Orange Juice

Chapter Two

  Sunny did not find a sink to wash her hands. She walked out of the stall, wiping her hands with her long patched patterned skirt.

On her way to Tulip the van, she spotted the same frumpy cashier complaining to the police, something about stolen liquor. In her head, she believed this was perhaps the universe's karma, and so she smiled as she opened the door and climbed into the driver's seat.

 She started the engine and turned on the radio, the CD album of The DynaBugs playing through her speakers.

 She hummed along to the lyrics of Back to School, her fingers tapping on the steering wheel at every beat. Driving along peacefully, she was completely and blissfully unaware of the cop car trailing behind her. Suddenly, she heard the siren. Looking over at the side view mirror, she finally noticed the police. Perplexed, she pulled over to the side of the road.

 It only took a few seconds for a cop to reach her window.

 "May I help you, officer?" she asked through genuine confusion.

 "I'd like to inspect your...van, ma'am." The officer replied while taking in the various designs of rainbows, flowers, symbols, and bugs all over her orange van.

 "Uh...yeah, sure." She said with furrowed brows, "May I ask why though?"

 "An expensive bottle of alcohol got stolen by a runaway thief." The officer replied, his eyes still distracted by the unique van.

 Sunny shook her head as she opened the door and stepped out of the van, "I did not steal a bottle of liquor, sir, I-"

 "Oh, I know that." He cut her off, "But witnesses say the person who did it is with you in the van." he said as he tapped on Tulip's door.

 Sunny scoffed in a lightheaded matter, "No...no, I assure you, sir, I am a solo rider. Only thing riding with me is my uke."

 Confidently, Sunny swung open Tulip's door, her sure smile slowly dropping as she made direct eye contact with the blonde freckled girl from the store. Lizzy, awkwardly half-covered in cushions, let out a nervous giggle, her eyes darting between the officer and Sunny.

 "...Yo." She said.

~

 Lizzy sat on that good old familiar bench as she refused to stare at anything but the rusty metal bars in front of her. Beside her, Sunny was at a loss for words. She could not even comprehend where to start or what to say. She looked over at Lizzy, whose lips were pressed together and whose fists were lightly clenched at her side in an awkward manner.

 "...You're oddly quiet for someone who just got a stranger put in jail." Sunny put forth, her voice low.

 "It was an accident!" Lizzy exclaimed, whisper-screaming the words.

 "An acci- wow, what a funny coincidence, you rolled into my van with a bottle of stolen beer while I was taking a piss." Sunny retorted, her tone laced with obvious sarcasm.

 "I didn't mean to sneak into your hippie van! Geez!" Lizzy protested almost defensively.

 "What, did you just trip over and fall into Tulip and suddenly lose the ability to speak? I mean, you could've just told me to drop you off, dude!"

 Lizzy turned to her with a raised eyebrow, "Who the hell is Tulip?"

 "My van, bro. My van." Sunny informed.

 "You named your van Tulip?"

 "Yeah. No, actually, it was my father who named my van Tulip-," she shook her head as she caught herself getting sidetracked, "hey, don't change the subject! Come on."