FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

“Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit!"

Bea was out of the car and running back down the interstate before Mae managed to extricate her butt from between the dashboard and the windshield.

“Bea! What was it?"

“MY CHECK!!!" Bea called back over her shoulder.

Mae's eyes went wide and she began repeating the same mantra as she ran back to catch up to Bea.

Fortunately the moonlight was bright, but after ten minutes of searching, neither had found it yet.

“You think it might be on the other side of the road?" Mae asked.

“Oh god! There's no way to tell. I'm not even sure how long it took me to stop or how far back it was!"

“I'm going to look on the other side," Mae declared.

“Watch for cars Mae," Bea said.

“I will," Mae said and padded across the asphalt to the other side.

Bea turned to look at her and realized Mae was still naked.

“Mae!" she called.

“Find it?"

“No, but you don't have any clothes on!"

Mae looked down at herself just as a big truck came barreling by. It's horn began to blare.

“You okay?" Bea called after it had passed, but Mae was safely off the road.

However, the truck continued to brake, coming to a stop quite a distance beyond Bea's car, and pulled to the side of the road.

“Fuck it," Mae yelled. “I'm gonna find that check!"

Bea turned back and continued to scan along the ditch on her side.

A short time later, a burly bear that could have passed for Angus' older brother came up to her.

“You gals okay?"

“Yeah. Long story. A check flew out of my window. A very important check."

“Want some help?"

Bea nodded, a desperate look in her eyes. “That would be great mister!"

“Name's Clark. And you are?"

Bea shook his hand, unable to muster a smile. “I'm Bea. Bea Santello. That's Mae over there."

“Bea, do you know your friend is naked?"

“I told her that, but she insists on finding the check first!"

“Wait… how fast were you going?"

“Oh, probably sixty or so. But the skid marks started just over there."

“Bea, unless the wind from my truck blew your check this way, I'd say you're a good thousand or so feet from where it would have flown out."

Bea turned to the big man. “Really?"

“That would be my guess, unless you react with the speed of light. Any other cars or trucks come by since you stopped?"

Bea looked back down the road. “No, you're the first I think."

“Let's go farther down. White check I assume?"

“Kinda light yellow. A big check. Business-size, you know?"

“Yeah, let's head that way."

“MAE!" Bea called. “Clark says it's probably farther back!"

“Okay!"

“I'll go over to the other side," Clark offered, “Most likely if it's on this side, you'll see it in the ditch. The other side's got more open space."

Bea looked at the trucker once more, hope pleading in her eyes. “You think we'll find it?"

“Only one way to find out. Come on, sooner we get back farther, the better."

Bea started trotting back farther. The night was blessedly still so she could hear Mae and Clark talking as they searched.

“Girl, you'd better go get some clothes on. This might take a while. You can catch up."

Mae reluctantly agreed and headed back to Bea's car.

“I'm so sorry Bea!" she called as she trotted back.

“NOT YOUR FAULT!" Bea assured her, though Mae was running the other direction now.

A few minutes later, Bea saw something fluttering on the fence that bordered the highway and waded through weeds to check it out. Unfortunately it was just a scrap of paper towel.

“Should be somewhere around here," Clark called over to her.

“Okay," Bea called back and began looking closer at anything that caught her eye.

A while later, Mae came running back.

“Find anything?"

“Nothing. Maybe go help Clark. He's got a lot more area to cover over there."

They continued searching for nearly an hour, and Bea was surprised just how many things could look like a check on the side of the road. They continued expanding the area, but as hard as they tried, no one found it. A few more cars and a big truck passed, but none stopped.

Finally Clark headed over to Bea.

“Bea, I don't think you're going to find it. We should have seen it by now if it was anywhere around. Are you sure you can't just get whoever wrote it to write you another?"

Bea thought about that. “Yeah. Actually I probably can. I sure as hell don't want to."

“Sorry girl," said Clark, “But I've got to get going."

“It's okay," Bea said, slowly resigning herself to the fact that it wasn't going to be found. “Thanks for all your help, Clark."

“Don't be too worried, Bea. I'm sure you can get it replaced."

Bea shuddered and took a deep breath.

“I hope so," she said, and extended a hand to the stranger. “Mister, I really appreciate your help anyway."

“Thanks," he said, shaking her hand. “Well, good luck Bea!"

“You too, Clark. Drive careful I guess."

She watched him trudge back, and it struck her that there were indeed decent people in the world. She'd not even got his last name. But she decided he was probably right, and headed over to where Mae was still searching.

“Mae. I think we have to give it up."

Mae looked up at her, the nightmare eyes twinkling with tears in the moonlight.

“Oh Bea!"

Bea embraced her friend and assured her repeatedly that it would be alright.

“They'll write another check, Mae. It sucks, but it's not the end of the world."

Mae looked up at her, and she summoned up her strength to look confident. More confident than she felt, but it hadn't been Mae's fault. She should have put it in the glove-box.

“It's not your fault, Mae. Really it's not."

“You don't blame me?"

“Hell no. Lighten up, Mae. I'll give them a call tomorrow. Why, I'll probably have a replacement by the end of next week. Maybe sooner!"

She took Mae's hand and led her back across the highway and they walked slowly back to her car.

“I guess I was pretty shitty tonight," Mea said dejectedly.

“Shitty? How?"

“I didn't really think about it till a while ago, but I sorta stole your boyfriend didn't I?"

“Who, Jon? Jeeze Mae, I only just met him."

“But… you were walking up the beach. I was thinking that I was acting like a real dick. I didn't mean to!"

