LUCYYYYY

[Jonathan Lee]

Ahh, Walmart. For all your shopping needs, from electric toothbrushes to condoms to spare tires to bleach to soak your eyeballs in after seeing what people think is acceptable to wear to Walmart. The last time Jonathan went to a Walmart, he saw a woman walking around exclusively in a G-string thong and a crop top that was likely intended for her very young daughter who was practically being dragged around with her. In short, Walmart attracted some very interesting people. It's wide variety of items that sold cheaply attracted Jonathan. They have everything in Walmart - literally. There was a Walmart he went to in Virginia that had a glasses store, nail salon, a Subway, and a pharmacy aside from the regular Walmart with a million departments and a food section. It was good for the student, who could get in and out of there with plenty of food stuff to last two weeks with under fifty bucks.

During the day and evening, Walmart was relatively busy. Cars were in and out - the parking lot was always full. However, at night, regardless of the fact that Walmarts are almost always open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the lot is practically empty besides a couple cars belonging to the few employees with the late-overnight shift and a couple of emergency runs for groceries because Johnny doesn't have any bread for his sandwich or Susie needs some diapers. It was the perfect spot for a lot of things considering how dark the lot was. It was perfect for drug deals and hang outs, for one. Jonathan knew a couple kids in middle school who would smoke pot in Walmart or Target parking lots on the weekends. It was also a good spot to teach a really shitty driver or a new driver how to drive.

That was the exact intention. Jonathan was going to teach Oriel how to drive.

It was eleven at night - only a bit past curfew; the air was chilly, the moon was out. All was smooth sailing as Jonathan, sipping coffee from a travel mug, cruised into the lot one-handed in his 2007 Toyota Camry LE. It was special, the car. The car's name was Lucy. She didn't have particularly great gas mileage, nor was her interior or exterior aesthetically pleasing; however, she only cost Jonathan about $500. He'd bought Lucy from some dude on the side of the road last year, after he had taken driving lessons and gotten his license. It all worked out marvelously and now he had a car. Jonathan would teach Oriel to drive Lucy so that eventually Oriel can get a license as well and get himself a car. It would benefit him in the future, surely, to know how to get around in a vehicle.

Jonathan parked the car easily by pulling through one of the spaces. Lucy sat perfectly between the white lines marking the space; satisfaction coursed through Jonathan's veins. He turned the car off and pulled the keys from the ignition, thinking in his mind that it would suck for Oriel to learn to drive a stick shift, but he might actually not be so incredibly horrible at it. Jonathan didn't really know; he had never really experienced Oriel behind the wheel before. Jonathan blinked his eyes rapidly before sliding out of the car, taking his coffee with him. As soon as he got his footing on the pavement, he stretched upwards, his shirt pulling up to barely reveal his semi-muscular abdomen.

"Switch seats with me," He said with confidence, jingling the car keys before tossing them in Oriel's lap through the open door. He looked nervous, but not so insanely nervous that Jonathan would be concerned about letting him get in the driver's seat, "You're gonna try to drive her." He took a sip of his coffee, then set the travel mug down on one of the concrete lampposts. Jonathan felt ready for anything, but he didn't realize how big of a hurricane he had coming for him.

[Deleted]

This was not only a bad idea….they must’ve been crazy to have come up with it in the first place. After all, who in their right mind would want Oriel of all people behind the wheel of a car? Just the thought of it seemed daunting to the 18 year old. But it was a skill he was going to need to obtain sooner or later, and since he had someone willing to teach sooner, then he may was well go with the sooner. And hope he didn’t kill anyone, himself included.

It was a typical October night in Pilot Ridge. It wasn’t….too late after the 11:00pm curfew. Oriel looked at his (new!) phone. Yeah, 11:05pm. That wasn’t bad. They could get this done with in under an hour and back before the dorm monitors even realized they hadn’t come back yet. Pfft, since when did Oriel give a shit about following the curfew rules? This from a guy who used to climb out his window in the middle of the night and nick a beer from the local convenience store. Ahh…those were the days…when he was young and stupid.

Because clearly Oriel was neither young nor stupid now that he was in his 18th year. Not even when he was out in the middle of a Wal-Mart parking lot wearing nothing but a black tank-top and jeans(and white sneakers) despite the chilly October weather. The cold had never bothered the hippie haired fellow(fellow?), and he was liable to boast that now even his face was snuggly warm with the layers(not so many layers) of scruff he’d been allowing to grow over the past several weeks. There was a purpose to it that shall not be named here, but he liked to think it made him look quite dashing. And it brought out his golden(dark) brown eyes~

Oriel snagged the keys once they fell into his lap and pushed himself out of the car, staring nervously at the ground. He raised his head to stare deadpanned at Jonathan. Jonathan, who was one of the few people that Oriel dared to call a ‘friend’, and who he owed bucket-loads of gratitude for being out there with him tonight. That said, did anyone expect Oriel to be anyone but Oriel to this friend of his? Nope. “Oh, don’tchu worry, m’lord. I’ll be plannin’ on takin’ a real good care of her, just you see!” he replied in a mocking voice of a nameless accent. Oriel ‘pet’ the hood of the car, cooing at it softly. “Thar thar Lucy-sweetie, you go’an be just fine, I’mma trea’chu right.” To ‘seal the deal’, Oriel planted a big wet one on that polished finish of hers…..and started spitting to get the taste of ‘car’ out of his mouth. “Ack, gag, pft, that’s terrible,” he griped with a lolling tongue, finally rounding about the car to the driver’s side. “Why’d you let me do that?” he asked Jonathan, looking at him accusingly.