Reckless

“Joey? Joey wake up!”

Joey stirred, grabbing tighter onto her pillow. The voice was hushed, yet it sounded fairly close.

She heard a sigh and then felt something rub along her back. It was comforting to her.

“No,” she mumbled, curling into her pillow more.

A laugh, “It’s time to get up, Joey. We’re here now.”

“Where?” she mumbled again, latching onto her pillow for dear life as it started to move.

A grunt, and Joey felt herself being lifted and moving sideways before she could feel a cool breeze and the warmth of sunlight on her exposed skin. Her feet were planted on the ground and she nearly lost her balance when her pillow was taken away, but was caught at the last second by…

Her pillow?

Joey opened her eyes to see Jacoby smiling at her. She gave him a confused look.

“We’re in Nevada,” he said.

Joey noticed that his hands held her arms tightly in case she fell over again.

“Where you my pillow?” she asked groggily. She faintly remembered him singing and then her falling asleep on him. Maybe she was dreaming.

Jacoby laughed, “You could say that.”

He let go of her and turned away, walking into what looked to be a run down gas station next to a Super 8. This must be where they were staying.

Lovely.

Joey, still confused and half-asleep, took a step to follow him but tripped, this time hitting the ground without Jacoby to catch her. She groaned and rolled over onto her back, hoping her tank and ripped shorts combo wasn’t giving too many weirdos a show.

She ignored the feeling of the gray sweatshirt tied around her waist digging into her back. Instead she opened her eyes, staring up into the cloudless sky and savoring the warm concrete pressing into her skin.

“Need a hand?”

Joey turned her head to look at Jerry and shook her head, “Nah, I’m fine.”

He looked around, “People are staring.”

“So? Let the fuckers look.”

Jerry shrugged, obviously thinking the same thing before stepping back around the other side of the van and checking on the gas.

Joey could still hear Dave’s snoring from inside the van and wondered how she could’ve possibly slept through that. She must’ve really been tired.

Either that or Jacoby made a really good pillow…

“Joey! Joey, are you okay?!”

Joey craned her neck backwards to look at her sister properly.

“I’m fine, Zoey.”

“Then why are you on the ground?”

Joey turned her eyes to Tobin, “I fell.”

Zoey crouched down next to her while Tobin went back to the van.

“Why did you fall?”

Joey rolled her eyes, “I don’t know, Zoey. How do people fall?”

Zoey sighed and stood up, “Hmm, I have no idea.”

She extended her hand to Joey, who ignored it.

“Don’t you want help getting up?”

“Nah, I’m good.”

Zoey huffed and put her hands on her hips, “Fine. Be that way.”

“Be what way?”

Joey caught a glimpse of Jacoby in her field of vision. He took a sip of whatever was in his 32 oz plastic cup and looked from Zoey to Joey.

“Joey won’t get up!” Zoey said, stomping her foot like a child.

Joey crossed her arms and closed her eyes, trying to block out her sister.

Jacoby nodded and lifted the cup to his lips again, only for the lid to fall off and pop to go flying everywhere. Including all over Jacoby.

“Shit!” he cursed, throwing the now detached lid across the parking lot.

Zoey just laughed and stepped away slowly, not wanting pop to run all over her feet. Joey remained on the ground since the pop was far enough away it wouldn’t get on her.

“I’ll see you guys back on the van,” Zoey said, turning away from an uncaring Joey and an unhappy Jacoby.

Jacoby pouted, “I’m all sticky now.”

Joey snorted, “That sounds dirty.”

She heard Jacoby’s footsteps as he approached her, stopping right behind her head.

“Only you, Joey, would think that.”

Joey opened her eyes again, not surprised to see that Jacoby had one foot on either side of her head, and she was looking straight up into his crotch.

She turned her head to the side, “Must you always do that?”

Jacoby bent over and looked Joey in the face, “Yes I must because I know you love it.”

Joey let out a tiny laugh, not caring to tell him that his statement was actually kind of true.

“Oh, you know it alright,” she replied, voice laced with sarcasm.

Jacoby frowned and stood upright, taking a step to the side and offering Joey a hand much like Zoey had moments before.

Joey, not seeing his frown, looked up at him slightly confused.

“I was going to help you up, unless you’d rather I just leave you here.”

Now it was Joey’s turn to be slightly hurt. She didn’t even make an attempt to hide it from her face and began to sit up on her own.

Jacoby sighed and grabbed Joey’s elbows without her permission, pulling her up with enough force to make her stumble a bit. Joey forgot that he was stronger than most people thought.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized quickly.

Joey didn’t know if it was from him pulling her up or if it was from his harsh tone earlier. Either way she was surprised. He hardly ever apologized for anything he did.

“It’s fine. I shouldn’t be such a bitch. I should be apologizing,” Joey said softly. It was out of character for her to let her guard down, but something about Jacoby these past couple of months just made her want to.

Jacoby, still holding onto her elbows, shook his head, “Don’t apologize. You haven’t done anything to actually offend me lately, like I have to you.”

Joey was even more confused, “Offend me? You haven’t done anything.”

Jacoby was now confused, “I haven’t?”

“Hey, lovebirds! Care to join us or are you just walking over to the hotel?” Dave yelled out the van window. People stared.

“We’ll just walk over! Give us a minute!” Jacoby shouted back. He turned to Joey, and upon seeing his hands still on her, he let go.

Joey wanted to say something about what he meant by offending her or hurting her, since she really had no idea what was going on, but Jacoby started to walk away.

She stood up straight and jogged after him, putting up her exterior again.

“You were just going to leave a young girl out for all those creeps to feed on?”

He stopped and his head shot towards her, eyes wide.

“I’m sorry! I was just…spacing off. But please, don’t talk like that. I don’t even want to think about something like that happening to yo-anyone.”

He grabbed her hand and started dragging her after him, through the sand separating the two parking lots. Joey was too distracted by his strange behavior to worry about the sand getting in her shoes and the dust going up her nose.

They reached the front of the hotel and stepped inside, neither of them saying a word. They were both too lost in their own worlds.

Jerry turned around from the front desk, two room keys in hand. He eyed Tobin and Zoey, who were standing holding hands and chatting, Dave who was reading a brochure about a local water park, and Jacoby and Joey who were also holding hands, both looking conflicted.

“Tobin and Zoey, you guys get one room with one bed all to yourselves,” Jerry said, a look of disgust on his face as he handed a suspiciously excited Zoey the key, “and me, Dave, Jacoby, and Joey get the other room.”

“So wait,” Joey said, snapping from her daze and letting her hand escape from Jacoby’s grasp and fall to her side, “we all share one bed? Four of us?”

Jerry shook his head, “Oh, no. There’s two beds.”

Joey wanted to laugh at the expression on his face, but decided against it, “But there’s still four of us.”

“We’ll be sharing beds, see,” Dave said, putting an arm around an unamused Jerry.

“I am not sharing a bed with you,” Jerry said blankly.

Jacoby shook his head, snapping himself from his own daze, “I’ll share a bed with Dave.”

Joey felt her heart tighten a bit, not understanding why. It’s not like Jacoby was about to say he wanted to share a bed with her, right?

Jerry shot her a look that she couldn’t figure out, “No, I will. It’s already been decided.”

Jacoby turned to Joey and shot her a smile, “Guess that means we’ll be sleeping together, huh?”

Joey weakly smiled back, too flustered to say anything else.

The things that ran through her head…