Hazel's Hitchhiker

16: Grand Canyon

Hazel

"Wake up sleepyhead," instructed Joey who poked my face and shook my shoulders. "We're here!" Never had I ever seen him this excited before. It was like he was a child on Christmas morning.

Once I was awake, I noticed that we were in a car. Why were we in a car? Why was I with Joey? So much dizziness had surrounded my head. My eyes could barely open. About a minute later, the dizziness went away and the only reaction that could be given was a yawn. We were in Vegas last night. Damn, we were actually in Vegas. It was all coming back to me. During my yawning, it became apparent that I was in the passenger seat. What the hell happened when we returned to the mechanic? Why was I in the passenger seat? Did Joey drive?

"Did we finally get to Austin?" I asked trying to understand what was going on. It certainly would've been awesome if we had actually got there. By the looks of it, it didn't look like we were there. We were somewhere else, but my tired mind couldn't hint at where we were. Something seemed familiar about this place. It was like I had seen pictures of wherever we were.

"No," he laughed handing me an Arizona Iced Tea. We're in the Grand Canyon. We're about to see a sunrise. Hope you have your phone ready."

Putting the can on the driver seat, I reached for the phone in my pocket which had half a battery and a text from Amber. My heart jumped without warning and my eyes let out light tears. Damn, I missed my bestie. Why couldn't she be with us?

"Miss you girl," read the message. "Did you get to Austin yet?"

I had in fact not made it to Austin. Would responding to her be wise? If I told her we were in the Grand Canyon, she'd be worried about me, especially after that one time.

"Wait a minute, you're not coming on the field trip to the Grand Canyon?" asked Amber as we stood outside on the last day of our sophomore year. "Weren't you the one that kept telling me that I had to go? And you kept saying that it was the perfect way to end the year. And this means I can't go now."

Not looking at my bestie, I spoke with my sight on someone else. "Yeah, I know. But after the shitty time, I had with David at prom, I just can't date that idiot anymore. For a senior, he's the cockiest piece of shit I've met."

"Well damn, that's too bad. It seemed that you guys were hitting it off pretty well." While Amber continued talking, her eyes spotted Phillip from a distance. At that moment, it became obvious that she didn't care we weren't going anymore. Her face lit up with a large grin and bite to the lip. "Like what happened?"

Whatever I was going to say, I knew my words would barely register with my distracted friend. Phillip appeared to be pretty vibrant that day with several other guys around him. They were all laughing and talking while throwing around a football. "Yeah, I guess I kind of liked him at the start of the year after I spent an entire week helping him with his homework." At this point, I knew Amber wasn't listening, but I continued to speak anyway. "Hell, it felt like I was giving him most of the answers, but whatever."

"But he was always talking about how romantic it would be for you to go with him on the senior trip." Apparently, she was still listening. That was a shocker.

"Yeah, he did always talk about how romantic it would be. He always said that the canyon was the place lovers go. And honestly, I kind of believed him. Something in me hoped that this trip would be romantic for us. But I just realized how much of that was crap when I went to prom with him." 

Amber's smile died once she noticed Phillip talking to someone other than the boys. It was some new student skank. They were hot for each other and began making out. The boys made fun of them and eventually walked away. Amber also walked away not specifying where she was going. My guess would be to the bathroom to cry. Did she need me in there? Before a decision about going to the bathroom could be made, something happened. Amber would have to wait.

"Oh hey Hazel," greeted Joey almost bumping into me with his backpack in his hands. It was clear that he was digging through it looking for something. "Almost bumped into you. Guess I should be more careful."

"Yeah, I guess you should. Better get on it." It was rare that I had ever actually conversed with Joey. Even though I had already met him and we knew of each other's existence, this definitely felt like we were meeting each other for the first time.

"Yeah, I guess so. All I was looking for was a little bag of Cheetos." He began awkwardly chuckling and licked the bottom of his lips. "You know, I didn't have breakfast because I woke up late."

For some strange reason, I didn't care that he forgot to have breakfast, but I found myself awkwardly chuckling with him. Once we finished our strange giggles, we just stood there glaring at each other until he spoke again.

"You wouldn't happen to have a pencil on you, would you?" he asked padding his pockets not being able to find one. Apparently, there were no pencils in his backpack either.

Reaching for my pocket, my fingers picked up on three different pencils. Two big ones and one really small one that was on its last legs. Why the hell did I keep pencils in my pockets? Amber would laugh if she saw this moment. Without speaking, one of the three pencils from my pocket was given to Joey. Once the pencil was in his palm, my hand couldn't find itself leaving his. My sight was directly on his toned body.

"Well, thanks for the pencil." Joey smiled with a little bit of blush surrounding his face. Once he forced my hand off him, his fist lightly punched my arm. "See you around Hazel."

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Will Hazel enjoy the Grand Canyon?