Full

(In response to Army.)

The first girl slides off her shoes and puts her socked feet on the floor of the car. Empty bags of chips crumple around the mat. She grabs at a couple and drops them somewhere in the back.

The second girl, driving, doesn’t take her eyes off the road, curving around walls of forest. “We should clean this the next time we stop,” she says.

“Kay,” says the first girl, and reclines her seat back. The second girl sighs and rests her hand on the first girl’s thigh. The first girl squeezes the second girl’s hand, says, “Good night,” then tilts herself toward the door.

--

The second girl stops an hour later at an Arco station, the only thing she sees open off the highway. The first girl stirs and says, “Where we?”

“Shelton.”

“Wherezat.”

“Forty. Maybe forty-five minutes away from Coeur D’Alene. I think we should clean the car.”

“I’m sleeping.” The first girl sits up and looks around. They are parked next to a pump, and in the blaze of the overhead lights she can make out husky scattershot silhouettes of low-rise buildings. “We shouldn't be here," she says.

“We’re fine. We need gas and the car’s filthy,” says the second girl, taking her long, stocky frame out of the car.

“We can make it to Coeur D’Alene,” says the first girl, “The tank’s not that low. I really don’t think we should be here-“

“The car’s filthy,” says the second girl, “seeing as you’re up, could you fill the tank? Thanks.” She shuts the door and lopes toward the store, and the first girl fixates on the point of the second girl’s Adam’s Apple serenely obtruding into the store’s light as she pulls open a glass door.

--

A boy sits behind a counter on a fluorescent-orange stool, playing with one of the Zippos from a display. He yawns, glugs from a tall cup of cool coffee. A man with a grey coat on the other end of the store is by the fountain drinks, filling a 44 oz. cup with Mello Yello.

The second girl enters and the boy looks up. The second girl smiles and moves to the snacks. The boy watches her. The first girl likes cashews so the second girl takes two packages. They are out of Clorox wipes and Advil, and the second girl takes those as well. The second girl mulls coffee or soda before settling on soda, and passes the man in the grey coat. He accidentally bumps her and he does not spill his soda but one of the cashew packages slips out of the second girl’s hand. He bends down and says, “Pardon.” She nods, takes the cashews back, and squeaks, “Thanks.”

The man in the coat looks her up and down as he rises. His eyes takes in her legs, her boobs, her jaw, her eyes. He pauses and looks at her level and hard, his facial expression blank while the second girl tries very hard to do the same. Then he smiles, tips his Mariners cap, and heads for the counter. The boy puts down the Zippo and beeps in the man’s purchase. The second girl fills up a 64 oz cup with Mello Yello.

--

The first girl finishes fueling up and begins to clean the car. She throws away the empty bags of chips from the front and then the empty bags of cashews from the back. She takes the soda and coffee cups and throws them out too. She takes books on the back floor mats and neatly drops them into bags of luggage.

She can’t remember if they are out of Clorox wipes or not. She looks up and through the station windows sees the second girl with the yellow cylinder of wipes nestled under her armpit. The first girl smiles. The first girl then sees the boy, and the man with the grey coat, and she freezes for a second, then shuts the door, locks it, grabs the keys, and casually walks inside. The keys jingle inside her hoodie pocket, unzipped, banging against her jeans.

--

The man is showing the boy some sort of book and the second girl is deliberating on chips when the first girl comes inside. All three look up at the first girl. The second girl’s face pulls back in a bun of fear. The boy stares at the first girl, and the man looks from the first girl, to the second girl, to the first girl. The first girl says, “You got the wipes?” The second girl raises the yellow cylinder and nods. The first girl says, “Thanks.”

The man clears his throat, puts a hand in his pocket, and begins walking toward the second girl. The boy, not noticing the man or the second girl, begins walking toward the first girl. The second girl, rabbit-eyed, resolutely fixed to the floor, only moves once the man is a few feet away, and sprints through the unalarmed emergency exit in the back of the station. The first girl runs out and starts the car. The man and the boy look at each other. One shrugs, and the other takes a slurp from his drink.