They had met in high school

Allison squeezed out from under the car and started getting to her feet while she thought back to sitting next to Gillian in math class back in high school. They hadn’t been very good friends, but became friendly and had never had cross words against one another. On occasion they would hang out as part of a group with their mutual friends. They had gotten together one-on-one to do anything and didn’t keep in touch after graduation, but when Allison ran into Gillian on her first day of the job, they quickly reconnected and caught up over the next few days. It had made Allison’s transition into the position that much easier, having someone she was familiar and comfortable with there to help her out.

Allison began to think that must be the biggest reason why this betrayal hurt so much. Since starting the job they’d become better friends than they ever were in high school, grabbing the occasional drink after work, sticking with each other during boring conferences to help keep each other awake or tell a quick joke about the presenter. Allison couldn’t even remember seeing Gillian angry before, now that she thought of it.

Allison shook the memory off and looked around. She was still concerned that she might run into the man from the gas station if she went back to the main road, or might have to hide from other drivers out this late. The suburbs should be all means be pretty deserted with most everyone asleep. She turned her back to the street and started walking again, settling into a fast pace.

As she moved she kept glancing around, listening for the sounds of any approaching cars over the sounds of crickets chirruping, for any indication that someone might be out and about for any reason. Every time she saw a light on in a house she would slow down and watch the window for any suggestion that the occupants might look out and see her in this state of undress.

She reached the end of the block and turned left, walking parallel to the main road now. Allison was able to walk at a good speed and felt that the time she would lose taking this long way around would be pretty minimal. The further she walked this direction, the happier she felt with her decision. Had she returned to the main road, she thought it was certain she would have had to hide or run from at least one oncoming car by now.

After several blocks without seeing a soul, Allison took another left. She would have to cross the main street to get back home, but it was late enough that shouldn’t create too much of an obstacle.

Halfway down the block, approaching the main street once again, Allison started seeing lights up ahead, flashing. She slowed down and crept forward, trying to see what was up ahead without walking into view of anyone. She scampered under the glow of a street lamp quickly and froze once she was back in darkness. The flashing lights were red and blue, and she knew what that meant.

Moving forward again, a step at a time, Allison eventually was able to see the back end of a police car, it’s lights blinking rapidly.

She decided to move off the sidewalk, away from any streetlights that might give away her presence. A random person seeing her naked like this was one thing, but police would definitely be more involved than a simple whistle or cat call. She stepped onto someone’s yard, moved a short distance from the sidewalk and started creeping forward again.

Soon Allison had a full view of the situation. Moving up ahead to a tree, she hid her body from view and peered around the trunk. The officer had made a traffic stop, pulling over a pickup truck. She saw the officer start walking back to his vehicle, open the door and sit back inside.

“Maybe he’s about to leave,” she thought hopefully.

However she saw a light pop on in the vehicle and the officer staring down at something.

“Great, he must be writing out a ticket. This could be a few minutes.”

Still, this close to home Allison didn’t want to have to turn back and take another detour. She remained behind the tree as the officer worked on whatever he was working on, occasionally speaking into his radio. She felt her patience starting to wear thin, but kept reminding herself she didn’t have much choice in the matter right now.

However soon another vehicle appeared and puled to a stop behind the cop car. Soon it’s red and blue lights went on as well.

“What’s going on?” Allison wondered.

The new arrival stepped out of his patrol car and strode up to the other police car. The officer who had been working on what Allison assumed was a ticket opened his door, stepped out and began speaking to his partner. After several seconds of a conversation Allison couldn’t make out, they approached the pickup truck, one officer stepping to the driver’s window while the other held back a few feet. She watched after several words were exchanged between the officer and the driver, before the driver of the car pushed his door open and stepped out onto the sidewalk.

“What the hell,” Allison thought, “is he drunk or something?”

She quickly realized that the reason didn’t much matter. She had a pretty strong feeling that whenever the police ask someone to step out of a vehicle they were all going to be there for a while.

Shaking her head at her terrible luck, Allison began trying to think of what to do. Waiting seemed like the best option in some respects, but she had no idea how long they were going to be there. There was also some chance, however slight, that the flashing lights might wake up the occupants of the house she was huddled in front of. If they came to the window the leaves above her would likely hide her, but she could make out a good portion of one window. If that lead to their bedroom then she might end up being seen.

She slowly began considering her other options. She knew she could turn around, go a block or two further up and make her way back to her house another way. But the thought of another detour didn’t sit well with her at all.

Looking ahead at the house that sat on the street corner, she noticed a short hedge running around the edge of the yard, bordering the street. It ran past the edge of the house, but Allison couldn’t tell how far it ran. But if she could get to that hedge, she could crawl behind it, and she might come out far enough behind the police officers that she could make her way backwards a block and cut into the neighborhood just below the street she lived on. She would still be taking a detour, but a shorter one than if she had to turn around and go back.

Looking up at the traffic stop they saw the driver of the truck start to stand with his arms out to his sides and slowly walk forward. If they were going to check to see if he was drunk, then Allison really didn’t like the option of waiting.

Trying frantically to make up her mind, Allison found herself thinking about how the promotion was announced in the first place.