Of the Aftermath

This is part of a story that I'm working on for the Writer's of the Future contest. I will likely post the story in its entirety after the judging is finished. To prevent myself from being disqualified, though, I will only post a brief section for now.

It was just after seven o’clock in the morning and I was nearly ready to hit the road. I had packed everything that I thought I would need for the weekend and changed into my gym clothes. My girlfriend, Jackie, and I were planning to head straight to the rock gym when I got to town for an early workout. I did not want to waste any of the time the two of us had together this weekend; being dressed for the gym when I got there would save the unnecessary minutes it would take to change in her apartment. That, and I wanted to use those extra minutes to make her a surprise breakfast when she woke up.

Jackie lives about a hundred and fifty miles north of me. She works at the local hospital and lives in one of the newer apartment complexes nearby. It is convenient for us because the athletic center with the rock gym completely takes up the first floor of the complex. It is one of those new space-saving architectural concepts you read about sometimes in the newspaper. I really think that should have made the rent for Jackie’s apartment more expensive, but she had negotiated a student discount with the manager. She was crafty like that.

When she’s not at work, Jackie is taking classes at the University in town. We both went there to get our bachelor’s degrees, but she had stayed in town to work on her master’s degree. Unfortunately, this means I only get to see her when I drive up on weekends because she is not able to take enough time off work or her studies to visit me. I usually leave early on Saturday mornings, rather than sleeping in like she would likely be doing – Friday nights were late ones for her in class.

This trip was special, though. Sunday was our second anniversary. I had made plans to take Jackie out to a fancy dinner, followed by the ballet that I had bought tickets for last month. The downside of the trip was that I would have to wear a tie to the ballet. I hated dressing in fancy clothing, but I wanted everything to be perfect for Jackie. I had also gotten her a new necklace. It had a slim gold chain and held a set-in-gold diamond pendant. I wrapped the necklace in its box and hid it in an exorbitantly large box of chocolates. It was nestled delicately in the back of my car between my duffel bag of clothing and my laptop computer.

After I double-checked to make sure all of my things were in the back of the car I ran inside to grab a bottle of water. I had already planned to swing by the gas station on my way and would probably be picking up a soda while I was there. The water was not for my drive to Jackie’s, but for when we went to the gym. Jackie rarely keeps bottles of water in her apartment and you have no idea how expensive a twenty-ounce bottle of water is out of the vending machines at the athletic center.

It was still very early when I left, so I expected traffic would be next to nonexistent on both the main roads through town and the freeway. I had no trouble hitting every traffic light green and made my way into the north-bound lanes of the interstate not ten minutes after I pulled out of the parking spot in front of my own apartment. I had already pulled the car’s antenna up, so I turned on the radio to my favorite pop station and set the cruise control for my typical three miles per hour over the posted speed limit. I figured three miles per hour would shave at least fifteen minutes off of my drive, would be fast enough to keep up with the majority of traffic, but still slow enough to avoid the being pulled over for speeding.

The drive gave me plenty of time to think about Jackie and how we were going to celebrate our second anniversary. I was out of college and had landed myself a steady job that paid fairly well; I co-owned a sports bar with one of my old friends from high school and worked nights tending the bar. Jackie planned to move in with me after graduating and was going to get a job at one of the doctor’s offices down here. She enjoyed working in pediatrics and felt starting off in a smaller practice rather than a large hospital would be the best way to enter the workforce. I tended to agree with her, but more out of my own selfish interests that concern for her career – her moving here meant not only that I would have her near me twenty-four hours per day but that I would not have to drive for hours just to get a hug when I need it.

My quarter-tank of gas was close to running dry after the first fifty miles on the road, so I pulled in to a truck stop to refuel and pick up a nice big cup of liquid energy. Gas was relatively cheap at this station, so I had more than enough cash left over to afford the two dollar “super-mega-huge” size cup at the fountain machine. It was one of those out-dated sixty-four ounce cups that went the way of the dinosaur after people started caring about their health. Judging from the condition the rest of the gas station was in, though, I doubt anyone here had caught on to the healthy, “clean” trend. I put the lid on the cup and grabbed an oversized straw to go with it. I knew there was no need for that much caffeine or sugar, but I liked the name of the cup and it was affordable.

I got back into the car and reset the mileage counter before I continued my way northward to see Jackie. It was only around seven fifty so far, and I had another hundred or so miles to go before I got to her place. I figured I would be there around nine forty-five with the light traffic I was seeing; it would get a little heavier as I passed the hospital and I would not be able to maintain my freeway speed once I got into town. None of this worried me, though, because I knew that Jackie rarely woke up before ten AM on Saturdays. She had a full shift on Friday followed by a three hour evening lecture class and valued the extra sleep she was able to get while I was on the road. I hoped I would get to her apartment with plenty of time to sneak in and make her a nice breakfast before she woke up. That is, if her cat was in a good mood and let me get through the door in one piece.