I laugh so hard I jackknife the handlebars, and I fall off too. I lie on the side street, giggling as he and the attendants help me up.
“Our date tonight might be in the hospital,” Christopher says as he pulls me up by the hand.
“I know.” I giggle. Oh, this is so fun.
The attendant looks worried. “May I call you a cab, sir?”
“No, it’s okay,” Christopher replies happily. “You all right, Grumps?”
“Uh-huh.” I push off again, this time concentrating on keeping the handlebars straight. I stand as I pedal, and he does too. We both laugh out loud like little kids riding bikes for the first time. We get to the intersection and look both ways. To the right is full-on traffic chaos, and to the left it’s deserted.
We glance at each other. “Left,” we say together. We push off, and with huge goofy smiles on our faces, we ride off into the sunset . . . only there is no sunset.
The backpackers’ hostel is packed to the rafters with new travelers. The sound of laughter is echoing down the halls, and the distinct smell of body odor lingers in the air.
I’m in my room collecting a few things, and Christopher is holding the door open as he waits for me. “This place is a fucking hole,” he murmurs as he looks down the corridor.
A guy walks down the hall toward the bathroom and looks Christopher up and down. “What’s your fucking problem?” Christopher says.
The guy grunts and keeps walking past.
“Rude prick,” Christopher huffs.
I smile and quickly make my bed.
“Seriously, our days of backpacking are nearly over,” he says to me.
“Yeah, well . . .” I pull the sheet up. “Where else can we afford?”
He rolls his lips, unimpressed. “Somewhere better than this, I’m fucking sure of it.”
The sound of drunk men screaming laughter from the bar echoes down the hall, and Christopher shakes his head, disgusted. “I hate that Eddie has to work here.”
“Eddie loves his job,” I reply, distracted.
“But does he? He’s fourteen and being forced to work to support his grandmother; that’s not a childhood.”
“Also . . . not for you to judge.”
“Hmm.” He glances at his watch. “He starts in two hours. Hopefully those drunk fuckers are gone by then.”
“If not, we can hang around until they leave,” I reply, knowing he’ll be worried all night if we don’t.
“Okay.” He nods.
“Why don’t you call him and ask him to come to the beach with us?” I say.
“Yeah?” He smiles, surprised. “You wouldn’t mind?”
“Why would I mind? I love Eddie too.”
“Okay.” He walks out into the corridor to call him, and I look around the shitty room. Christopher is right. I think it is nearly time for a change in scenery.
We wait on the curb, sitting on our bikes. “Here he comes.” Christopher waves excitedly.
Eddie laughs and walks down to meet us, his NY cap firmly in place. “The fuck you doing, man?”
“Language,” Christopher says. He takes off his helmet and passes it to Eddie. “Get on.”
“Huh?” Eddie hangs on to the helmet as he looks the bike over. “What do you mean?”
“Get on my handlebars. I’m driving us to the beach.”