I woke up to the sun glaring in my face through the window. I rolled over to one side and nestled my head into the pillow, wanting to go back to sleep. It was warm under the blanket. But why did my eyes hurt? They were sore, like…

Then I remembered. Everything came back at once – the bank bathroom, the glovebox, the diner, the French toast, Mitta, the messages. They were sore from crying myself to sleep. I opened them, hoping maybe I’d find myself back at home and that everything would have been a dream. Instead, I opened them to be looking straight at the glovebox.

Not a dream.

But not today. Tomorrow I could deal with it.

I shoved it from my mind and sat up to find Mitta leaning against the back window and holding a handful of dry cereal. “Good morning, señorita. You’ll be happy to know I got us breakfast,” she said as she leaned forward to hand me the box of off-brand cereal.

“Thanks,” I said groggily, pouring some out into my hand. I tried a piece and it reminded me of cough syrup – it was stale and disgusting. Then again, it was food, so I ate it.

As I woke up a little more and looked around, I noticed something taped to the roof of my car. I moved forward to get a better look, and it was a picture – a Polaroid. Of me.

“You like it?” she asked.

I hated it. To be fair I hated any picture of me, but I didn’t feel the need to get into that right then, nor the invasion of privacy from having my picture taken without knowing.

“Why’d you take it?”

“Because we are going to take pictures of everything.”

“Polaroids?”

“Yeah,” she paused, like she was thinking. “It’s art. Ya know, the poeticness of two strangers, driving off into the sunset in a beaver-colored car from like the 50s. It just screams Polaroids. Plus, I got the camera as a gift, and this is the perfect thing for it.” I just laughed.

“A beaver-colored car?”

“Yeah. What else would you call it?

“I’ve always thought of dirt.” Mitta shrugged and reached for the box of cereal. I kept thinking about what she’d said. “So, the sunset – is that where we’re headed?”

“I mean, I hadn’t really thought about it I guess. Just, away.” I had assumed she had some kind of destination in mind. Sure, I had taken off without even the smallest semblance of a plan, but her pile of cash and eagerness to come with me made it seem like she’d actually contemplated this.

“Maybe we could-”

“Let’s just get one of those map books at a gas station or whatever, then close our eyes and point at somewhere,” she interrupted. Maybe we could go to Niagara Falls because it’s not that far and I’ve always wanted to see it.

“Okay.”

“Cool,” she said. “There’s one right across the street we can try. Oh, your clothes are in the front if you want to change.

“Yeah, thanks,” I said as I turned around to find them. I picked up the bag and set it on my lap to rummage through, pulling out the sweatpants and… a shirt with the deepest V-neck I’d ever seen. There was no way I could wear that. I set it aside and kept digging.

A crop top.

A loose tank with armholes that would go down to my bellybutton.

What was this? All of these things that Mitta had picked out were… slutty. I didn’t have another word for them. I thought she’d caught on when she’d held up the blue t-shirt back in the store, but apparently not. What was I supposed to do? I’d feel rude if I didn’t wear them – she did buy them for me after all – but I wouldn’t be comfortable in any of them. Why would she do that?

I found the blue t-shirt at the bottom of the bag and pulled it out, crawling my way over to the back door.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“Um, inside to change?”

“You know you can just change here. Like, I’ll turn around if that helps.”

“There’s a lot of windows…”

“Come on, it’s fine! There’s literally no one else here.” I looked around, and she was right – the parking lot was deserted. However, that didn’t mean that no one would show up.

“I’d just rather go inside.” She shook her head.

“Fine, whatever. Just buy something on your way out – it’s rude to just use their bathroom,” she said as she handed me a couple dollar bills. I nodded and hurried out of the car and into the store.