Chapter 3

They drove in silence up to Flagstaff where they got onto Interstate 40 heading east. All the time they were driving she could feel his eyes on her, assessing her.

"So, what do you think, can I handle this rig?"

"What, I'm sorry I wasn't listening."

"I know you've been starting at me for the last fifty miles or so."

"I'm sorry, that wasn't why I was staring."

"Then why were you staring?"

He was slow to respond.

"Well, answer me."

"I find you very attractive; sexy."

"Then you need new glasses. I'm plain, not very feminine and I'm old enough to be your ... older sister."

"That's only partially true. To me you're very attractive, and you obviously are very strong which is a real turn on for me and you may be older than me but I'll bet you're at the height of your sexuality."

"Wow, you really are a silver-tongued stud aren't you? I bet you have all the girls at school wrapped around your little finger."

"Actually, I'm a virgin; I don't relate to girls very well. I've never even kissed a girl before. But I have read everything I could get my hands on about sex. So I am prepared if I ever meet the right woman."

"Ok, Ok; I'm sorry I asked." We're going to stop at a truck stop outside of Winslow, and get something to eat. Ok with you?

"Sounds good to me."

Once we got underway again, I found out more about Billy. He had just turned seventeen and had already graduated from high school.

"Billy, you must be really smart if you've already graduated. Did you skip a grade?"

"Actually it was two grades. I guess I'm smart; schoolwork is just too easy for me. I have to push my teachers to give me more complex stuff to read and to do. I've been accepted into the University of Arizona. I start in the fall, if I survive until then."

"Don't you worry about that, as long as you're with me no one is going to do you any harm."

We sat in silence for a few miles and then I said:

"It must have been tough on you emotionally being so much younger than the rest of the kids in your class. They must have been awfully mean to you, especially when you were younger."

"Yeah, when I was younger they used to resent the fact that my grades were always better than theirs. They were so much bigger than me that they used to push me around, take my lunch money, and even lock me in my locker."

"That's terrible, didn't your parents complain?"

"My parents were divorced when I was ten. My Mom died when I was fifteen. I moved in with my older sister, who never really gave a crap about what happened to me. I planned on staying at college as much as possible. Enough about me tell me about you."