Jessie and Katie's Roadtrip
by Emily

Summary: Jessie, Katie, sand--just read it
Rating: PG-13 (there might be some bad words; I don't remember)
Disclaimer: I own nothing; I merely borrow.

**********

"Okay, Sammler, pack your bags," Katie commanded, bursting into my attic bedroom.

There was a time, maybe about a year ago, when I would have demanded that my girlfriend explain herself, but I had grown used to her unpredictable personality. "Where`re we going?" I asked casually, not even bothering to look up from my book.

"Jess!" Katie exclaimed, wrenching the book from my hands. "How can you be so blasé?"

I offered her my most charming smile. "Just to bother you."

"Hmm, well, if I wasn't so fond of you that might be a problem. So why aren't you packing?"

"You haven't told me where we're going yet."

"We're hitting the road—heading out, to see the country."

"Oh, so like a road trip," I said, as if I was just catching on and had yet to formulate an opinion of Katie's plan.

"Exactly. So come on."

"Katie. Do you realize how much my parents would refuse to let me take a road trip across the country with just you?"

"Relax; I've taken care of that. I talked to your mom already."

"And you convinced her?" I asked incredulously.

"Please. It's a known fact that the Sammler women have no resistance to my charms," Katie grinned, and I couldn't protest, because it was true. "Which goes for Lily too. I talked her into it as well, so between her and your mom, your dad will easily give in."

"Wow," was all I could utter.

"So whattya say, Jess? This is my last chance to live it up before the shackles of college close around my wrists and ankles, and I wanna live it up with you."

"Okay. I'm in," I said, unable not to absorb Katie's wild enthusiasm.

"You're still not packing," she said impatiently, and I just laughed.

**********

"When're you gonna let me drive?" I whined. "I do have my license, you know."

"I know," Katie replied. "I've been letting you drive."

"For half-hours at a time."

"Oh, please." She rolled her eyes. "Drama queen," she teased.

"You've been driving for four hours, you know. Don't you need a break?"

"I'm fine," she insisted, as the car began to drift into the other lane.

"Katie!" I screeched, and she quickly corrected her steering, grinning sheepishly.

"Just keeping you on your toes, Jess," she said.

"You are not funny."

"Come on; I'm a good driver. We've been on the road for two weeks, and I have yet to hit anything."

"What about that cactus two days ago?"

"Oh, that doesn't count," she said dismissively.

"It gave us a flat tire."

"Cactuses are prickly."

"I believe it's `cacti,'" I said, affecting a snobbish air.

Katie laughed and reached over to mess up my hair. "Hey, hey, hands on the wheel," I ordered.

"Jess, will you relax? I'm beginning to think you have no faith in my driving abilities."

"Well, not `no faith'—maybe very little faith," I said playfully.

"Ohh, that was low," Katie growled, but I could see she was trying not to laugh.

"Katie! Eyes on the road!" I shrieked, as the car drifted into the other lane again.

She corrected the steering, offering me a wicked grin, before finally turning her attention to the highway. "Would you just chill?" she requested, as if it was the least I could do for her.

"I wanna drive," I demanded.

"Fine." She suddenly pulled the car off the road and onto the dirt shoulder and practically slammed on the breaks. "Drive."

"Thank you," I said sweetly, jumping out of the car and going around to the driver's side.

Before pulling back onto the highway, I leaned over and kissed my girlfriend, which seemed to pull her out of her semi-sulking mood. "So do I get a kiss every time I let you drive?" she asked.

"We'll see," I returned, getting back onto the road.

"Okay, we're stopping at the next gas station. I have to go to the bathroom."

"Oh, no. You'll take the wheel back right after we stop," I said.

"Oh, please."

"We're not stopping for at least two hours."

"No way. You can drive after we stop; I promise. Okay? I really have to pee," Katie said urgently.

She sounded sincere, so I took pity on her and pulled over at the next place I could find. I insisted on waiting in the car for her to secure my place behind the wheel, and she about threw a fit before deciding that getting to the bathroom was more important.

We were somewhere in the middle of New Mexico, and I don't really know why Katie had insisted on driving through New Mexico; the entire state is just empty desert, but there we were, on 285 heading southwest to the White Sands National Monument in Alamogordo. And luckily, since New Mexico is, like, the emptiest state we'd been in, there weren't many other cars on 285, otherwise I swear Katie would've gotten us in some kind of accident. It's not that she's really a bad driver; it's that she gets distracted very easily.

"So how much longer till we get to this sand place?" I asked, when Katie got back and was taking out the map.

"Well, we're almost to Roswell, so we should be in Alamogordo in about two and a half hours," Katie predicted.

"Whatever you say, oh wise one," I said, only half-condescendingly.

