"This is our Rv?"
"Yep! Ain't she beautiful?!"
"...I couldn't even tell it was an she."
Even that declaration was putting things lightly by Sunset’s standards. The thing didn't even look like a standard, modern Rv--it looked like someone had taken the front end of a 50’s truck and tried to superglue it to a big, rectangular metal thing on two wheels. Then that someone cut a door in the side and superglued a huge windshield on as well. Rust was sprinkled everywhere on the blasted thing and even the wheels looked decrepit. An enclosed balcony that doubled as bed jutted out from the roof like a pompadour. She wasn’t even going to ask how the blue and white paint stayed intact, aged as it was. It was a wonder that Pinkie’s cousin was able to get it across the highway legally, let alone behind the apartment.
“Are you kidding? You can’t fake feminine beauty like this!” She smirked and nudged Sunset with an elbow. Sunset had to squint to avoid the sunlight bouncing off of Pinkie’s stupid plastic sunglasses--the ones she claimed were pure gold despite the glaring issue being that she won them at Dave and Buster's two years ago. “Its called the 1951 Boyertown Tour Wagon!”
“Tour wagon?”
“That's right--this is the stuff old rock bands used to drive around in! Fitting, now that the dynamic duo is back in business,” The enthusiastic girl elbowed her again and pranced over to the vehicle to pat it's heavily dented hood. “ The engine is a lovely Dodge V8 315, from way back to this baby’s third birthday thirty four years ago. When I get her started, you’ll hear her chirp to life!”
“I can barely contain my excitement.”
"Oh, just you wait, Sister! You ain’t seen nothing yet!” Pinkie yanked the door open, revealing a set of miniature wooden stairs and space enough to move behind the seat. “Step on in, Cadet!”
The demurring girl entered as instructed and was introduced to a whole new world of bad things to nitpick. She squinted at the couches placed apart from each other on either side of the van, weathered with tears and stains on certain parts. An empty bookshelf/counter jutted out from the wall, with a large antenna tv sitting on top. All of it looked unbelievably dusty.
She walked over to the sink that was nestled on the opposite side of the bookshelf, and tested the knob for running water--it surprisingly ran. On the other side of the van, she could easily make out the shape of an oven. When she looked closer, she raised an eyebrow at Pinkie. “A propane oven?
“Yeah, would’ve had to pay extra for an electric oven to be installed.”
Sunset glanced inside what looked like a closet, and then the other tiny compartment on the opposite side. “Yay. One toilet.”
Pinkie nodded enthusiastically and gestured to the very back of the RV, marked by a large door. “Guess what’s in the back!”
She hesitated. When she looked into the mysterious depths, Sunset flinched at the sight of the bathtub and connecting shower head. If anyone had ever used this, they didn't think to clean up after themselves. With a groan, she nodded at her friend. “It...could be improved. But it’s cool. I guess."
"Squee!" Pinkie squeed.
They walked back up to the driver’s section, and Sunset noticed something that genuinely surprised her in a neutral way. “Huh. I get it.” She pointed at the cab bed that extended outwards over the windshield and hood of the car. So the ‘pompadour’ was actually a sleeping area. “At least that's sorta convenient.”
Pinkie put an arm around her shoulder in a semi-hug.“Seemed pretty cool to me too. Enough room for the both of us to hit the sack.”
Sunset shot her a skeptical look. “I’m sorry, are you saying there’s only one official bed here?!”
“Yeah, this RV wasn’t really designed for multiple people to live in it, per se.” Pinkie explained with an uncertain shrug. “It was for duo bands and romantic couples, so they’d share that cab around night time. Anyone else would crash on the couches.”
“Uh, you couldn't have gotten something that wouldn't make us look like we’re...y'know?!”
“We are 'Y'knows'~,” Pinkie suggestively winked at her, though it was obvious that she was holding back a laugh. “Starry Eyed Lovers of Pizza and Rootbeer!”
Loosened up a little by her friend’s antics, Sunset crossed her arms. “Well I’m not making love to a pepperoni slice in a bed somebody else slept in,” She gagged internally. “Ew, what if somebody really did--”
Pinkie gagged as well. “Don’t even go there! As soon as I found out this was a couple’s RV I got rid of the bed and anything that touched the bed to be safe. That’s a memory foam mattress, bought with my own money.”
Sunset nodded in relief. “And you're sure this whole thing is gonna hold up the whole way to Idaho?”
Leaning against the creaking walls, her friend agreed. "Cross my heart, hope to die, stick a cup-sized pastry in my eye!"
"Okay then. Now what?"
“Now,” Pinkie declared proudly. “We pack it all up and move out! I got a special place in mind to kick off our trip, so we'll have to move fast!”
"Chairs?"
"There's a hidden compartment I didn't tell you about. They're there."
A pen scratched once over the box.
Bummed out, Sunset moved on to the next item on the list and glanced up at the heavily packed vehicle. Once she found the enormous beach ball strapped onto the roof of the RV, she marked the box and looked for the next labeled item. “...towels?”
“I've got them inside!” Pinkie was on the roof of the car, trying to shove the humongous canoe into the tight space between the chairs and the foldable table. With a giant kick, she managed to fit them both together in position that looked ready to explode if someone breathed wrong. “They're all sitting in the bathtub.”
Sunset marked them off her list and started to move onto the next item when she suddenly realised what she said. She glared up at her heightened friend. “Are you serious? You put all the towels in that disgusting tub? We haven't even cleaned it yet!”
