Out of Gas

"Turn it up! The rain's so loud I can barely hear it!" the driver said.

She reached for the volume control, and in the brief time she took her eyes off the road, the car was heading into a curve she couldn't see. Her best friend shrieked, the car swerved, snaked once then righted itself.

"Jesus! Be careful! You could have killed us both," her friend said as she reached for the volume control so her driver-friend wouldn't do so again.

The car's stereo system was cranked up to nearly full blast as the girls drove along singing at the top of their voices. They were on their way home for winter break, and in another forty miles or so, they'd be off these winding roads coming down the pass and back into civilization.

Somewhere around Greenwater, a place too small to be classified as a city or even a town, a place with a population of 67 people, they saw flashing yellow lights along the side of the road.

The driver began slowing down, while her passenger-friend yelled over the music, "What are you doing? There's no way we're stopping!"

The driver turned the music down then said, "Let's just slow down and check it out, okay?"

"Fine, but we are not stopping! You ever heard of Ted Bundy? He got his start not that far from here!"

"I know. I was born and raised here, too, remember?" the driver said as she slowed way down and tried to look through the driving rain.

She came to a near stop right alongside his car as her friend said, "Do not stop!"

"Look! He's really cute!"

"So was Ted Bundy. Now drive!"

He rolled his window down and smiled as the rain pelted his face.

"Roll your window down!" the driver said as she came to a complete stop. When her friend refused, she used her controls to do it anyway.

She called out across her friend and said, "You need help?"

"I'm stranded. I ran out of gas and my cell phone's dead. Totally embarrassing, but it's true," he yelled back.

"Let's give him a ride," the driver said.

"No! I don't want to end up dead. Just go!"

He heard the comment and said, "That's okay. I wouldn't stop, either. I can sit her until morning."

The driver rolled the window back up then said, "I am not leaving him here. He's like way cute!"

"If you let him in, I'm the one who's going to kill you!" her friend said.

"Fine. Then kill me. But I'm not leaving him out here. Did you see how hot he is?"

She rolled the window back down then said, "Come on! Get in. We'll give you a ride."

The cute guy, who looked to be close to their age hollered, "Thanks!" as he rolled his window back up, got out, then locked his door in the driving rain.

The driver remotely unlocked the back door, and her friend was seething with anger as he got in.

"Thank you!" he said as he climbed inside. "It's really cold and raining wicked hard out there. I can't believe it isn't snowing."

She got a better look at him in the rearview mirror and realized he was very good looking.

"I'm Caryn," she said. "This is my best friend, Megan."

"Former best friend," Megan said harshly as Caryn pulled back onto the road.

"She thinks you're Ted Bundy," Caryn informed him.

"I'm not. I assure," he said with a smile no one saw as he shivered and blew on his hands for warmth. "I'm just on my way home to Seattle. My gas gauge is on the fritz, I'm down to my last five bucks, and I thought I could make into Enumclaw before I ran out."

"We live in Enumclaw," Caryn told him. "We go to WSU and just got out for Winter Break."

"Small world. I just graduated," he told them.

"Seriously? We're both seniors and have one more semester. How'd you graduate in December?"

"I got started in January after getting out of the military a few years ago, and it just worked out this way."

"You don't look that old," Caryn said as she glanced back at him again.

"I'll be 26 in a couple of months. I guess I'm just well preserved," he quipped.

"You're cute," Caryn said.

"Caryn! Stop it!" Megan said in a hushed tone as though he couldn't hear.

"Thank you, and I promise you I mean you no ill will," he told them both. "I'm unarmed and violence isn't my forte."

"Forte? Ill will?" Caryn said. "Are you sure you're only 26 and not like...46 or something?"

He laughed then said, "I'm still 25 for another seven or eight weeks, and yes, I'm quite sure of my age."

"So...what's your name, cute guy?" Caryn asked even as Megan gave her a death look.

"Anderson," he replied.

"Oh, okay. Like the guy on CNN. The...old guy. With the really short gray hair."

Anderson laughed then said, "Well, okay. He's the first person just about everyone thinks of when I tell them my name. Then again, he's the only other Anderson I know of with the exception of my father, so I guess that makes sense."

"You talk more like a professor than a student," Caryn said.

