The night was fiendish, with the heaviest rain I had ever seen since I had started my road trip and the dirt road I had been following to avoid the boring highways had turned into a mud pit.

I was never more thankful when the beast under the hood kept pulling me out of the next trap the road was laying out for me; the car was worth every cent I had spent on it and all the trouble I had had to get by to get it just the way I wanted it. Who would say it would be so damn hard to have a custom shop do exactly what we want? Well, being foreigner didn´t helped, but I eventually had my way. The power of money never stops amazing me.

All I wanted now was somewhere to crash for the night or until the blasted storm coming down on me went away, but I hadn´t found a single sign pointing to a town nor a roadside motel for several miles and when I saw the bulk of a truck stopped by the road side and what seemed to be a woman waving her arms under the rain, in the middle of nowhere, I felt divided. Should I stop or should keep going?

Slowing down to a stop but with my foot on the gas pedal, with the car doors locked, I lowered the passenger window half way down. The roar of the engine became lower has the 1949 Mercury immobilized and I shouted out in my best english, trying to get my voice over the thunder:

- Can I help you, madam?


OOC

This is to be the story of how a passing by foreign tourist gets a taste of the legendary "southern hospitality".

My character is a 27 year old man, from a non-english speaking european country. Yet, he is able to speak in english mind the eventual mistake or accent difficulty. He is the average man, with black hair and brown eyes, well built but not muscular, 176 pounds wet and 5´9 tall.

I´m looking for the female counter-part of this story. I don´t have the entire plot figured, just a few ideas, that are open to debate. Not looking for one liners; I enjoy lengthy posts, with attention to detail and no rush for the "obvious" part.

PM me if interested in participating.

"Thank God someone is coming!" Marissa thought. She had been waiting in the rain for too much time and was quite away from home to go back walking, althought she could have already been there, dry and warm if she had started walking when the truck broke. She had gone to pay a visit to her sister, who lived in the next town, but this meaning several miles away being in the middle of the Southern United States.

Marrisa had moved from her hometown some months ago, having been offered to become the kindergarden teacher. She wasn't so glad to leave her town but she wanted so badly to become a tecaher, and that wouldn't happen in her hometown, that she finally decided to leave. But she had never left her town so it was very difficult not to come and go every now and then when she had the time. Besides, she didn't have many new friends, beaing the little children the people she interacted more with. It was not that there was no people her age in the town, in fact, she had seen pretty nice man and women who seemed to have a good time when she went out of school, but she was so devoted to her work that she couldn't think about not going straight home to prepare plays and stories for her children's next day at school. "Maybe next weekend" she always said when other teachers asked her to join them after school. But either her sister's family came or she decided to pay a visit.

But she may should have gone this time. That way she wouldn't have been there alone half the afernoon. She had started to worry about having to sleep in the truck because it was getting dark and nobady was driving that secondary road. "Bloody truck" she thought "I should have bought a better one, but with which money?" So she felt so released when she saw the light getting closer and in her new town's direction! So she went out of the truck and started to wave her arms hoping the driver would help her. Fortunately the man at the wheel, a quite handsome one (although he looked a bit dirty and tired, probably for having been driving for hours), sttopped for her and seemed willing to help her.

"Yes, that would be wonderful. My truck has broke and it doesn't start. Maybe you could help me fix it or give me a ride to my town, it's only a few miles ahead. You could stay in my place if you don't have anywhere to spend the night, I have a couple of spare rooms."

HottieKatie said:

"Yes, that would be wonderful. My truck has broke and it doesn't start. Maybe you could help me fix it or give me a ride to my town, it's only a few miles ahead. You could stay in my place if you don't have anywhere to spend the night, I have a couple of spare rooms."

Click to expand...

The storm only seemed to worsen with every moment that went by; it was ridiculous to think it would be possible to repair anything under such conditions. I reached for the handle and opened the passenger door.

"Under this kind of weather, I wouldn't be much of a help to fix your vehicle." Offering the woman a warm smile, I pointed to the seat next to me, after throwing to the back seat my travel satchel. "Get out of the rain, madam. Please."

"Thank you so much. You are such a gentleman. Wait a moment if you please while I grab my things from my truck". She closed the door and came back to the vehicle. She went back some minutes later carrying a small suitcase and a briefcase and got in, placing her belongings in her thighs. She was a bit chilly and wet but she didn't mind because finally she was going home.

