SWNOVELS Chapter 2 - Aubree
Aubree had to leave.
As much as she wanted to stay in Chicago, she finally managed to land a job in her boyfriend’s city of Minneapolis, Minnesota. She had been urging Dan to find a job in Chicago so they could finally move in together, but even she knew how far-fetched that sounded. There simply weren’t any decent entry-level jobs in the metropolis. The last recession hit the economy hard and it was still struggling to recover.
It was time for her to step up and make the move herself.
After months of applying, her efforts finally paid off and now she was on her way to the twin cities and taking the next step in their relationship.
The drive strained her eyes as she made her way west. Driving in the evening wasn’t the smartest move she’d made, but she was eager to get there early and surprise her man.
Dan wasn’t expecting her until tomorrow afternoon. She couldn’t wait to see his face when he opens his apartment door to find her standing there.
Best of all, she couldn’t wait for the sex.
It had been months since her last visit. She was deprived; she could only imagine how horny he must be. She could just envision running her fingers over Dan’s lean chest, feel his hot breath against her neck...
The grinding of pebbles under rubber diverted her roaming focus from the daydream and back onto the road. Taking a deep breath, she cursed at herself for getting sidetracked for a split second.
She met Dan at the end of her third year in college at a party. He had finished his final semester and they had flirted carelessly with each other all evening.
That summer had been one of the hottest she had ever encountered. She never dreamed she could ignite so much passion into another person, never mind receive the same amount of pleasure and excitement from a man’s touch.
They were inseparable. When autumn came, she went back to college while he searched for work.
She remembered the call she had received a month before Christmas. He had finally found a job, but it was in Minneapolis.
Crushed was an understatement of how she felt upon hearing this news.
They met for dinner that evening, and she had anticipated him breaking up with her. She never expected that he wanted to pursue a long-distance relationship where they could only visit each other a couple times a year.
From then on, they had gone about their daily lives as normally as they could and set aside an hour every evening to chat on Skype.
It had been painful at first, but she gradually got used to it.
Now, she had finally landed a job close to his apartment and she couldn’t believe her luck. Things were finally starting to turn around for them.
Darkness had fallen an hour ago, and the stretch of road had entered a dark, unlit wooded area.
She tightened her grip on the wheel as she focused on the road.
When the radio signal fizzled out, she played around with the dial until she could pick up another station.
Squealing, she cranked the volume up when she found one of her favorite songs playing. Belting out the lyrics at the top of her voice, she almost didn’t hear her phone ringing from her purse next to her.
After turning the volume down, she reached into her purse and began digging blindly through it while she kept her eyes on the road.
Although she was expecting it to be Dan, she wasn’t surprised when she saw who was calling. She pressed the phone to her ear. “Hi, Mom.”
“Aubree, come back home. I can’t stand being alone with your father.”
She rolled her eyes at her mother’s exaggeration. She shifted the phone to her other ear. “I’m sure everything will be fine. What did he do this time?”
“He took my bicycle out for a ride!”
She furrowed her brows. “But, Dad doesn’t know how to ride a bike.”
“Exactly! A car nearly hit him when he toppled over! It’s like he was trying to relive his childhood, even though he hasn’t ridden a bicycle in twenty-five years! I swear, the man is going senile or something! One of these days, he’s going to kill himself, and you know who the police are going to be pointing their fingers at! Lord have mercy on my soul!”
She shook her head, knowing how her mother tended to exaggerate a lot. Aubree always thought it was to get more attention, and it worked for the most part.
The last few days since telling her parents she was leaving for Minneapolis, her father had started behaving strangely.
He had pulled out his musty old football jersey from high school—which he had refused to throw away after all these years—and started strutting around the neighborhood like he was cock of the walk.
The neighbors had a field day. They laughed so hard, he finally gave up that stupid jersey. Hurt his pride too. Now, he couldn’t look any of them in the eye, and they couldn’t help snickering from the memory.
“Is he alright?” Aubree asked in concern.