"Maybe he's smart," Megan said, finally joining in.

"I don't know about that," Anderson replied. "I just try to be myself. I may be a little too stoic for some people, but this is just who I am."

"Stoic?" Caryn asked.

"I don't talk a lot. In fact, I've said more since I got in your car than I normally do in an entire day. If I can help it, anyway."

"Oh, my God! We never stop talking," Caryn said.

"No, you never stop talking," Megan said, correcting her friend.

"I'm a people person. What can I say?"

Anderson didn't reply so Caryn asked, "I take it you're not?"

"I have nothing against people," he said with a smile. "I'm just very introverted."

"You don't seem shy," Caryn said.

"O...M...G...!" Megan cried out. "Introvert isn't the same as shy. Don't you know anything?"

He saw Caryn shrug her shoulders as though it didn't matter, so he didn't bother explaining. He wasn't shy in the least. He just preferred to be alone in his thoughts rather than interact with other people.

He'd never been gregarious, but after four years in the Marine Corps as an infantryman, and two tours in Afghanistan, quiet had become his preferred form of solace. Other guys he'd served with talked non-stop, and often did so in such a profane manner that even other Marines often told them—ironically—to 'shut the fuck up'! Others drank to excess while some tried to forget through things like having as much mindless sex as they could afford to buy.

Anderson Coleman couldn't remember ever being told to shut up, and since his release from active duty four years and one month ago, he did his best to say as little as possible. Even his choice of majors reflected that mindset. He'd chosen geology and minored in math, two areas that allowed him to spend most of his time thinking and solving problems rather than having to talk about them with other students.

He'd just been hired by an oil company even though most of the people who did what he'd be doing had masters degrees or even doctorates. But he'd deeply impressed an executive he'd met a month ago at a job fair. That executive set up a job interview with him, and there again, his calm demeanor and well-spoken confidence had won him a job with the company. A very decent, well-paying job for someone right out of college.

He wasn't all about money, but having spent nearly every dollar he'd saved on active duty on college expenses while staying in and reading when his buddies were out drinking and getting laid, had, in the end, paid off for him.

It came at a cost, but one which he willingly paid, as he'd had his fill of bars, loud music, and hook ups while on active duty when he wasn't deployed to Muslim countries where alcohol was verboten.

As far as sex went, Anderson didn't need to pay for it whenever he happened to in the mood. He was good looking enough to be able to find girls to hook up with on the rare occasions when his need for physical contact overwhelmed his need for privacy. He would go out, get a motel, meet someone, take her back to his room, then say 'goodbye' a few hours later. No harm, no foul, no commitment. He wasn't 'commitment phobic', he'd just never met a woman who wasn't like Caryn—someone who loved to talk. Sadly, most of them talked incessantly and somehow managed to say nothing. So until he met someone more like himself, living alone was perfectly okay.

So while money wasn't everything, having a job that paid well was a huge relief, and one less thing to worry about. The GI Bill had covered the lion's share of his tuition and fees, but he'd had to work part-time and burn through all of the money he had to put himself through college—along with what little his parents had managed to contribute.

So here he was, a bonafide college gradate who was virtually dead broke, driving an old car that was on its last legs, with a gas gauge that didn't work, and getting a ride with two co-eds he didn't know in spite of going to the same university in eastern Washington. But to his credit, he was debt-free beyond what he owed on the only credit card he had. He was near his limit, but he could now see light at the end of the tunnel.

"So do you live in Seattle?" Caryn asked.

"Not anymore. My parents moved to Auburn a couple of years ago. I'll be staying with them over the holidays."

"Yeah? Cool," Caryn said. "You uh, you could hang out with us, you know?"

"Caryn! Jee-zuz!" Megan said.

"She still doesn't trust you. But I do," Caryn told him with a smile.

"Thanks, but I'm not much for hanging out."

"Didn't you hear him say he's an introvert, Caryn?"

"I heard. I just thought I could help him get over being shy."

Anderson couldn't see Megan roll her eyes, but the way she threw her head back as she said, "Ugh!" told him all he needed to know.

"I apologize for my friend," Megan said as she turned around for the first time to look at him.

When she did, her eyes opened wide just like her mouth.

"Damn. You are cute," she said.

"Again, thank you," he said with a smile.

