His Saving Grace

Chapter Twenty Five

The following Thursday, I'd decided to stop by Keith's house and check on Arianna, whether she liked it or not. I had no knowledge about pregnancy or whatsoever, but I needed to help her somehow, right? She couldn't possibly keep her pregnancy a secret from her family forever. 

And Keith? Well, we still weren't exactly on really good terms. The last time I had seen him was a few months ago when he left for Harvard, and a mere "bye" was all he said, whereas I didn't even bother saying anything to him.

Garrett picked me up at around four in the morning since Keith's house in Massachusetts was about thirty six hours away by car, and even if I had insisted that I'd just take a plane so Garett could just rest, he persisted that he would be the one to bring me there. "I don't trust Keith," he said when I had told him what I was planning. I couldn't do anything; arguing with Garrett was pointless.

The honking of Trey's car made me jolt as I hastily scribbled a note to Alahna and my parents, informing them where I'd be for the next few days. They wouldn't really care, but I still wrote the note anyway. 

Garrett emerged from the driver's seat and helped me load my things into the backseat.

"Why'd it have to be this early?" I said, yawning. Garrett ruffled my hair and chuckled as I pouted.

"No reason. Just wanted to ruin your morning," he said lightly, leading me to the front seat. I smacked him playfully.

"Consider it accomplished," I scowled, wrapping my jacket tighter around me after I had buckled my seatbelt. He handed me a steaming cup of hot chocolate from a McDonald's paperbag and brought out coffee for himself, and for a few minutes we just sat there, sipping our drinks.

I sighed contentedly as I flattened the drained styrofoam cup. "Gosh. Thirty six hours on the road. Are you sure you can do this?"

He scoffed. "Of course I'm sure. You'll be paying for the food, though. I'm kinda short on funds."

I grimaced as he started the engine, a triumphant grin on his face. Garrett, like me, ate like a pig whatever the occassion, and two pigs on the road, stuck with each other for thirty six hours, meant trouble for my wallet. 

The first two hours of the trip were spent listening to the morning news on the radio--one of Garrett's habits. The happy, high pitched voices of the newscasters and the jumpy background music prevented me from sleeping.

The sun was slowly rising from behind the trees. The sky was a beautiful shade of orange and red, and with no buildings or pollution in that certain part of Arizona, everything seemed so surreal. As I stared in awe at the sunrise ahead of me, I could feel Garrett's gaze burning into the side of my face. The golden light shone on his red-brown hair and on his pale face, and his blue eyes shined even brighter. 

"Katie?"

"Yeah?"

"Take a picture. It lasts longer," he said teasingly, a smirk forming on his thin lips. I felt my cheeks burn red. I seriously needed to learn how to stop staring at people.

I scowled, sinking into my seat, resolving to just staring out into the Arizona landscape as Garrett's laugh filled the air.

~~

Noon had arrived sooner than I expected, which meant almost one-fourth of our trip was over. The sun was high, it was so humid and we were starving. Luckily we had spotted a Burger King branch about five minutes after Garrett's stomach made a low, noisy growl, and we practically ran to the counter, in dire need of some serious chow.

After cooling off inside the restaurant, Garrett and I made our way back to the car, not quite full, but since the employees of said restaurant were shooting us queer looks (I couldn't blame them, though--Garrett and I ate like we had been on hunger strike or something), we decided to get back to the car.