“This is going to be a fun girl’s night out!” Noel said in her perky voice as Madison rolled her eyes in the passenger seat.

“Are you sure you remember how to get there?” Madison asked, already regretting not bringing her GPS.

“I’m pretty sure. I mean, Sabrina’s been there too.” Taylor assured. She was squished between Kacey and the window, wondering what her night would’ve been like if she would’ve just stayed in the dorm and read a book.

Sabrina scoffed from the other window. “You know how to get there just as much as I do.” She looked back down at her phone to see if her boyfriend had texted her back yet. “Besides, Kacey’s the native.”

“Yeah, but I don’t know roads, I know trails!” Kacey had just found the top of a mountain today and was still on the glow from that.

“We are so screwed.” Taylor mumbled, leaning her head on the cool glass. They were all dolled up for the night, well except Kacey whose version of dolled up was pants and a vest. Taylor kept fidgeting with top and her hair.

“Don’t say that!” Noel reached over and changed the music to a poppy tune that was static.

They were heading into downtown to check out a new club and have one last amazing weekend before leaving to go home for the summer. All of them were eager to leave and see they’re families and get started with summer jobs or missions trips. Since they were all free tonight besides the piles of papers they all had to write, they decided it was a good time to go out and have some fun.

“Which exit do I take?” Noel asked, leaning against the steering wheel.

“Seven, I think.” Taylor bit her bottom lip.

“No, six.” Sabrina looked at Taylor questioningly.

“I thought it was five.” Muttered Kacey.

Oh god, Madison clutched onto her purse tighter. She could feel the panic flooding into her.

“Well, looks like we are going to find out.” Without even a turn signal, she ran into the nearest exit.

Taylor and Kacey immediately reached for the handlebars above their heads, or as they liked to call it, the “oh-s***”-bar. Madison glared at Noel who was oblivious that she about killed them all.

“You know, Noel, I haven’t really prepared for my funeral yet.” She stated sarcastically.

“Oh lighten up. This is supposed to be fun!”

They drove for several minutes with no conversation, only poppy music. Taylor’s mind began to drift off, thinking about the papers that were waiting for her when she got back. Nothing ever seemed to stop.

“Um, guys…” Sabrina said hesitantly.

“Oh God…” Madison muttered.

“I don’t think that was the right exit.”

“Why do you say that?” Noel reached over and began to fiddle with the radio,

“Maybe because there are no buildings!” Kacey pointed out. “We’re going to a downtown city.”

“Well…” Noel turned to look out the back of the car, immediately swerving.

“NOEL!”

Madison reached over to yank the steering wheel in the other direction to avoid hitting the oncoming car. All the girls screamed as the span into a nearby field surrounded by cows. Noel slammed onto the brake, forcing all girls forward. They were quiet, eyes wide and filled with shock.

“I think I just pissed myself.” Kacey said through clenched teeth.

Taylor shook as she felt vomit slowly crawl up her throat. She should have just stayed at the dorms like on the normal weekends! She closed her eyes and tried to calm her breathing. Madison, always ahead of the rest of them, was already climbing out of the car to inspect the damage.

“Noel, please tell me you have a spare tire.”

“No….” Her voice was steadier than the rest.

“Then we better call a tow truck.”

Sabrina whipped out her phone and then let out a scream, making everyone jump.

“What?” Kacey snapped.

“My phone’s dead!” her voice was a squeal.

“It’s fine,” Taylor said, “There’s four more phones in this car.”

“Three. I left mine in my room.” Kacey looked at her apologetically.

“I don’t have service.” Madison sighed.

“That means I won’t either.” Noel folded her arms and leaned back against the seat.

Taylor pulled out her phone. “I have one bar and a little bit juice left. But we have no number to call.”

“Well, Madison, what’s that genius head of yours thinking we should do?” Noel got out of the car to join her best friend.

“That we never should have got in the car with you!”

“It’s not big deal, Madison.”

“No big deal? We are stuck in the middle of nowhere with no contact with the outside world!”

“We can fix this!”

“Guys!” Sabrina yelled from the car before getting out to join them. “This is not solving anything. We’ll just need to walk somewhere and get a number for a tow truck.”

They were all silent for a moment before gathering their things and locking the car.

“Which way do we go?” Taylor asked Sabrina quietly.

“Right.”

They all walked, high heels in their hands. Madison and Noel walked together up front, even though they fought they would make up in any moment. Sabrina and Kacey was behind them, silently discussing the night so far. Taylor dragged behind, her eyes focused on the clear sky above her.

“Rape!” Sabrina yelled with a grin as Kacey laughed. They were always ridiculous and silly.

Taylor could see Madison up front with her arms folded across her chest as always, talking to Noel about how crazy she is.

“Look, a store!” Noel pointed ahead of them gleefully.

They all began to walk quicker as they came upon the store. There was only one car parked, an old hippie van that still had its music on even though no one was in it. They walked in the store, a rush of cool air blowing on them. There was a bored looking Middle Eastern guy sitting at the cash register looking at a magazine. Taylor scanned her eyes to see a group of guys huddle by the snacks, talking and laughing.

