Road Trip

Chapter 10

"All right navigator, are you ready for your next assignment?"

"Aye, sir!" she answered in a silly pirate accent, "What can I be gettin ya Cap'n?"

"Well, based on the milage signs to Albuquerque, we're going to get there around 3 in the morning. Now, I don't know about you, but I'd prefer to have a hotel in mind when we get there rather than searching for one," I reasoned.

"That makes sense," she agreed.

I handed her phone, "Open the Marriott app and see if you can find anything with open rooms for 2 nights please." I instructed.

"2 nights?"

"Yeah, even with a late check out we won't get much sleep, so maybe we'll explore the city tomorrow and then get going the day after. I've never been there, have you?"

"Nope! All righty, let me see what we have." Her fingers tapped on my phone as she hunted for a room. "Not much out there."

"Spring break big out here?" I asked, surprised.

"I guess so, skiing maybe? Does it have to be a Marriott?" She asked.

"It doesn't have to, but I have a ton of points with them from when I travelled a lot, so it is more convenient."

"The only room I can find is a presidential suite at some pyramid looking hotel," she said after examining the few options. "Everything else is further away."

"Book it."

"Are you sure? I don't want you to spend that much because of me." She asked, worried.

"Blake, we're allowed to live a little on a trip like this. I was going to have to get a hotel every night anyway, so having you along doesn't cost me much, and you more than make up for with your company," I assured her.

"Well, I'm not going to complain!" she said smiling and pressing a few more buttons. "All right, we're in!"

"Thanks! Then can you please update the destination on the GPS?" I asked.

"Of course!"

"OK, so we covered your favorite color, so what is your favorite cuisine?"

"Tough choice. Does southern cuisine count?" she wondered.

"Of course. That your final answer?"

"Umm. I think that beats out tacos, but it is close." She decided. "How about you?"

"I agree, tough choice. I love most different types, but if I were voting for one, I'd have to go with Vietnamese. But really, I'll eat almost anything but sushi."

"Sushi isn't food, it's bait," she agreed, causing us to both laugh. "I've never tried Vietnamese though, not much of that near my house."

"Well, maybe that is a destination for the road!" I suggested.

"Think they have any in Albuquerque?"

"If only I had a navigator who could find out," I teased her.

"You're really going to push that aren't you?" she said, smacking my shoulder lightly in mock indignation.

"As many times as you've got me this trip, yes." I admitted.

She was silent for a bit as she searched on her phone. "Looks like there are a several there, not too far from the hotel too. Can we go?" she asked with a puppy dog pout.

"Of course! Your wish shall be granted," I said in a silly voice.

"Oh my god that is too funny." She said, her face turning a deep crimson as she giggled uncontrollably.

"All right, it wasn't that funny, what gives." I really was confused, it was just silly, and not nearly enough to send her into gales of laughter.

"I can't say!" she gasped, trying to regain her composure.

"So, you're going to laugh like that and not tell me? How will I make it the rest of the trip? I'll go crazy not knowing!" I feigned in insult.

"All right all right. But you have to promise not to laugh at me," she said seriously.

"I would never laugh at you," I promised.

"So, as you know, I write a lot of these fantasies. And hypothetically there is a heroic wizard who rescues a young lady and who might say that exact thing before things get heated up," she said while looking out the passenger side window so I couldn't see her face.

"Heated up?" I assumed I knew what she meant based on her previous admissions, but this was the most she'd shared so it was interesting to find out.

"Yeah, very heated. There may or may not have been a lot of magic wand jokes," she said with her face in her hands.

"Well, that was a mistake."

"A mistake? Why?" she asked in confusion.

"Come on, you've seen Lord of the Rings, you need a man with a magic staff instead." I said with a grin, causing her to break into gales of laughter.

"I like that, well done Ethan," she finally said through her giggles.

"So, what is your best book?" I asked, trying to keep her talking.

"Well, my biggest seller is one where this Ethan guy is a vampire, but he falls in love with a human and rescues her from other vampires that want to eat her alive," she admitted.

"And by eat her alive you mean...." I had to ask.

"You can take that however you like, and you'll probably be right," she said with a blush.

"Was that your favorite?"

"Nope, the wizard one is my favorite, but it isn't done yet. I was going to finish it but got stuck a bit and then went on this crazy trip with some guy."

"Why are you stuck?"

"Well, in this one, just as that Ethan wizard saves the girl, and they're celebrating on a magic carpet, an evil wizard turns him into a girl too and he gets captured. Then the woman he had saved rescues him instead. So now they're both women and they're conflicted about whether he should try to find the magic to undo the curse. I haven't decided which way to go yet."

"Oh, I think he should definitely stay a girl. It could give him a new perspective on life and allows you to have more creative freedom. They're still the same people, so their feelings should remain the same for each other."

"You really think so? I mean, Ethan won't have his umm...." she stumbled, embarrassed.

"Magic staff?" I ventured.

"Right," she confirmed.

"Rod of power? Wand of ultimate engorgement? Staff of thrusting?" I continued, wondering how far I'd get before she hit me.

Instead, she just looked at me, shocked, and broke out into laughter again. "All right, if that is the way you're going to play this I'm going to make you help me write the next one!" she said as a mock threat.

"That could be a lot of fun," I agreed. I was getting very used to her laugh, and I adored it. When your only social interaction is a therapist and whoever checks you out at a supermarket, you don't hear much laughter, and I was craving more.