Never Over-Sits, He Under-Stands

The only significant populated center on Interstate 10 between El Paso and San Antonio was not a planned stop on a coast-to-coast road trip taken by Sharon Faraday, her boyfriend Jim Harper, and four of their friends. Unforeseen car problems outside of town derailed their plans, and now, our heroes are starting their third day in a row at the Sleep Inn & Suites on the west end of town, hoping for some good news.

The party had actually taken two vehicles from the beginning of their trip in Los Angeles several days ago. Sharon, Jim, Samantha Long and Rick Wainwright III had selected a beautiful blue Tesla Model S, while their younger friends Robin Foster and Billy Young settled for a "cajun red" Chevrolet Cruze, mostly because it was a lot cheaper than the ridiculously expensive electric car their friends had selected. The planned road trip along I-10 to Jacksonville, Florida would involve more stops than they had originally planned, since the Tesla could only run 370 miles before needing to be fully recharged, a process that would take nearly one hour to do.

The first two days went without incident. On the third day, Billy and Robin began squabbling over numerous issues, from everything from jealousy of Sharon and Jim's rented Tesla to their ongoing situation where Billy wants to become more than just friends despite Robin's continued insistence that she won't allow it. Samantha volunteered to ride with them, believing that a third person in their car would ease the tension between them. Unfortunately, she was wrong, but she still stuck with Billy and Robin all the way to west Texas.

The Cruze broke down about fifteen miles west of Fort Stockton, and Samantha called Rick, who was in the car a few miles ahead of them. Following a pair of illegal U-turns on the freeway, Sharon, Jim and Rick found the broken down Chevrolet and pulled to the side to wait with Billy, Robin and Samantha as a state trooper joined them while waiting for the tow truck. A few hours later, our heroes were sequestered in a hotel while Billy and Robin's car was dropped off at a downtown mechanic...who inexplicably didn't open his shop for the next two days. Continuing the trip without the rented Cruze wasn't an option. The Tesla only sat four people comfortably, plus Billy and Robin didn't want to rent a replacement car unless they absolutely had to.

Meanwhile, Jim Harper's sister Edith, who had turned down the opportunity to join this cross-country trek, had traveled alone to Miles City, Montana to meet some friends of hers. Jim hadn't heard much from his sister since he and his gang had embarked on their own road trip, but she had indicated that everything was going just fine. This wasn't the case, sadly, but she didn't want to spoil her brother's dream vacation by telling him about her own problems.

Sharon, Jim and company quickly were growing bored with Fort Stockton. There really wasn't a whole lot to do in town, and they had all seen all the points of interest at least once while waiting for that mechanic to finally do his job and fix the rental car. However, the ones that were really going crazy were Billy and Robin. Simultaneously extremely bored and feeling guilty that they had spoiled everyone's plans, they went out partying every night. The night before, after quite a few drinks, Robin finally gave in to Billy's advances, and they would have sex for the very first time. They both woke up, nude and hungover, and the arguing began.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the hotel, Sharon and Jim met with Rick and Samantha to talk about how much longer they were willing to stay before the broken down car rental finally gets fixed, or they not-so gently persuade Robin and Billy to go rent another car so they can continue on their trip east. Everyone should have been approaching the Florida state line by now, not stuck in this podunk town in the middle of nowhere.

1. Everyone agrees to wait a little while longer.
2. Everybody thinks Billy and Robin need to rent a second car so they can escape this place.
3. Billy and Robin nearly get thrown out of the hotel after disturbing the other guests with their argument.
4. Everyone decides to simply leave Billy and Robin in Fort Stockton and resume their trip east.
5. Meanwhile, what about Edith up in Miles City?

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