Del told Gwen that he loved her. She responded in kind. He reached over to her, placing his hand around the back of her pale neck, under the long, curly strands of thick, red hair. Gently pulling her forward, he kissed thin lips, staring into her green eyes before closing his. He admired her powdery scent, not overwhelming but distinct. Gwen pulled away and left.

II. Memories

Del drove a 1973 Volkswagen Superbettle. The Panasonic cassette player was crooning something from the mid-80s. Rick Springfield? Nick Kerhsaw?

�Wouldn�t it be good to be on your side? Grass is always greener over there? Wouldn�t it be good if we could live without a care?�

It made him think back to high school. Football, bad relationships, worse beer. Pre-Gwen. Last night, he woke up to the buzzing of the phone. Through a fog of sleepiness, he heard Gwen answer it after the first ring. He tried to listen to her soft voice. Exhaustion took hold, and he drifted back to sleep.

That morning, he woke up first and started his daily routine. As he was about to call Gary for a ride to school, he noticed a slip of paper:

Her handwriting. Johnny had been the �bad� boy she dated before Del. Finally proving to be too abusive, she left him. He was her addiction, though, and had nearly been the cause of a break-up between her and Del once. She promised she would not see him or talk to him again, which Del hesitantly believed.

Leaving the paper alone, he took a shower. After he finished, he noticed that Gwen had been up and was getting ready for work. He did not see the slip of paper.

�I had an odd little dream last night. The phone rang and you were talking to someone for a while.�
�That wasn�t a dream, Del. The phone did ring.� She was pulling back her hair into a violet hair tie.
�Who was it?�
�Wrong number. Some guy looking for a �Mary Jane�.�

He nodded and finished getting ready.

III. Repercussions

Del loved working on his car. He bought it for $100 in 1990. Over the years, he rebuilt nearly everything on it, learning from manuals. What he couldn�t repair, he had to save up and pay someone else to do. He felt the car was up to the trip. Seattle was only 120 miles northwest of Sunnyside.

$2500 would get him through the first few weeks. Jerry and Jana would let him stay while he looked for a place of his own. Jana added that she could probably land him a job working security at the Knight Club. Del hadn�t worked as a bouncer since 1991, but thought he could still handle himself well enough.

Keeping a steady sixty-five on I-90, he couldn�t keep a small smile from forming when he heard George Michael�s �Freedom� playing through the six-inch speakers.