She spotted his bag and started talking while he hit the road. "So, what brings anybody to this dirty road? I come back from visiting my sister, but this is not a very popular road, so I imagine maybe you got lost? Where are you headed? Sorry, I'm talking to much, It's just I've been alone in the truck for quite a while and I was a bit worried, so I tend to talk too much when I'm worried... anyhow, I'll stay quiet now if you prefer..."

She seemed pretty much harmless and even more lost than myself, if that was possible. I only hoped she could point me in the right direction to get out of the mud trap the road had become for the last few miles. And don't regret of offering her a lift.

"Throw your things back there; no need to carry those cold and wet thing on your lap."

I noticed goosebumps forming on the wet bare skin of her arms and turned on the heating before driving off again. The wheels skid a few times but the car dug down through the mud until it reach gravel and got traction again.

As it would be normal, the woman struck a conversation, asking about a person like me was doing in a place like that. It was heart warming to have someone to talk to for a change.

"Never mind that, madam. In a situation like your, its understandable." The road ahead was not improving by any means as we moved on but the beast under the hood kept overcoming the difficulties. "I'm just passing by, going from one town to the next, enjoying the trip. Highways get me bored and don't have that much of a scenery. Consider me a very weird tourist."

"Not so weird I think" he was so nice turning on the heating because of Marissa's cold. "I think traveling by car checking little town is so nice. Big cities are cool, you know, but they are all the same. If you wanna get a glimpse of a country the best thing is to check little towns. You're agoing to love Silverton, it is such a cozy place, small, but it has all the facilities. We even have a little cinema!" She started feeling better. "It must be only 15 minutes till we get there". She was surprised there were tourists visiting small town, but she found it very behemian.

The storm was getting worse but as the road was reaching the town it was quite straight so there was no problem in driving. She had noticed his strange accent, but was afraid to ask. But after being there for a while, she felt comfortable: "So, I hope you don't mind my asking, but, where are you from? You sound you are not Northdamerican..."

"It's the accent, right?" Suddenly the road levelled and widened and became easier to drive, allowing me to relax a bit. "It always gives me away. I'm from Europe. Portugal, to be exact."

The track seemed to have turned into a tar mat, so I felt confident to gather some speed to leave the road behind and reach the town she had just mentioned. It had been too many hours behind the driving wheel and the though of a hot meal and a comfortable bed was starting to become more and more appealing.

"We're heading to Cavannah, then? Haven't seen a sign post pointing anywhere for as long as I can remember."

"Yes, we are just getting there, I can tell for the trees along the road. It is not a very well connected on this side. I don't know why would anybody start living there, I guess someone who tought the would make a big town, but it has just some 50 houses or so. But it is nice, i like it that way. I have a small house and it was not very expensive. The bad thing is a live alone, so it feels quite empty. You can stay with me for a while if you want, giving you were so nice as to take me here. But don't feel forced too, we have a small hostel in the town too, but I have to say the man that runs it is a bit bad-tempered..."

As she was finishing that sentence they started seeing some houses in the distance. "See? There it is" said she with a smile on her face. "My place is almost the last one so you just drive straight and can get a glimpse of the place. I can show it to you tomorrow if you want. They said Sunday wasn't going to rain, although I kind of doubt it..."

Civilization at last. It was a sight for sore eyes. Her offer was tempting but I wasn't too sure if I wanted to take the chance of getting on the wrong side of a little town by spending a night in the house of a single woman. The stories I had heard about the southern states were coming to me. I was about to politely refuse her offer when we past by the hotel.

"No vacancies..." It was sleeping in the car or sleeping in her house now. "I guess I'll have to take that kind offer of you if it's still standing Seems I'm not the only tourist in town tonight... But I don't wish to bother you." The town was getting by us fast and I decided to slow down a bit. "Just point the way, please."

"Of course it is still standing. You can stay as long as you need. I live by myself so a little company would be nice. Well, I'm at school most of the day and the rest of the day I'm planning my lessons, I'm a teacher, you know? So I won't bother you much." Suddenly she pointed forward. "That's my place, the one with green walls." He stopped the car in front of the little house and both got out of the car and run towards the porch.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2012/1536802132_18200c1a51.jpg

They got in and she showed him the place. "In the first floor there is this living room on the right and then the kitchen in the back" He could see a nicely furnished small living room and got a glimpse of the kitchen at the end of the little corridor. "Upstairs there are three rooms, I use the one upon the living room cause the views are so nice. You can take one of the others, whichever you prefer."

"But I can sleep in the couch just tonight and I'll see if there is any room in the hotel tomorrow" he said "I don't want to bother you".

