Dolphin Tale 6

Chapter [6]

C h a p t e r   S i x

PERHAPS IT WAS WHAT HIS mother had said earlier on that day that helped Sawyer make his final decision. After all, everything she had said was true, and Sawyer was beginning to realize that leaving wasn't as bad as it first seemed to be.

"Hazel!"

Hazel jerked out of her trance and turned abruptly to face Sawyer. She had been gazing into the distance, an almost wistful expression on her face, but now she was smiling. "To what do I owe this pleasure, Sawyer?" she asked, her eyes alight with happiness as they always did whenever she was around him.

"I've made up my mind," Sawyer said slowly, somewhat unsure of himself. But then, he composed himself and said, with much more conviction that before, "I've made my final decision."

Hazel raised her eyebrows. "Really? That was really fast. I thought you'd need at least a week or so to think over it."

Sawyer grinned, shaking his head. "Well, then you thought wrong, Hazel, because I've made my final decision. I had to consult my mom, and both she and I thought that it would be for the best. After all, it's not often that an opportunity like this crops up."

Hazel frowned. "So you want to leave?"

Sawyer nodded. "Of course," he hesitated, taking in Hazel's frown, "unless you don't want to. If you've changed your mind, I'm one-hundred percent fine with that. Just let me know—"

Hazel decided that she had heard enough of what Sawyer had to say and took the chance to lean in and embrace him. They stood there for an eternity, their lips locked together like their hearts. It was a special moment, and it had both of their hearts racing as though they had just run a marathon.

Phoebe chose to walk past at that precise moment. She walked past, paused, and shook her head. "Get a room, guys! Or at least keep it PG."

Hazel and Sawyer sprang apart and looked over at Phoebe, guilt etched on both of their faces. Phoebe was, however, smiling at them, and they both relaxed after realizing that she wasn't actually that angry.

"There are kids around here, guys, and who knows when one might sneak up on you. You should be careful to keep it PG-rated unless you're somewhere private."

Hazel blushed. "Of course, Phoebe."

Phoebe grinned before walking off, leaving Hazel and Sawyer in an awkward silence that made their insides squirm. Moments passed before Hazel decided to break the thick, ominous silence.

"So . . . "

"As I was saying," Sawyer began, clearing his throat, "we don't have to go if you don't want to. I mean, it's not like we're being forced to go."

Hazel grinned. "Are you ready for an adventure, Sawyer? You ready for whatever life decides to throw in our direction? Ready to face obstacles, challenges, and hardships? But, most importantly, are you ready to have fun?"

Sawyer, startled by Hazel's sudden burst of excitement stammered, "I . . . I guess so?"

Hazel, still grinning, placed a hand on Sawyer's shoulder. "Think of it as a honeymoon, yeah? A time where we can relax and have fun."

"But when are we going to go? And where are we going to go?"

Hazel shrugged. "I don't know, Sawyer. I mean, we could go literally anywhere! But . . . where do you want to go?

After contemplating Hazel's question for a minute, Sawyer shook his head. "I really don't know, Hazel. I mean, I have a list of places I'd love to go, but then again, I don't want to go somewhere you don't want to go. I want to go somewhere we both want to go, somewhere we can both enjoy ourselves, somewhere we can both relax. And we don't want to go too far, do we? As tempting as a trip to Australia, China, or France is, I think the closer we stay to Florida the better. You know . . . in case there's an emergency and we need to get back as soon as possible; if we were all the way on the other side of the world . . . well . . . that would make things extremely difficult and inconvenient, wouldn't it?"

Hazel nodded thoughtfully. "That's pretty good thinking. And, as this is our first time travelling without our parents, we're going to want to stay pretty close to home; we're probably going to get a certain degree of homesickness, and I think that being somewhat close to home will make us less homesick."

"That's true. So . . . where do you want to go?"

Hazel hesitated. "Well, you did mention that you wanted to go to Vancouver, Canada a while ago . . . do you still want to go?"

"Do you want to go to Vancouver?"

"I'd love to," Hazel said, grinning. "So . . . do you want to go?"

A grin flitted across Sawyer's face, a spark igniting within his eyes. "Of course, Hazel. I'd go anywhere in the world, anywhere in the universe . . . I'd go anywhere with you. We just need to let everyone know that we're leaving - that's probably the hardest part - and then we need to plan our trip . . . "

"And I'd go anywhere with you, Sawyer, anywhere at all." Hazel's smile faded slightly, overshadowed by a look of seriousness. "So, how are we going to break the news of our sudden departure to everyone? We can't just be like: 'Oh, we're leaving now, bye,' can we? I mean, I'm sure they'll understand, but we just need to explain why we're going to Vancouver. And we should probably also give them a rough return date, too."

Sawyer nodded slowly. "Yeah. But, on top of that . . . you do realize that we're going to do some research on available flights and hotels, right?"

Hazel, having never flown before, shrugged. "Can't we go to the airport and buy tickets from the counter?"

"We could," Sawyer said, still nodding, "but they would be much more expensive than if we were to buy them online. And also, there may not be any available seats on the flight of our choice. So, in general, the best place to buy plane tickets is online."

Hazel considered Sawyer for a moment, frowning. "Well, in that case, we should probably jump online and purchase some tickets, yeah?"

Sawyer smiled. "Yeah. We should probably let everyone know first, though; we don't want to simply disappear off the face of the earth, do we?"

Hazel shook her head quickly. "No. No, of course not. That would just worry them, and I don't like worrying our parents, or anyone for that matter."

"Not to mention the media," Sawyer muttered bitterly. "If we were to vanish, the media would have a field day! And we don't want that."

Hazel sighed. "No, definitely not. We definitely do not want to excite the media any further; if they get excited, it's like a dog that's caught a whiff of a juicy bone - incredibly difficult to control, and practically impossible to stop it from completely devouring the bone. The media are predators, and currently, we are their prey. Therefore, we must not let the media get to us, and if that means we must leave the country, we will, because the media is not worth dying over."

Sawyer nodded solemnly. "No. Definitely not."