“Of course he is. But you know your father. He wasn’t ready to admit defeat until he got back up, tried again, and really nicked his shin. That did him in. Came home sulking and tended to his boo-boo, refusing to let me even look at it. Knew I wouldn’t let him hear the end of it if I got a good look at it—and he’d be right, you know.”
Aubree sighed in relief. “Well, I’m glad he’s alright, but can we talk about Dad later? I’m driving right now, and it’s pitch black here.”
“Oh? Whereabouts are you now? You must be getting close to Minneapolis, right?”
She glanced at the old GPS on the dashboard that her father gave her when she made her first drive across states to visit Dan. “Yeah, about forty-five minutes away.”
From the corner of her eye, she saw a blur. A shape darted out in front of her, and she slammed on the brakes as hard as she could. The tires squealed on the asphalt as the phone fell from her fingers. Her hands clenched the wheel until she came to a complete stop.
Gasping for air, she squinted into the darkness that surrounded her. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears as she tried to collect herself.
What in the world was that? What jumped out in front of her car that she almost smashed into? It looked big, whatever it was. It moved too fast for her to even attempt to figure out what it had been.
Clearly, she didn’t hit it. There was no dent on her vehicle and her airbags hadn’t deployed.
As the adrenaline dissipated in her system and she began to come to grips with what had happened, she leaned back in her seat and stared out into the darkness, illuminated by her headlights.
There was nothing there but the woods that surrounded her.
A strange noise caught her attention. She held her breath and peered out her side window, the front windshield, and then the passenger side window, but couldn’t see where the noise was coming from.
The faint glow of her phone caught her eye and she nearly smacked herself in the face with her hand.
The noise had been the muffled voice of her mother screaming into the phone.
Gulping in air like she was being washed away by an undercurrent in Lake Michigan, she lunged for her phone and pressed it to her ear.
“AUBREE? AUBREE? ARE YOU OKAY? DO I NEED TO CALL 911? AUBREE?”
“Mom,” she gasped, fumbling over her words. “I-It’s okay. I’m okay.”
“Are you sure?” Her mother didn’t sound convinced, but at least the volume of her voice had lowered a notch.
Nodding, Aubree massaged the back of her neck. She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t been scared, but she didn’t want to make her mother worry any more than she already was. It wasn’t like she had hit something. Whatever it was was probably long gone now.
“Yeah. Yeah, I almost hit something. Some kind of animal. I don’t know. It moved so fast. It might have been a deer or something. I don’t know.”
She pressed the palm of her hand to her forehead and inhaled and exhaled slowly. She did it a few times before her mother spoke up again.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
She nodded once more, still taking deep, cleansing breaths. “Yeah. Yeah, I feel better already. Just relieved, and... trying to relax.”
“Well, you nearly gave me a heart attack!”
“Me too.” She shook her head. “I should get off the phone. I shouldn’t have answered.”
The other end of the phone fell silent then. Aubree began to wonder if her mother was still there, or if she’d lost connection. “Mom?”
“I’m still here. Maybe I should let you go so you can be on your way?”
She nodded and exhaled again, brushing a loose strand of hair from her face. “Yeah.”
“Do you feel safe enough to drive now?”
She swallowed, pursing her lips. “Yeah. I think I’m good now.”
“Okay. Drive carefully now. I love you.”
“Love you too, Mom.”
After hanging up the phone, she rested her head on her arms on top of the wheel. The drive had been fine up until then. She had to pull herself together and continue on her way. She was close to Minneapolis now, although she could book herself into the nearest motel and call it a night.
She shook her head. She had to keep going. There was no point in stopping now. She had to gather her strength and continue the last stretch and then it would all be worth it once she got there.
Just thinking about Dan and the surprise on his face when she showed up at his door would make up for her close encounter with death. Although, given the shock to her nerves, she wasn’t feeling up to that hot sex anymore.
“Maybe tomorrow,” she told herself as she lifted her foot off the brake and started down the road again, unbeknownst of the several pairs of eyes that watched her leave from the bushes nearby.