"Hey, your job is to drive, not to mock the navigator," she scolded sternly.

"Whatever you say, oh wise one," I repeated, grinning.

"Remind me why it is I love you?" she asked, pretending to be at a loss.

"Oh, I will," I promised, smiling seductively. "I will."

**********

"Hey, uhm, you remember when you said you were gonna remind me why I love you, and you did that sexy smiling thing?" Katie asked suddenly, as we lay in bed in a motel room in Las Cruces, unable to sleep.

"You remember when you said we were gonna be in Alamogordo in two and a half hours, and we somehow ended up at the Mexican border?" I returned, rolling over onto my side so that my back was to her.

"Oh, come on, getting lost is the best part about road trips," Katie wheedled, reaching over to wrap an arm around my waist.

"If you say so," I said, not believing her. Getting lost was so not the best part about road trips, especially when it ended up in a seven-hour detour before finding our way back to 285 and a hotel. Katie was no better a navigator than she was a driver.

Katie started to kiss my neck, and I shrugged her away. "I'm tired," I said flatly.

"Oh," she said, trying to keep the hurt out of her voice. "Okay. `Night, Jess."

"'Night." I was exhausted, or else I would've told her I forgave her, but I didn't have the energy, and I just fell asleep.

When I woke up, I rolled over, intending to snuggle up to my girlfriend and fall back asleep, but the other side of the bed was empty. Yawning, I sat up and found the hotel room empty too. It was eleven o'clock, which is late for us to be getting up, but I figured Katie had gone to try to get her morning jog in before I woke up, so I headed off to the shower, not really worrying about her absence.

"Jess! You up?" Katie called, a few minutes after I'd gotten in the shower.

"Shower!" I replied.

"Still mad at me?" she asked, clearly hoping the answer was no.

"Tell ya later," I promised.

"Well, save me some hot water," she requested.

"D'you go running?" I asked, turning off the shower.

"Yeah, just around the block a couple times—didn't get lost once," she said proudly.

I smiled. "Good for you, Kat," I said, drying myself off and wrapping the towel around myself. "Shower's all yours," I announced, opening the bathroom door.

She looked at me expectantly, and I leaned forward to kiss her. "Well, that was not an `I'm-still-mad-at-you-kiss,'" she said happily.

"Nope. It was not," I agreed.

"Okay, just let me shower, and then I will get you to Alamogordo today if it's the last thing I do."

"I think you'd better drive and let me handle the map."

"Whatever you say," she said, heading into the bathroom.

While Katie showered, I got dressed and then studied our road map. Las Cruces isn't that far away from Alamogordo, and I easily figured out a route that would get us there. I had no idea how long it would take, but it would get us there.

When Katie got out of the shower, she started ripping her bag apart hoping to find some clean clothes, and I got hit in the face with a pair of socks. "Ugh, god, Katie, have you done laundry at all?" I asked, swatting the grayish, yellowish, probably once were actually whitish, socks to the floor.

"What?" she asked absently, pulling a purple tank top on over her head.

"Are any of those clothes actually clean?"

She shrugged. "Hopefully some of my underwear is."

"Oh, Christ, Katie, you are foul. I swear, the first thing we're gonna do in Alamogordo is find a laundromat. This is disgusting."

"When did you do laundry, little miss perfect?" she demanded, turning to face me as she towel-dried her hair.

"In Colorado," I replied primly, "while you were flirting with that waitress from the diner."

"Jealous much?" she teased, grinning at me, and I just glared. "Besides, that was not flirting. We were discussing the Sox' chances of winning the pennant this year."

"You found a White Sox fan in Colorado?"

"Mm-hmm. She's from Chicago, going to college in the Rocky Mountain State."

"So you heard her whole life story?"

"You are jealous," Katie decided, smiling mischievously.

"I am not jealous," I denied, though I guess I kinda was. "Besides, she had a boyfriend."

"And I have a girlfriend. So I don't know what you're worrying about," she said, hooking a finger through one of the belt loops on my shorts and pulling me to her.

"I'm not worrying about anything. She's in Colorado, and I am right here."

"Exactly." And Katie leaned forward to kiss me sweetly. "Well, we should probably head out."

"Probably," I said, though it was clear we both wanted to continue with the kissing.

I kissed her quickly, then broke away to collect my stuff. "That's it?" she whined, reluctantly picking up her clothes and shoving them back in her bag.

"If we actually get to Alamogordo today, there will be more," I promised.

"Okay," Katie said eagerly, and followed me out of the hotel room to check out.

**********

"Oh, oh, check that out," Katie said proudly, "that sign definitely says `Welcome to Alamogordo.'"

"Mm-hmm, and I'm the one who found it. You just drove."

