Apple Pie.

"There's a zoo near here," Joe suggested.

"Well, I'll be damned," Gordon murmured, lifting the glass door of the paper vendor and snatching for himself the top copy off the stack. 

The headline declared in bold, black ink: President Obama

"Did anyone vote?" Mali inquired, flicking her thumb across the wheel of her device. 

Silence.

"No one?"

"I was going to, but the devil tricked me into prowling across the United States with all of you," Parker snipped.

Gordon shuffled his feet awkwardly, clutching the newspaper close to his face so he could read the article through squinted eyes. 

"You don't seem pleased," Joe pressed, looking up from the tattered AAA road map he had discovered in the men's room of McDonald's. It, and thus he, reeked of bleach and grease.

"I'm not un'appy."

An awkward few seconds spent, then Gordon folded the newspaper and stuffed it in his back pocket.

Like most Britons, I don't have any qualms with the man, Barack Obama. I think he'll do right by his country and I reserve my doubts the civilized world will rob Stalin's grave for ideas we already know don't work entirely well. Good show, good show.

But had I voted - and if I thought I could get away with it, believe me mates, I would have - I would have signed my name next to Sarah Louise Heath Palin. 

That daffy cunt shoots wolves from helicopters. She goes to a church that still complains about homosexuals. She's keeping the fight against the Damn Reds alive half a century after these Commie pinko sympathizers conceded. God bless her, the bird's daughter is knocked up at seventeen.

That's America, you betcha.

Casey and Mali, giggling and exchanging eye rolls, locked arms and strode away from the group. Joe watched them leave before excusing himself to look for a telephone. Only Parker remained, his arms folded behind his back. He was grinning from ear to ear.

"You're an okay guy, Gordon. I never knew we were so alike." he said.

"I told Mali."

Parker screeched in rage and threw himself at Gordon.

Knowhere

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Exit Music

The sun poured into the tent that Joe and Casey were sleeping in. Casey slowly woke, and set up, dazed and not quite sure where she was.

"The hell happened last night?" Casey asked. Joe slowly sat up as well, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"I'll tell ya some other time." he said, as he stood up, and walked outside. As he stepped out, he saw Jamie, leaning against a pole, cigarette in hand.

"You kids ready to head out?" he asked, taking a drag from his smoke.

"Isn't this thing supposed to go until the man falls down casey asks. As soon as she finishes asking, the three hear the cracking the wood in the tall man, then it finally collapses, brinigng about graosn of dissapointment from their fellow partiers.

"Well, I guess we can get going. We just gotta find the rest of the gang. As he finished his sentence, Gordon, Parker, and Mali walked up from their respective tents.

"Bit fuckin' early to be up, don't ya think?" Gordon asked.

"Jesus, you kids act like you've never taken hard drugs before." Jamie said with a grin. "I can take you guys where ever you need to be, but then I gotta head out. I'm sure I have some people pissed that I no showed that whole film festival bullshit." he said

"Anywhere's fine really. We got nowhere in paticular to be." Joe said.

"Alright then, anywhere it is." Jamie said, as they all walked towards the limo. The limo pulls off, and no one says a word to each toehr for several minutes.

"So I assume this is some awkward silence between you guys? Shit got a little too real and now we're not friends anymore?" Jamie asks.

"No, it's not that. I think we all just need a little break from hedonism for a minute." Parker says.

"I need a little break from being fuckin' awake mates, so don't mind me, I'm passin' the fuck out." Gordon announces, as leans his head against a window and passes out.

"Yeah, same here. Wake me up when we get to where ever it is we're going." Mali says, as she follows suit. Parker and Casey do the same, leaving Jamie and Joe the only ones left standing.

"So, tell Uncle Jamie what happened." Jamie says quietly.

"Nothing happened, it was just a weird stretch of time. Nothing to worry about." Joe answers, sounding slightly defensive.

"You're like a fuckin' 7-11, you know that?" Jamie asks.

"7-11?"

"Yeah, you're never gonna fuckin' close! Look, it doesn't take a fuckin' genius to figure out what's goin' on here, Joseph."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Joe says angrily. Jamie lights a cigarette and leans forward.

