Daylight

Pet’s POV

What seemed like a few minutes, but was actually a couple of hours later, we’d arrived at our next stop. I ran my hands through my hair, trying to tame the bedhead monster, but it was pretty much useless. I didn’t care; I was gonna meet up with Joe.

He was waiting already by the time I got outside, one hand shielding his eyes, the other resting on his hip. His head was turned away for a minute, so he didn’t see me right away. I shook the kinks out of my legs and ran up to him.
“Pet!” he exclaimed with a smile when I grabbed his hand and he saw it was me. He swung me into his body, hard, and kissed me like we’d been apart for a month.
Damn,I thought, how could I forget how great this is in-between the times we’re together? I didn’t have a lot of time to consider it, though, because suddenly I was aware that Joe was practically dragging me over to a little spot by the truckers’ entrance. Shade fell, which meant we were not only out of the sun, but out of sight of everyone else.

“God, I missed you,” he murmured when we finally broke apart. I couldn’t talk yet, so I just nodded and kissed him again. Joe groaned against my mouth and pressed against me. I was already sweating, and despite the shade, he was heating up too.
We kissed in a fever for a few more minutes, till Joe finally pushed me away gently, his hands holding my shoulders. When I opened my eyes, slowly and reluctantly, even the shade was too much light. I was dazed, and he looked the same. In fact, he looked amazing—his lips a little deeper color than normal, his hair messed up, his eyes unfocused.
“Jesus, Pet,” he panted, “I—I dunno what else to do.”
I looked up at him through my lashes. “Invite me onto your bus?” I asked sweetly.
His eyes got wide, and he gaped at me. He was just about to answer when…

“Listen, you two, you’ve gotta stop fucking up against walls,” came Sal’s voice. “It’s bad for your back, ya know.” She cocked a hand on her hip as we stared at her. “And we’ve gotta get outta here, the buses’re pulling out any minute…just like you should be.”
“Sal…” Joe growled, but she cut him off. “Dude, I don’t care what you’re doing, I just didn’t think you’d wanna get left behind. See ya.”

She walked off quickly, flipping her hair back and forth and making sure to swing her ass as much as possible. It was a little Sal-thing that she did to show she was sassy and therefore superior to everyone else. Mo usually remarked that it made Sal look like “a supermodel on ecstacy,” and it almost always cracked us up. Joe, however, had no experience with this particular walk.
“How’s she do that without hurtin’ herself?” he asked in wonder.
I shook my head. “Nobody knows. It’s just how Sal likes to be an asshole sometimes.”
“Huh,” Joe grunted. “Uh, where were we?”
“I think we were getting back on the bus,” I suggested.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “I seem to remember summat else from you,” he reminded me.
I smiled. “I think I may have asked your bus or mine?”
“Ah.” He took my hand and we walked towards our vehicles. “I don’t think our bus is such a good idea,” he remarked. “Too bloody rank, not enough room. And your bus, well….”
“Too much…company?”
Joe stopped walking. “I wanna be with you, but not around…everyone else, Pet, you know.”
I sighed. “Yeah, I do.”
“Listen, Pet, why don’t we…pick a date?”
I was confused. “What, are we getting married?”
He shook his head. “No, of course not, but I just thought we might, you know, plan ahead a bit. Pick a city, get a room, be off by ourselves? And not tell anyone where.”
We’d started walking again and were almost to our bus. I didn’t know how to answer. “Can I think about it?” I asked.
He nodded. “Of course, luv,” Joe assured me. Then he drew me in close, and whispered into my ear, sexy and low: “But don’t make me wait too long.”
Two could play that game. I waited till I’d just stepped onto the bus, and kissed him. Before I let him go, I whispered back to him the name of a city I’d never been to yet.

He pulled back, smiling as the bus doors closed.

Joe’s POV

For a minute, I couldn’t even think. I just stood there, stunned, as the ’Bathers’ bus started to pull away. Then I heard me brother callin’ and sprinted off to jump in just as we pulled out too.

“Jay-sus,” Tom said once the doors’d closed, “what the fuck did ya think yeh were doin’?”

I wanted to tell him, but I just couldn’t. Instead I just shook me head and grinned. He looked at me doubtful and sat down, already havin’ lost interest.

I went to have a lie down in the bunks, thinkin’ about what Pet’d whispered to me just before we’d said goodbye: “San Francisco.”