"Well Bria, it's been a real nice trip with you here."
"I appreciate you giving me a ride Greg, it really means a lot to me."
"No problem. If you ever decide to go back towards LA again, and need a ride, give me a call." He gave her a card.
?I for sure will. Thank you so much agian." She gave him a soft kiss on his cheek. She climbed out of the truck two blocks from his drop location in Oakhurst, and watched him pull away. She knew she would miss him, at least for a little while. He was cool. Then again, any guy willing to break the rules for her was cool with her. She smiled, then started walking. She took the directions out of her bag. She had the address of the post office, and that's where she needed to go next. She had a general idea of where she was, because she'd studied the map for weeks before this trip. Taking the well used map out too, she sat down on a bench and began to plan her next move.

After a short break, she began walking down S. 63rd West Avenue. She knew she'd need to get a ride across the river, but for now she knew she should walk as far as she could, and get as tired and dirty as she could. Or she could get a cab. No, not yet. She pulled out her iPod and continued walking.

---

"Excuse me miss, do you need a ride?" Bria looked over her left shoulder at the silver Mazda stopped along the curb. A guy was driving, and by Bria's guess not more than twenty years old. She smiled sweetly.
"I would love a ride. Where are you going?"
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going across the river, to the post office on Yorktown Avenue."
"Oh, I know where that is. I can take you over there. Jump in."
"Thanks sweetie." She opened the back door and threw her bag in, closed it, then climbed into the passenger seat. Fastening her seatbelt, she said, "My name is Bria."
"I'm Cory. Why the post office? That's kind of a weird place to go with a bag."
"I know, but I'm coming from LA, and my parents just moved here, so I'm trying to find them. All I have is a PO Box number, so I'm hoping that if I go to the post office where the PO Box is, that I can get an address to their house." She lied. Well, not all of it was a lie.
"Why were you in LA?"
"I tried to do the whole acting/modeling/singing thing."
"And it didn't work out for you?" He sounded shocked. 'Oh, it did,' she thought to herself.
"No," she said sadly, trying to get her tears to start flowing. When she looked back up at him, they were streaming down her cheeks. "There were so many other beautiful girls there, and I couldn't get enough work to keep my place..."
"But you're georgeous!" He blurted out. As soon as he'd said it, his cheeks flushed. He looked away, out his window for a minute.
"Aw, that's so sweet, but not enough, I guess." She sniffed, and looked down at her hands.
"So why don't you have your parent's address?"
"They moved here after I left for LA, and they don't know I'm coming. I didn't want to ask for an exact address, so they'd think I'd failed already."
"Bummer. You can stay with me." He said, smiling. Bria thought that he was actually serious.
"Thank you. If things don't work out, I'll let you know." She smiled at him, and saw his heart melt. She did a little victory dance in her head. Even after three days without a shower, she still could pull guys's strings. That was awesome.
"I'll give you my number. Here we are." He pulled up to the curb at the post office.
"Can you wait here?"
"Sure."
"Thanks. I'll only be a minute." She smiled at him again, then went into the post office. Nervous as she stood in a line of three people, her stomach did flips. This was the next stage in her plan. Taking deep breaths, she tried to calm her nerves as the line moved. Reciting her planned lines in her head, she took another step closer to the counter. She was glad so far that no one had come in behind her. She was next, and her stomach was filled with butterflies. It seemed like an hour went by before it was her turn.
"Hello, how can I help you?" The seventy something man, with bifocals and a bald top of his head peered at her through his glasses.
"Hi," she said in her sweetest voice, giving him a big smile and batting her eyelashes, "I was hoping you could give me an address to a PO Box."
"Well, let me see what I can do." He smiled in return, then went to his computer. After a minute, he said, "What was the number?"
"703136. It should be here in this post office." He began working on his computer.
"It seems it is. It's that one right there." He pointed behind her, then looked back at his screen. "But down here it says not to give out the address..."
"I know, but I'm family. I just came in from LA, and all I have is the PO number. Please let me get home." He studied her pleading expression, and sad eyes.
Hesitating, he finally said, "Okay. I'll write it down for you."

Bria ran out of the post office, so excited she could have done cartwheels all the way back to the car. Jumping in, she had a huge grin on her face.
"I take it you got it," Cory said.
"I did. It took a little finessing, but yes!" Little did he know it wasn't really her family. "So now I have a favor to ask of you."
"Sure. Shoot."
"It's kind of crazy, but I'm hoping you're game, and I'll pay you."
"You don't need me to kill someone, do you?" She almost laughed. He looked so serious, like he might actually have done it.
"No!" If he jumped to that conclusion, maybe he would help her out. "I'll give you a hundred dollars if you, while we drive slowly past this address, push me out of the car." At first he paused, with a shocked look on his face. As it registered, his features relaxed.
"While the car is moving?"
"Yes."
"Why would I want to push you out of my car?"
Bria laughed. "Okay, okay, I get you. It just adds a little drama."
"And you'll pay me a hundred dollars to do this?"
"Yes." She looked at him seriously.
"What if I don't want money?"
Bria thought for a moment. What could she offer him that didn't involve spilling who she really was, and not sleeping with him? "Okay, I'll owe you a night out." He nodded, considering.
"How about both?" Bria smiled, rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Alright. But you have to make it look good."
"Okay. What do you want to do?"
"This is my plan. So we'll drive by once, at regular speed and honk. That should bring them out if they're not already. Then on the second time, we'll slow down to like fifteen miles an hour, and put the car on cruise. Does it have cruise controll?"
"Yeah."
"Good. We'll put it in cruise so you don't need your feet. We'll have the door opened slightly, and when we go past again, you'll push me out with your legs. Hard. Don't worry about the bruises, I'll need them." She studied Cory's expression. "You think I'm crazy?"
"Crazy, beautiful, and desperate. You need to show them you literally 'crashed and burned' in LA, so you have a better chance at them letting you come home. You come home, stay, I get to go out with you." Bria followed his logic, and liked how he thought. Smiling, she let him think that's how it was.
"I knew you'd understand. So are you ready?"
"Yeah. The address?" She handed it to him.
"Cool. Those are some nice houses over there."
"Are they?" She smiled hopefully.
"Yeah. Lets go."

Chapter Five