Olivia watched
him leave to go back to the washroom, and then she bolted to the basement. She
quickly grabbed a large black blanket she stored in a large open box in the
corner and walked outside with it. She opened the door to the white van,
crawled behind the bike, and hid herself under her blanket. Her nerves were
giddy with excitement. Up until now, she had led such a boring life. Now,
with Victor in the picture, she was going to live a little. And see how the
other half dealt with things. Goodbye old Olivia, the girl who lost her
virginity too late in life, and who always carefully and precisely weighed her
options before choosing between, say, wearing the blue shirt or the red shirt
for the day. It was the start of a new mindset, of taking risks, and like it
or not, she was going to get Victor to share it with her. She hid in the back
under her blanket with her phone on silent mode, waiting for Victor to get in
the van and leave.
҉҉҉
Before
he got into the van, he texted her. She felt the buzz in her back pocket and
took it out to read it. “Thank you for everything, see you soon. XOXO Victor.”
Aww how sweet.
She
then heard him open the door and slide into the driver’s seat. He started the
vehicle, and drove for a good forty minutes, with the last twenty of them over
a bumpy road. She thought it sounded like dirt or gravel in the last stretch.
In the meantime, he had the radio on, blasting to some New Country radio
station. He was singing to some of the songs he recognized. And he was gawdawful
bad. If perfect pitch was indeed genetic, he missed the coin toss on that
option. She heard the crunch of gravel under the tires as he slid to a stop.
He opened the driver door and got out. Five minutes later, she heard the side
door of the van open. She heard the heavy thump of boxes being set down on the
floor of the van. Peeking out from under the blanket, she could see that they
were wooden crates, of various sizes. She heard Victor walk away, with the
sound of stone hitting boot. He came back once more with a few more crates and
a bike helmet. The side door of the van slammed shut and she heard Victor walk
away. Stealing a glance out the front windshield, she gauged her
surroundings. They were in a wooded area, with trees surrounding a clearing.
In the middle of the clearing, was a large steel warehouse. Olivia tucked back
inside the blanket before she had the chance to be caught.
Victor
got back into the van and shut the door. He started the vehicle and began
driving. She lay in the back of the van, feeling the bumps of the dirt/gravel
road for another twenty minutes again. Then they drove for a bit. She felt
the van pick up and hit a high speed. She guessed they were finally back in
civilization, and on the freeway. On the way, Victor started singing again.
She almost wanted to smack him on the back of his neck, to get him to stop.
For such a tough guy, who had a voice like gravel when he spoke to people, she
found it unreal that he was singing in such a high pitched nasal tone of
voice. The difference was like night and day. Getting him to stop singing was
almost worth getting discovered. It was that bad.
She
felt the van slow down and stop. After five minutes of waiting, he opened the
side door of the van. A distinct smell of gasoline hit her nose. She peeked
from the blanket and saw a red gas can in front of her face. She unburied a
hand and shoved it further away from her, so she wouldn’t directly breathe in
the fumes. Victor got back into the van again and started driving. Thirty
minutes later, over a road with some major bumps, he stopped the vehicle. He opened
the side door again and unloaded several of the crates from the van. She
noticed that the smell of gasoline left her vicinity. He had taken the gas can
with him. Olivia waited for ten minutes,