A Truck Stop Snack

Katherine, or Kat as she preferred to be called, had always been one of the boys. Having grown up with two older brothers and a single dad, “boy stuff” just seemed natural for her. When she was young her mother and father got divorced and her mother insisted on taking Kat with her. Distraught at the idea of being separated from her dad and brothers, Kat screamed and cried to stay. Eventually, her mother let her, but after that Kat never really saw her mother again.

Over the years Kat had been called all sorts of things like tomboy, dyke, skater girl, lesbian, boner killer, etc., but Kat never really cared-- or at least she did her best to not show it. Labels were stupid anyway, though she did prefer drinking, fighting, spitting, swearing, and helping her father work on his truck whenever he was in town. Her father was a long-haul truck driver and wasn’t home much, so she was often left in the care of her brothers which meant she was mostly on her own. The “girly” things that were expected of her like cooking, cleaning, babysitting, and talking about boys never really stuck. She tried make-up when she got into high school, but mostly kept to the basics like lip-gloss and eyeliner.

She also never really developed like many of the other girls, which was fine by Kat as it meant she rarely needed a bra and avoided wearing one anytime she could. Her panty drawer was mostly filled with black cotton panties, bought by the pack, though she once tried a thong after her first boyfriend complained she didn't know how to be sexy. She broke up with him shortly after, but kept the thong as it did end making her feel a little sexy. Kat only owned a couple of dresses for going to church during Christmas-time and funerals, but she still insisted on wearing sneakers or boots whenever she had to dress up, otherwise it was mostly jeans and t-shirts. She also never cared much about her hair until some girls in high school teased her about it being unkempt and greasy, so in an act of anger, frustration, and embarrassment she cut most of it off in the school bathroom later that day. Thankfully her next-door neighbor was a hair stylist and offered to fix the chaotic mess for her, but Kat insisted that it be kept low maintenance. That was Kat, the low-maintenance no-nonsense tomboy, who had a bit of a curvy ass which her brothers always teased her about. They’d tell her it was the only thing that made her seem like a girl. That and her short stature.

After graduation Kat stayed in her hometown and worked as a mechanic for one of her father’s friends, but her dream was to be a long-haul trucker like her father, out on the open road. It wasn’t until tragedy struck that Kat finally got her dream.

It had just been her and her father for several years after her brothers moved away, got jobs, and started their own families in different states. She had to admit it was lonely at times and, despite her better judgment, she'd even hooked up with a couple of guys from the mechanic shop or the bar whenever she felt really lonely. Any attempt at a relationship never lasted though, because despite them liking that she was “one of the guys” they always expected that she’d settle down, grow out her hair, and start making babies.

Pulling up to the old, run-down truck stop and diner, Kat stopped and touched the old photo of her and her father before she tucked it back under the visor of his old rig that was now hers. It had been five years since he had passed from a sudden heart attack while on the road. Thankfully, when he crashed no one got hurt, but the truck was in bad shape when it got towed back to her house. Kat spent most of her weekends and evenings after her father’s funeral crying and fixing the old rig. Her brothers tried to get her to sell it, and the house, but the old rig was hers and she wanted the old girl back on the road like her father would’ve wanted.

Hopping down from the cab Kat stretched and danced around to get her blood moving. She did her best to stay active so as to not find herself in an early grave like her father, but when it came to being on the road it sometimes meant lots of sitting, odd sleeping hours, and questionable cuisine from the various truck stops and run-down restaurants. Still, her stomach rumbled as she had cleared out her stash of peanuts miles ago and having needed to make up lost time from her last checkpoint she hadn’t been able to stop and rummage for something better.

Little did Kat know, a soon-to-be had questionable diner hamburger and fries, and a restless night of sleep were about to change her life on the road in a very strange way.

* A Note from the Branch Starter, aka JWtts: While the above setup for this character mentions brothers, I did not write it with the intention of them playing into the story for any “family”-related activities. It's nothing personal, but given CHYOA’s recent changes as of July 2023, I want to leave it up to the original story’s creator, storylord1337, and whether or not that will be allowed in subsequent chapters from other contributors as it may affect the overall story’s visibility.