Power of Two
Paul breathed deeply of the warm country air. Joanie slipped her jacket off to enjoy the day's sunshine. His eyes darted across her cleavage, then quickly settled back to the road.
She truly enjoyed the ride. Paul was excellent behind the wheel out of necessity; Sean drove like a maniac on a caffeine high, hadn't renewed his license since high school, and frequently tended to run red lights if he could get away with it. When he rode with Scott Hall years ago, she feared for both of their lives, as Hall had never even bothered to get a driver's license. Frequently, she had driven most of DX.
"Penny for your thoughts." Paul intruded.
"They aren't worth a penny."
"Your thoughts are worth a roll of 100's."
"Even ones about Sean's lack of driving skill?"
Paul gave her a small smile. "Even those. He does suck when it comes to patience. Remember Toledo?"
Joanie winced at the memory. They had been late for a show and someone had elected Sean the driver. Billy, Jesse, Paul, Joanie and Shawn had packed into the back of a four-seater, with Sean driving up front. He hit the back streets of the city at what seemed like roughly 50 miles an hour. The five in the back clutched each other in fear, but Sean was cool as anything, drinking deeply of a Big Gulp and leaning back in his bucket seat.
"I don't know how we survived that."
"I know I was praying to God." Paul remarked.
"You weren't alone. That's why I'm glad he sleeps and you drive."
"Yeah." He said, "I'm old-hat at this."
Joanie nodded slowly.
"What's Kathy's excuse for backing out?"
"She said that Joe has a chest cold."
He made an acknowledging sound. Then they were gone into their separate worlds. It felt so odd to him that simply sitting next to her seemed an effective form of communication. She watched the trees and homes blur past them with the softened intensity of a poet.
She made no mention of needing to stop for the next three hours of the trip. Only the radio broke the silence in the SUV, and even that faded the deeper they ventured into the woodlands. The heat slowly became excruciating, and Joanie wished they had picked up water along with the soda.
Joanie noted that they needed to get off of an upcoming exit, and he took the incorrect one.
"I said 4B."
"With your lisp, it sounded like 4 Peace. Or for please."
"I don't have a lisp anymore."
Paul checked behind his shoulder, "Could you please make sure there's no one behind us?"
"Why?"
"I'm going to pull a U-E."
"PAUL, We're on the highway!"
"There's no one around for miles, Jo."
"But..." The car sped into motion, however. A sheen of sweat broke out over Joanie's upper lip as they made a wide turn and rode into the incoming lane of traffic (where, luckily, no cars came hence), then Wide-U'd back into the correct lane and made the exit.
Paul gave her a cocky grin that soon faded when he realized that Joanie fumed in anger. "Well, we lived." He said, sounding a bit too cheery.
"I knew that I should have asked Nicole along," She said grimly. Dark clouds drew over her eyes.
Paul feared speaking to her. Though Joanie wasn't known for having a violent temper, Paul knew full well that she was just as strong as he. A series of signposts were followed, and they somehow wandered from the front desk of the Alta Mountain Lodging Physicality (Where Joanie had to call her sister as a reference) to the correct cabin, number 23.
Paul and Joanie unloaded the car without so much as looking at each other. He watched her unlock the door and haul her stuff in behind them.
Joanie hadn't realized how small and cozy the place was until she stepped inside. Directly before them lay the living room, which opened onto a patio. To their immediate right was a closet, all the way at the left end of the room the kitchen lay. There was a wraparound, loft-like upstairs area, with a bed, dresser and mirror, and Two extra rooms, a bathroom and a storage closet.
Deep, wooded areas kept for hiking surrounded them on all sides; there also seemed to be an area for fishing somewhere back there, too. A "social" area also was kept for the patrons of the community: a grandstand for dances and concerts, a food bar, and a pool.
"There's a game of charades going on in the main lounge, if you want to go," Paul said, perusing the brochure given to him, "What do you want to do?"
"Take a shower."
Paul's jaw dropped open. He had meant TOGETHER.
"I'm way too sweaty to be out among people." She started to lift her shirt up, totally oblivious to his surprise. "Would you mind waiting a few minutes while I freshen up?"
"Um," He swallowed hard, trying not to notice the fact that she was pulling the tank top off as she jogged up the stairs, "Yeah. Take your time." He squeaked.
Thankfully, the shower masked the sound of Paul pounding his head into the doorframe..