The Road You Can Take

As Garrett’s curiosity grew, so did Evelyn’s appearance in his life. Though there wasn’t another “interesting” conversation shared between the two, Garrett began to notice her everywhere. He wasn’t sure if he just hadn’t been paying attention before, or if she had altered her route, but there she was, somewhere in his general vicinity between each passing period. It was the Monday of finals week, and Evelyn’s new presence was bugging the shit out of him. The constant irritation that he felt – at himself, for developing unwelcome feelings, and at Evelyn, for all of the sudden being everywhere – kept him distracted in class. His test scores were going to suffer.

He was walking with Pat, the bell having just rung for lunch, when he saw her. She was standing at the vending machines, a dollar bill folded between her fingers as she talked with Sam. It looked like they were arguing, if you judged by the expression on Sam’s face and how fast Evelyn seemed to be talking. Her hands waved around wildly.

Garrett averted his eyes. There was no point in having a fascination with someone who was dying.

Lunch was spent walking around campus (all tables were taken), making fun of the way Pat said “bruises” and talking about the band, which was taking up more and more of their lives as the weeks passed. Garrett’s last two periods of the day were math and Econ. He was almost dreading the fifty-six minutes he would spend, pretending that he wasn’t staring at her, in between texting John under the table and occasionally paying attention to the notes on the board. Garrett felt pathetic.

When Econ came, Garrett tried to avoid looking in her direction. That failed, of course, but at least he could comfort himself with pretending that he tried.

Econ went by slowly, the clock ticking tortuously slow. They were having their final tomorrow, so he probably should have been paying attention, but he wasn’t. His mind was focused on other things.

Garrett wondered about her. He wondered what type of music she liked, and if she was as obsessive over it as he was. He wondered what her favorite book was, her favorite movie, and if she was a part of the growing amount of people that were vegetarian. He wondered how she felt about dying. He wondered how her family was taking the news. He wondered what fatal disease she had. He wondered how long she had it, and if the doctor had told her or her mother.

He wanted to know a lot, but he figured that he probably never would. They weren’t close, and they would never be close. She only had an allotted amount of time left, and spending it with him would have been stupid.

Even with knowing this, he wanted to know her.

As the bell rang, and Garrett took his time gathering his things, his head still someone else entirely, he secretly hoped that she would talk to him again. He wanted to hear her voice, and it was an urge that he didn’t understand. Garrett wasn’t the type to hope, dream, or even wonder when it came to females. He had girlfriends, he had dates, and he lost his virginity by the time he was fifteen. He wasn’t inexperienced when it came to the other sex, but Evelyn was a mystery. She didn’t react as most girls generally did. It irritated him and fascinated him.

He was walking through the door and down the hall when she tapped him on his shoulder. He was almost excited, but he kept his cool, turning and cocking an eyebrow.

“Yeah?” He asked gruffly.

“Hi.” She smiled.

“Hey.”

“How’re you?” She asked, and she moved so she was at the same pace as him.

“Alright. You?” He actually wanted to know. He found it weird that they were having a casual conversation, as if they were friends, when this was probably the fourth time they’d talked since he knew she was alive. The second time since she knew she was dying.

She shrugged. “I’m alright. Anyway, I have a question to ask you.”

Garrett moved to look at her. “Okay.”

She smiled again, and he almost felt like she was trying to bribe him.

“Do you have a car?” She asked.

Garrett nodded. “Yeah, I have a car. Why?”

“Do you have a license?”

“I thought you only had one question to ask?”

She blushed. “Okay, can I ask you a series of questions?”

They were moving down the hall quickly, dodging crowds of people. Garrett thought he might have seen one of his friends looking at them questioningly, but he brushed it off. He doubted anyone really cared if they were talking or not.

“Sure.”

His locker was looming ahead. He wondered how many questions he had to answer.

“Do you have a license?” She repeated.

He nodded. “Yeah. Do you?”

She shook her head. “No. I was supposed to but then…things got in the way. Anyway, what are you plans for the summer?”

Garrett shrugged. “Band practice, might try to get a job. I dunno yet.”

“Do your parents give you a lot of freedom?”