"Not bother at all. The rooms are ready, sometimes my sister comes visit and I always have both rooms prepared in case her little children come." She looked so happy to have someone around. "Oh, and there are two bathrooms, a small one here" she opened a door on her left , "and another one upstairs, a bit bigger. There are towels below the sink. I'm going to take a bath upstairs if you don't mind 'cause I feel so cold..."

She saw he was a bit reluctant. "I hope you don't mind my offering, it is just that my parents ran a inn and I'm used to being a hostess, but I wouldn't want you to feel awkward. You can tell me whenever I'm crossing the line..." He was going to say something but she saw he was still unsure about it so she decided to let him think. "Ok, no worries, I'll leave you alone. I'll be upstairs if you need me. You can get yourself confortable in sofa or go check the spare rooms, whatever you feel like".

And she run upstairs to get her hot bath.

There was truly a welcoming sensation about the house, a diaphanous ambiance of the typical bed and breakfast clung to the rooms, giving a comfortable and almost familiar feeling to it; I felt as if I had already been there before so I decided to take the invitation and went for the things in my car.

Outside, the weather was still fiendish and seemed it was about to get even worst; thunder claps were closer between lightnings, meaning the storm was moving closer over the town, so I quickly took out my travel bag from the car booth and locked it, leaving where it stood on the the drive way, and ran inside to avoid getting wetter than I already was. To avoid messing up the carpets, I took my boots off at the door.

Although I needed and truly wanted a good warm shower, I decided I would wait for my hostess to finish her bath but keeping my wet clothes on my body wasn't a good idea, so I decided I should change and took her directions to find the spare rooms of the house, but I couldn't be bothered to choose; I took the first door I found and proceeded to change into dry clothes.

Marissa enjoyed her bath after being freezing for hours in the road. She was kind of happy having that stranger with her. She wondered whether she should be afraid of him, not knowing him at all. He could as well be a killer or something like that, but Marissa couldn't think of it. He had been so nice taking her home and was a bit reluctant to accept her offer for staying there, not wanting to bother. But she also got the impression he wasn't sure about staying because of what people would think, because he had been looking around the place as if searching for somebody to be watching.

Marissa new it was not very customary for single women to invite men to their places but she didn't really care about what others thought, she was quite open-minded for a Southener girl. Besides, she could always say he was his cousing or something, right? She just wanted not to be alone anymore, although she knew his being a traveler, it would only be for a coulpe of days. After all, there was not much to see in Silverton. But if she could share her life for two days with someone, it would be worth it. She didn't really have any romatic or sexual hopes or desires about him, although she admitted that he was really cute and handsome. She had always been alone in that sense. Her sister sometimes made fun of her being 27 and knowing no men. But she had always been devoted to others, first her family, then her students, so she hadn't had the time to think about herself.

Once she finished her bath, she came out of the bathroom. She had heard...what was his name? Oh, she hadn't asked him his name! She should remember to do it. She had heard him going up the stairs and getting into the next room. "Nice choice", she thought; he had chosen the room with the little balcony. She was going to tell him that he could wash himself too if he wanted when knocking on the door it opened. He hadn't closed the door, and he saw his back as he was putting on a clean T-shit.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you" she said as she turned her face to let him finish dressing, although she kept the corner of her eye on his well-built back. He fortunately had already changed his pants, because otherwise it would have been quite embarrasing. "Strangely as it is, I think we haven't told each other our names. I'm Marissa, pleased to meet you" as she offered him her hand as she went on feigning still looking away.

"No matter..." I pulled down the fresh T-shirt and ran my fingers through my hair. "I should have closed the but I was feeling too cold to think straight."

I tossed the wet clothes inside my laundry bag to wash it later and that inside the travel bag that was at the bed's foot and turned to my hostess.

"I don't intend to impose myself for too long on you, but I would like to know where can I keep my bags while I'm here." I held out my hand. "A pleasure to meet you, Mis. Marissa. You can call me Peter; it's easier for people to address me using my name in English than its in original version..."

"Ok, I'll call you Peter if you want. You can leave your bags in the wardrobe. You can take your clothes out and hang them in there. It would be better than being in the bags. And you can give me your wet clothes, I can hang them outside or even put them in the washing machine, you'll have them ready in the morning." She moved around the room while she explained and opened the wardorbe, took out some hangers and opened the door to the balcony. Let's take advantage of the fact that it isn't raining right now to air the bedroom a bit" She even went outside and took a quick look on th street.