He forced himself to talk with Caryn the rest of the way down the long, dark road until they came into the city limits of Enumclaw, the first town one encountered after coming down Chinook Pass via Highway 410 in Washington state. It was often closed this time of year, but snowfall totals were low and the pass was still open. He'd been there many times over the years but didn't know anyone who lived there—with the exception of Caryn and Megan.

Caryn turned right at the first possible road then headed north for several miles before saying, "I need to drop Megs off, then we'll head to my place and you can grab our gas can and we'll go fill it up. I'll take you back up there tonight if you want me to."

"I don't really see any other choice," he told her. "I've only got five dollars with me, but I will send you some money as soon as I get my first check."

He saw her smile at him in the mirror as she said, "Money isn't the only way to thank someone, you know."

Megan did another eye roll accompanied by a loud sigh.

"Again, I apologize for my friend. Anytime she gets near a hot guy...this happens."

"So what? I like guys," Caryn said to Megan while looking back at Anderson. "Especially cute ones."

A couple of minutes later they pulled into Megan's parents' home, and Anderson offered to carry her bags inside, but she only had one suitcase and a small bag and told him she'd be fine.

"You wanna sit up front?" Caryn asked after walking her friend to the door and returning to the car.

"Oh, um...I'm good," he said with a smile.

"Oh. Okay. Suit yourself," she told him. The reply was terse bordering on caustic. Her smile faded, and she didn't say another word to him the rest of the drive.

Caryn took his reply as a rebuff, and being rather attractive herself, she was rarely ever rebuffed, and on those rare occasions when it did happen, she didn't take it very well. They drove the five miles or so to her house in a very uncomfortable silence.

When she pulled into the driveway, Anderson saw the front porch light come on and a woman step outside but not come down the steps as it was still raining pretty hard and blowing like hell. Caryn drove under the carport then turned off the car.

"I'll go get the can," she said coldly as the other woman dashed the 10-15 feet from the porch to the carport and Anderson heard her say, "Hi, honey! How was your drive?"

She peeked into the car and saw him sitting there in the back seat, but didn't freak out.

"I didn't know you had a boyfriend," he heard her say even as she wondered why a boyfriend would be in back.

"Mom, he's not my boyfriend. He ran out of gas up by Greenwater. I'm just gonna get the gas can then take him back up there once we fill it up."

"Honey, that can is gone. Years ago. Remember?"

"Ah, shit," he heard Caryn say. "I totally forgot. Do we have anything else he could use?"

"No, I'm sorry. You'll have to go buy one."

"He's got like five bucks to his name so...that's out. Any other brilliant ideas?"

The woman finally leaned in through the open driver's door and said, "I'm so sorry for talking about you like you're not even here. Won't you please come inside?"

"I really don't want to be a bother, ma'am," he said.

"You're not. But you can't just sit out here all night, and you're going to need some cash for the gas can. So please. Come inside so we can discuss this."

"Well, okay. Thank you," he said quietly as he removed his seat belt and opened the door.

As he got out, he was pretty sure the older woman was the mother or maybe an aunt. It didn't really matter, but as he got out, he heard her say to Caryn, "What's with the attitude? You obviously picked this boy up to help him out, and now you're...angry?"

Caryn could tell he was listening and refused to answer. She gave the older woman what was called a 'talk to the hand' gesture back in the day and went inside, slamming the screen door and the the door behind her.

Anderson tried to pretend he hadn't heard anything when the woman said, "I'm very sorry. My daughter can be rather trying sometimes. Please come in and we'll get this taken care of. Oh, I'm Alisha. Alisha Myers."

"Anderson," he told her.

"Oh, like the guy on CNN," she said like her daughter had.

"Close. My last name is Coleman, but we're both 'AC's', I guess," he replied with a faint smile.

Just as they stepped inside, Caryn was headed out. Or more accurately...storming out.

"Honey? Where are you going? Anderson still needs a ride, and he's..."

"Out...mother!" she said with a shake of her head. "And don't wait up!"

She knew there was no stopping her. Caryn was much better now than in years past, but she was still pretty awful when something upset her. From the seventh grade on, she'd been hell on wheels, and Alisha had done her best to hold on for the ride.

