Picturesque

Chapter 14: Sunset Strip

Once I had coughed up all the saltwater out of my lungs, we dried off and changed back into our clothes. Jo's blouse was wet now, but she put it on anyway, saying it gave her a beachy look. We hauled back to the parking lot when Jo said, "Everybody pile in. I'm hungry."

"Jo, how the hell are we all gonna fit?" Johnny remarked.

"Becca can sit in front—"

"Why does she get to sit in front?!"

"She's our guest, idiot. I don't know, you guys better find a way to seat yourselves in the back because I'm about to take off."

I hopped in the front seat with Jo as the three guys squeezed into the backseat, leaving Delores standing outside the car. "What the hell?" she groaned before she climbed over the guys, laying over their laps with her feet hanging out the side. "Keep your hands to yourselves, boys," she said as she slid her sunglasses on and leaned on the side of the car.

I giggled as Jo zoomed out of the parking lot and back onto the main road.

"Jo, where we goin'?" Tony asked from the backseat over the torrent wind.

"The burger joint!"

"Which burger joint?!"

"Sunset!"

"Oh, Lord."

I had heard of Sunset Strip from some of the movies I had seen before, and the reminder that I was in the city where those movies were made brought a tingle of excitement in my stomach. For half an hour, we drove through Los Angeles until we made it to Sunset Strip. Palm trees lined the street as other nice cars and convertibles flooded the road. There were so many clubs and restaurants and tall buildings and people that I couldn't help but feel glee swell inside me.

"Woooooh!" Jo yelled as she pressed harder on the gas, flying us down the road. "Put your hands up, Becca!"

"What?!"

"Put your hands up!" She took one hand off the wheel to grab my hand and lift it in the air, and I looked back to see the others were holding their arms up in the air and yelling. So I raised my other arm and laughed as we blew through the strip like an ambulance.

Finally, Jo swerved the car in front of a burger place that had a rotating sign in the shape of a burger on the roof. "Best grease in all of America," Jo commented as we all hopped out of her car and made our way into the joint.

"Not you again!" a greasy man with a towel over his shoulder yelled as Jo led the way inside. He looked like both the chef and the owner of the place.

"Always happy to see you, chief," she said, raising her eyebrows over her sunglasses as she led us to a table near the back. It was a large booth that could hold three of us on each side, and I squeezed in between Bobby and Johnny. The booths were red and squishy, and the table was metal. The large window we sat beside showed the Sunset Strip and all the cars zooming by.

The man who greeted us walked over to our booth. "The usual?"

"Yes, sir!" Jo enthusiastically said, slapping the tabletop.

"Oh, your cult has a new follower!" the man said, pointing a chubby finger at me. "Young and pretty, just how you like them, Jo."

I looked to Jo with a confused smile.

"She's just visiting," Jo said with a tight smile, tapping her hands on the table.

"Yeah, right," Delores said beside Jo, casting an arm over the back of the booth. "That's what I thought when I first met her, too."

"I wouldn't mind if she stuck around a while," Johnny said, looking at me up and down. He had stolen a toothpick from the holder beside the napkins, wiggling it between his teeth.