Chasing Sunsets

Driving. Yay.

I got into the car tentatively, not quite sure if I should trust this guy yet. Malorie, however, clearly did not share my inhibitions. She climbed into the passenger seat, gave him a quick rundown of where we were going, and settled back as if this happened to her every day. After a few miles of silence, Justin got chatty.  

"So, why are you two girls heading down here anyway?" Malorie glanced at me. I shrugged. We were letting this guy be responsible for our well-being, why not tell him why?  

"We, um," Malorie hesitated, not sure how to put it, "we have this assignment for school, to write a paper about sunsets. Now, Charlotte here," she jerked a thumb at me,"has never actually seen one. So I arranged for her to see her's in the desert. She's writing about it." He nodded.  

"Cool."  

"Really?" I asked, incredulous. I had been expected a scoff and some muttered remark about what girls will do for school.  

"Yeah, it's...poetic." I smiled. Well, if he sympathized with our goal, he couldn't be that bad, right? But then he put some explicit rap on the radio. So close. I sighed to myself and looked up at the darkening sky. Somehow, the road had always been positioned so that sun was behind us. At least the universe sympathized, not allowing me to view a sunset until my predestined time.  

"How much farther?" Malorie asked. Justin glanced around him, then at the sky.  

"A pretty large distance, unfortunately. You up for an all night driving session, or want to get some sleep?" I pursed my lips and thought it over. All night meant more time with Justin's music, but we did have a bit of a schedule.  

"All night, I guess," I said. "We'll take shifts, so no one crashes." He looked at me through the rear-view mirror.  

"Optimistic," he noted. I simply shrugged.  

"Life doesn't always see the glass as half full," I muttered, gazing out the window. At a lost of what to do, I decided to update my paper.

The first leg of our journey takes us in an unexpected direction. Our directions have been lost. We have enlisted the help of local Arizona teen, Justin Malley. Malley thankfully knows the way to Yuma. I know what you're thinking, never get in the car with a stranger. But you get stranded at the Starbucks off Highway 70 and see if you don't ask someone for help. We currently are cruising down some nameless Arizonian highway, since we have to drive all night if we have any hope of sticking to our schedule. Thankfully, Malley seems a trustworthy character, a good quality in a driving buddy, or any person for that matter. The outlook is hopeful, but anything can change.

I ended on that melancholy note, and closed the notebook I was using. Justin pulled over, and I immediately freaked out.  

"Is anything wrong? Is the car okay? You're not going to murder us, are you? Because I wrote your name down so-"  

"Charlotte! Calm down." He reassured me. "We're just switching shifts. Frankly, I'm a bit insulted you don't trust me." He glanced at the now-sleeping Malorie. "Now get out. You're driving."  

"Oh right,"I muttered sarcastically, "why wouldn't I trust the random guy I met in a Starbucks? That's just crazy." I got in the car and pulled back onto the road. "Where to, sir?" I asked, tipping an imaginary chauffeur's cap. He smirked.  

"Just keep going straight. I'll tell you when to turn." I nodded, and kept driving. This would be a long night.

As the road emptied, I allowed my thoughts to wander. I am currently cruising down a darkened highway, a complete stranger tagging along. I am insane. Normal people don't do things like this. In any case, I suppose I should attempt to make the best of it.

"Turn here," Justin directed me. I followed suit.

"So, Justin. What compelled you to offer to drive a pair of teenage girls to Arizona?" I asked, not fully expecting to get an honest answer.

"Well, I'm trying to answer that myself," he chuckled. "But I think it was something about the way you two interacted. Malorie was so trusting, and you-weren't." I smiled at the rear-view mirror. That's one way to put it. "Anyway," Justin continued, "I decided that two people that seemed so genuine couldn't be all bad-" I cut him off here.

"All bad? What threat do we pose to you?" I asked incredulously.

"You could have hit me over the head with a lip gloss case and stolen my innocence." he said with a completely straight face. I choked briefly on my laughter. The same thoughts had struck me that day.

"So do you trust us now?"

"Oh, yes. I find you completely trustworthy." I smiled at the road and kept waiting for further instruction. After about 20 minutes, Malorie began to stir. We were in an intense conversation on the merits of autotune in the music industry, and didn't immediately notice.

"So are you two bonding?" She asked during a lull in the argument. I jumped slightly at her voice.

"Hey Mal." I said. "Didn't hear you get up."

"Oh by all means, keep talking." She muttered. "Wouldn't want to spoil any heart to heart conversations forming between you two." She turned sleepily and suddenly said, "Hey, is there a bathroom anywhere around here?"

"I think there's a motel close to the Yuma border." Justin mused. "There it is," he pointed to a clean-looking roadside motel right next to a sign proclaiming Yuma, Arizona's population of 194,322. We pulled in, and I marveled on how we'd come. A few hours ago, we were despairing in a Starbucks. Now we were so close to our goal I could practically see the ruddy oranges and reds awaiting me in a few hours. 

As we settled in for the night, I scribbled down a few more paragraphs for my essay.

Thankfully, our trip has taken a turn for the better. We are breathtakingly close to our final goal, but for now we're relaxing in motel just outside Yuma. I should have brought a camera.