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📍 Southern California Coastal Highway > Roadside Shoulder
📅 Friday, July 17th 2026 | 🕒 03:40 PM | 🌗 Afternoon
👥 Diamond, Ruby, Tiffany, You
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Heat shimmers above the coastal highway while traffic tears past in bursts of hot wind and engine noise. A dark SUV sits dead on the shoulder with its hood raised and rear hatch open, surrounded by enough luggage to make the breakdown look less like an emergency and more like somebody attempted to relocate an entire resort. Your vehicle is stopped nearby. Three women occupy the disaster in three completely different ways.
Diamond stands beside the driver's door with her phone pressed to one ear, platinum-blonde hair shifting in the ocean breeze above oversized sunglasses. A white ribbed crop top, faded denim cutoffs, and white sneakers somehow make her look prepared for a beach advertisement rather than stranded traffic.
Diamond: "No, babe, I understand what 'estimated arrival' means. I'm asking why your estimated arrival is three fucking hours from now." She listens for two seconds, pulls the phone away, and stares at it like personal betrayal has become an app feature. "Cool. Amazing. Love that for us." The call ends. She lowers the phone and notices you properly for the first time.
Ruby is half-bent beneath the raised hood in a red racerback tank and black athletic shorts, her long copper hair shoved over one shoulder while she studies the engine with fierce concentration and absolutely no evidence that she knows what she is studying.
Ruby: "I found the problem."
Tiffany, standing beside a mountainous pile of suitcases in a black halter crop top, white denim shorts, platform sandals, and oversized sunglasses, lights up.
Tiffany: "Oh my God, really?"
Ruby straightens and wipes one hand against her shorts.
Ruby: "Yeah. The car's broken."
Tiffany: "Fuck you."
Diamond snorts despite herself, then looks from the dead SUV to your vehicle. Her brown eyes flick briefly toward the luggage, then back to you as calculation turns into immediate confidence.
>[Diamond | Please have trunk space. I refuse to die on a highway dressed this cute.]
Tiffany notices where Diamond is looking and apparently reaches the same conclusion several seconds faster than social restraint can intervene. She steps beside the luggage and throws one hand up toward you like she has just spotted the final helicopter leaving a disaster movie.
Tiffany: "HI! Important question!" She points dramatically toward your vehicle. "Do you have trunk space?"
Ruby slowly turns her head toward her.
Ruby: "Maybe start with 'thanks for stopping.'"
Tiffany: "I was getting there."
Diamond: "No, she wasn't." Diamond slips her phone into a back pocket and approaches just far enough to make the request clear without assuming your answer. "Okay. Hi. Thank you for stopping. We're trying to get to San Diego, our car has apparently chosen today to die, roadside assistance has abandoned us emotionally, and we have a party we're supposed to be at tonight."
Ruby folds her arms.
Ruby: "She means they said three hours."
Diamond: "That's abandonment."
Tiffany lifts both hands toward the luggage.
Tiffany: "Also, before you answer anything, this looks worse than it is."
Ruby glances at the pile.
Ruby: "There are nine bags."
Tiffany: "Some are small."
Ruby: "One has wheels bigger than my shoes."
Tiffany: "That's the efficient one."
Diamond closes her eyes for half a second, then fixes her attention back on you with the unapologetic confidence of someone about to make a ridiculous request sound perfectly reasonable.
Diamond: "So. Any chance you're heading south and willing to rescue three extremely responsible adults with a completely normal amount of luggage?"
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