The Passenger's Seat

To Garrett’s luck, the streets were empty and dead, which made it easier for him to find Roxie. Come to think of it, he thought. I could drive home right now and let her suffer. After all, she did ruin his night. But something kept tugging at his insides, telling him to go and look for her, because she was senseless and drunk in a big city, and from all the crime shows he watched, that equation never lead to any good. That was one factor. The other was, if she got caught, she would most probably end up in jail for not only theft, but drug use and underage drinking. Roxie did look about his age, around sixteen or seventeen.

When Garrett turned a corner, it finally came to him. He had no idea how to get to her. He didn’t know her phone number either. All he knew was that he had to get to her before the police did. No doubt, they were on their way now, in search for two teenagers roaming the streets. I’m a fugitive, he thought, feeling rather excited.

He opened his car compartment and flipped through his CD stash, and put a Cobra Starship CD in his car player. If in case he was going to be in a car chase soon, at least he had proper background music. He pressed play, and a catchy song started. When he set his eyes on the road again he saw Roxie swaying listlessly in the middle of the street, holding the now half empty bottle of Jack Daniel’s, only a few feet away from him. Garrett hit the break just in time.

He let out a long breath and put his head on the steering wheel. Roxie looked confused, like a deer literally caught in headlights.

“You’re not taking me home! No! No! No!” she shrieked suddenly, like a little girl being forced to eat vegetables.

Garrett looked at her, really looked at her for the first time, at the girl with pale skin and bloodshot blue eyes, the girl with hair the color of white wine, the girl in the leather skin tight dress and three inch heels, the girl he met about two hours ago, the girl who he had been with all this time and didn’t have sex with, the girl he realized he actually cared for… and saw that she was crying. She was on the ground, still clutching the bottle, rocking herself back and forth, holding her bare knees to her chest with tears falling down her cheeks.

He got out of his car instantly and knelt down beside her. “I won’t take you home,” he whispered, put his jacket around her slender body.

She focused her glassy eyes on him. “Promise?” she said, more tears running down her cheeks, lining them with faded black streaks from her ruined make up.

Slowly, Garrett reached out his hands put and put them around her heart-shaped face and cleared the mess on her cheeks using his thumbs with complete gentleness, without thinking. It was just something he had a strong urge to do.

“I promise,” he told her.

Roxie gave him a slight, lop-sided smile.

It wasn’t long before Garrett heard police sirens in the distance. Instinctively, he stood up.

“We’ve got to go, Roxie, come on,” he said, heading for his car. But Roxie didn’t stand.

“Roxie, the police are coming,” he said, trying to hide the minor panic in his voice.

“No you go, I’ll stay,” she declared firmly.

The police sirens were getting louder and louder. Garrett realized he wasn’t so lucky that she streets were empty after all… it made it easier for the police to get to them.

Ignoring what Roxie had just said, he hurried to her and carried her off the ground.