~12~

178 6 6
                                    

John

"Go on, you drive first shift, yea" Gentleman Lennon rides again.

"It's your car"

"No ladies first, I'm very good at maps and directions, it'll be grand"

"Grand?"

"Yea cool, hip, fab, gear, grand" I smiled broadly trying to hide the fact that this was like pulling teeth.

"You don't have a licence" She laughed and cornered me with a sliver of blue eyes over the top of her sunnies as they slid down her nose a tad.

Blue oasis, sky coloured heavens. Shit what am I on about, blue eyes, none of the other crap, just blue.

Her eyes narrowed to slits "I could just go grab a cab and you'd be stuck here in Fast Eddy's parking lot"

"What? No? course I have a licence, do I have to prove it, shall I get my wallet" I started tapping my pockets, stall, stall, stall.

"Get in, cap" She fell into the seat and I hoped she could drive ok or we were toast, then again when I drive we will probably be the burnt remains of toast, hmmm, ok she can drive.

"Left no right at the next intersection" My map reading isn't so good.

"Could you find your way out of a paper bag?"

"Funny.... Yeah I could, well I think so...." I turned the map on its ear and she turned it a quarter turn again, getting me to the right angle for the drive, the peals of laughter shook through the coupe and she wiped a finger under her hidden orbs, I think happy tears had moistened them.

"This is so weird" She spoke after we made it a few kilometres down the road, skirting the airport toward the city hoping that we could get on a ring road to miss the centre of the town.

"Yea, well I won't hold it against you" The face she shot me a weird look, like I was going to damage her. Somehow just as quick as Scottish skies change so did her eyes- back to the road and clear, she sighed a breathy sigh and gripped the steering wheel.

"We'll have to stop somewhere for a rest, if you don't have a license" Shuffling for her smokes she lifted a hip and leaned toward me pulling them out of her back pocket, crushed but usable. "Here light us one, have one, I don't mind, you're being exceptionally and unusually, I would think, kind, letting me hitch a ride"

"So, the whole patting the pockets thing didn't convince you then?"

"Nah, I saw the slow Eddy's ID form- DECLINED stamped across it" she smirked, I realised we hadn't exchanged names.

"John" I held my hand out, offering her a shake, switching cigarette to her left hand she leaned and shook mine.

"Clare"

"So, Clare... nice name by the way" I flattered, she rolled her eyes "So who's in Campbelltown?"

"Nirvana"

"Nirvana who?" I flicked the used cigarette out the window and watched her do the same, tiny hands rolling the window down, grasping the wheel, controlling always.

"Not who, what! It's silly, I told my sister I wanted a lovely place to relax and get away for a bit- my own little piece of nirvana. You?"

"Oh, catching up with a mate, taking a break from life I guess"

"Must be some great mate, you traipsing all over the world to get to him" She smiled looking at me quickly, her gaze never leaving the road for more than a second or two.

"Yea, been through a lot, we have. A lot" I must have been too quiet because she slowed the car a tad and watched me untangle from the memories.

"And you play. Him too? Guitar I mean, not with each other. Not that there's anything wrong with that but if you do all's fair in lo-"rambling at a rate of knots I had to shut her up.

"Yes, he plays guitar"

"Cool. I play but nothing special, just liked to bring it to tinker on. Nowhere near as nice as yours though"

"My what?"

"Guitar, dumbo. Your guitar must have cost a bomb"

"I'm not sure. Can't recall, I have a few you see" I didn't want the questions leading this way but here we are. The slight delectable 'o' on her face made her look younger and not so grouchy. "So, drive a bit, find a pub, get some nosh, a couple of rooms?"

"She shook her head in the positive, hair falling around her face and we fell into a silence of engine noise and cleared throats.

I checked the map for a largish town for the meal and night.

"It's so pretty" She drove and drove and I couldn't silently thank her enough, "Is there a place near here, along the lake? That flight, those flights. I'm dead tired tell the truth"

"It's Loch Lomond, yea a few kilometres, Inverbeg, might be a inn. Yea I'm ready for a shower, might get a room overlooking the Loch" That look graced her face again, fearful? This girl, she wasn't scared of nought, was she? I clarified "rooms."


Found a pretty view of Loch Lomond online :) Between the Ears a Book of Face page by KkDd

Found a pretty view of Loch Lomond online :) Between the Ears a Book of Face page by KkDd

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