"Well, when you finish settling everything you can come downstairs and we'll have something for dinner. I'm starving and you must be too." She started getting out of the room. "I'll let you some space and be downstairs." She was almost leaving when she turned around and asked: "Anything particular you feel like having for dinner? I don't promise anything but I may have it in the fridge".

"if it's dead, I'll eat it." I replied as I crouched next to my travel bag and offered Marissa a smile. "I'm not picky. Especially when I'm a guest." I took out my laundry bag and set it on the ground. "I'll try anything at least once; that way I can say if I like or I don't like it." I paused for a moment, sorting out the clothes. "And thank you very much for inviting me to stay at your house."

My knees complained and I had to stood up, suddenly realizing how strained my muscles were; too many hour driving without stopping always took it toll.

"Your town seems to be a very nice place and I would like to stay for a few days if there's no trouble; of course I will pay for my stay. It will be good to stay for some time in one place." I suddenly realized I wasn't the least bit presentable to have dinner with anyone, even less with a lady. "I think I will go take that shower now, if you don't mind."

"Of course, no problem. You look really tired, you must have been driving for quite a long time." She walked towards the balcony and closed the door. "It looks like it is going to rain again. Whatever, you take that shower and I'll prepare something for dinner. The bathroom is the room next to this one. Take your time, I'll be keeping myself busy downstairs. See you in a while" she smiled to him and left.

" I would like to stay for a few days if there's no trouble" he had said. Of course there is no trouble at all she would have liked to say, but she didn't want to sound too anxious, she didn't want to scare him. But she would try to do the best he could to make him feel comfortable, just like in the good old days at their parents hostel.

Once she was downstairs she decided to prepare some dinner. She prepared some sausages and chips, they were the only things she had home. She had never worried too much about cooking 'cause she always ate by herself while working on her children's lessons. Suddenly she remembered she had to finish some exercises for Monday, and thinking she may not have time to finish them the following day (as she had promised Peter to show him the town on Sunday) she headed to the living room and started writing some notes as she waited for Peter to finish his shower.

I showered quickly, I had no intention of making my hostess wait but as the water ran down the drain it took with the tiredness and the sweat of an entire day driving, while soothing sore muscles with its warmth at the same time. It was almost blissful. When I finally closed the faucet, I was feeling a new man and after putting on a fresh pair of blue jeans and a clean T-shirt, I indeed looked a different person.

The aroma of sausage and chips came up as I was putting my clothes where Marissa had instructed before and I quickly realised I was even more hungry than I imagined, so I left my tiding up for later and went down stairs to meet Marissa in the living room surrounded by books.

"Something smells wonderfully." I approached the table and took a peek at what she was doing. "You're teacher? First grade?" Suddenly, the lights went down and thunderclap filled the night outside and soon the rain was punishing the front windows of the house again, carried with gusts of wind. The lightning bolts crashing outside filled the room with an eerie glow, raising strange shadows around the room."You won't be able to do that much work until the power comes back. Show me where you have candles."

When the lights went down, Marissa felt relieved. She had a reason to stop working as her guest noticed: "You won't be able to do that much work until the power comes back. Show me where you have candles." She told him where they were and as he went to get them she started taking out her papers; she'd have to get up earlier tomorrow to finish the exercises.

"I'll go get dinner" she said, as she headed to the kitchen. When she came back with the two dishes full of sausages and chips, she found that he had already lit some candles and placed them on the table and around the room. She noticed the living room looked different under the candle light, it was cozier and inviting for a long night talk. In fact, that was what happened. While having dinner she asked the man to tell her about the places he had visited and she felt so good listening to his amazing stories that they kept talking way long after they finished eating.

I was on the country enjoying s long holiday and living a childhood dream; besides that, there wasn't much more to tell but she seemed interested in listening where I had been before arriving to Cavannah. I told her how I had just been following the back roads and going wherever it took me, starting from Miami, which was were I initially arrived to the US. Talking with her was easy; she was a very good and almost eager listener up to the point to start making me feel she had never been out of her town.

I also started wondering why she lived alone in such a large house although I remembered what I had been told before about her family visiting her often and staying over for the weekend. Nonetheless, it made no sense. Why would a woman like her live alone? She was quite intelligent and witty and had a more than easy on the eyes figure; one would be easily inclined to openly admit she was quite of a beautiful woman. Yet she kept unattached; there was no sign of any other person living with her, male or female.

