I Queued Three Hours for Her, But They Didn't Wait Three Minutes for Me novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: The Line
Bianca is shoved out of the car to hold a restroom line for her cousin, comes back to find the car gone, walks two miles on the shoulder, and is told she is slow; she sends her acceptance to a university overseas and learns the deposit is due December 15.
My brother shoved me out of the car on a dead-stopped interstate and pointed at the rest area.
"Go stand in the restroom line for Dani," he said.
Traffic had been backed up for ten hours, the day before the holiday, after a tanker fire at the pass.
In the back seat, my cousin Dani was rubbing her migraine balm, a short white stick, under both eyes.
Her eyes went red and wet right away.
"I can't stand in a crowd, Bee," she said. "You're the only one I trust."
Gabe, my boyfriend, squeezed my wrist. "Go on, babe. We'll be right here."
I believed him.
The line for the only open restroom within forty miles wrapped twice around the parking lot.
Three hours later, I was nearly at the door.
I turned to wave at the car, and the car was gone.
I called my brother, then his best friend, then Dani, then Gabe.
None of them picked up.
Finally Gabe texted a map pin and one line: Keep walking, we're just up ahead.
Just up ahead was two miles.
It was ninety-one degrees on the shoulder, and the sun came straight down.
My white Converse had been rubbing my heels since the first mile.
I found the car crawling forward in the traffic, and my brother's friend Marty saw me first.
He shrugged. "Traffic moved. We couldn't stop in the middle of the interstate."
Nobody asked if I was thirsty.
Nobody looked at my heels.
Dani was sitting in my seat, surrounded by empty snack bags.
Jerky, pretzels, two cartons of clementines, a whole case of water.
All of it was gone, and she was licking the crumbs of the last cookie off her thumb.
Gabe cracked open the last bottle of water and handed it to her.
Then he looked at me. "You walked back from the rest area and didn't bring us a single thing?"
Dani laughed and bumped his shoulder. "Bee's slow. You know that."
"She's always last," Marty said.
"Always," my brother Tony said, and they all laughed together.
I stood on the shoulder with nothing to say.
They hadn't waited because waiting for me had never been something they did.
For Dani, three hours in a line was a favor I owed.
For me, they couldn't spare three minutes on the shoulder.
The food in that car had been bought for five people, and I hadn't eaten any of it.
Then Tony held out a trash bag. "Clean this up and we'll call it even."
I looked at the bag.
I didn't take it.
"No," I said. "Go without me. I'm not getting back in."
They kept laughing at something Dani had said, and it took them a moment to hear me.
Gabe took my arm. "Get in, Bee. Traffic's moving."
My phone was at nine percent.
The shoulder had no bus stop, and the nearest exit was six miles off.
So I got in, but I didn't say yes.
I got in because it was the fastest way to the next town, and I'd already decided what I would do there.
Gabe reclined Dani's seat all the way back, and I was wedged in the middle of the back row with Tony's elbow in my ribs.
"Lean back," Tony said. "She's tired."
Three hours later we reached the resort town where we had booked a villa for Thanksgiving.
When I stepped out, blood had soaked through the backs of both sneakers.
Gabe was already half a block ahead with Dani, pointing out a shop window.
I limped after them and passed two women on a bench.
"Which one do you think she picks?" one whispered, nodding at the group ahead.
"Don't know. But Bianca can't keep up," the other said, and they both laughed.
I tried to speed up.
Every time I got close, they walked on.
"Wait," I called, and my throat was so dry the word scratched.
Nobody turned.
I went into a convenience store and bought five bottles of water.
Outside, I stopped on the sidewalk and counted the bottles through the plastic bag in my hand.
Five.
Out of habit I had bought one for each of them.
They were on a bench in the square, four people with four iced coffees.
I sat down alone on the steps and drank half a bottle in one go.
A janitor was sweeping near me, and I held out the bag. "Take them. All four."
Then I took out my phone and opened the email I had left unanswered for two months.
The University of Edinburgh. Master's in conservation biology. Offer of admission.
I typed: Thank you. I accept.
Across the square, Dani laughed at something, and nobody looked my way.
I pressed send.
The reply arrived before I had put my phone down.
Welcome, Bianca. Please note your deposit of $9,000 is due December 15 to hold your place.
I had two thousand, one hundred and forty dollars in the bank.
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