Beck ordered us two waters and then looked back toward me. “What would we call it?”
“ A and B’s Vending Machine Emporium,” I offered.
“ How about just: Abby Mae’s.”
I laughed. “We can’t serve any meat though.”
Beck’s eyes lit up. “Let’s replace all the meat with chocolate cake.”
Just then, the waitress came back and we had to scramble to decide what we wanted to order. I ended up ordering a salad that was “maybe organic” and Beck ordered a burger, fries, and chocolate milkshake.
“ That’s disgusting.” I scrunched my nose when the plate of heaping food was set in front of him.
I started picking at my salad with my fork. Suddenly, I was no longer satisfied with my heart healthy choice.
“ It might be terrible for me, but it is definitely not disgusting,” Beck clarified.
I rolled my eyes playfully.
“ How’s the salad?” he asked after swallowing a big bite of burger. I didn’t answer right away. I was distracted by his burger. It looked amazing. It had a meat patty, bacon, cheese, lettuce, onion, tomato, all shoved inside a buttery bun. The sounds Beck made as he chewed made me pierce my lettuce with a tad too much angst.
“ It’s great. Really… fresh ,” I answered without meeting his eye.
“ So you definitely don’t want a bite of this burger? I mean, of course you wouldn’t,” he teased before taking another big bite. I watched him chew with a look of pure ecstasy written across his face.
“ You’d hate it anyway. It’s cheesy and juicy. Definitely not your style,” he added, wiping his mouth while holding the burger with his other hand.
Before I thought better of it, I pushed off my seat and leaned across the booth to take a giant bite out of his burger. It hardly fit in my mouth, but I chewed with a big smile on my face anyway. Beck sat there stunned, his hazel eyes locked onto my mouth. My taste buds weren’t prepared for the flavor at first, but after another moment my mouth adjusted and I closed my eyes, appreciating the fatty amazingness.
“ When’s the last time you had meat?” Beck asked, continuing to stare at me with amazement.
“ Over twelve years ago,” I said with a full mouth, not caring how unladylike I was being.
“ Damn, that was hot.” A slow grin unwound across his lips.
I didn’t take any more bites of his burger. That first one hit my stomach with a thud and I knew that if I had any more, I’d be paying for it later. We paid and waited for our phones to charge up before heading back toward the Camper. The plan was to head to San Antonio next. They have a Riverwalk with tons of shops and restaurants you can stroll down. It would be the final stop before we headed toward Odessa.
We hopped in the Camper and were heading toward San Antonio when I turned my phone on. A cluster of ‘Missed Calls’ popped up onto the screen. Most of them were from my mom and dad, but then there were a few from Caroline’s mom as well. A dark, twisted feeling pierced my gut.
I pressed play on the first voice mail.
“ Abby, please call home as soon as possible. I have no clue where you are, but if you don’t respond soon we’re going to contact the police. I need to talk to you about Caroline, sweetie. Please call me back immediately.”
I didn’t even hesitate; I dialed home and pressed the phone so hard against my ear that it was cutting off circulation.
“ Abby!” My mom exclaimed. She picked up after the first ring.
“ Mom, I’m fin-”
“ Where have you been?” she yelled into the phone, cutting me off.
I pressed the tips of my fingers into my eyelids, trying to stay in control of my emotions.