Status: I'll try my best to keep the updates frequent :)
In Green Fields
Box
The last turnpike gate was far behind and out of mind. Now, my vision was smothered with the orange-pink sunset beginning to hide behind the horizon. The back of my mind slowly began to rid of all my past worries and conflictions, making my vision of the joyous sunset much more clear. My feet took shelter on the dashboard and began tapping along to the one of the oldies tapes Ari put together for this trip. He was relaxed; one hand on the steering wheel and his chair reclined past the cozy 120 degrees; my chair was almost at the full 180. I was slowly making my way to a relaxed state of my mind, much like Ari’s, now that we have officially left Jersey.
It was really bothering me; the fact that Ari and I were able to just abruptly leave the way we did without note or notice. The idea of travelling the country and playing music with my best friend sounded too good to be true and far too impossible to run by my parents, but then Ari gave me a brilliant idea. Don’t tell them. I didn’t tell my parents, I didn’t tell my friends, I didn’t tell my teachers, I didn’t tell my older brother, I didn’t tell my counselor, I didn’t tell my dog, and I didn’t tell the friendly old man that lived next door. No one knew. Ari let his parents know that he was out to live and pursue his dreams, which ended in a big, hairy fight and tears. His parents understood and felt that if it was what he wanted then he should do it, but I feel like that wouldn’t have happened with me. My parents would have taken my idea, stomped it into the ground, and pissed on it; we wouldn’t even get to that big, hairy fight and the tears.
The thing is, since I took the first step by leaving, they probably aren’t going to put in the effort to find me. My friends, my teachers, my counselor, my dog, and the friendly old man next door aren’t going to do anything about it. I’m not positive if my brother would actually follow through with trying to find me or call me. I hate that these people wouldn’t put any effort into finding me or contacting me, but at the same time, I would hate it if anyone tried bringing me back home to Jersey. I guess all I want is approval and the support that Ari got from his family and friends. Call me a hypocrite. Call me a little, whiny bitch; I couldn’t care less. I’ve wanted attention for so long that it’s driven me away from everyone, but the least bit of concern would just reel me back in and then make me push them away. The cycle resumes.
“So, where are we going first?” Ari moved his eyes to me and then back to the road again.
We were driving through Pennsylvania heading south towards Maryland. I was in charge of the big fold-out map of the United States with all of the different cities that we wanted to go to circled in blue ink.
“We’re stopping through Baltimore and Annapolis,” I said slowly, forcing my eyes to squint at the tiny font. “One day in each city.”
“Wait, so are we doing non-stop driving or are we doing rest stops?”
“I’m thinking we sleep in the Blazer at rest stops or parking lots,” I smiled. “We’re not in any rush, right?”
“That’s right,” he smirked and looked over at me. “No rush.”
His eyes moved back to the road.
“We have the rest of our lives to do whatever we want,” he smirked.
I shined a cheesy smile and folded the giant map. I tossed it into the glove department and took out my burgundy songbook.
“Do you have any new songs?” Ari met eyes with me.
“I’ve started some, yeah...” I skimmed through the pages. “But, they’re all incomplete.”
“Same...” He chewed on his lip. “Do you have any ideas for the set list?”
“I was thinking that you can sing ‘Clean Sheets’, ‘Amy’, and ‘I Hate to Love’ and I can sing ‘City of Angels’, ‘Sunday Morning’, and ‘Violet’.”
“Sounds good,” he nodded. “We really need to finish some songs, so we can play more originals.”
“Mhm.”
I turned up the volume when I heard “Wendy” by The Beach Boys come on. I couldn’t wait till we would be on the Pacific Coast Highway and I got to listen to The Beach Boys with the top of the Blazer off, the volume at full blast, and Ari right next to me singing each and every word. I wanted to drive through the streets of West Hollywood blasting an Adicts CD. I wanted to drive through the steep and windy hills of San Francisco playing Operation Ivy through Ari’s enormous speakers. I mainly just wanted to be in California. I’ve only heard good things about California and how it is Heaven compared to Jersey, Heaven compared to any other states. The road trip across the country with Ari is going to be an adventure no matter what, but I can’t keep my mind off of the Golden State.
“The sun’s almost set... Hopefully we can find a rest stop or a gas station sometime soon,” Ari bit his lip and eyed the amount of gas approaching the ‘E’.
“There should be one in a mile or so,” I yawned and stretched out my arms.
“You can go to sleep if you want,” he chuckled and looked over at me. “I’ll wake you up once we get there.”
“No, I’m fine,” I argued, trying to fight my eyelids’ urge to shut. “We’ll be there in like five minutes.”