“I know, Mae. It's okay. Wasn't exactly any sparks flying between us anyway."

“But then you had to sit there and wait for us. I'm such a goddamned asshole I didn't even think about you!"

“Well… you two were having fun. I didn't mind… too much."

“Bea, you're not just my best available friend. You're my best friend forever."

Bea stopped. “You mean that? I can be pretty bitchy. And I really do think I'm mostly hetero."

Mae hugged her tightly. “I don't care Bea. That stuff is fun. Hella fun. But I don't care about it nearly as much as just hanging out with you. You're… you care about me. And I care about you. If you get married and have fifty kids, we can still be best friends, can't we?"

“Sure Mae. And, for what it's worth, I kinda like doing 'that stuff' with you too."

Mae released her and they continued back hand-in-hand as the night grew later and cooler.

As they got back to the car, Bea looked back down the now-deserted highway in the moonlight while Mae got in the passenger side.

Yeah, surely they'd cut her another check. It would be embarrassing, but surely they would.

She got in the car and turned the key, but didn't start the engine. Instead she just let the radio play quietly. The windows were still down, and - had it not been for the whole check thing - it would have been a beautiful night.

Mae was looking at her, still with that forlorn look in her eyes, and Bea smiled a little. Then Bea rolled up the window and took off her bikini top.

“Come here, Mae," she said to the poor cat.

“We've got a long way back still, you know," Mae said, but Bea could see a sparkle in her eyes.

“We're not going back tonight, Mae. We're going to stay right here. Now come to me and kiss me or I swear I'll put it back on again."

A few cars passed by as the night grew late. None stopped to check out the old broken down car at the side of the road, or noticed the fogged-up windows.

Even later, as the moon crossed the zenith, the driver's side window rolled down again and the glow of a cigarette could be seen by anyone passing by, but no one did for hours.

Bea was lounging with her back to her door, letting the slight breeze cool herself while Mae did likewise against her door.

“Well, if nothing else, I hope you believe me now when I tell you I don't blame you, Mae," Bea said in almost a whisper.

“I do. But I'm still sorry, just the same."

“Well, let's just forget that now, right? Tonight it's just me and you."

“Our night," Mae sighed, and began to play footsies with Bea, who giggled and tickled Mae's breasts with her own feet, which had much longer reach. Mae gasped and covered them.

“We haven't properly broken in the back seat yet," Bea said with a puff of smoke directed at Mae.

Mae laughed and began to climb over the seat, in an awfully familiar pose.

“I knew you liked my ass!" she said before tumbling into the back seat as Bea gave the offending body part a healthy slap.

Bea began to follow her friend back. “What? Don't you like mine too?"

“What ass? Is there an ass underneath that huge tail somewhere?"

Bea completed her slither into the back seat and gave Mae ample proof that she did, in fact, have an ass underneath her tail. However, while trying to suffocate her friend, she stopped.

“BEA!" she heard the muffled laugh of her friend behind her, and she released her, all the while staring at something on the floor.

“M…Mae?" she said, a nervous quiver in her voice.

“Don't stop!" Mae said, but then she saw Bea's eyes as she turned back towards her. “What?"

“Mae, please… look on the floorboard in front of me. I… can't."

Mae looked puzzled, but nodded and squeezed beside her.

There, on the floor in the back seat, was a rectangular piece of paper. Mae touched it carefully and brought it up into the moonlight.

The logo was from Home Badger.

Against the silence of the late night, a small click was heard, as if a glove-box was opened and closed quickly. Then the driver's side window went up again and once again slowly fogged up as the heat inside the car caused condensation to form against the much cooler night air. Sounds were heard by no one but fireflies, and the slight, erratic rocking of the small car went unobserved by anyone except the moon as it crept across what was left of the sky. The noises and motions didn't stop until the moon had traveled almost all the way across the sky.

“Still a while till dawn," Bea said quietly. “Birds haven't even started chirping yet."

“I'm tired," Mae admitted. “And hot."

“Wanna lie on the hood to cool down?"

“What about cars?"

“Nobody's on the road this late."

“You come with me?"

“Of course."

Bea got out first and sprawled across the hood, with Mae joining her.

“Feels good," Bea said, closing her eyes and not caring that her spread-eagled attitude was just about as un-ladylike as it was possible to be.

“Damn good," Mae said, legs and arms thrown atop her friend without care.

They lay there dozing for another couple of hours, oblivious to the world. The occasional car or truck would pass, stirring a breeze across the two, but they remained unnoticed. Finally the stars began to dim and the eastern sky grew faintly brighter, and Bea got up and helped Mae back into the car where they slept the morning away in the back seat. The birds began to chirp, and the whine of cars passing by became more common, but still the two slept on.

“Hey Bea," Mae said finally, sitting up groggily.

Bea smiled before opening her eyes. “Hey Mae."

“I gotta pee."

“Me too. And I'm hungry. Let's get our clothes on and find someplace to eat."

Mae nodded, and they dressed and crawled back up to the front seat.

Mae closed her eyes, and Bea squeezed her hand.

Mae looked at Bea and Bea looked at Mae. There were words that both wanted to say, but both knew they were words that might change their lives in ways they weren't sure they wanted. So they just looked at each other.

Bea smiled, and nodded, then turned back towards the road and turned the key.

Instead of starting, the engine just made a clicking noise.

“Oh shit!" Mae said.

“Oh shit!" Bea agreed.

Then they both began laughing, and all was right with the world, even though the car wouldn't start.