"Its getting late." Outside, the rain showed no signs of stopping any time soon. "Perhaps we should go upstairs and rest. I assume you still have to finish what you were doing before dinner..." I got up and walked away from the table to look outside window. "Looks like it will rain until morning; the clouds are very low. But I admit I enjoy this kind of weather since I'm a kid."

She was a bit sad when he suggested it was time to sleep. His stories were very interesting and she wanted to listen to more of them, but then she realized it was later than she thought and that he was right about going to slepp. After all, she had promised herself to get up early to finish her children's exercises.

She picked up the dishes and took them to the kitchen as he blew out the candles. As she went back to the living room, she run into Peter, who was going out after all the candles were off. She felt his body against hers for a second and she realized he was quite strong. "Sorry, I came in a rush, I should've been more careful in this dark" she said, as she led him out and and to the stairs. "You can go upstairs and use the main bathroom. I'll stay in this one. See you in the morning. Hope you sleep well."Before getting in she tourned around and added: "Oh, if you feel cold, there are some blankets in the closet of the room." She entered the small bathroom and they didn't see each other until the next morning.

I went to bed thinking of a way of returning Marissa's kindness for letting me stay at her house; she had her work to finish so I remembered that perhaps I could take her out for breakfast or lunch. Or even both; I didn't want to burden more than I already had and she gave the feeling she was the kind of host that will do anything to take care of her guests. Taking her to breakfast seemed to be a good idea.

With that matter off my mind, I tried to relax in another strange bed. The house was quiet and the only sound I could hear was the rain outside the window.

Marissa was so thrilled for having someone with whom share some hours of the day that couldn't sleep until late in the night. She kept on thinking about places she could take her guest.

She thought about taking him to thelittle canyon near the town. Maybe he had already seen one, but if he hadn't, he surely would like the view. Maybe they could even go for a picnic and they could glimpse any animal walking around. But the weather may not be the best one for that, so they may have to stay in town.

Then she thought about taking him to the bowling alley. She liked it there, but she hadn't been playing lately since she didn't have anyone to go with.

Or maybe ha would have other plans. So she decided to wait until morning and simply ask him, so as to know what things he would like to see.

When the sun rose, she got up. She decided to go downstairs as quickly as possible so as not to wake Peter and waited for him in the living room finishing her exercises.

I was up early, as usual, and went to the balcony; the storm had finally lifted and the sky was clear, with the sun shinning bright and warm. It would be a nice day to sped outside.
After a quick shower and putting on a clean pair of blue jeans and a shirt, I went looking for Marissa, after I noticed her bedroom door was already open.

"Good morning!" Again, she was busy. "Listen, I noticed you have a lot of work to do, so how about if I took you out for breakfast? No need to worry making breakfast and you'll have more time to prepare your lessons. What do you say?"

"Oh, that would be wonderful. I know a couple of places that serve a delicious typical Southern American breakfast, I'm sure you'll love it." she said as she got up to pull back the curtains to let the sun come in.

"Maybe you wouldn't mind my finishing this. It'll only take me half an hour and then I'm all yours. Or if your are hungry we can go now and I'll finish it later..." She couldn't wait for his answer and revealed her plan for later in the morning: "I was thinking maybe we could head to the canyon after breakfast and have a picnic for lunch, since the storm seems to have gone away." She heading to the entrance and picked a newspaper that was lying in a chair. "If you don't mind my finishing the exercises now you can check the paper meanwhile" she said as she handed him the paper, "I promise I'll be fast. But as I said, if your are hungry we can go right now."

I sat down next to Marissa as she talked and felt a very faint aroma of flowers coming from her. Was it perfume or just a very exquisite soap? I pushed the thought aside.

"No, please, I didn't mean to impose anything on you." My eyes ran up and down the paper sheets she was writing on and I noticed how petite and delicate her handwriting was. "You finish up this and I'll use the time to clean my car a bit. Afterwards, when you're free, we can go out for that breakfast and you and perhaps you can give the city tour." I offered her a smile and got up. "Oh, and we still have to take care of your truck; you can't just leave it to fall in pieces by the side of the road, right?"

I closed the door behind me as I walked outside and grabbed the boots I had left on the porch the night before, to avoid getting mud inside; the leather was still very wet so I left it where it was, to dry under the morning sun.

Fortunately, the car was clean; the rain had washed away all the mud and garbage it had stuck to it and now it shined and sparkled. There was only to check if the seats would be dry, considering Marissa was soaking wet when I had found her by the side of the road so I jumped in the car and without thinking I inserted the key in the ignition and turned it, bringing the engine to life with a roar. Everything was just fine.