Hazel's Hitchhiker

23: Detour

Hazel

We were not very far off from Phoenix as the car made its way into Anthem. We'd be in the actual valley within thirty minutes. As I drove, my eyes glanced away from the road a couple of times and caught notice of Joey's phone password. The second time it was entered, my brain was able to memorize it. It probably shouldn't have, but it did. Oh well. But throughout the drive from Flagstaff, Joey dozed off and on.

When I reached Circle K in Anthem, the boy was fast asleep. A simple poke wouldn't wake him up. Before getting out of the car to pump gas, my sight caught notice of Joey's phone on his lap. There it was just sitting there. For about a minute, my body just sat there looking at the phone wanting to pick it up and enter the password. Joey couldn't stop me if he was asleep. Boom! Without a second thought, my hands picked up the phone and took it outside with me.

With gas pumping into the car, my fingers entered the password. Damn, I had complete access to the boy's phone. My heart was pumping like crazy. There were a couple of times I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Ignoring that possibility, I headed straight for the contacts. And surely enough, his mom was a contact on the phone. It was simply listed as 'mom.' Click! The gas was done pumping.

Getting back into the car, I pulled it into a parking spot in front of the store. With my attention back on the phone, it came to my notice that under the 'mom' contact, there was an address listed. Looking at the address, it was an address listed in Avondale. Clicking on the address, Siri began speaking and showed me Google Maps directing me how to get to that address.

"Oh shit," I claimed without realizing it. "No way it could be that easy."

Could it really be that easy? It was, but that was clearly the wrong question. Was what I was doing that smart? Was it moral? Would Joey be pissed if he saw that I had stopped at his mom's house? Would his mom even be home? There were so many questions rushing through my head. But in the end, there was one question that took over? Would we still be able to make it to Austin in time? Who knew how long spending time in Avondale would take? This could end up being an all-day thing? Maybe even two days. Maybe Joey would be so pissed, that we'd quickly get back on the road.

Maybe getting to Austin in time didn't matter anymore. Something inside of me felt that it was important for Joey to reconnect with the woman that left him alone with his old man at the beginning of his freshman year. Why the hell did I care so much about Joey and his mom? Damn, what was I supposed to do? Maybe an Arizona Ice Tea would help. That made sense. Take a little break and go inside to get one. That's what I did while leaving Joey in the car to sleep with the AC still on.

Once inside, my eyes spotted where the cold drinks were. Once physically standing next to the cold drinks, my hands grabbed a drink. But one wasn't enough. No, two Arizona Iced Teas would do the trick. Thank the heavens that these drinks were only ninety-nine cents. Without realizing it, three bags of Munchies were picked up. Part of me also wanted a beer, but of course, me being Hazel, there was no Fake ID like Joey. If only the boy were in this store with me. Why was he so tired? With my hands, it was time to pay.

Once the items were paid and bagged, my body was outside and found itself leaning on the hood of the car drinking an iced tea. My mind was still figuring if going to see his mom was still a good idea. If I couldn't get to Austin in time tomorrow, I couldn't graduate early. But did I really want to graduate early? Once I graduate, I have to go out into the nursing world? Why the hell would I do something I didn't really want to do a semester earlier? Hell, it wasn't required to be in Austin tomorrow if I wanted the scholarship. In order to get that, we didn't need to arrive until the night of Sunday. And the scholarship was for nursing, pre-med, and business majors. Crap, this was such a hard decision. My parents would be pissed if I didn't get there in time.

"Thanks for all your help today girl," thanked Amber at the concession stand during the last basketball game of our senior year. There were still ten minutes left of the game.

"No dude, thank you. I had a lot of fun today. To be honest, I regret not being on the concession committee a lot sooner. Thanks for talking me into joining you guys."

She smiled giving me a hug. "Dude, I don't know how you were able to get both Coke and Pepsi Products, but it was legit amazing being able to sell something more than Coke Products."

"Well you know, you guys need to get someone to actually look at the budget. Like a treasurer or something. If someone took a close look at it earlier, they would've noticed that both products could be afforded and also legally sold together under contract."

My own best friend couldn't help but laugh at me. "Tell me why you're going to nursing school again?"

It was the question, my own mouth was sick of answering. "Because of my dad."

Amber opened up a bag of Doritos and began eating them. "Dude, who cares what your old man wants. You have to do you. I mean do you honestly really want to be a nurse? Did you honestly enjoy your internship this past summer?"

Was she seriously asking me that? "My dad always told me that it doesn't matter if we enjoy something. We have to do what we are meant and called to do."

"Dude, that is some serious bullshit. Why the hell would I want to do something that I am meant to do if I hate every moment of it. But you didn't answer my question. Did you really enjoy your internship?"

It took me about thirty seconds to think about it before giving her a response. "No, I hated every moment of it. The patients were rude and always complaining. Most of the doctors I shadowed were arrogant stuck-up pricks who acted like they were legit shit. And if I'm being honest, I didn't give two craps if a patient died on their bed. 

Damn, Amber had too much wisdom. If only she were with me during this trip. But it became clear. My dad was an idiot who knows nothing and I really didn't give a crap if I were in Austin by tomorrow. We were going to go to see Joey's mom.

There you have it. They're going to see Joey's mom. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Don't forget to comment and vote!

Have you ever snooped on someone's phone?

Is Joey's privacy being invaded?

Is going to see Joey's mom a good idea?