The Lift

1

David arrived at LAX seemingly a few minutes early, much to his surprise and to the surprise of Jason. Except Jason was still in Boston having missed his earlier flight. But due to miscommunication, not a surprise, David had no idea until he got to the airport.

As he cruised along slowly past the pick-up zone, cursing Jason and his tardiness, he noticed a girl (a woman?) who seemed to be around his age having a very heated conversation on her phone. She stood close to the curb with a duffel bag at her feet. Now stopped in traffic for a moment, David got a better look at her and for some unknown reason he signaled and pulled over to the curb.

As he did so, the woman looked up, mouthed, "Sorry!" and backed away from the curb, not offering him a second glance as she continued her tense conversation. She apparently thought she was in the way of whoever he was picking up. David rolled down the window and caught the last bit of the phone call; she called whoever was on the other side an asshat and, clearly frustrated, ended the call.

She started furiously typing on her phone, still paying no attention to David in his white Tesla. It took him a few more seconds before getting up the nerve to ask if she wanted a ride. Why he felt compelled to do this he once again had no idea.

"Erm, excuse me. Do you need a ride? You look a little, well, lost. Or, like, abandoned," David said.

The woman finally looked up, not so much startled as she was taken aback and overtly confused. She stared him down for a moment before approaching the window, leaning on the door.

"I appreciate the offer, at least I think I do, but I'm not exactly stoked to get into a strange boy's Tesla," she countered as she stepped back from the car. "I'm not that desperate."

David smirked and let out a short laugh.

"How old do you think I am?" he asked a bit incredulously.

"Young enough for me to think I should get an Uber instead of driving with a minor," she said, staring at her phone once again.

At that, David shrugged, mostly to himself because she clearly wasn't convinced, nor was she paying attention. He finagled his wallet out of his pocket and pulled out his license, reaching across to the open window.

"Promise I'm legal," he said with a huge grin on his face.

The woman looked up at him once more, amazed he hadn't given up and wondering how the airport police hadn't yelled at him yet to move along. After looking left and right she finally turned back to David, hand still outstretched with his license in hand.

She sighed deeply. "Only because my friend is an asshat who forgot I was arriving today," she said as she picked up her duffel. "And apparently I am desperate."

Surprised that she actually made a move to get in, it took David a second to hit the button for the trunk so she could stash her baggage. The woman came back to the passenger door, took a single deep breath, and climbed in.

Once she sat down, backpack situated between her legs, she stared unashamedly at "the boy," who stared right back.

"Are you even going to bother asking where I need to go or have we dropped the ruse of helpful stranger already?" she asked bluntly. "I just need to know so I can send one last tweet letting people know of my final whereabouts."

David let out a strong and uninhibited laugh. She was genuinely funny. He was glad he had stopped. He kept laughing as he put the car in drive and signaled to move out of the curb-side lane.

"Where to, ma'am?" he asked in a fake serious voice.

"The Beverly Hills Marriott," she responded with some hesitation, giving him a dirty look for the ma'am comment.