What If

18. Slimy...Yet Satisfying

Thursday July 15th 4:40am
Parked on the side of Interstate 5

"Are you fucking kidding me?!"

I tried to hold back my laugh as I watched Sean repeatedly kick the back tire of his car, which was now flat. We made it about twenty minutes past the border, heading to San Diego when we got the flat. Now, we were stranded on the side of the I-5. At four in the morning.

We made the decision to leave since both of us were dealing with some insomnia. We felt we had enough of Tijuana and wanted to start for San Diego. Since it was only an hour away, we thought it wasn't a problem. Not so much.

"Sean, it's just a flat. You have a spare right?"

He sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. I got worried when he didn't answer me.

"Sean...You have a spare-right?"

"I did have a spare."

Okay, now I was the one starting to freak out. "What do you mean, you did? What happened to it?"

He started pacing as he explained, "When we were in New Orleans, one of the trackers they found was inside the spare tire. I was so pissed, I just threw it out and was going to get another. Well, I...forgot."

I tried to keep my frustration in check. "Your forgot? You never forget stuff like that."

"I know, Lydia. I'm sorry. I had a lot on my mind in New Orleans with PSYCHO Amy."

A defeated breath escaped me. "So, what do we do now?"

"We need a tow. They can take us to a tire shop in the morning."

"Wait," I said with a small laugh, "it sounded like you said in the morning. As in, not now."

"Yeah, they don't open until at least nine."

I looked around the empty interstate. There was nothing around. Anywhere. "So, we're stuck here for five hours?"

Sean walked up to me with an exhausted, sorrowful look. "I'm sorry, Lydia. Really."

I couldn't stay mad at him. For God's sake, he had a psycho ex after him back in NOLA. "It's okay, Sean. I know a lot happened in New Orleans. We'll crash in the car until we can get a tow."

Sean looked like he was deep in thought. "We can try to call the tow company now."

"You said they can't tow us until the tire place opens."

"The tow service run 24 hours. So they can at least tow us to a tire shop, then when the tire shop opens, the car will be there."

"Oh, okay. Cool." I've never dealt with a tow my life so I had no idea how this works... Or how long it would take.

2 Hours Later

"Lydia. Lydia, wake up!"

It felt like I was yanked from the dream state I was in. While we were waiting for the tow truck, exhaustion started getting the best of me and I had laid down in the backseat of Sean's car.

I groaned as I rubbed my face, trying to wake myself up as much as I could. When I opened my eyes, I saw him leaning in the passenger window.

"Hi," I said.

"Hey," he said with a smile that told me he was clearly amused. "Tow truck is here."

I frowned in momentary confusion before remembering that we where indeed, stuck on the side of the road. I shot up, suddenly alert.