“Excuse me,” Madison walked to the guy at the register, already taking control of the situation. “Can I get a number for a tow truck?”

The man sighed before sliding her the phone book. She began flipping through it as we all stood their awkwardly.

“Hi,”

Taylor turned to see a guy around her age with long brown hair and big green eyes standing behind her, smiling at her.

“Hello,” she said awkwardly as she began to fiddle with her fingers.

“I’m Dylan .”

“Taylor,” She extended her hand to shake his and he laughed as he placed his hand in hers.

“Taylor,” Madison hissed, giving her the don’t-talk-to-emo-guys-look.

Taylor blushed and looked at the ground.

“Do you guys need help with a car?” Another guy asked. He was tall and lanky with spiky red hair, the joker type.

“No, we’re fine.” Madison snapped.

“Don’t be stupid.” Kacey nudged her. “Yea, we have flat.”

“But we’re calling a tow.” Noel interrupted.

Sabrina looked at all of them, not sure if it was smart to insure their help or not.

“Ah, well I have a spare. We can see if it fits.” Another guy with blonde hair suggested. “I’m Mike, by the way.

“I’m Malcolm.” The redhead said.

They all introduced themselves, standing their awkwardly. They all turned to Madison to see what they should do.

“Fine, they can help us. We will meet you at our car.”

“You want to ride with us? We have room in the van.” Malcolm suggested.

“No.” Was Madison’s immediate answer.

“I’ll walk with you guys.” Said Mike, starting to stand closer to an oblivious Madison.

Taylor looked up to still see Dylan looking at her and smiling. They walked out, Malcolm and Dylan getting into the van as Mike followed them to the car. He walked with Noel and Madison ahead of Taylor, Sabrina, and Kacey.

“Kacey, Malcolm was totally eyeing you.” Sabrina said with a wiggle of her eyebrows.

Kacey looked at her like she was loosing her marbles. “He’s a random guy we’ve met in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, I think he’s my soul mate.”

Taylor giggled. “You never know. This things happen in the weirdest situations.”

“You were getting looks too, missy.”

Taylor blushed and nudged Sabrina in the sides. “Let’s just focus on getting the hell out of here.”

“Amen,” They echoed.

They came up to poor Noel’s white car that was now surrounded by large cows. Madison stood still, her eyes wide.

“Cows, of course.” She folded her arms tighter.

“You’re not scared of them, are ya?” Noel teased before walking towards the car.

“It just doesn’t make sense.”

“What doesn’t?” Asked Sabrina.

“How a simple thing like checking out a new place could go straight to hell. And I mean hell as in this is my worst nightmare.”

Mike looked at her and smiled. “It’s not all that bad. You’re just a little stuck, nothing that can’t be solved.”

“And we’re lost.”

“We can help you find your way. And if not, then we can use a map.”

“Do you have a map?”

“Yep in the van.” He grinned.

She narrowed her eyes at him as he found an answer to all their issues. “This is still a big deal.”

“No it’s not, Madison! Good gracious, you fun-sucker!”

It was something about the tension and torment of that night that made that one word make tears come to Madison’s eyes. She looked like she could either kill or break down and cry.

“Look,” Mike grabbed her by the shoulders. “This is one night of your whole entire life. Soon, this will just be a memory.”

The honk of the van interrupted the moment as the boys pulled in beside them. Malcolm and Dylan grabbed the spare in the back and began putting it on the girl’s car.

“So where are you girls from?” Malcolm asked.

“We go to college about twenty minutes that away.” Sabrina said.

“Ah.” He grinned and looked at Kacey and gave a wiggle of his eyebrows. Taylor and Sabrina looked at each other and tried to suppress the giggles. Kacey blushed red and looked as if she was going to punch the guy just for looking at her.

“We were about to go to downtown to hit this new café if you girls want to join us?” Dylan’s voice surprised everyone.

It was mixed feelings among the girls. Taylor wanted to spend more time with Dylan, Madison was afraid to spend more time with Mike, Kacey was going to hit Malcolm if he tried to hit on her, Noel just wanted to have fun instead of sitting in the dorms, and Sabrina just wanted to see her friends happy.

“Let’s go.” Taylor smiled brightly at her friends, getting shocked looks.

“Now that’s a person who knows how to have fun.” Noel nudged Madison who rolled her eyes, yet again that night.







*

It was late that night when five exhausted girls were laying in Taylor and Madison’s room. Madison and Noel lay in her bed as Sabrina and Kacey took the floor. Taylor cuddled up in her covers, still texting Dylan.

Kacey and Sabrina laughed, probably still at that guy with the wig hitting on Noel, though Taylor. She laughed and then sighed happily as she received another text.

“Tonight was a mess.” Madison whispered to Noel. “It wasn’t even a girl’s night out, we hung out with three strange guys.”

“It wasn’t a mess. It was fun! Besides, I think someone’s just mad because Mike won her over.”

After an elbow to the ribs, all the girls fell asleep to the vow of girl’s nights out were no longer allowed.