Road Trip (Jenna Ortega X Emma Myers)

Chapter 2 | Emma - Lake Havasu

It had been eight hours, and Jenna had talked about everything I could imagine and more. I knew where she went to school and all her playground memories. I could list her favourite colours, probably faster than her own sister (whose favourite colours I somehow also knew now).

She pointed out every car on the road that she liked and shouted whenever she saw a license plate from a state we hadn't seen yet. I truly didn't think she had stopped talking since we pulled away from the curb outside my former building.

And yet, we still hadn't said a word about the kiss.

"--so I just couldn't do it anymore, you know? The pressure, the long hours listening to parents complain, the constant threat of biting--kids, not sharks--anyway it was too much. I had to give it up. So that's why I don't teach swimming lessons anymore."

"This is it," I interrupted.

"The building on the left. Pull into this parking lot here." Jenna dutifully obeyed, squinting into a sun that had set just the perfect amount to be right between the horizon and the visor, completely blinding her. She slowed to a crawl, as careful with her handling now as she was a full day earlier when she started the drive.

"There's not a lot of room here," she said doubtfully as we crept between the rows of parked cars.

"Why don't we leave it down the road a little ways? There was tons of room by all those warehouses."

I shook my head, totally opposed. "No way. This kind of thing is too good a target for theft. Anyone giving it half a second of thought knows right away it contains someone's entire life. And if they see me leaving the vehicle--"

She shot me a sideways look.

"Sure, they'll be clamoring for your stuff. Who doesn't love a brunette?" I started at that. She seemed to catch my expression of surprise.

"Is this about the paparazzi? I promise they're only native to LA. Once you get into the desert like this they can't survive. They're too far from their natural habitat."

I laughed. "How about that spot?" I asked, gesturing to a long, empty curb at the back of the building. She carefully maneuvered into the spot while I dug through my overnight bag for the hotel confirmation.

"Are you hungry?" she asked, throwing the truck into the park with a hissing sound.

"I'm starving. Let's try that bar down the road. The sign said they have hot wings."

Jenna had already grabbed her duffel bag from the back of the truck and locked it back up by the time I climbed down from the passenger side with my bag. She took it from me with a move that brought our skin into contact for an electric second. Then it was gone and she slung my bag over her shoulder, now carrying luggage over both arms.

"I can take it," I said, just a little embarrassed at how much I liked her easy assumption she would carry everything.

"Nah," she said casually as she led the way through the door.

"What else are you paying me for?" She stopped at the front desk and looked at me expectantly.

I quickly showed my confirmation to the attendant and traded a credit card swipe for our room key. Jenna followed me down the hallway as I searched for our room number, coming up just short of knocking into me when I suddenly spun in the opposite direction. I backtracked one door and tapped the key, swinging open the door to the first of many hotel rooms we would share.

I exhaled with relief when I saw two beds. Too many late-night internet deep dives had my mind spinning, convinced there would only be one bed. Jenna was oblivious to my distress and subsequent relief. She set my bag down gently on the bed closer to the door, then tossed her bag across the room where it bounced off the other bed and slumped to the floor. She grinned at me.