Open Roads no place for Open-Toed's (POV)

It was hot out and the you let out a sigh, you'd been standing by the side of the road out in the middle of nowhere for going on two hours and only one car had passed by. Unfortunately that had been a cop and as result you'd had to hide in the bushes until they passed. The bastard had been speeding so the thorns in there had ripped up your jeans pretty badly because of how you'd had to dive in. You were getting pretty sure nobody was going to pick you up and were starting to walk backward with the sign asking for a ride up as well. A cloud of desert dust started up down the highway and you peered at it in interest.

A dirty yellow cab was heading for them and the disappointment was palpable. Nobody was less likely to pick somebody up than someone who did it for a living. Starting to fold up the sign and put it away when the cab slowed down as it came upon you. The driver of the cab peered at the drifter curiously, and something about him made your skin crawl. Still, a ride was a ride and as a result that thumb went up with a hopeful smile to accompany it. The cab rolled up beside the hopeful and then sped off down the road when they reached for the door. "What a dick!" was the thought that went through your mind as the bastard rolled away.

Looks you'd be walking after all, and on such a hot day as well. An entire hour of tredging later and something ahead of you on the road caught your eye. It was that same cab again, but it was pulled over and the drivers door was wide open. The driver stood beside it, leaning against the door on the passenger side. He turned his head to look at you as you approached. "Hey there...sorry about before, I wanted to give you a ride but after looking at you I didn't want to have to clean the cab." You stopped at the revelation and looked yourself over. You had been walking for awhile and there was more sand stuck to you than you'd thought. You patted yourself down and tried to brush off as much as you could while the cabbie nodded.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I did think of a way this could be beneficial for both of us though. You see I drive all-day and I get tired of it, so if you want a ride that's fine but your gonna drive. Sound good?"

You nodded, some strings attached was better than nothing after all, the strangeness of the offer notwithstanding. Besides at this point it felt like one of your slip-ons had more sand in than foot. The cabbie opened the passenger door and climbed in as you did the same with the passengers side. You put the car in gear and pulled out onto the road, not getting very far before you caught the cabbie frowning at you. "Still got alot of sand on you don't you? Your in at this point, fine I'll clean it later. You're comfortable with that though? Being that dirty? Can't be comfortable."

You smiled sheepishly at his words, you weren't the biggest fan of being a petri dish of desert but out on the road it's not like showers were easy to come by. The cabbie nodded in agreement, opening his glove compartment and fishing out some wet wipes. "Think I can help a little bit at least," he said as he ripped one open. To your surprise he started rubbing it up and down one of your forearms, gently at first but harder when he noticed how much sand was being left behind. It was an extremely odd thing to do but right now you were trying to focus on the road and that was definitely the reason you were chewing your lip. Yup, that and only that. The cabbie smirked at your goofy reaction and fished out a new wet-wipe, tossing the used one away into a plastic bag for refuse.

"Hmmm? Why what's with the silly look? Just helping clean you up," he teased as his fingers went up the sleeve of your ripped shirt. The wet nap started to get dangerously close to going into your armpit.

"Your not ticklish are you? Why a ticklish hitchhiker around your age out here. Hmmm could be persuaded to think you'd come from-"



You shook your head furiously, unsure whether you were denying your ticklishness, where he was insinuating you'd come from or just this whole scenario. The cabbie just smirked and fished out a new wet-wipe before plunging it in to start getting the sand from your ticklish pitties.

"That's good. If you'd come from that facility for ticklish reprobates why I'd be obligated to turn you over to the cops, then it'd be a fast track right back to the fun and games that ticklish crooks get-" He didn't get to finish that thought as the wet-wipe in your pit got a little tooo deep and a giggle snuck out of you. He smiled at the nervous blush on you and patted your thigh, reassuringly.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna turn you in. Long as you give me some amusement on the road I think. Now, maybe lets lose this shirt?"

A hole in the side of your tee soon had fingers in it widening it to a tear and then a gash. You'd actually liked that top but you couldn't frown about it as a wet-wipe was soon traveling along your side and making you imagine minty ice. He tried to go slow with it but going too close to your navel made you squirm and going up towards your ribs had you tearing up, neither being ideal for driving, even if it was in a simple straight line.

