Read Online Sociopaths In Love by Andersen Prunty - Free Book Online Page A

Boys must
have done something with him."
    Erica thought she saw something glint in his
eye. She was only seeing one side of him so it might not have been
anything but she was pretty sure he knew something he wasn't
telling her. She could have pressed him about it but they were on
the highway cutting through the drizzle and she decided to think
about something that wouldn't start an argument and was not as
depressing. Like food.
    "So hungry," she said.
    "First exit." He reached over and patted her
bare thigh. "Breakfast hungry or non-specific hungry?"
    "Breakfast would be awesome."
    They took the first exit they came to and
went to Bob Evans.

 
    Arguments and Reconciliation
     
    Breakfast for dinner was consumed in
relative silence. Again, the check was ignored. Again, they smoked
their cigarettes in the restaurant once they finished eating. Erica
said, "I feel like a disrespectful asshole," and Walt told her she
didn't have to do it. She didn't stop.
    Outside, the day was still heavy and gray.
Walt said he had to shit and walked over to a massive black Hummer,
climbed up on the hood, and dropped his pants. Erica, having no
real interest in watching him, walked over to the edge of the
parking lot and looked out at the highway. Since she'd never really
had the chance to explore or even really think about exploring
anything other than her very small section of the world, the cars
seemed to be traveling to abstract destinations. She remembered
Walt saying something about going to Dayton, Ohio. She'd have to
ask him what that was about. Hopefully he had plans to move on to
somewhere else after that. Dayton, Ohio, did not sound as exotic as
New York City or Los Angeles or New Orleans.
    She took a deep breath of
the clean, watery air. An odd sense of calm settled in her marrow.
She felt emptied out. Somehow, it was like the ability to do
anything she wanted to do made her blank and dreamless, void of
ideas. She had no clue what she wanted to do. Walt seemed to have
ideas and she was content to follow him for now. She didn't know
how long that would last. She had felt independent for the past few
years and now she had to wonder if she had been independent by
choice or if she had been independent because she was alone. Or if
the independence was the result of some harmonious balance. Of
course, she hadn't been independent. She'd been chained to the
house. Chained to Granny. But that had kept her from thinking she
should leave the house to do something and maybe she hadn't wanted
to leave to begin with. Maybe she could have just stayed there for
the rest of her life, experience everything through the pages
of Glamor Face or
the television or the internet. The world at a safe
distance.
    Was that what the unnoticeable thing was? A
way to take part in the world from a safe distance? A vampiric
observation with virtually no chance for repercussion?
    Walt came back and said, "Check it out." He
pointed to the Hummer.
    An astronomical amount of shit was piled on
the hood. It looked like it could have been the shit of several men
over the span of a week. The amorphous pile reached halfway up the
windshield and oozed over the sides onto the glistening
asphalt.
    "Whaddya think?" he said.
    "That's . . . a lot of shit."
    "Fuck yeah it is. I feel way better. You
ready?"
    She followed him to the car and they were
back on the highway in a matter of minutes. Walt seemed to be in a
good mood so she didn't bother him with the Dayton, Ohio, business
for now. The radio was on and he hummed along to it. Classic rock.
She didn't know why she expected more from him. Certain aspects
were completely alien while most were just like virtually every guy
she'd ever known. Still feeling like the day was weighing her down,
she reached into the back seat, grabbed a sweater, balled it up
against the window, and went to sleep.
    When she woke up about an hour later, Walt
was chewing on one of her tampons and making a horrible face. She
knew it was a tampon because