Rockstars on Ice

Scruffy dark hair falls over Coda’s face as she slams her combat boots against the car’s gas pedal. A whispered string of expletives pass her lips. Hearing the tires grind against the icy snow drifts lining the highway, she throws herself back against the driver’s seat.This is not how Coda and Mina’s spontaneous getaway was supposed to end. 

“Shit, we aren’t gonna make it back for the show,” Coda groans, looking over at Mina beside her. The two women, growing tired of fast food and dick jokes on their North American tour, rented a car in hopes of a romantic frolic through some small towns before their concert in front of 17,000 fans. The morning sunshine, however, quickly gave way to thick, dense clouds right as they were finishing lunch. Coda tried to outrun the storm to make it back to their buses, but the snow came too quickly. Now they only have a couple of hours before their concert, and they are trapped on a snow drift just seven miles away. 

Coda covers her face with her hands and releases a muffled scream into her black gloves. Mina is frantically texting and calling every member of their bands and crews, but no one is picking up. She drops her phone on the floor in frustration.

“Well...I told Robbie we’re stuck and we’re not going to make it. He’ll see it eventually. So you may as well quit worrying about the show and start worrying about freezing to death on the interstate,” Mina offers with a sarcastic smile. 

Coda stares out the window at a dozen other cars sliding into the median and guardrail surrounding them. Their tail lights are reduced to faint orange orbs amid the rapidly falling snow. The occasional pick-up truck crawls by unaffected. She kills the engine, afraid of running out of gas. It only takes a few minutes for the cold winds to seep into the car.

“Think one of these big trucks will help dig us out?” Coda asks, pointing at a massive red Ford gently rolling past on snow chains.

“What, you can’t do it?” Mina winks. 

Coda laughs, a cloud of fog fills the air between them. “I am not that type of butch.”

“Well, here I’ll do it then,” Mina picks up an ice scraper and zips her baby pink parka up to her chin. Her long, black hair spills out around her face. Coda lunges and grabs her arm before she can get a hold on the door handle.

“No! Are you kidding me? It’s way too dangerous!”

“It’s not that bad!” Mina rolls her eyes, but she’s clearly relieved that Coda didn’t let her get out. Coda’s fingers are still wrapped around Mina’s wrist.

“I cannot let you die in this storm,” Coda whispers, a smile teasing the corner of her mouth. “You’re an icon. I’m a nobody in a band called Stone Cold Kill. Do you know how many dramatic tabloid titles people could make out of that story? I can think of, like, twenty right now.”

“Coda Knox, the Stone Cold Killer,” Mina giggles.

“Mina Holt, Stone Cold Killed.”

“Coda Coulda Killed Her”

“Mina Holt, Killed in the Cold”

“Coda Didn’t Mina Kill Her.”

“Oh, I hated that one!”

The girls explode in a fit of laughter. Coda pushes the ice scraper out of Mina’s hand and pulls her in for a kiss. They’re still laughing quietly when Coda pulls away and breathes “I love you,” against Mina’s lips. Mina’s eyes snap open.

“Fuck you!” She yells. “You take that back!”

“What? No!” Coda responds, crossing her arms against her chest and leaning back into her seat.

“Do not tell me you love me right now. We could die!”

“I think that sounds like a perfect time to tell you I love you.”

“No, it’s not. I have to focus on keeping us alive and now I’m gonna get all emotional,” Mina’s voice cracks. She fans her face with her hands. “I’ve been waiting so long for you to say that to me that I was planning to do it myself. Today, actually. After we got back from our cute little day trip that turned into my worst nightmare. I’ve been cracking jokes to keep from freaking out!”

“Oh, come on, being trapped in here with me can’t be that bad.” Coda tries to make her laugh, but she’s definitely freaking out. 

“You’re not the problem,” Mina whimpers, falling forward into Coda’s chest. Coda holds her tight and rests her face on the furry lining of Mina’s hood. “My people are island people.”

“Didn’t you grow up in Michigan?” 

“This would never happen in the Philippines.”

“You are definitely from Detroit, Meen.”

“Sunshine is in my blood.”

“I mean, I guess… Hey, why don’t I try to distract you?”

Mina sighs, “the last thing I need is one of your distractions, but if you insist.” She leans back and starts to pull her black leggings down. Coda laughs and pulls her hands away, holding them up to her chin. 

