Rachel & Huck

 It wasn't looking easy in Rachel's state of mind. There was no way Huck could just leave the Surf Shop and the Beach House.

Huck and Cobie went round and round about how it was up to both of them to keep the business going. Sometimes, it would start out as a heart-to-heart but then end in a shouting match. Of course, Rachel didn't see this plan of Huck's of going to the heartland happening.

"We're going," he'd snap about his matters with Cobie. True, Cobie had a way of keeping Huck up, late at night. She knew he felt used. It was as if she knew he was trapped and a part of her felt she'd fallen into the same hole with him.

It was either the Surf Shop or the Beach House. And as nice as those two things sound, well it could get pretty mundane after a while. She knew he wanted to go back to school. He'd only had one semester of college . Cobie snatched him back home to tend to business. After all, wasn't he a surfer too?

"We'll think of something," she said after a while. Hey, she even played the lottery at the local CVS when she got a chance.

"We'll put in our lucky numbers," she joked. 

"Yeah, what kind of luck do we have?" He'd laughed on their little sneaky visit to load up on snacks from the drugstore.

After all, they'd had only one really proper night together. The rest of it was sleeping in the same room with whoever needed a room. Rachel swore it was more of a hostel than a bed and breakfast. Yet, the more they were together, the more they talked and she knew whose side she was on. Definitely, not Cobie's.

"You know, I used to believe the mystery person we both knew online was actually Cobie, but I doubt that now." Rachel felt sad and enslaved as they kept the Beach House up and the Surf Shop opened and closed. Why couldn't that person help them now? But she knew it wouldn't do any good to say it aloud.

Huck was all quiet. She knew he had a lot on his mind. Still, she wondered if they'd be hitchhiking before they got out of there.

"This is something we have to do ourselves," he said about the mystery person who hadn't texted either of them in ages.

She reminded him that she'd flown out here. "Maybe we could just fly back." But as soon as she said it she knew it sounded silly. She'd checked the flights during the holidays and they were horrendous. People leaving California these days couldn't even get a Uhaul. Not that she thought they should go by Uhaul (She'd heard one of the old surfers talk about people leaving the state. He made it sound as if the end was near). Still, it would be steep to rent a car, but much cheaper than taking the Amtrack.  

Of course, if they did make it back to Iowa, Rachel was sure Huck would hate it. 

"I'll be happy anywhere I'm with you," Huck had promised with a kiss on the forehead. Oh, she hoped he didn't eat his words.