The Big City
Late Friday Night
My friend Polly and I were scurrying down the dark and nearly empty sidewalk in the middle of a huge surprise rainstorm when the small black car pulled up beside us.
The front seat passenger side door opened and a woman stuck her head out. "Do you girls need a ride?" She called to us, over the roar of the rain.
Polly glanced at me and I looked at her. She had rain running down and dripping off her nose. I probably had the same, and the train wasn't for another ten whole blocks. It was hard to imagine us getting any wetter but I'm sure it would happen if we stayed out in this cold and rainy weather any longer.
Polly slowly approached the vehicle. "We live clear on the other side of town," she said. "And we're just about broke," she said.
The woman in the passenger seat nodded and waved her hand, brushing our concerns away. "We just live around the corner. Why don't you two come with us and get dry?"
Polly and I glanced at each other again.
"What do you think, Mia?" She said to me over the sound of the rain and the thunder. I glanced into the car and saw that the driver was a guy and that he was smiling at us.
I shrugged. "Yeah. Okay. I guess so," I said. It wasn't my policy to get into a car with strangers, but this couple seemed nice enough.
We hurried and got into the back seat of their little black Hyundai Sonata.
The woman smiled and turned around and looked at us. She was pretty, and was wearing bright red matte lipstick and she had long, shiny brunette hair.
Polly and I were both in our mid twenties, but the woman and the guy both had to be in their mid thirties. He had dark brown hair that was cropped short and combed to the side. He signaled, then he hit the gas pedal and deftly merged into traffic. The red brake lights in front of us looked like smears on the windshield until the windshield wipers rhythmically wiped the rain away.
"What are you two girls doing out this late in this nasty weather?" The guy asked us, as he turned the radio down. It was some classical piece I'd heard before probably in an old Bugs Bunny cartoon.
"Oh, honey, it's not polite to pry," the woman said to the man. Then she turned around to look at us. "Girls, my name is Samantha, and I'm so glad you decided to come with us!" She said with a huge smile. "And my husband is Justin," she added.
"Hi. I'm Polly," my friend said.
"Mia," I said.
Samantha nodded, sporting a big smile. "Great! Well, Polly and Mia, are you girls hungry? There's a great little Thai restaurant nearby that's open until 1am. We could swing by and grab you both something to eat," she said.
Polly glanced at me yet again.
"No. I mean, thanks, though, but we don't need any food. You both picking us up was awesome enough," I said to the woman.
Besides, we didn't have enough cash between the two of us to pay for said dinner, anyway. And I'd left my credit card at home on purpose. Whenever I carried it, we always ended up using it and Polly was terrible at paying me back. So I was in the habit of just not having it on me when the both of us went out together.
Samantha grinned. "I've been there, in the hard rain and walking before. Thank you for letting us be kind to you," she said. "We would have felt bad all night if we'd just passed you by," she said.
"You bet," Justin said, chuckling a bit as he drove.
Finally they came to a parking garage. They drove inside and then around and around and up to the fifth floor. They parked in a reserved space right near the elevators.
We got out, Polly's and my heels clicking loudly on the hard concrete. The air was cold and we clutched our soaked jackets tightly around us for warmth, but there wasn't really any to be found. My teeth were even chattering.
Justin used a key and we went through a nondescript door with a "5" on it and walked into a gorgeous, ornate hallway with golden sconce light fixtures and deep, plush green carpet that had little golden flecks of color in it. Mirrors lined the walls and as we walked, I couldn't help but glance at our little group's reflection.
Justin and Samantha looked great - they both were wearing what looked to be expensive jeans. Samantha had on pink ballet flats and an off white sweater under her black with purple accents jacket. Justin had on an oversized, dark blue, what looked to be a handmade fisherman's knit sweater under his dark gray jacket. He was wearing expensive-looking white athletic shoes.
Polly and I, however, looked terrible. The term "drowned rats" came to mind when I saw ourselves. Our hair was stuck to the sides of our faces, our teeth were chattering and my nose was running and I didn't have a single dry Kleenex on me. Plus, any makeup I had had on was now probably long gone.
We kept walking and we followed the couple down the hallway. Justin eventually paused at a door that had 515 on it in elegant gold numbers.
He unlocked the door to the apartment and, while we glanced in, Polly and my mouths dropped open.
Justin and Samantha walked into the apartment in front of us. Samantha put her small Saint Laurent purse on a big, round, dark wooden entryway table that sat in the middle of the room. It had an enormous flower arrangement on it with red, peach, blue, and pink roses as well as a substantial amount of decorative greenery.
Samantha and Justin hung their jackets in the entryway closet as we stood on the white tile floor dripping water everywhere.
Samantha chuckled. "Come on. Let's get you two out of those wet clothes. I've probably got a couple robes that will suffice while I toss your wet clothes into the dryer."
We followed Samantha into a beautifully decorated, very large living room with two tan leather couches and up the staircase that led up to a second floor. We went down a hallway and into the master suite. We waited in the en-suite bathroom still dripping water while Samantha picked out what we were to wear.
She came back with a short black robe that she handed to me, and a longer, flowery robe for Polly.
"Thank you," I said.
"Just go ahead and undress right here," Samantha said.
She leaned against the double sink watching us as we nervously eyed each other and began stripping off our cold and soaked clothing.
When we were down to our underwear Samantha spoke: "Bras and panties too, lovies. We'll hang up your bras and hopefully they'll dry overnight.
"Overnight?!" Polly said, surprised.
I was surprised too. We hadn't planned on spending the night.
Samantha nodded. "Yes. Justin and I aren't getting back out in this weather," she said with a half smile and a snort. "You two can sleep on the living room couches," she said. "Trust me, they're very comfy," she said.
I turned my back to Samantha as I slipped my bra off of my shoulders. Then I slid my panties down my legs. All at once Samantha was beside me bending down to the floor and taking my wet underthings.
"I'll just grab these," she said. "And yours?" She said to Polly.
Polly stripped hers off as well and handed Samantha the same.
We stood there cold and naked; the goosepimples that had erupted all over my forearms were substantial. Samantha opened a nearby closet and looked inside. She soon traded us our robes for a towel each and we started drying off. My long brown hair was soaked as was Polly's long blonde hair. After we were a little more dry, we wrapped our hair up in the towels Samantha had brought us.
