Page 7 of Flirting with the Enemy

“What do you have the temp set to in here? Hell?” She leans forward and adjusts the temperature controls.

Her sudden movements pull me from my space travel thoughts. I watch from the side as she tears off her jacket, then pulls her hoodie over her head. The glow from the center console provides me with just enough light to see her soft, creamy skin as the hem of her shirt inches upward with the hoodie. Her fingers wrap around the fabric and tug it back down.

“Seth. Slow down. Seth!”

Parisa’s scream snaps my attention back to the windshield. At that exact moment, a car rounds the corner, kicking up a trail of snow. For a split second, I can’t see anything. And that is all it takes. My foot slams on the brake pedal, but it’s too late. The tires lock up, the snow-covered road offering zero traction. The back end slides and I turn the wheel, spinning the car and eventually careening us into the ditch. A blanket of snow flies over the hood and lands on the windshield before coming to a halt. My adrenaline spikes, as my heart feels like it's going to beat out of my chest. I inhale a few deep breaths before turning my head toward Parisa. Her hand splayed across the dash, her chest heaving. “Are you alright?”

She nods before she answers, her voice soft. “Yes. Are you?”

“Yeah.” I peer over at her.

“Asshole.” Her eyes fixated on the snow covered windshield.

“That guy was an asshole. He was driving way too fast around that corner and—”

“No, you,” Parisa cuts me off, directing her anger toward me.

“Me? What did I do? I was just driving along and then you started screaming at me.” I throw my hands up in the air.

“So, this is my fault? You can’t drive and it’s my fault?”

With my hands still gripping the steering wheel, I take another deep breath. “Listen, us arguing won’t get us out of this situation any faster. Maybe we can just push our way out.” I grab the door handle and push, but instantly I’m greeted with resistance. I continue to push the snow with the door until I have enough room to squeeze out, but as soon as my foot hits the snow, I immediately sink into the fresh powder. “Shit, that’s not good,” I mumble.

“What? What’s not good?” Panic wraps around Parisa’s words.

“I don’t think we’re pushing this out ourselves. We’ll have to call for a tow.” I bring my snow-covered leg back into the car and brush it off as she digs for her phone.

“I don’t have service.” She holds her phone up, pointing it in every direction as if she’ll magically find service.

I grab my phone from my pocket. “Me either. I wonder if the storm took out a tower.”

“We’re going to die. Freeze to death. Not to mention mountain lions. I bet we’d make the perfect bite size snack.” She squeezes her eyes shut as her breaths become quicker.

“We aren’t going to die. Everything will be fine. Just take a deep breath. In through the nose. Out through the mouth.” She takes my instruction. It only takes a life and death situation for this girl to listen to me. “We saw one car. Surely, we’ll see another.” Parisa continues her breathing as she nods at me. “I’m going to make sure the tailpipe isn’t buried in the snow so we can keep the car running for heat.”

The door is easier to open this time as I get out and trudge through the snow to check if the back end is clear. While I’m out here I look around. Nothing but trees and darkness. White flakes continue to fall as I look up at the inky sky. Shit. Maybe we will die out here.

“How does it look?” Parisa sticks her head out the window and yells.

“Back end is clear. Just keep the car running for now.” Parisa rolls the window back up as I lean against the car, trying to think of how we can get out of this mess. After a few minutes, headlights shine through the trees, growing brighter as they near. I climb my way up the steep embankment in hopes I don’t miss this passing vehicle. When I reach the top, headlights blind me as a truck zooms past me, leaving me in a cloud of snow. Frantically, I wave my hands hoping the person sees me. Red taillights illuminate the dark road as the truck comes to a stop and reverses back. A rusty white Chevy pickup truck stops in front of me. The guy inside leans across the bench seat to crank the side window down.

“What the hell are you doing out here?” He turns on the dome light. A scruffy faced, middle-aged man wearing a flannel jacket and bomber hat comes into view. His raspy voice mimics the rattling of his truck.

“Thanks for stopping. We went in the ditch and need to call a tow truck. Would you be able to help us out?”

“Look kid, if you haven’t noticed it’s snowpocolypse out here. No tow trucks are coming out in this weather. Everything’s shut down until it passes.”

“Dammit.” I look back toward the car and then back at him.

“There’s a motel just up the road. I can bring you there until this storm passes and then you can get a tow,” he offers.

“Shit. Y-yeah. Okay. Let me get my friend in the car.” I trudge my way back to the car, following in my previous footsteps to make it a little easier. Parisa is going to kill me. I don’t know which would be worse, getting eaten by a mountain lion or facing her wrath when I tell her we’re going to a motel in a stranger’s truck.

Her gaze shoots to mine the moment I open the car door and poke my head in. “Well, good news, bad news.”

“Bad news first, always.” She gives me a hopeful look.

“There’s a winter storm and no tow trucks.”

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