The Road You Can Take

Road trips oozed spontaneity and recklessness. They seemed like the perfect way to spend a summer. Nothing seemed quite as picturesque as driving down the highway with the volume maxed out and the windows down. Road trips, as fun as they might be, aren’t only composed of fun and games and late-night trips to Circle K and Am/Pm. When it came down to it, the number one factor of a successful road trip was thin, papery, and a faded green.

Everything involved money – money for gas, food, hotels, souvenirs, and cool places to visit. Garrett had something close to three hundred dollars saved up from gigs and mowing the lawn for his elderly next door neighbor, but he didn’t know how much that would exactly cover. Gas? His car was efficient, but not that efficient.

He spent the entire night wondering how exactly Evelyn expected to pull this thing off, but by the time he woke up (late) that morning, he decided that he needed to stop worrying. Fuck it, he had thought. This would work, somehow.

Garrett’s typical attire included a pair of jeans, a holy t-shirt, and some type of shoes, sometimes with socks, sometimes without. On his way out of his room, he took a quick survey of his wardrobe, wondering how much he was going to have to pack. He also wondered how long Evelyn was planning on making this thing.

A week seemed too short. Two weeks seemed doable, but he figured she would want more time than that. Did she have more time than that? A month? Two, at most? Garrett had done a few small tours, mainly going to Texas and California, but two months? Could he live in a car for two months?

He skipped breakfast on the way out, and the entire time he was driving to school he was trying to convince himself to stop thinking about it. But he couldn’t stop thinking about it. One minute he was regretting the decision entirely, and the next he found himself excited to go do something reckless. Then he found himself wondering how he was going to leave without telling the guys, and how exactly his parents would react.

He tried to avoid Pat in the morning, arriving at school just as the second bell rang. He sped-walked through the halls, dodging clusters of girls and gangsters. He knew that he was searching for a head of brown hair and a pair of brown eyes, but he didn’t let himself think about it. She would either stop him after Econ, or find him at lunch. The talk, he decided, was going to be her responsibility. She had to find him.

The periods went by quickly. He was expecting the time to drag on, especially since there were only a few days left. Most people were gone – ditching or spending the day in some other class with their friends. Most teachers either put in a movie or gave out review worksheets. Garrett spent most of his time daydreaming, distracted by the promise of something excited. He wanted to know what she had planned. He wanted to know if she had thought of everything.

The longer he had to wait, the stronger his curiosity grew. Lunch came and went without Evelyn approaching Garrett. He got to Econ early, in case she was waiting for him, but the tardy bell rang and she still wasn’t in class.

That’s when Garrett’s thoughts started to swirl. Had this all been a joke? Was she stringing him along? Or was she sick? Did something happen? If something did happen, how was he going to get a hold of her? Did she want him to get a hold of her? If something happened, were the plans officially off?

He didn’t pay attention to anything. He stared straight ahead, his thoughts going too quickly for him to concentrate on anything else. He was kind of angry, to be honest. He felt like he had been stood up. When class ended, he walked out of the room dejectedly. Maybe his summer plans were all to hell now.

Evelyn was waiting for him by his locker. He wasn’t expecting that, but he wiped the sad look on his face and replaced it with something a little more nonchalant, and much cooler.

She sent him a small smile and breathed out a, “Hi.”

He nodded in her direction, but started spinning the dial on his lock. Garrett was cool. Garrett was calm. Garrett was not going to bombard her with interrogating questions or back out of this plan. It was weird – everyone always thought he was this really composed guy, always knowing what to say. He wasn’t. Most of the time his mind was freaking out and half of his day was spent reminding himself to keep cool.

“Sorry,” she apologized. “I spent the day getting things in order. Do you mind missing the last day of school? It’s just that my parents aren’t expecting me to leave then. During the summer they’ll have eagle eyes, but while school’s still in session they’ll be unsuspecting.”

“You’re not going to tell them?”

“I’m going to tell them, I’m just not going to tell them. I’m leaving a note.”

Garrett nodded. “A note. Didn’t think of that.”

She raised her eyebrows. “How were you going to tell people?”

He shrugged. “I dunno. A ‘hi, see you in a few weeks?’ sounded pretty reasonable.”

“I guess. Anyway, I have everything set. Are you packed?”

“Everything set? What’s everything?”

“Money, gas, hotels, acceptable camping places, places I want to visit, etc. The standard thing.”

Garrett slung his backpack to his front and shoved a few notebooks inside. His locker was empty, a nice comparison to the usual haphazard mess he had during the school year. He had a very affective knee-up-to-catch-books and use-the-edges-to-contain-things method. It usual worked. Within reason.

“How much am I going to need to contribute?” He asked, zipping up his backpack and slinging it back.

Evelyn let out a breath and blew out her cheeks in a contemplative way. “Depends on how much you want to buy. I have everything else covered.”

Garrett gave her a questioning look.

“College fund,” she explained. “I’m sure as hell not going to UCLA now, so I might as well spend it on something useful.”

Garrett slammed his locker closed and they started walking out of the building together. “How much are we talking here?”

“Enough for a month and a half traveling the USA.” She said. “Comfortably.”

“Shit. I feel like I should pay you something.” Garrett pushed the door open and held it for her. She nodded in appreciation. The courtyard was full of teenagers trying to push their way out of the gates. The parking lot was packed, lines of cars trying to make their way out of the one exit. Chaos.

“Are you kidding me?” She laughed lightly. “You have to drive like, five thousand miles and put up with all of my bitching. I should pay you commission.”

“How much bitching?” He was partially joking, partially serious. Garrett could only deal with so much shit. Garrett started walking faster when he saw Pat make his way out of the building. Pat was nice, Pat was funny, Pat was one of his good friends. Pat was also the worst secret keeper, ever.

“Enough. But don’t worry, I sleep a lot and I don’t snore.” She smiled at him and kept the pace.

Garrett took the time to look at her. She really didn’t look that sick. Her skin was pale, but that was most likely because her parents were European (according to Kenny) and she was pretty fair skinned. She was wearing jeans and a low-dipping tank top, and the parts of her body that he could see weren’t bruised or badly injured.

Perhaps it was a mental thing, he wondered.

“Cool. So do you want to see our mode of transportation for the next few months?” When Garrett thought of the question, it was so she could get comfortable with the car and get used to the tight quarters. However, he also found himself not wanting her to go.

Evelyn nodded. “Sure.”

They kept silent until they reached Garrett’s car, who he had aptly named Ryan, after his favorite musical genius. They’d have plenty of room in the trunk, and the backseat was moderately sized. He had a CD player and had already made a note to go to RadioShack and pick up an iPod adapter and phone car charger.

Evelyn smiled when she saw it. “It seems like the type of car you’d have.”

Garrett looked at her. “Okay,” he kind of laughed. “Whatever that means.”

“It just seems very youish. I dunno. It’ll work though. Just make sure you’re packed and ready to go by Thursday morning. I’d like to make it to Texas by the next morning. The Marriott there is supposed to be like, the shit.”

Garrett was packed and ready to go that night.