"Look man, out of your merry band of miscreants here, you've got the best head on your shoulders out of the bunch. I like you man. I see what you're going through here, and I'm just sayin', fuckin' do something! Don't let her get away. If you don't make something happen, and don't finally take some fuckin' initiative, nothings ever gonna happen. You can't just sit and hope and pray that the lord almighty is gonna do the work for you, no matter what the evangalist here tells you. You gotta finally take that step that niether of you are willing to take, for whatever reason. Trust me, I've been there. If you don't act, then someone else will, then you're going to liove the rest of your life regretting it, and that's a hard load to swallow. Take a chance Joe. You might be surprised at what life can offer you."

"I might just do that Jamie." Joe says.

"Thank the fuck Christ. I'm gettin' some sleep. The driver knows where we're going." Jamie says, as he leans back, and drifts off. Joe rests his hands bhind his head, and ponders Jamies' advice, as he soon falls sleep as well.

A few hours later, the limo comes to a stop. The driver steps around and opens one of the back doors. Casey steps out first, and gazes at her surronidngs. The rest of the group slowly files out behind her.

"Huh. Intersting." Gordon says, looking around.

"Welcome to Utah kids." Jamie says.

"Hey man, thanks for everything." Joe says to Jamie, as the two shake hands.

"Not a problem. It was nice hanging with you kids. And Joe, remeber what I said."

"I will man."

"Remember what?" Casey asks.

"I'll explain later. Take it easy Jamie. Keep it up with the whole movie thing." Joe says.

"You keep watching 'em, I'll keep making them." Jamie says, as he steps back into the limo. It speeds off onto the highway as the group looks around.

"Well, now what?" Mali asks.

"I don't really know." Joe says. "But whatever it is at this point, I'm completely fine with it."

Progression

And so it was, all sense of commitment Joe felt toward Casey was lost. After patchwork instances of reflection were endured, the realization came to Joe that attempt was simply not worth it. She was not his, and although this fact was a startling revelation that came about in a drug induced haze... it was simply that: fact.

Alone in a mass, Casey was not by his side. She was nowhere near him, not in eyesight and not in any of his other senses. Fire-lit faces matched the profiles of all of the demons in his past. Rejection, he felt. Though was it?

He was a junior in high school, in the throws of loving his one and only; his high school sweetheart. It was prom night, and they were ready. More than ready, in fact, after an evening of limo rides and spiked punch. The two decided to part early from the evening of bad rap songs and poor dance re-mixes. Joe and Marie had already been dating three years, since the beginning of freshman year and the urge to take each other was present, though for fear of losing each other, they held off. Until that night, it was.

Lake country was their residence so isolated areas were not in few. They parked his old beater mobile near a lake front and for a moment, they sat in silence simply smiling at each other. With solid eye contact and a gesture on Marie's part, the two passionately began kissing and with what almost seemed like an instant, their love for each other was choreographed into a dance that prolonged the rest of the night, until five the next morning.

Joe delivered Marie to her doorstep with a kiss on the lips and an "I Love You."

The next few weeks went by and their love was stronger than ever. With the novelty of their new found sexuality not at all ceasing to wear off, they knew each other better than they ever thought possible. On the last day of school, though, Marie did not appear. Joe received no phone call, no notion of his love being ill in any way. He endured the rest of the school day, the finality of his junior year intensely setting in, and on the car ride home an unsettling feeling arose in his gut.

As he turned the corner near the location of his home, Marie's parents vehicle was ominously parked in his driveway with both of his folks already home from work. "Oh no," he thought. He marched up his sidewalk to the door of his house and as he looked through the window, he saw all parties involved with tears streaming down their faces. He barged through the door to see resting on the kitchen table a positive pregnancy test and a suicide note. His heart dropped and as he lifted the note, tears smeared the ink. It read: "I'm sorry. I wasn't ready, and now I'll never be ready. Joe, I'm yours always and forever. Mom... dad..... I'm sorry to disappoint you. Sincerely, Marie."

While reminded of the finality of his only love in this life, he knew that he couldn't let Casey go nor could he deal with never fighting for one that he loves. He snagged a joint from some generous passers by to help mellow himself out from coming down off of this evening's X and sought out to find Casey.

He toured through endless myriads of individuals, making love and letting loose, bathing in the sweat of the people surrounding him. Hours that felt like months dragged by with no luck of finding his Casey. He went back to the tent in which not long ago had been the location of their hazy physical event and he found her there, nude, on the cusp of sleep.

He laid next to her and whispered in her ear, "I'm not giving up on you."