Menage - Part 1

by sloanranger

The rain was torrential and beating down so fast that the wipers on the Ford were having little effect. Neither of the two young men inside the automobile could see much of anything.

"I've never seen it like this before - I can barely see, James," the driver said, lowering his speed to a crawl.

"Ben, look, there's a car over there," his friend responded.

The driver slowed the Ford even more. As they passed an abandoned gas station on their right, James screamed: "Watch out!"

Without looking, Ben slammed the brakes to the floor.

The car screeched, swerving dramatically sideways and when he looked up Ben saw what appeared to be a pond, for as far as the eye could see.

The two young men were returning from Lake Tahoe. Both dancers, they'd been auditioning for a place in a world renowned dancing troupe. Neither made the cut - which was fortuitous in a way, the loser would have had to find a new roommate.

Ben turned the car around and they headed back for the gas station.

Standing beneath the protection of an overhanging carport, was a girl.

"Look," James said, as the Ford parked parallel to the girl's Mustang.

"I see her," his friend answered.

The two got out of the car: "That was close," the young woman commented.

"Yeah," Ben said, "we might be underwater if we hadn't noticed your car."

"I don't remember anything about a lake in the road when we drove up,"James said.

"I had the radio on," the girl said."They warned about a flash flood."

You from around here?" James asked.

"No, LA," she smiled.

"LA, huh? Ben said. "Whereabouts - we're in Van Nuys,"

"You're kidding. I'm in The Valley, too - Reseda."

"I guess that makes us neighbors. You have friends up here?" James continued.

She shook her head. "Nope, I'm a dancer. Our instructor got four of us an audition for "Paris Nights" up in Tahoe."

The men look at each other and laughed.

"What's so funny," she said. "I didn't make the final cut."

"Neither did we," Ben smiled.

"You dance?"

"We try," James interjected.

"I'm Ben and this is my roommate and co-conspirator, James," Ben said. "What's your name?"

"Julie," the girl nodded.

"Hi, Julie," James added, and cast his eyes around: "Is this place abandoned?"

"Sure looks it," the girl said. And it did. "Looks like the rain is subsiding, but that road won't be passable for hours, maybe days."

"I wonder if the owner would mind us using his place as shelter?" Ben said. "We might have to break a window."

"A large window," offered James, checking out the professional glass plate surrounding the station's office.The rain by this time had lessened almost to a wet drizzle. "Why don't I see if there's someplace in the back where we don't have to do as much damage?"

"Have at it, my friend," Ben responded.

Leaving his roomate and the girl under the overhang, James took off around the corner and after few minutes, called out: "Hey, you guys, come on back."

(To be continued).