Now that the bags were loaded, he placed his eyes on me.
“You made sure you have everything? I would hate to have to swing back over here,” he stated.
“Yeah. I have everything,” I assured him.
That’s when he shut the door, and he dusted off his hands. I watched him as he pulled Gianna into him for a hug. You could tell that his sister was his soft spot. He loved Gianna so beautifully. It was the way he kissed her forehead, letting her know that he loved her, and assuring her that he would keep her updated on the things that were happening on the road. I knewthat Gianna often feared for her brother being on the road for so long, and how much she would miss him. It was obvious in how tight she was holding onto him. Almost as if she didn’t want to let him go. She eventually did though and made her way over to me.
We wrapped our arms around each other, and just like with everything else, I stood here, fighting back tears. I felt the struggle of knowing that I was supposed to be basking in celebrating one month of marriage. Instead, I was getting ready to get on the road with a man that was only doing this to make his sister happy. As sad as I was, I didn’t want to shed anymore tears. At least, not for the rest of the morning.
Gianna eventually pulled away from me, and she looked me in my eyes.
“Remember what I told you, Mina. Leave it all here. Leave the mess here. Don’t take it with you on the road. The purpose of this trip for my brother is work. The purpose of this trip for you is therapy. I love you girl,” she let me know.
I knew she loved me. If Gianna never told me again that she loved me, I would still know. The way this girl has been there for me these past few weeks, dealing with me, and all my emotions, the love that she had for me was evident.
“I love you more,” I let her know, and that was that.
Gemini already had the passenger door open for me. He was standing right there by it, as if he was waiting for me to come over, so that we could finally hit the road.
“Remember what I told ya’ll. Please be nice to each other,” Gianna said from behind me. I turned around to look at her, so that I could give her a small smile.
Gemini reached for my hand because the step up for me to get inside of the truck was pretty high up. He could have been an asshole and allowed me to go up the steps on my own, but he didn’t do that. I could have been an asshole as well, choosing toignore the gesture, and walk up the steps without his assistance, but I didn’t do that either. Instead, I reached my hand out, got a hold of his, and I stepped onto the first step.
There was a second step that I went for next, and after that one, I was officially on the truck. I wasn’t sure what I should do with my purse, so I chose to sit it down by my feet. I looked out, where Gianna was still standing in the driveway, and I waved my hand at her. She waved back, smiling at me, and blowing me a kiss. I did the same thing to her, and Gemini closed the door.
I used this time to look around. Like I said, the only experience that I had with 18-wheeler trucks was seeing them on the road. Most of the time, they looked old. So old that I already had my predictions of what the inside of one might look like. I expected to get in here and it would look like the inside of a truck that came out in the 90’s. Then again, I had to remember that Gianna told me that Gemini treated this truck as if it was his home, so looking around, and seeing everything around me, I guess it wasn’t that surprising.
The dashboard stretched across the front of the cockpit, looking like something inside of a luxury vehicle. Because there were multiple screens on the dashboard, it gave the inside of the truck somewhat of a glow.
Even the seat that I was sitting in was nice. It was made of leather. I looked up, paying attention to the ceiling. It was high up. Higher than I expected. Even the way I was sitting was high off the ground. I knew that I still had a little bit of time before Gemini got inside, so I twisted in my seat a little bit, just so I could turn around, and see what was behind me. There were black curtains. I didn’t want to come off as nosy, but I was curious to see what was behind me.
Quickly, I placed my hands on one of the curtains, pulled it back, and when I saw what was back there, my jaw literally dropped.
This looked as if it was his living quarters. Like, his entire life was back there. I saw two bunk beds, cabinets, a refrigerator, microwave, even a flat screen TV. It reminded me of a luxury RV. As nice as it was, I hoped that the plan wasn’t to sleep back there overnight. I doubt it, right? Gianna would have told me that, right? Gemini would have even said that to me.
The sound of the driver’s door opening caused me to let go of the curtain, and I quickly turned around in my seat. Gemini was able to skip the first step. Instead, he walked up to the second step, and he quickly got in the seat. I watched him as he removed a gun from his waistband, and the compartment that was above his head, he slid the gun in there. Like it was nothing, he reached over for his seatbelt and placed it on.
“Why do you have a gun?” I asked, just out of curiosity.
“I’m a truck driver. You cool with your purse being right there, or you want to put it in the back?” he asked, quickly changing the subject.
“What does that mean? You’re a truck driver equates to you having to have a gun?” I really wanted to know, so I didn’t bother answering the last part of his question.
“As a truck driver, I’m always in different kind of settings, Amina. Rest areas. Truck stops. I take back roads sometimes. Sometimes, I have deliveries and pick-ups in the wee hours of the morning. I’m around people sometimes that I don’t know enough to trust them, but I still have to do business with them. You keeping your purse there, or you taking it in the back?” he asked me again. He’d pretty much answered my question, so I didn’t have to continue lingering on it.
I decided to grab my purse, pull out one of my romance novels, so that I could start reading while he took off. I took the purse to the back, choosing to sit it down inside one of the cubbies that he had. Once it was secured, I made my way back upfront, picked the book up, so that I could place it in my lap, and I put my seatbelt on.
“Whenever you want to adjust your seat, the buttons are on the side of the chair. You can move it forward, backwards, or even raise it higher, or lower it. It’s a massage setting over there too. The seats are heated. If it gets too cold, you can warm the chair up to your liking. If you ever get tired, you can go in the back and sleep in the bottom bunk. If that’s not what you want to do, then you can just recline the chair, and sleep up here,” he let me know, and I nodded.
The way he talked, you could tell that he knew this truck by heart.
After that, he started the truck up, and I swear it came to life. The truck growled when it started. It was a deep growl. Vibrating the entire cabin. I could feel the vibration in my feet. I watched him as his hands went for one of the screens that were on the dashboard. I really had no idea how he was able to understand all this stuff. One screen showcased the navigation, but he didn’t have a route in yet. I truly had no idea where we were headed. I was just riding.
Gemini didn’t go for the navigation screen. Instead, he went for the screen in the middle, and it looked to be some kind of trucking software. Hell, I don’t know.
His fingers danced around the screen, checking off different things. It’s almost like he had to check these things off before starting off his route. He checked that his pre-trip inspection was complete, fuel, the load was secured, and that he was in transit. After he did all those things, I watched him as he placed a phone call using that same screen. The phone rang about two times until it connected.
“G, what’s good?” the caller asked Gemini.