“Okay, if you insist,” he smirked and turned his focus back to the road.
I made a snarky face at him and tilted my head against the window. I let out a big yawn and closed my eyes in defeat. Ari laughed and turned down the music.
“Good night, Sheena.”
It was really bothering me; the fact that Ari and I were able to just abruptly leave the way we did without note or notice. The idea of travelling the country and playing music with my best friend sounded too good to be true and far too impossible to run by my parents, but then Ari gave me a brilliant idea. Don’t tell them. I didn’t tell my parents, I didn’t tell my friends, I didn’t tell my teachers, I didn’t tell my older brother, I didn’t tell my counselor, I didn’t tell my dog, and I didn’t tell the friendly old man that lived next door. No one knew. Ari let his parents know that he was out to live and pursue his dreams, which ended in a big, hairy fight and tears. His parents understood and felt that if it was what he wanted then he should do it, but I feel like that wouldn’t have happened with me. My parents would have taken my idea, stomped it into the ground, and pissed on it; we wouldn’t even get to that big, hairy fight and the tears.
The thing is, since I took the first step by leaving, they probably aren’t going to put in the effort to find me. My friends, my teachers, my counselor, my dog, and the friendly old man next door aren’t going to do anything about it. I’m not positive if my brother would actually follow through with trying to find me or call me. I hate that these people wouldn’t put any effort into finding me or contacting me, but at the same time, I would hate it if anyone tried bringing me back home to Jersey. I guess all I want is approval and the support that Ari got from his family and friends. Call me a hypocrite. Call me a little, whiny bitch; I couldn’t care less. I’ve wanted attention for so long that it’s driven me away from everyone, but the least bit of concern would just reel me back in and then make me push them away. The cycle resumes.
“So, where are we going first?” Ari moved his eyes to me and then back to the road again.
We were driving through Pennsylvania heading south towards Maryland. I was in charge of the big fold-out map of the United States with all of the different cities that we wanted to go to circled in blue ink.
“We’re stopping through Baltimore and Annapolis,” I said slowly, forcing my eyes to squint at the tiny font. “One day in each city.”
“Wait, so are we doing non-stop driving or are we doing rest stops?”
“I’m thinking we sleep in the Blazer at rest stops or parking lots,” I smiled. “We’re not in any rush, right?”
“That’s right,” he smirked and looked over at me. “No rush.”
His eyes moved back to the road.
“We have the rest of our lives to do whatever we want,” he smirked.
I shined a cheesy smile and folded the giant map. I tossed it into the glove department and took out my burgundy songbook.
“Do you have any new songs?” Ari met eyes with me.
“I’ve started some, yeah...” I skimmed through the pages. “But, they’re all incomplete.”
“Same...” He chewed on his lip. “Do you have any ideas for the set list?”
“I was thinking that you can sing ‘Clean Sheets’, ‘Amy’, and ‘I Hate to Love’ and I can sing ‘City of Angels’, ‘Sunday Morning’, and ‘Violet’.”
“Sounds good,” he nodded. “We really need to finish some songs, so we can play more originals.”
“Mhm.”
I turned up the volume when I heard “Wendy” by The Beach Boys come on. I couldn’t wait till we would be on the Pacific Coast Highway and I got to listen to The Beach Boys with the top of the Blazer off, the volume at full blast, and Ari right next to me singing each and every word. I wanted to drive through the streets of West Hollywood blasting an Adicts CD. I wanted to drive through the steep and windy hills of San Francisco playing Operation Ivy through Ari’s enormous speakers. I mainly just wanted to be in California. I’ve only heard good things about California and how it is Heaven compared to Jersey, Heaven compared to any other states. The road trip across the country with Ari is going to be an adventure no matter what, but I can’t keep my mind off of the Golden State.
“The sun’s almost set... Hopefully we can find a rest stop or a gas station sometime soon,” Ari bit his lip and eyed the amount of gas approaching the ‘E’.
“There should be one in a mile or so,” I yawned and stretched out my arms.
“You can go to sleep if you want,” he chuckled and looked over at me. “I’ll wake you up once we get there.”
“No, I’m fine,” I argued, trying to fight my eyelids’ urge to shut. “We’ll be there in like five minutes.”
“Okay, if you insist,” he smirked and turned his focus back to the road.
I made a snarky face at him and tilted my head against the window. I let out a big yawn and closed my eyes in defeat. Ari laughed and turned down the music.
“Good night, Sheena.”
♠ ♠ ♠
First original fiction. Feedback?- Mia