“Not that kind of distraction, my dear.”

Mina pauses and mutters, “maybe later”. They decide to crawl back to the backseat of the car and curl up, using Mina’s purse as a pillow against the door. Coda takes a deep breath and begins.

“Back before you and I met, Vik and I bet on who would be the first to sleep with you. I realize how gross and objectifying that is. I apologize for that.”

“I expect nothing less from Vik, honestly, but I accept your apology.”

“I never took it seriously, of course, because it was super creepy, but I also just admired you so much. I know how uncomfortable it is when fans try to get in your pants. Once we all finally met, like...three years later or something, I was so infatuated with you. You were so gorgeous and cool and talked to us like we were equals even though you’ve been so much more successful than us.”

Mina blows a raspberry and presses her body closer to Coda. 

“I’m serious! That meant a lot. But I started crushing on you so hard. I remembered that dumb bet and cornered Vik in our bus and told him that if he tried to put a move on you I’d shove his favourite guitar so far up his ass, he would have to tune his eyelashes.”

“He did try to make a move on me.”

“WHAT?”

“Yeah, the first night of our tour! He sauntered up to me-- as he does-- and said something gross, I assume. I barely even hear him because I was watching you string your guitar with my jaw hanging open.”

“You were not.”

“I absolutely was! You can ask Robbie. I didn’t shut up about you for days after we finally met. I had been listening to you guys since your first EP.”

“No way. No one listened to our first EP.”

“I’ll prove it.”

Mina sits up and signals to Coda to do the same. She shoves a hand deep into her designer bag, sticking her tongue out in concentration.

“If you pull a seven-year old CD out of your purse, I will shit my pants right now.” Coda threatens. 

“You don’t need to do all that, but…” Mina pauses and pulls her wallet out of her purse. It’s a long, rose gold clutch with her initials embossed on the front. She unzips it by a fluffy pom-pom keychain and it falls open on her lap. Stuck to a plastic panel inside, is a weathered sticker the size of a postage stamp. Coda immediately recognizes the four faded faces and dark silhouettes. She vividly remembers tucking hundreds of tiny Stone Cold Kill stickers into every single copy of their first EP. “I obviously don’t carry the CD around anymore. It’s not 2002. I did keep the sticker in here, though,” Mina smiles. Coda shakes her head in disbelief. 

“I can’t believe my favourite singer has my band’s sticker in her wallet,” she laughs.

“Ok, but your favourite singer is now your girlfriend, who has your band’s sticker in her wallet. Is that believable?”

“Yeah, I guess, but--”

Mina cuts Coda off with a kiss. “ I love you, Coda.”

“I love you, too.” A pleasant silence hangs between them.

“Now, how the fuck are we getting out of here?” Mina asks, shoving her wallet back into her purse. 

Coda sighs and looks back up through the windshield. The sun has set, causing all the lights from the cars to mix with the snow and reflect off the dense clouds. An eerie yellow glow surrounds their car. Coda can see a faint flickering light outside through the layer of snow on the windshield. She crawls back into the driver’s seat and starts the car, flashing the headlights in hopes of getting anyone’s attention. Suddenly, a giant hand collides with the driver’s side window. Mina screams. The snow and ice fall away to reveal two dark figures in snowsuits and motorcycle helmets emblazoned with RESCUE in big white letters. A pair of snowmobiles are parked beside them. A third figure appears that Coda immediately recognizes as Mina’s manager, Robbie, donning a heavy leather jacket and beanie pulled down to his snow-covered brows.

“They found us!” Coda exclaims, struggling to push her door open. “How did they find us?”

Mina tumbles into the front seat face first, snatching her phone up off the floor. “Oh my god, I forgot they can see my location on Snapchat!”

The people in the snowsuits quickly shovel alongside the car until Coda is able to open the door. The girls fall out, grateful for fresh air. 

“You’re the man, Robbie!” Mina squeals, jumping into his arms. 

“We have to get you guys back for the show!” He shouts over the din of shovels, car horns, and snowmobile engines. 

“Hell yeah! Let’s get outta here!” Mina cheers, jumping onto the back of a snowmobile and extending her hand to Coda. They wrap their arms tight around the driver, and zip off to the concert.