Page 4 of Overachiever
It’s still dark out when I drag myself out of bed. A quick text to Remee is returned by a few garbled letters which tells me she’s awake if not completely coherent yet. Coffee will be our first stop. I toss my luggage into the bed of my truck and pause to listen to the rare sound of silence and look at the fading stars. It’s going to be a good summer. I can’t remember when I’ve looked forward to something so much. Not only because of Remee, despite what the guys might think. She’s never been particularly interested in me. It’s the adventure of it, spending months somewhere completely unfamiliar, meeting new people, learning new things. It’s exciting.
The sight of Remee’s bleary eyed shuffle out to the truck makes me laugh. Clearly, she isn’t as enthusiastic about the trip. Or maybe it’s just because it’s the ass crack of dawn.
“Ducky pajamas. Nice choice.”
Confusion furls her brow for a moment, and she glances down. “Ugh, I forgot to change.” She hands me her suitcase and retreats back inside the apartment.
By the time I have our stuff secured and wrapped with a tarp in the bed of my truck, she reemerges wearing shorts and a tee shirt. Shivering against the early morning air that’ll be hot and humid soon enough, she tosses a smaller bag in the passenger side floorboard.
“Ready?” I ask.
“As I’ll ever be.”
“I need to stop at the gas station but I thought we’d swing by the coffee shop too so you’ll be more fun.”
A smile barely touches the corners of her mouth. “Sold. I’ll even buy you a donut.”
Thin light illuminates the horizon by the time we get on the road. The amount of snacks that end up piled between us on the seat makes it look like we have a bunch of kids along.
I’ll have to remember to feed Remee coffee in the future because she peps up and the drive becomes much more fun. There’s little traffic, which was the goal of leaving so early.
“Passenger DJ’s,” I point out, and she connects her phone to my radio, choosing an upbeat playlist.
It seems odd to be alone with her like this and I wonder if she feels the same way. Most of the time, we’re together in our friend group, but this summer it’s just the two of us. Well, along with the others in our crew of all men. No doubt those assholes will be all over her.
“Do you know you’re the only woman on the crew?” I ask.
“Yeah, I saw that. It means I get my own room.”
“You know I’ve worked on construction crews before. Guys can be disrespectful assholes.” That’s an understatement. “If anyone bothers you, let me know.”
Her sideways glance is filled with surprise. “Are you worried about me?”
“Of course not.”
“Good, because I can handle them.” After a pause, she smiles at me. “But thanks. That’s sweet.”
“I just want you to know I have your back.”
“Same goes for you.”
“This is going to be great. Turn the music up,” I tell her.
Most of the trip is fun. We get lost once and end up having to turn around when the GPS leads us astray, but it doesn’t take us long to get ourselves back on track. Remee takes a turn driving, and we swap back with only a couple of hours to go.
She dozes off in the passenger seat, and I can’t resist sneaking a few looks at her while she won’t notice. She really is beautiful. Her brown hair falls to her shoulders in soft waves, and her slightly parted lips urge me to kiss them. To see if they feel as soft as they look.
The traffic thickens, and I have to pay attention and stop creeping on her before she catches me. The GPS advises me we’re only a few miles from our exit when Remee wakes up.
“About time you stopped snoring. We’re almost there.”
“I don’t snore.” With a yawn, she sits up and slips on her shoes.
It’s late when we finally turn into a parking lot where a long, two story building waits. The rooms are accessed directly from the parking lot like most cheap motels, and a high fence surrounds a small kidney shaped pool where a couple of people loiter.
“Not exactly five star,” Remee chuckles as we park outside of the glass lobby doors.
“If there’s a man in there dressed up as his mother, we’re out of here.” We head inside, and a bored clerk gives us a nod as we approach and explain who we are.