"Well, yay for Jessie," Katie laughed. "And, as I recall, you said something about more later," she said, pulling into the parking lot of the local Holiday Inn.

"Yeah, as soon as you wash those rank clothes of yours."

"What? Now?"

"Yeah, as soon as we check in. Those socks were nasty."

"You are no fun. You're like my mother."

"Your mother? Oh, well, no one wants to make out with their mother, so I guess you don't have to worry about more later," I said, getting out of the car.

"Hey, wait!" Katie called, trying to backpedal. "I didn't mean it like that."

I smiled at her, playful mischief in my eyes, before heading into the hotel to get us a room. "Jess!" She sprinted after me and threw her arm around my shoulders.

To prevent further freak-outs, I leaned over and kissed her quickly. "You are, like, terrified of not getting any, aren't you?" I teased, taking her hand and intertwining our fingers. "You know I can never hold out on not kissing you."

Katie laughed and kissed my forehead. "Arright."

So we got a room, and then I dragged Katie to find a laundromat. "We are seriously spending this day doing laundry? I wanted to take you to the dunes!" she complained.

"Your clothes are gross. Okay? We'll go to the White Sands place as soon as your clothes aren't gross anymore."

"Fine," she sighed, following me into the Alamogordo laundromat. "Do we have to wash all the clothes?"

"Yes," I insisted, picking a washing machine and dumping detergent and most of our clothes in it.

"How long is this gonna take?"

"Katie, will you stop being such a pain?" I begged, closing the lid and jumping up to sit on it.

Katie jumped up beside me, put her head in my lap, and stretched out across the row of washers. "Okay, read to me," she requested.

"Okay," I agreed, digging around in my backpack for the book we were reading, Troubling A Star.

I held the book with one hand and played with her hair with the other and read to her while we waited for our laundry. The laundromat was pretty empty, so my usual self-consciousness was completely gone, and it was actually pretty enjoyable, reading to my girlfriend while she rested her head in my lap. It didn't even matter that we were in a dingy little laundromat in Nowheresville, New Mexico. All that mattered is that Katie and I were with each other.

By the time all our clothes were washed and dried, I had almost finished the book, and it was dinner time. We took our clothes back to the hotel and then went to get dinner. And after dinner, we headed out to the White Sands. When we finally got there, the sun was beginning to set, and most everyone else had already headed home. I was amazed by the sight in front of me. White Sands is just sand, miles and miles of soft white sand. Everywhere, as far as you can see in all directions, it's just sand, like at the beach, except there's no water. The sun was sinking behind the dunes, and it was pretty beautiful.

We picked a parking spot near some people-less dunes, and, after removing all footwear, Katie led the way up to the giant hills of soft white sand. "Arright, Jess, watch this," she said, and jumped into the air.

A split second after she jumped outward, she started falling back toward the dunes. I watched her land feet first about ten feet down from the top and proceed to tumble the rest of the way down to the bottom, having not gotten her balance at her landing. It looked like fun, so I figured what the hell. "Geronimo!" I hollered, following Katie's lead and tumbling down the dune.

We landed in a mess of tangled limbs at the bottom, panting and laughing. "I can see why you dragged me all the way out here," I said, untangling myself.

"It's pretty cool, huh? So you ready to go again?" she asked, helping me to my feet.

"Sure."

We raced across the dunes, slipping and rolling, jumping and falling. As we engaged in playful wrestling matches and jumping contests, we lost all track of time, and before we knew it, darkness had fallen upon the dunes. We had spent almost three hours being young and stupid in the sand, and now we were tired.

I lay on the top of one of the dunes, my head resting on Katie's stomach, and picked out the constellations as their stars appeared, one by one or three by three in the night sky. She lay with her arms behind his head, listening to me absently name the constellations, as I let the cool, dry sand sift through my fingers. "You know, it would be really cool if we could spend the night here," she said suddenly.

"It is really nice up here," I semi-agreed. "But it would be so illegal."

"You and your law-abiding ways," she teased, affectionately ruffling my hair.

"Yeah, I know, I'm no fun," I sighed, pretending to be put out. "But, really, we should probably get back to the hotel."

"Yeah," she agreed reluctantly.

I got up and pulled Katie to her feet, and we headed down the dune. During our descent, however, I could not resist jumping on her back so we both tumbled to the bottom. We landed in an entangled heap, both of us laughing, and she just looked at me with this giddy smile on her face, and then she kissed me. Neither of us said a word as we helped each other to our feet; we just laughed as we intertwined our fingers and headed back to the car. It was right then that I realized that our relationship was perfect and that I could never just act like that with anyone else but Katie. I loved her so much that night, more than I'd ever realized. And for that moment, all the hassle we'd gone through to actually get to this place of the endless sand dunes was way more than worth it.