Free Save Me From Me by Erika Ashby Page A

either.” He slowly leans against the counter.
    “That’s what happens when you have older siblings that pick on you growing up, and spending countless hours playing Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat as a kid,” I proudly reply, feeling my inner Wonder Woman trying to seep out.
    “Is it bad that I still play those as an adult?” he asks, looking around making sure no one heard him.
    “No way! What’s bad is that I bet I could whoop you,” I say with confidence.
    “I’m gonna hold you to it,” he replies. The truck honks outside. “I’m paying for that gas out there, too. And the dip isn’t for me.” He gestures to the truck. “It’s for my buddy, Rusty. I like my smile too much to jack it up with this shit.”
    “No sense in messing up the only good thing you got going,” I tease. He just shakes his head, fully aware that his smile is not the only thing he’s got going. “It’s gonna be $49.58.”
    He hands me a fifty. “Keep the change.” I take the .42 and throw it in the change jar as he turns back before pushing out the door. “I hope to see you again soon.” He flashes his killer smile.
    “You know where to find me,” I shyly reply. WTF! I am not a shy person. Why am I acting that way with him?
    He nods and I watch as the glass door swings shut.
    “Who was that and where can I get one?” Adyn says as she comes walking behind me to clock in.
    “You’d die if I told you the story.” I turn around, leaning my backside against the counter as I face her.
    “You have to tell me now, you little trick.” I look over towards the kitchen where ‘Joy to the World’ is openly glaring in our direction.
    I let out a sigh. “When Queen B leaves, I’ll fill you in.”
     

     
    Never in a million years did I ever think that I’d randomly run into her. But dammit, there she was. Gorgeous as ever and so incredibly easy to talk to. I’m not really digging the nickname she has for me, but I’m hoping, that if it’s up to me, and the universe aligns just right to make it possible, that I’ll be able to change that with time. I mean, it’s not like forty minutes away is that far of a drive. I can make that drive at least every weekend if it means that I might get to hang with her. Look at me. Some might say that I’m desperate to even consider it. But the way I look at it, I’d be more desperate to just sit in another town, and take what I can easily get, instead of going after and putting forth the effort of spending time with someone that I’d actually enjoy.
    That right there makes more sense to me. Not sure what the whole point would be, but spending countless hours stuck in a hotel room during the week, and then finding random bullshit to do with coworkers on days off is getting old. There’s got to be more to life than just this. Yeah, my dad might enjoy the solitude he has away from his loved ones, but not me. Well, seeing as though my parents, mainly my mother, are the only loved ones I really have, I guess it doesn’t leave me very many people to grace with my presence. Rusty notices my new mood as soon as I slide in and toss him his nasty dip.
    “What’s up with that shit eatin’ grin of yours?” he asks as he breaks the seal on the can of snuff, and then opens it after a few flicks of the wrist.
    “It’s pretty crazy. I’m not sure you’ll be able to handle it.” I joke with him.
    “I. CAN. HANDLE. THE. CRAZY,” he says in his best Jack Nicholson impersonation from A Few Good Men .
    I just shake my head at his crazy ass. “Well, you remember that girl from the bar a couple weeks back?”
    Taking a minute to think about it, he spits out his open window, looks both ways, and then pulls onto the road. Today we are heading to another site to deliver a part they need. Usually we aren’t the run-around, errand boys, but we were heading this way already to do some fishing or some shit. Rusty always wants to go fishing. So, I always accompany him. For the most part, it’s