“Yeah, I guess. As long as my phone’s on.”

Evelyn nodded. “Cool, okay. That’s cool.”

“Why are you asking me this?” Garrett stopped in front of his locker, but he didn’t reach to open it. He turned to look at her. Evelyn stopped in front of him, about a foot away. She was shorter than him – about 5’5”. Her eyes were nice, even though they were an average brown.

“Look, Garrett,” she sighed. “I know you don’t know me, and you probably don’t even like me because of that one time with Kennedy, but I need to ask you a favor.” She looked uncomfortable. “God, Sam told me this was a bad idea.” She muttered.

“I need you to do me a favor,” she repeated. “But I need you to agree to it before I tell you what it is. And I need you to promise not to tell my parents.”

Garrett didn’t even have to think about it. “Okay. Yeah. I promise.”

“Are you sure? Because once I tell you, you can’t back out. Well, you could, but I would really appreciate it if you didn’t.” She looked nervous, and she looked around, watching as the people emptied from the halls. It took five minutes before almost the entire school was empty, save for the athletes and after-school clubs.

“I’m not going to back out, Evelyn. Do you want me to sign an agreement or something?” It was meant as a light joke, but she almost looked like she was contemplating the idea.

“Huh. Wouldn’t have been a bad idea.” She shrugged. “Anyway, as I’m sure you know, I’m dying.”

Garrett looked away. He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to respond to that. He waited for her to continue.

“And there are a lot of things that I want to do before I die. However, since my time is restricted, I need to get going on that a little earlier than I thought. I need to go. Be adventurous. Explore. And I need your help to do so.”

“Do you want my car or something?” Garrett ran a hand over his forehead.

Evelyn shook her head. “No. I want you to come with me.”

Garrett was shocked. “Why?” He didn’t mean for his voice to sound so incredulous.

“One, because I can’t drive. And two, because adventures aren’t as much when you’re by yourself.”

“Why don’t you ask Sam?” He didn’t mean to seem like he wasn’t up for the idea – in his mind, he had already agreed. He just wanted to seem reluctant, y’know, so he didn’t seem too eager. Or that’s what he thought.

Evelyn’s eyes showed irritation. “Sam won’t come with me, because she thinks that I need to stay home for the summer, with my parents.”

“Don’t you?”

“No. I need to do this. For myself.”

“Okay.” Garrett nodded slightly.

“Okay to what? Okay to the same thing or okay to that you’ll do it?”

“Both, I guess.” Now Garrett turned to open his locker. He dialed the combination while he waited for her reaction. A teacher walked by, looking at them for a second before moving on.

They probably looked suspicious, being the only two teenagers left in the hall.

“Really?” Her voice held surprise. “You’ll do it.”

Garrett nodded. “I’ll do it.”

“Why? You don’t even know me.”

“Are you objecting to me agreeing?” Garrett asked.

Evelyn shook her head quickly. “No, no, that’s not it. It’s just, I mean – shit, you don’t even know me and you’re willing to hop in a car and drive around for the summer. Even though we might get in trouble.”

“What’s life without a little adventure?” Really, if Garrett was going to be honest, he couldn’t care less about the adventure. He just knew that she was inviting him on the last few moments of her life, and who was he to say no. And besides, even if she wasn’t dying, he might have said yes anyway.

Okay, no, that was a lie – he would have said no, because she had a point. He didn’t even know her. But it just felt different now, and if this was her last dying wish, then he was going to give it to her. He wasn’t treating her differently. He was just being considerate. Again, or so he told himself.

Now Evelyn smiled widely, showing all of her teeth. She looked really excited. “Thank you.” She said. “A lot. Can I find you at lunch to tell you all of the details?”

“How about after school?” Garrett didn’t want Pat to know. He didn’t want anyone to know. He’d tell his parents, because he had to, and then he’d send John a text when they left. He knew that the band would be pissed, but he thought they might understand. And even if they didn’t, it wouldn’t matter anyway.

Evelyn nodded. “Cool. Awesome. Amazing. Fan-fucking-tastic. Thank you!”

She looked like she was going to lean over and hug him for a second, but she didn’t. She turned away and scurried down the hall.