“Its not like grime can’t easily be rubbed off! The towels would be as clean as the day I bought them, regardless of what's on them.”
"Pinkie, that's still--..."Gritting her teeth, she moved on to the next item on the list. “Coolers with ice included?”
“Oh, they’re on the couch!” Pinkie struggled to close the giant umbrella and squeeze it in with the other items. She tugged with all the physical strength she could muster, but couldn't quite squeeze it in a permanent manner “ I forgot to get the ice for them, but I'm sure they have ice bags at the gas stations we pass!”
Sunset glanced up as Pinkie continued to struggle. That girl was hopeless--completely hopeless to be struggling so hard for some stupid vacation. Though she couldn't quite express that out loud, she could give a few disapproving choice words. “Lets just put that thing inside, Pinkie. You'll break it if you force it into that tight space.”
“Ooh! Ooh! That's what she said!” The girl giggled as if that was the funniest joke in the world. “I've been catching up on The Office--I'm on season 6 right now and Creed said the funniest--”
“Don't care.” Sunset cut her off instantly and closed the notebook. “We’ve checked off everything on the list, now get down from there.”
“Okey Dokey, Loki!”
She expected the insane girl to get down using the ladder as any sensible human being would. Of course, she ended up looking down, crouching like a tiger and leaping off into the air like a startled toad. Sunset watched with horror, then disbelief as the pink haired cake-addict did a flip and twist in mid-air. She landed like a feather on the ground, both feet planting themselves in the grass without a sound. Pinkie smiled a cheesy smile as she stood back up, a stark contrast to the gaping look her friend sent her. “...you...w-when did you learn to do all that?!”
“Huh? At the aerobics class, I go to every Thursday, remember?” When she received a blank stare, her smile grew dim. “I told you almost every Thursday when you came home from work?”
She didn't allow the icy stab of guilt to form in her belly. For the sake of it, Sunset nodded vigorously. “Oh, pfft. Yeah! Now I remember. It, uh, it shows.”
Pinkie squealed loudly as she bounced over to the driver side of the RV and opened the door. “Thanks! My landing was a little spotty, admittedly--but I really think I nailed the aerodynamics in that flip spin, and the wind speed today was really low so of course that helped me out--wait, do you think we should go kite flying, cause that would be a really good idea given how its often windy in Idaho! Like the wind is just below hurricane level, at least if you ask me! Oh, did you know that people in Idaho have some amazing kites? It's not like they have giant kites, it's just that they're super cool and their boomerangs are authentic! I thought you could only get authentic boomerangs in Australia? Or is it Austria? They really oughta change the names so people don't confused. I mean, who's bright idea was it just take the name Australia and then subtract the 'AL' in it for a lesser known country? No, wait. State. Is Austria a state? It can't be a continent, because are waaaaay bigger. Maybe Austria is a town...yeah, its a town. Aus-town would be a better name."
Sunset swallowed nervously and intercepted her before she could open the driver door all the way. “Heeeeey, buddy...maaaaybe I should drive us?"
The Party Princess frowned deeply, tilting her head with those giant blue puppy eyes of hers. "What? Why? You don't trust my driving?"
The red(ish)head laughed off her concerns, albeit a tad bit nervously. Sunset surmised that another semester of theater might polish her acting skills. "Nooooooo, that's not...pffft. I totally don't...you...your driving is completely f...Okay, no. I don't trust it at all."
"Hey!"
"Sorry, but...you're just too hyper and unpredictable right now! The truth hurts."
"That wasn't the truth, that was an insult to my skill set and personality!" Was the offended response. "I passed my drivers test with flying colors, I'll have you know!"
"The Driving Instructor had to be talked out of the car, he was so frozen with fear."
"Oh yeah?! Feast your eyes on this!" She unsheathed a very thick looking piece of folded paper and laughed loudly. "See? I have the map! I should be driving."
"Exactly! You need to focus on reading the map instead, " Sunset smiled nervously. "Just imagine that you're...Alexa or Google or something."
Pinkie slowly smiled.
"In four hundred feet--"
"Pinkie."
"--Turn left onto Kensington road!"
Sunset gripped the steering wheel a little harder now, ensuring that it definitely wouldn't send the small RV flying anywhere. How could one woman have enough energy to pretend to be some stupid AI for a whole hour? It was a question that didn't allow Sunset to waste said hour, that was for certain. The only logical conclusions to her friend's near-permanent energy were Five Hour Energy drinks, an immortal sugar high or--very possibly--her friend was from another planet this whole time. She bet on the latter being the truth.
If she was indeed some alien she managed to befriend in her childhood, then she only hoped her experiences with mankind shaped her enough to know what a good trip is like. Hopefully Pinkie had good places in mind on their way through Idaho, places that could make this sudden getaway at least memorable.
"Uh, Sunset!" Pinkie's urgent voice prodded her out of her thoughts. "Turn left! Turn left!"
Shimmer gasped and made the sharpest right turn of her life, jolting the entire vehicle by hitting a large rock stationed on the corner. She does off from that position with an embarrassed flush to her skin. Good thing there weren't any cops or cars behind them to judge that brief mistake. Pinkie however, was a little more than concerned. "Are you sure you don't want me to drive?"
"Uh, yeah. I'm--I'm fine." Sunset laughed nervously and refocused on the road. "Tooootally fine!"
