Page 10 of Push & Pull
Simone still couldn’t believe this was happening.Am I hallucinating?Had she really lost a night of her life? Since when did she drink herself half to death?Not since before my last rehab stint.Something felt off, and it wasn’t merely her stomach.
“Here. Eat up.” Petra dropped the bag into Simone’s lap and wiped her hands off with disinfectant she kept in the storage space between the two front seats. “Trust me. You’re gonna wanna have something in your stomach should your hangover bite you in the ass again.”
“I’ve been hungover before.” Nevertheless, Simone sniffed the contents of the bag. She nearly gagged when meat and grease hit her nose. It was a Florida miracle that she had the wherewithal to pull a sandwich out and successfully unwrap it enough to eat.
Surprisingly, the first bite did not send her bile out the passenger side window.
“Told you.” Petra slowly backed out of the space and followed the signs to the freeway. “Great for hangovers. We’ll talk more once you’ve sobered up a bit better. Until then, let’s hit the road so we can be in Atlanta by nightfall.”
Simone was going to say something, but the taste of the fast-food sandwich had hit her mind differently.It’s been a long time since I ate something like this…What she hadn’t considered was what she would think of as soon as she faced sausage and egg while riding in a sensible sedan.
“Don’t those fries hit the spot?”Instead of Petra, Simone saw her mother sitting in the driver’s seat, the chemicals in her freshly curled hair overpowering the scent of the Kids’ Meal.“Did you get anything good for the toy? That was always my favorite part when I was a kid.”
How had Simone forgotten? Her mother, Elizabeth, who had come from a middle-class background, used to occasionally take young Simone to get the creature comforts that many American children clung to in their mundane lives. Like McDonald’s. Or Burger King. Wendy’s. Taco Bell…
“You okay over there?”
Simone swallowed the bite currently lingering on her tongue. “Fine. Wish I had my phone.”
“Ah, yes, the great addiction.”
As soon as Simone finished her breakfast, she shoved the wrapper into the bag and pushed the whole thing into the dent between seats. Only then did she realize she hadn’t buckled her seatbelt.
The modern Volvo sped onto an on-ramp. Soon, they merged into northbound traffic. A sign told them how far they were from Orlando, Tallahassee and Atlanta. Already, Simone couldn’t remember where they were heading or why.
A full stomach and the constant purr of the car were putting her back to sleep, anyway.
Chapter 4
Allinall,thingscould have gone a lot worse.
Petra half-expected Simone to throw a tantrum when she woke up and realized what had happened. When she was missing her phone?Phew.Another bullet dodged. While Petra kicked herself for not noticing a lack of a phone on Simone’s person, she was also grateful that someone wasn’t calling the cops on her for kidnapping.
Becauseit’s a long storybarely covered it.
The only reason Petra was conscious as she hauled ass from Miami to Atlanta was because she knew exactly which energy drinks fucked her shit up in all the best ways.When you’re always speeding away from half-naked idiots, you get used to driving half-asleep.It had been three weeks since she left Clyde Quimby in the dust. In that time, Petra had made her payment to her uncle, stopped off at another friend’s house in Chicago, and traveled from there to Miami inanotherrental car.
She was always on the move. Sometimes out of necessity, and sometimes for a lack of anything else to do.
At least she had a healthy influx of cash since last night. Between Hailey falling asleep and Francis Marseilles banging down the door, Petra had snuck into the drug-infested guest room where the sisters had curled up together on the pile of blankets. Both of their wallets contained enough cash to fuel Petra up on her way to New York. That included breakfast sausage sandwiches that hit the hungover spot.
Simone wasn’t ever part of the plan, but since when was Petra one to say no to helping her fellow man?Or woman, in this case.
She did wish that someone had told her Simone had a flight out of Miami that day. She could have easily dropped Simone off at the airport instead of hauling her up to Atlanta. Not that Petra had anything against engaging companions who helped keep her awake on the road.
Simone slept for the rest of the morning. As she groggily woke up right outside of Orlando, she mentioned that she badly needed to “use the facilities,” like a girl of proper origin. Petra decided it was as good a time as ever to refuel, and pulled into the nearest gas station.
“You’re kidding,” Simone said.
Petra unbuckled her seatbelt and opened her door. “Too good for a gas station restroom?”
“In Florida? Yes.”
“Such a princess.” Petra offered to escort Simone into the convenience store. Simone pulled down her sunglasses and smoothed down her messy hair.You don’t look any worse than most of the other customers here.Hell, Simone was still attracting attention with her periwinkle sweater and tailored pants. Petra, on the other hand, slipped on a face mask so nobody would recognize her on the cameras. She never knew where she might be wanted, or where. “You want one?” She held a spare mask to Simone.
The pretty princess plucked it from Petra’s fingers but didn’t immediately put it on. “How do I know it’s clean?”
“I had it clapped between my ass cheeks the whole ride up here, so I guess you don’t.”
