Fighting A One Sided War

"C'mon baby, you can do it! Don't stop now." I complained out loud, smacking the dashboard of my car. It was sputtering and spitting, I had barely any gas left and it was freezing on the east coast of the United States and I was pretty sure my anti-freeze was low. I'm used to California winters, where the temperature fell to maybe forty. It wasn't snowing, but it had a few nights ago, making the roads difficult to drive on. I was only just entering Ohio and I needed to get to Pennsylvania by morning.

I sighed and pulled my car over to the side of the deserted road and shut it off. I leaned forward and rested my head on the steering wheel. I turned my head so my cheek was resting on the center of the steering wheel. "Just my luck..." I mumbled.

I rubbed my eyes, dry and tired. I pressed a button on my cell phone so it would light up and show me the time. No wonder I was so tired, I had been driving for nearly seven hours, it was going on 2 a.m. I also noticed my cell phone told me I had no bars.

I sat up quickly and yanked the phone off the charger. I moved around in my car, sticking the phone out the window to see if I could get just one bar. I'd freeze if I slept in my car tonight, like I said, I'm a California boy.

I sighed again and opened my phone. The background was a picture of me and my friends at my buddy's wedding. I was holding her close, she looked so beautiful that night. One of the rare occasions where she flew out to see me and not the other way around. She didn't care for California, too much sun, she'd tell me. Though I always managed to get her out in the sun at least twice while she was in town. Her and her best friend; Destiny, a good friend of mine and the rest of my friends too. They didn't do anything without each other, even though Destiny was on her way to becoming a big published writer and she was working on school. She wanted to be a forensic anthropologist and school and internships took up a lot of her time, but she always managed to make time for me...

I closed my phone and opened the car door and stepped out hesitantly into the cold wintry December night. I pulled out a pack of cigarettes from the pocket of my blue winter jacket and opened it up; I pulled one out along with my lighter and lit up. I inhaled deeply, the warm smoke filled my lungs and I exhaled some of it through my nose. I leaned my back against the car and pulled my phone out again, still no bars. I closed the phone and held it tightly in a clenched fist. I closed my eyes and tried to keep from crying. I had to be strong about this, there wasn't even a 100% chance that she'd forgive me..

I was about to get back in my car, my hand was pulling up on the handle when I heard something I'd been waiting for since I'd broke down; another car on the road. The car had it's high beams on and clearly saw me. The driver slowed down and rolled down his window, the car came to a stop on the opposite side of the road as my car. It was a female driver. The woman driving looked slightly familiar, I couldn't be certain though, the inside of the car was dark. I got a little uneasy at the fact that this woman was driving, alone, down this dark back woods road in the middle of the early morning, wearing from what I could see to be all black, and sunglasses. I took another hit on my cigarette and then through it on the ground, putting it out with my shoe. My nerves relaxed when she spoke.

"Hey there stranger." She said with a slight smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"Oh my...D-dude...Is that you?!" I asked, mouth agape.

She smiled and held back a laugh. "I dunno, who am I?"

"Destiny! It's been like...four months! Where the hell have you been?!" I asked, jogging over to her car.

She giggled and turned on her interior light. "I've been on a small book tour. I got published last month."

"Oh my god. That's awesome! Where are you going now? Why the hell are you here?" I asked, taking out my cigarettes and lighting up another one.

"Well, I could ask you the same thing, but I think I have a feeling why you, Zachary Baker, are standing in the middle of Ohio on a deserted road on December 8th, the day before a certain girls' birthday."

"Oh yeah...You would be headed to the same place I am..I thought you'd already be there with her though." I took a long drag on the cigg in my mouth and blew the smoke out of the corner of my mouth. Destiny watched me carefully, waiting for me to say something else.

"Well I figured you'd already be there with her too, why the hell are you driving and not flying? And I thought you gave up smoking."

"I didn't want to wait for a plane, all the flights were booked solid and I wasn't missing her birthday. I've been a dick to her as it is. And yeah I did...for like three days." I laughed a little.

"Well I'm glad you realize that, from what I heard, you fucked up big time." Destiny said with a somewhat sympathetic smile.

"Well...Since we're both here...and my car, well is having issues...wanna give me a lift and save her birthday?"

"Or possibly ruin it.." I heard her mumble before she smiled and nodded. "Yeah, here use my cell and call the call someone so they don't think you're dead or some shit."

I took her cell and slid it up. The blue light illuminated my face and finger tips as I delicately put in Matt's cell number. When I hit call, the numbers changed into a picture of Matt and I couldn't help but smile. That was pretty cool. The phone was on it's 6th ring when a female answered the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Michelle?" I asked, a bit confused.

"Oh hey Zack. Didn't recognize the number. What's up?"

"Um..well never mind. Can I talk to Matt or Brian?" I asked not feeling like explaining car problems to a girl.

"Yeah. Let me go find Bri." She said sounding distracted.

"What's taking so long?" Destiny asked, she had shut her car off and was poking at a deathbat dangling from her rear view mirror.

"Michelle can't find anyone apparently." I mumbled, putting a finger over the mouth piece.

Destiny sighed and sat back in her seat. "Well don't wait out in the cold. Go get your shit out of your car and get in here." She said, shooing me with her hand.

I laughed and jogged over to my car. I reached inside the drivers side window and grabbed the keys off the seat. I pressed the button on the side of the door to pop the trunk. When I was grabbing my duffel bag from the trunk someone was finally on the line.

An out of breath Brian had picked up. "Hello?"

"Hey dude. Where's Matt?" I asked.

"Him and Val are in like Wisconsin or some stupid shit doing god knows what. Michelle and I are...house sitting." He said with a pause.

"Oh dude, that's sick." I said with a shudder, slamming my trunk shut and locking the car.

"Hey, like you wouldn't take the oppertunity?"

"No, I wouldn't...Okay maybe I would...That's not the point!" I said, getting off track as I looked both ways before crossing the lonely road.

"Well then get to the point." He said, I heard him strike a match.

"My car broke down. Thankfully, Destiny happened to be driving along and found me. My cell has no service and I'm going to use Destiny's call a tow to get this piece of shit back to California." I explained as Destiny started the car back up and unlocked the passenger side door.

"Alright. And you needed to call me and tell me that why?" Syn asked inbetween hits on his cancer stick.

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Ya know, forgive me for thinking that someone might find it a bit worrying if my car showed up and I didn't." I growled, slamming Destiny's car door shut.

"Dude. It was a joke. Chill. Alright, I'll be on the look out for your shitty ass Ford." Brian laughed.

"Alright, I'll fly back in to Cali...I dunno when though." I sighed.

"Take your time. Good luck. Tell Destiny I said hi."

"Will do. Bye." I said, sliding her phone closed before he could reply. "Bri says hey." I told her.

"Cool. So, you gonna call that tow truck or just gonna leave your car sitting here?" Destiny asked, fingers tapping the steering wheel.

"I suppose I should call one, huh?"