Potholes

Chapter 7

"You ready?" He asked, swinging the backpack over his back.

"Yep. What's with the backpack?" She asked, confused.

"Snacks. C'mon, let's go."

"Where are we going?"

"There's a spot a few miles up the road I like to go to smoke. I think you'd like it."

"Then, lead the way," She smiled and, as she walked towards him, she stopped in her tracks, "do you have any shoes I can wear, just so I don't have to wear my heels?"

He scrunched his face up in contemplation and walked back over to his coat closet. He opened the closet door and got down on his knees to search the closet floor. After a few minutes of searching, he pulled out a pair of Adidas sandals.

"Here, I got these for my sister, but she didn't want them, and I couldn't return them. You can keep them if you want." He handed her the black and white backless sandals.

"Thank you." She smiled up at him as she slid the sandals on. He looked down and noticed they were a little big for her, perfectly fitting her baggy ensemble.

L.A grabbed his keys and held the front door open for Tulip to leave out of first. Once she was out of the house, he turned off the lights, and pulled the door closed to lock it. He walked over to his truck, unlocking it in the process, and opened the passenger door up for Tulip. He stood beside the door until she was safely inside the truck and putting her seatbelt on. He closed her door and walked over to the driver's side. Once inside, he started the truck up and they were backing out of the ranch and onto the desert road again. They were, once more, in a comfortable silence with soft music coming out of the radio. L.A.'s phone suddenly vibrated against his leg from inside his sweatpants pocket. He pulled it out and glanced down at the bright screen. A message from Dakota was displayed on the screen and read 'WTF is happening?! Did a fight break out?!' L.A. shook his head and smirked to himself, making a mental note to himself to respond to his message later. He made a left turn off the main road onto a dirt path. Soon, he was backing the truck up towards something, but Tulip wasn't sure what. When he parked the truck, he grabbed the blankets, the backpack of snacks, and his velvet knapsack and got out of the car. He went to open Tulip's door for her and help her down. As he began laying one of the old comforters across the bed of the truck, Tulip gazed over the view in front of them. The scattered lights from the small city skyline twinkled below them, while a milky mixture of stars spilled over the sky.

"This is gorgeous." She said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"I knew you'd like it." He smiled to himself, smoothing the comforter out. Once it was smooth enough for his liking, he turned towards her, "You ready to spark up?"

"Of course." She smiled, walking over to him. He helped her up onto the truck bed and hopped up beside her. He reached behind him and grabbed the second thick blanket, placing it in her lap. She began unfolding it and putting it over her shoulders while he began preparing the pipe. As he lit the pipe and inhaled, he felt Tulip putting the other end of the blanket around his arms and shoulders. He continued to inhale and stopped, holding the smoke in his chest with his eyes closed before letting it spill from between his lips. He took another pull from the pipe before handing it over to Tulip. She took into her fingers and brought it up to her lips. He watched her take a pull from the pipe as he slowly blew out the smoke from his previous one.