"What did he say?" Dewitt asked instinctively.
"He said a good dog doesn't block the road!"
The seemingly polite man immediately cursed, "Damn it! Who the hell does he think he is, running his mouth like that? If I give way today, I'm a total pushover!"
Wow, talk about drawing aggro.
Dewitt glanced at the other driver.
"I honked at him several times, and he refused to move. There wasn't even a car behind him at the time! He should have yielded, but he insisted on charging forward. Is he blind?"
Both of them firmly believed they were right.
Neither was willing to back down!
On Claire's end, she just wanted to reverse her car and switch to a different lane.
Melanie suggested the same thing.
"Claire, let's take another route. There's no need to get into a conflict and waste time."
Melanie's words were incredibly sensible.
But when Claire checked her rearview mirror, she realized another car had already pulled up behind them.
"I can't back up. We're blocked in."
She stayed in the driver's seat, rolling down the window and leaning out slightly. "Excuse me! Could you please back up a bit so I can get out?"
She asked politely, but the driver behind her didn't move an inch.
Was this on purpose?
"Claire, should I go talk to them?"
"Don't." Claire wasn't sure if the people behind them were friendly or not.
It would be terrible if she guessed wrong and ended up dragging Melanie into trouble.
"It's fine. If I just talk it out, they shouldn't give us a hard time."
"In a pinch, I can always use my charm."
"No need." Although Claire wasn't particularly fond of Melanie, she wasn't awful enough to let the girl use her looks to solve a traffic jam.
"As long as the guy isn't a total psycho, he'll eventually give up and reverse."
Turns out, the driver behind them was a total psycho-he got out of his car and walked away!
He literally left to go buy food!
"Claire, what do we do now?"
They were completely boxed in.
Claire shot Melanie a look. Whose turn was it to put on a show now?
"I don't know. Are you hungry?
Should we get out too?" Even if she stayed in the car someone would
likely try to lure her out, right?
"I'm not hungry, but I really need to use the restroom." A flash of embarrassment
crossed Melanie's face.
"My stomach is acting up."
Alright, that was a solid excuse.
"I'll take you to the restroom then."
Claire wasn't super familiar with the west side of Apex, but finding a bathroom
shouldn't be a problem.
"Let's go. I'll take you to a public one."
Claire stepped out of the car with Melanie.
"Just brace yourself. The hygiene around here might be pretty rough."
"You can probably tell, but the west side is the oldest part of Apex, and it's currently undergoing renovations."
"Because of its age, it's a bit more run-down compared to the other districts..."
Claire forced out a few words to defend her hometown's honor.
If it weren't for the fact that people from Sundara constantly looked
down on Solenta's sanitationnet
wouldn't have bothered explaining at all.
After all, the environment on the west side didn't represent Solenia as a whole.
Still, Melanie was the one asking for a favor right now, so she wouldn't openly complain to her face, right?
"It's completely fine."
As expected, Melanie played the part perfectly.
"Isn't the area being renovated?"
"I'm sure it won't be long before the people here have a much better quality of life."
Qu
Despite her polite words, a fleeting look of sheer disgust crossed Melanie's face when Claire asked for
directions and led her too
the
public restroom
It was absolutely horrendous. Before they even stepped inside, the stench hit them
like a physical blow.