"So jumpy~ might need the cruise control I think."

He flicked a switch on the dash and you wondered why he hadn't done that earlier until the wipe got into your navel. Suddenly you were laying back in the seat and giggling your head off as the little wet cloth got deeper into there.

"My, my it's like you were carrying a part of the desert in here! Look at all that sand!"

He pulled the wipe out and tossed it away and through one eye cracked open, you did see an awful lot of sand. However another one going into your navel had you back to blinded as your eyes screwed shut due to the tickling feeling. Unconsciously, you pulled the cab off to the side of the road in the interest of safety and your host put the car in park. That he could do this with one hand while using the other to run a wipe in between the bones of each of your ribs. When he was finished with that, the hand came back to run along your flat stomach as he clucked his tongue.

"So scrawny, well I guess food on the road isn't that nutritious..."

A playful slap to your thigh made you jump as he fished out another wipe and looked at your ripped-up jeans. You wished you could say they were that way for fashion but more so they were that through use. He found another use for them as a wet wipe invaded one of the rips on your inner thigh. You were pretty sure that there was no way that dand could have gotten there but the way his fingers dragged along the skin there beneath the cold paper made you squeal unintelligibly. The tear might not have been big but the way that his fingers were moving about it was quickly getting wider. Soon you were weakly pushing at his arm as he climbed over from his seat to straddle you in the seat. The shape of the drivers seat brought to mind a cocoon for you and as he finally left your thigh alone you realized you were stuck here. A wet wipe started streaking over one of your kneecaps as giggled until something caught his eye.

"I told you, I wanted to keep the cab clean and so you took off one of your shoes? C'mon..."

This was news to you, maybe there'd been enough sand in that shoe to just pull it right off your foot when you climbed into car? You wanted to apologize but the he way crawled back into his seat and pulled the barefoot into his lap made you think that he wasnt gonna listen. He opened up the glove compartment and pulled out four or five of the wipes at once. You let out a squeal as he made it into a mass and began running it up and down your hot sole. It was just so cold that you couldn't stand it! You threw your head from side to side laughing away as he started getting it in between each of your wet toes and flossing it between them.

"Could be some sand in the little folds beneath these toes. Got to be thorough!"

You wanted to tell him to knock it off but it was his cab snd this was better than walking at least on one of your feet. The other though was getting some special attention as the cabbie started focusing on your heel. Just as you got used to that though he was back to moistening up your toes and when you clenched them shut he was down into your dusty arch, at this point his fingers had torn through the wipes but he didn't care, clawing his cracked nails inside your arch and driving you wild. You stomach heaved as you laughed and it wasn't until you tittered out a plea for mercy that he finally stopped. Patting you on the thigh, he straightened up and looked over the sorry state he'd left you in.

"A real mean thing to do would be kick you out now since you stopped driving. That way this ticklish foot of yours could meet some hot asphalt."

You whined at the very idea of that but he took you by the ankle an ran his nose back and forth in your arch instead making you squeak.

"Good thing for you though that I've grown fond of this cutie and his sibling who I can't wait to get my hands on. So I've got a new idea. Your gonna take that other shoe off and it's gonna go out the window. Then we're gonna switch seats and I'm gonna get real acquainted with that foot as I drive. That way you get your ride, I get my fun and we both smile. Heck if I get any real fares we'll even see if they wanna get in on it. Your ankles can probably fit through the window into the back-"

He kept going and going and honestly it didn't sound better, way better than going back where you came from, that weird facility where they were ALWAYS making you laugh all cause you just stole some jeans. Looking down at how ruined they were while you got out of the cab and switched seats with him now made you laugh or maybe that was because you realized just how much sand had ended up on your soles by doing that. The cabbie smirked at the sight of the grainy feets and shrugged.

"Out of wipes, guess I'll just have to pluck them off one by one."

You smiled at the thought and plopped one foot in his lap as he pulled the cab back onto the road. Maybe you'd stay on for a good while like this..."