Page 33 of Rough
“Aw, come on. Itisfun! Only problem is, I don’t know how I’m gonna get you outta there when I’m stuck, too.” I plant my hands on my hips and stare at her truck. It’s tilting to the left, which means she’s buried pretty deep in there.
“I don’t give a fuck. Call someone to pull us free, but I want to get out of here. I’m done with this shit.”
Sighing, I nod once and run to pull out my phone. I should have known she didn’t really want to do this, even though she assured me she was all for it an hour ago. Calling Remy’s number, I let it ring until it goes to voicemail. “Man, would you call me? I took Lindsey and the Chevy muddin’ but we got ourselves dug in. Probably should’ve waited until it dried out a bit.”
Hanging up, I scroll to my next contact and dial Clyde. He picks up on the second ring. “Yeah?”
“You busy?” Crossing my fingers, I hope to God he’s not. “Need a bit of a hand, and chains if you got ‘em with you.”
“Can’t right now. Helpin’ out Donny and the vet.”
“Where’s Remy? I tried callin’, but he didn’t pick up.”
“Ran into town with his momma. Give Country a call.” Not one for long conversations, Clyde hangs up on me and I grit my teeth. Flipping through my contacts, I find Betsy’s number.
Lindsey is hanging out her window while the phone rings in my ear. “You getting someone out here?”
“Obviously,” I bite out, pointing at my phone.Finally, after the fourth one, Betsy answers.
“Wild! What can I do ya for?” She’s yelling into the phone, but sounds chipper like always.
Laughing softly, I turn my back on Lindsey and take a few steps away. “You free? Need a hand.”
“Yeah, I got a few. Whatcha need?”
“I need you to grab your chains and come out to the trails on the north side of town. I took Lindsey out muddin’ and we’re both stuck real good. Need to get dragged out.” I don’t know why my face starts to flush; admitting to her I’m stuck shouldn’t be embarrassing. She and I go out all the time and it’s never been an issue before. Betsy knows how fast to keep her truck through the trails. I sometimes have to get on her ass for goingtoofast.
She sighs gently into the phone, and I can hear her moving around with loud noises in the background. “My chains are already in the bed. I’ll be out soon. Where on the trail? I’m gonna try to come up from the other side if it’s too wet.”
Scratching at my neck, I try to gauge our location. “Think we’re around the fourth run. The one where it’s straight for a bit but then has that real good right curve before goin’ up the hill.”
“Oooh, that’s the one where you gotta go right up onto the bank so you don’t get pulled into the mess those freshmen dug in last year.”
“Yeah, that’s the one. I couldn’t get up far enough and got dragged back in.”
“You should’ve given it a day or two before goin’ out, Wild.”
I roll my eyes again and suck air between my teeth, trying to keep my annoyance at bay. She’s offering to help. Won’t do me any good to be shitty about it. “Yeah, I know thatnow. You gonna be here soon?”
“Gimme fifteen and I’ll rescue you and your lady friend.”
Pulling the phone from my ear, I look at it in surprise at the way she said ‘lady friend’. It was full of disdain. The hell was that about? “Thanks, Bets. I’ll see ya soon.”
“Yeah, see ya.” With that, she hangs up and I head back to talk to Lindsey.
“Betsy’s gonna come out and pull us free. You wanna stay in there or try to get out?” I ask her, eyeing the water covered mud. There’s no way she’s gonna get out of there without being up to her waist in water. She doesn’t have to say anything. Her glare tells me everything, so I sit on the ground and wait on Betsy to come save the day.
~ 7 years ago ~ Betsy
I had to go through the back two trails to find them, but eventually Wilder’s Chevy comes into view. Honking my horn to get his attention, I slow down and turn my truck around so I’m facing the same way as him. Leaving it running, I hop out and cup my hands around my mouth. “Wild! Where you at?”
It’s only a minute before I see him running along the opposite side of the trail, baseball hat backwards on his head as always, jeans lathered with mud up to his knees and black shirt speckled with even more. “Thanks for this,” he calls, hopping over a puddle at the end of the trail and joins me at the back of my truck.
Dropping the tailgate down, I jump up to dig out my chains from a pile underneath a few boards and an old saddle.Shit, Istill need to take it in to get repaired. My hands wrap around the chains, and I hand one end to Wild. “Did you already try rockin’ it out?”
“Yeah, I’m dug in real deep. Not gonna work this time.”
Nodding, I hop down and hook the end under my bed and watch my friend pick his way along the edge until he’s right next to his truck. Ignoring the way the water soaks back into his pant legs, he pushes through and digs under the buried underside and hooks the other end. “Got it. You want me to pull it out?”