By her junior year she'd settled down enough that she surprised her mother one day by telling her she wanted to go to college. The revelation was so stunning it left Alisha speechless. But after a party-filled summer following her high-school graduation, Caryn had gone to a local community college where her grades were just good enough to get into Washington State University in the town of Pullman near the Idaho border.

Alisha had raised not only her daughter, but a son, as well, on her own, since Caryn was nearly five after her husband walked out on them. Money had been incredibly tight ever since, but by working two and sometimes three jobs, she'd managed to get by. Now virtually every dollar she had went to pay for tuition and books the first two years and then room and board since Caryn started attending WSU. She had just one more semester meaning just one more tuition payment. One very, very large tuition payment in addition to her food and housing.

Having her daughter storm out of the house minutes after returning home wasn't all that unusual. Leaving behind a very attractive young man, one her daughter had stopped to help, was. Unless, of course...

All Alisha could think of was this Anderson had somehow offended her. Caryn had never taken rejection well, and if she'd let it be known she was interested in this guy she'd literally just met and then been turned down, or even had the impression she'd been turned down, that would explain everything.

"Is everything okay?" he asked quietly as both doors slammed again.

"For Caryn? Yes. Everything is okay. Or at least—normal," Alisha said.

Anderson hadn't noticed outside as it was dark, cold, and raining hard, but Caryn's mother was a very nice-looking woman. He saw the resemblance immediately and could tell she looked a lot like her daughter when she was that age although he assumed the mom would have been a lot more attractive.

Judging by Caryn's being a senior who'd gone straight to college he assumed she was 21. That made her mother anywhere from 37 on the extremely young side to possibly as old as 50. And yet her skin was tight and smooth leading him to guess she was closer to 40. Regardless, she was quite attractive.

"You're soaking wet," she told him when she finally noticed his hair.

He'd only been outside a few seconds when he moved from his car to Caryn's so he was nowhere near 'soaked', but he was still pretty wet.

Suddenly aware he might be making a mess, he looked down to see if the floor under his feet was wet. It wasn't and yet a towel would be very welcome.

"No, you're not dripping," she said with a smile. "But let me get you a towel so you can at least dry your hair. Give me just a second, okay?"

She came back out maybe two minutes later and it was obvious she'd brushed her hair. The wind and rain had sent it flying and he could tell she was self-conscious about looking like a crazy lady or possibly a witch. If so, she didn't look like any witch he'd ever seen.

"Here you go," she said as she handed it to him with a warm, beautiful smile.

"Now, we need to get you a can, some gas, and back to your car," she said just as though her taking over for her daughter was expected. "There's a station a couple miles from here toward town. We can run over there and see if they have gas cans. It would make sense that they would, right? I mean, it is a gas station."

Anderson toweled his hair which now looked nicely tousled, a look Alisha found very sexy. Not on someone his age, of course, she was telling herself, but he did have really nice hair, and he was clearly a very good-looking guy. She was now almost certain Caryn had felt like she'd been shot down after a healthy dose of her not-so-subtle hinting around on the ride home.

"Ma'am? We don't need to do that. I can just call my dad. We...he and my mom...live in Auburn. Then we can head back up to Greenwater tomorrow morning."

"No. That's ridiculous. Your car is sitting there unattended. It could get stolen or vandalized. We can't just leave it sitting there."

Anderson was thinking it might not be such a bad thing if the old wreck did get stolen.

He didn't tell her that, he just said, "But this will take at least two if not three hours. It's already getting late, and you don't need to waste your time running me around at this time of night when it's raining so hard."

"Anderson? It's fine. Really. Caryn won't be home again tonight, and it's not like I have a full plate of things to do on a Friday evening. As you can see, I live here alone so it's not like my social calendar is bursting at the seams or anything."

"Well, I'm very grateful for your help," he told her as she reached for the wet towel.

"It's my pleasure. I just wish my daughter wasn't such a...pill."

Alisha let him know she'd be right back after dropping the towel in the hamper and getting her purse and coat. And an umbrella, of course. Unlike the western half of the state where it rained a lot, it rarely did so in eastern Washington. Anderson wasn't one to carry an umbrella regardless, but knowing they had one wasn't a bad thing.

She came back with her coat slung over her arm while holding her purse and umbrella in the other hand.