Hazel's Hitchhiker

17: Breathtaking Hole

Joey

Hazel's attention was towards her phone. It seemed like she was about to text someone, but never did. In a strange way, she seemed almost sad. Once she put her phone away, she just sat in the car and put her sight towards the front window.

"Are we still going to make it to Austin in time?" she asked taking a deep breath.

"Don't worry, we'll still make it by Thursday Morning. We'll still have plenty of time on our hands." She continued sitting there and began checking herself out in the mirror. It turned out there was a small pimple on the side of her neck that she was trying to pop. This was one of those rare moments in which I ever saw any acne on this girl. "Come on Hazel, we're going to miss the sunrise. Get out of the car."

Once she had that small pimple popped, she slowly stood her body out of the car with the iced tea in her grasp. No time was wasted in getting it opened and drinking it. She walked with me to the spot where tourists stand to observe the beauty of the canyon. Thankfully for us, there was only one other guy there to observe. This was an elderly man who apparently brought a camping chair to sit in with binoculars in his lap. It was hard to imagine anyone else wanting to be here before six in the morning.

With Hazel at my side, I forgot that she was actually with me at that moment. The beauty that I stood before had me briefly forgetting everything I knew for a moment. This was something bigger than myself. Something bigger than anything of the shitty problems that I had been dealing with. It was bigger than my poor ass excuse of a father. My heart could feel a sense of relief. My eyes almost thought I was looking at a painting. Here before me was a large breathtaking hole filled with large rocky-looking walls. What made all this feel more like art was the color of this canyon. The color was completely desert-like and yet It was vibrant. Maybe it was because of how the sun was slowly beginning to rise. Part of me had a feeling that the color wouldn't be like this by the time noon came around.

"What do you think Hazel?" I asked remembering that she was right beside me. And for that, I was beyond grateful. "Is this canyon not awesome?"

No answer came from her. Instead, she took a sip of her Arizona Iced Tea and began chewing on her sunglasses. Neither of us was ready to take any pictures yet.

"You know," I began again to speak. "It's a damn shame that GCU doesn't use this to actually advertise their campus. I can guarantee you that if they did, they would have more students wanting to enroll. So much false advertising."

"You mean Grand Canyon University? As in the school in Phoenix? What the hell do mean by false advertising?

"I'm just staying that their logo is a cactus and a cross with their mascot being an antelope. I get that the cactus represents Arizona, but they literally named themselves Grand Canyon University. They could at least take a picture of the Grand Canyon and use that instead. In all honesty, I think the Grand Canyon actually represents Arizona more than any damn cactus."

Hazel continued to chew on her sunglasses and began laughing at my response. "Maybe they should hire you to stop all this false advertising. What kind of world are we living in?"

"You know, they actually offered me a scholarship. One of the recruiters was at my games. Dude claimed that he was impressed with my dribbling."

"And you chose Austin instead. Why not GCU?" A sip of the iced tea was taken with the sunglasses back on that lovely face.

"It seemed like a nice opportunity, it kind of bothered me how serious they were about their religious stands." For the next few seconds, I stood there quietly. Hazel was waiting for me to continue my speech. "They don't let you drink in the dorms. They don't let you smoke. The party lifestyle is frowned upon. And if you want to do any of that, you either have to go to ASU Tempe or ASU Downtown to do that. And ASU sucks hard."

"Yeah, I guess I can see how all that would be a problem for you. You probably wouldn't last a minute at that school without getting in trouble." She paused to think about what she was going to ask next. "Does it bother you that GCU is a private religious school? I mean is that another reason you chose not to go there?"

That was a good question. "To be honest, I was more concerned about the idea of not being able to drink and party, but the religious part did bother me a little. I guess you could say I'm not super religious. My mom was a super devout Catholic and we went to mass every Sunday. My old man wasn't as devout as her. Once she took off, it seemed like the guy forgot what a Catholic was and we stopped going to church. We stopped everything." It almost hurt my heart to say what I was about to say next. "It was almost a relief not to go to church. Part of me was glad and maybe it was because I was angry at my dad. I don't know. But sometimes I wonder if my mom would be disappointed in me for not being strong in my faith. I sometimes feel a little disappointed in myself.

"Makes sense," she stated handing me the drink that was almost finished. "My parents were always forcing us to do random shit like go to church. We would literally get wacked if we fell asleep during mass. Don't get me wrong, I always appreciated going to mass every Sunday, but something about it felt weird. But it was a little weird when my dad didn't force me to go last summer during my internship and yet, I still went every Sunday. When it comes down to it, I guess I hate being forced to do crap I don't want to do. I was always told that God doesn't force anyone to do anything. But with the way my parents were, I suppose I'm a little confused when it comes to something like faith. Don't know if that makes any sense or not."

Oddly enough it did make sense. Somehow I felt like I knew exactly what Hazel was dealing with even if I didn't.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm sure you'd love to visit the Grand Canyon. Don't forget to comment and vote.

Would you consider going to a private university?

Do you think Joey would've lasted at GCU?