“I need all three bags because I’m getting ready to fuckin leave! I’m not showering here. I’m not sleeping in this fuckin truck with you. I want to get the fuck away from you!” I screamed.
I knew it was him that I was taking my frustrations out on. I shouldn’t have been this upset upon learning that I had to shower at a truck stop, and sleep on a bunk bed. Granted, even if I didn’t have all these things going on in my life at the moment, I’m sure that I would have still been upset about this, but it wouldn’t have been to this extent.
I literally saw the last nerve leave Gemini’s body as he slowly stood up from the squatting position that he was in and walked over to me. His tall frame hovered over mine. There was annoyance written all over his face.
“Keep your voice down before people think that I kidnapped your crazy ass, and they call the fuckin cops on me. Stop saying that goofy ass shit about leaving because you’re not. You are in a city that you don’t know shit about. You don’t know anyone here. You don’t have a car. You wouldn’t even know where the fuck to go?—”
‘I don’t care!” I cut him off.
“But I do!” when he said that, he completely shut me up.
It’s like the world stopped when he said it. Naturally, it was in me to try to get the last word in, but my lips wouldn’t even move for me to speak. I didn’t expect him to say that.
“I care because I made a promise to my sister. I made a promise to keep you safe. You can be mad at me. You can curse me the fuck out when we get back on the truck. You can even hate me. Do all that shit, but you not leaving out of my sight,” he went on.
I was standing before him, vulnerable out of my mind, crying heavy tears, while using the sleeves of my sweater to wipe them away. I know I had to have looked so helpless to him. I knew that I was getting on his nerves. Hell, I was getting on my own nerves. I wasn’t trying to though. I wanted to be normal. I wanted to be reasonable, but I was hurting.
“You like to read, right? I’m sure you’re into reading romance novels and shit, right? Consider this shit that we got going on right now as a trope. A forced proximity. I would hate to have to snap on you again. Please, make it easy for yourself. I’m going to ask you again. Which bag did you need for me to get out for you?” he wanted to know.
“The big luggage,” I found my common sense, and answered the question for him.
With a nod of his head, he walked away, and he grabbed the heavier luggage for me. He kept it near him, and he pulled out a black luggage that belonged to him. Like both luggage’s didn’t weigh anything, he wheeled them over to the passenger side door, lifted them, and walked back inside the truck.
I was behind him, and once inside, I locked the door. Gemini walked through the curtains that were pulled back, which led us to the sleeping quarters. He wheeled my luggage to me, while he tended to his.
“You have a shower bag?” he asked me. I shook my head no, letting him know that I didn’t. That’s when he reached into one of the cubbies, and he handed one to me. I thanked him for it.
“What about shower shoes?” he asked, and I shook my head no again.
He had extra, so he handed them to me as well. They looked way too big for my feet, but I would rather have that, than to step on the shower floor of a fuckin truck top.
“Put everything that you need in the shower bag. Toiletries, pajamas, all that shit,” he let me know.
I bent down and opened my luggage. My Louis Vuitton toiletry bag was the first thing that I saw. Instead of taking everything out of it, I just placed the entire toiletry bag in the shower bag that Gemini handed to me. I grabbed a two pieced pajama set, which was a long-sleeved black silk set. I grabbed my house shoes, and my shower cap. That’s when it hit me that I didn’t have a towel. Again, I thought that we were going to be sleeping at a hotel.
When I looked up, I noticed that Gemini was staring at me. He had his shower bag already in his hands, fully prepared to head inside, and shower. I knew he was annoyed with me for holding him up.
“I don’t have a towel,” I said to him.
In the cabinets that he had, he pulled one back, and he had neatly stacked towels inside. He handed me a white towel and wash cloth, in which I thanked him for. After that, I placed the items inside the shower bag. Now that I had everything, I was able to walk out, open the door, and I was off the truck.
Gemini stepped off as well, locking the door, and we walked in silence. He walked on the side of me.
Before I knew it, we’d reached the door, where he opened it, allowed me to walk in first, and then he came in afterwards.
I can’t say that I walked inside with any expectations. At this point, I think I learned to stop expecting things because I obviously didn’t have a good choice of judgement. I clearly thought that we would be sleeping at a four-star hotel tonight, but I was completely wrong. Knowing this, I didn’t come in here with any predictions.
I was surprised that we had to walk over to a counter, where Gemini had to ask for two showers. The showers were basically private rooms, and she gave Gemini two, in which she said were going to be right next to each other.
From there, Gemini lead the way. From what I have seen so far, I’ll admit that it was clean. When I think of a truck stop, I kind of think the worst, so I thought that it would look like a prison in here, but it didn’t.
“Alright, this you right here. I’m sure you’ll probably take longer than me, so when I finish, I’ll wait out here for you. If you do finish before me, which I doubt you will, don’t leave this area. Just wait for me. Niggas come in and out of this truck stop all day. Everybody don’t have the best intentions. Aight?” he asked.
“Okay,” was all I said in response to that.
I went ahead and opened the door, stepping into the room that belonged to me. The door automatically locked behind me once I was inside, but being as though we were at a truck stop, that had other men here, I still tugged on the handle just to make sure that it was really locked. It was, so I was able to move forward.
The space that I was standing in was small, but it was clean. I was glad that it was clean because if I had stepped into a dirty shower, and bathroom, I can’t say that I would have stayed in here to handle my business. As much as I didn’t like the constant back and forth between Gemini and I, we would be forced to argue again if this area was dirty because I would have threatened to leave again.
