"What are you doing?" Michelle asked as he opened her car door. When he sighed, she snickered and climbed out. "You mean that I get to drive?"
"Yes, you get to drive. This city is so blasted confusing with all of the one-way streets. How can one place have so much construction?" Kevin sank into the seat as Michelle settled behind the steering wheel.
"I see that you have become acquainted with Ohio's unofficial state tree: the orange construction barrel." Michelle laughed as she adjusted the mirror and pulled back into traffic.
When the Mustang stopped at a truck stop for gas, Kevin shakily crawled out of the car. "Where did you learn to drive like that?"
"Andy taught me when I was fifteen." Michelle smiled as she noticed Kevin's pale face. "Did I mention that he used to race cars professionally?"
"No, you failed to mention that. It would have been nice to know that back when you were playing chicken with those tractor trailers." He took a few deep breaths and followed Michelle into the restaurant.
She opened the door and walked into the smoke filled room. After the hostess seated them in a booth, she smiled at him. "I was not playing chicken. I have driven this stretch of road heaps of times on my way to Chicago, so I've learned to be a little aggressive to make it anywhere."
"A little aggressive?" Kevin peered at her over his menu. "And I thought that I was an aggressive driver! You averaged about 70 miles an hour ever since I let you drive." They gave their orders to the server, and when the tired-looking woman left, Kevin sipped his coffee.
"You said that you work for a radio station?"
"Yeah, I'm the late night DJ for WHNA, and I've been working for the station ever since I was a junior in high school on an internship. I got the late-night slot about three months ago."
"And your friend is a DJ too?"
Michelle shook her head. "Sara is a promotions assistant at WCHC in Chicago, and I met her at a Midwest Radio Association conference about two years ago. Every time that I would visit my brother, I would stop by her station, and during the summers, I actually worked as a substitute DJ there."
"You have a wonderful voice. I would love to hear one of your shows sometime." Kevin said as their food arrived.
"Well, if you are ever in Columbus tune in from two to six am, and you'll hear me." Michelle dug her fork into her salad. "So what were you doing in Columbus?"
"One of my friends from high school got married on Saturday, so I came in for the wedding. Then I stayed the extra two days to visit some family." Kevin picked up his sandwich but before he could take a bite, the middle of the sandwich, all of the turkey and lettuce and tomato, slipped out onto his lap, leaving him with two slices of bread in his hands.
"Not a word out of you, Michelle." Kevin warned as he noticed the smile growing on her face. Her face contorted as she tried to keep from showing her amusement, but she couldn't help it. The three other restaurant patrons lifted their heads when her peals of laughter echoed in the drab room.
"Now... Now..." She could barely speak as Kevin frantically tried to clean up the mess. "Now I suppose I can't tell you to keep your pants on!" It wasn't his glare that triggered her laughter again, but the slow flush that was creeping up his neck to his face.
Kevin signaled their server for the check and ordered another sandwich to go. Michelle finished her meal in between giggles and when the server returned, the two gathered up their things.
"Walk in front of me," Kevin muttered as they headed out of the restaurant.
Michelle turned with an impish smile. "Why do you want me to that, Kevin?" He just glared at her and pushed her ahead of him out the door.
When they reached the hallway, Kevin checked out the front of his jeans and groaned. The special sauce from the sandwich left the most obvious stain, and to his horror and her amusement, bits of lettuce and crumbs were stuck to the front of his legs.
"Well, you're going to get your wish." Kevin muttered.
"What wish was that?"
"To get me out of my pants."
"I never wished to get you out of your pants!" Michelle was shocked.
He just looked at her knowingly, and started laughing when she looked away in embarrassment.
"Okay, so maybe the thought crossed my mind, but never like this!"
"How did you wish to get me out of my pants?"
"Wouldn't you like to know Mr. I-Can't-Control-My-Sandwich," she taunted.
"Someday, yes. But for right now, I'd like to change so I'm not stuck in these jeans for the rest of the trip. Could you go and get my bag out of the car? It's the black duffel bag in the trunk."
"Only if I can still keep driving."
"Michelle!" She just stood there unmoving until he sighed and nodded his head. "Okay, you can drive."
"Alright!" She threw her arms up in the air and did a little victory dance.
"Um, Michelle? My pants?"
"Oh, yeah. I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere." She sauntered outside and Kevin headed for the men's room at the end of the hall.
Coming back inside, she noticed that the hallway was empty. "I thought I told him not to go anywhere." Then she saw Kevin stick his head out the bathroom door looking for her.
"Thank heavens! Bring em here."
Michelle clucked her tongue. "Oh, my! We certainly are demanding aren't we Mr. Richardson?"
"Only when it's my pants that you have and I'm standing here in my boxers." Her eyebrow arched as she contemplated the situation he was in. "What?" Kevin was suspicious of what Michelle was thinking.
"Do you trust me?"
"What do you mean by that?"
"Exactly what I said. Do you trust me?" He looked steadily at her before nodding.
"Well, before I forget, here's your bag."
"Why would you forget it?"
"Well, I don't want to forget to leave it when I run out of here." She walked over and placed the bag down on the floor just outside the bathroom.
"Run out of here?"
Michelle grinned. "Yeah, right after I take this picture."
And before he could react, she kicked the bag so it slid across the floor and knocked the men's room door open revealing a shocked Kevin standing in the doorway in only a t-shirt and his boxers. She whipped out her camera and while he still stood there speechless, she snapped a few pictures before running out the door to the car.
