Hazel's Hitchhiker

5: Together in the Car

Hazel

The moment Joey got his bag in the trunk and landed himself in the car, he began cracking his knuckles. Most people know someone who has the occasional cracking of knuckles, or they may be that person themselves. Usually, it's light and no big deal. In this case, it sounds like a war is going off. This lasted a good minute, but it felt like an eternity. And in that long eternity, my lips were pressed together and I found myself taking deep breaths. Once he finished doing the cracking, his mouth began bopping. Was he going to be doing this the entire twenty-six-hour drive? Okay, Hazel. Just focus on Dave Ramsey, I kept thinking to myself. If I could focus on Dave Ramsey, everything would be fine.

Joey wanted to meet me Saturday afternoon at Dairy Queen instead of the library for our first day of tutoring. He claimed that he felt bad that I had to turn my life around and help him pass high school. And because of that, he wanted to take me out to get ice cream. When he mentioned ice cream that afternoon, my mouth couldn't help but smile and I caught myself biting my lips. The idea of ice cream didn't sound so bad.

"Hello Hazel," Joey greeted walking into Dairy Queen leading me to get up from my seat. He took the initiative to hug me.

"Hey Joey, did you bring your homework?" I couldn't help but smile. Something about him that afternoon made him look positively radiant.

Once we ordered our vanilla ice creams, we sat down and he pulled out his homework. We would be starting on it once we finished our frozen treat.

"I love your dress by the way," he stated while taking his first lick.

Something about his compliment had me grinning and almost blushing. It was rare that I ever wore this sunflower spaghetti strap dress. Today seemed like a special occasion to be wearing this dress. Maybe Joey wasn't that bad of a guy. Phillip was a completely different story. It was hard to understand what Amber saw in him. But it was nice to know that these buddies weren't alike. And to think of it, I was pretty different compared to Amber. It didn't take long to finish our cones and once we did, it was time to get to work.

"Alright," he began pulling out a folder full of papers and putting them on the table. "Let's do this thing."

To my surprise, he began cracking his knuckles and bopping his mouth at the same time which caused my lips to press together. My head began hurting. At that moment, I began reaching for the pencil in my pocket. It needed a good tapping. Hell, my mouth needed those sunglasses.

"Is it possible that you do not do that?" I asked as politely as possible.

"What am I doing?"

"You know. Cracking your knuckles and bopping your mouth like that."

That went without saying that he tried to stop, but he ultimately failed. This tick of his was impossible to control, but if there was one thing that could be controlled, it was his grades. Maybe it was a blessing that I was his tutor.

Joey

I will admit, the sound that my knuckles make when they're cracked actually scares me. Arthritis is going to be a living hell when I'm old. With my mouth continuing to bop, my eyes found themselves to the wonders of the open road. California was a beautiful place. And I can't complain about the fact that I grew up near some nice beaches. Texas wouldn't be the same. I always pictured Texas as this big hot desert with a lot of cacti and people struggling to find water. Going to the beach would be hard in Austin as the closest beach looks like it was in Houston.

Eventually, the view grew to be a little boring. My ears began to notice what Hazel was listening to. She was listening to a podcast about some old guy talking about how to afford college or some crap like that. People were also calling in and asking questions about money trying to figure out how to get out of debt. Why the hell was she listening to this?

You know, I got some Post Malone on my phone that we could listen to," I began pulling my phone out of my pocket. "Why don't we listen to some music for a bit?"

She began laughing. "Seriously? Post Malone?" Hazel continued to laugh like she heard the funniest joke of her life. "How can you listen to that shit music?" The laughter died and we continued to listen to the old guy take calls about being in debt.

"What do you got against Post Malone? How's he any better than this Dave Rambo guy?"

"It's Dave Ramsey," she corrected me sounding a little annoying. "Post Malone is an idiot. His music isn't that bad, but I just find the tattoos on his face annoying. Every time I hear one of his songs, I end up thinking of those tattoos. Think about it, how's he going to find a job in the future? Nobody is going to hire him with his face looking like that."

"Well you know, he doesn't need to worry about being hired. He's a famous singer and he's rich. I'm sure he'll be fine."

It took about a minute for Hazel to respond. Licking her lips, it was pretty apparent that she was thinking about how to respond. And I couldn't help but wonder how long we would be listening to David Ringo.

"Post Malone also reminds me of this guy back in freshman year who had a million tattoos on his face. He asked me on a date and I said no. He was literally the most disgusting person I ever met. I think his name was Omar or some crap like that."

"You mean Oscar? I remember that guy. He had one tattoo on his face and it was a tattoo of his mom's name. He got that tattoo after she died."

Thanks for reading! Hope you all enjoy this chapter! Please don't crack your knuckles! But please be sure to comment and vote!

Have you ever been on a road trip?

Are Joey and Hazel going to survive this trip?