"Zoey, come on," Austin says, but I just stick my nose in the air. I've been refusing to talk to him for the last couple hours and I'm pretty sure the only reason he hasn't slapped me yet is because I'm a girl.
"Zoey!"he yells, punching me in the arm.
"Ow!" I yell, getting up and sitting on the counter that we're sitting behind.
"Ughhhh, I'm just so mad at you!" I yell again, punching him in the arm.
"I'm starting to realize our relationship involves a lot of violence," he says quietly, looking at the ceiling.
"I mean, Austin you should be with your dad... I've got plenty of time left; he......" I trail off because I don't really want to say what would come next.
"Zoey, I-" he tries to say, but I cut him off. "Austin, you and I are going to see your father this very second!" I yell, standing up, grabbing my bag and begin to walk out, but as I walk my stomach growls.
"Here," Austin says handing me a bag of stale potato chips.
"Thanks," I mumble, opening them and continuing out the door, then I follow Austin towards the car he must have borrowed and drive towards the hospital, eating chips as I go.
***
"I'm here to see my father, Carl Noble." Austin says as I stand behind him, giving the lady at the front desk a small smile. This is a different hospital then the one I was in that no one cared nothing about me or money or really anything.
"Room 576," the woman says, not so much as glancing up from the paper she's writing on.
"Thanks," Austin mumbles and we head towards the elevator, as we enter and the door closes - luckily there is no one in the elevator - I try and lighten the mood.
"Funny, the last time I was in an elevator I was on a roll away chair trying to get you out of prison," I say, giving a light laugh, but Austin seems pretty set on staying serious.
The door opens, revealing our floor, and we both step out. Austin walks to the left, however I see something to the right so I go the other way. When I get there, I discover it's a puppy and it most definitely needs a home, so I scoop it up and hurry after Austin.
***
"Austin, what are you doing here?" His father asks in a weak voice as I sit in the chair farthest away from the bed, with the puppy still in my arms. Austin hasn't acknowledged it yet so I just sit there as it whimpers in my arms and swing my legs back and forth while Austin has a conversation with a father. They speak in whispers so I can barely hear them.
"Well, this is the most boring birthday ever," I mumble to the puppy, smiling a little since I'm now eighteen and an official adult.
"Huh?" Austin says, turning around and looking surprised as he sees the puppy.
"I said it's my birthday," I say, trying not to tell since we are in a hospital. "I'm just gonna wait outside the door," I add, standing up and leaving the room. As I leave I start to wonder what I'm gonna do for my eighteenth birthday, and then I have the perfect idea.
I walk out and head to the car and write a note,
Hey Austin,
Don't worry this time; I'm only gonna be gone for a little while. Since it's my birthday, I'm gonna take a walk around and just enjoy myself for a little while since I'm an official adult now.
Sincerely, Zoey.
***
"Come on," I say, walking through the park. I found a leash and a collar for the puppy in the back of the car that Austin and I used to get to the hospital. I sit on one of the swings in the park and realize that I haven't changed my clothes since I left my parents house a few days ago.
I get up and walk back to the car, grab my bag and change in the car. The dog just sits there and watches me, to be honest it's kinda creepy. After I change into a light gray pair of jeans and a black shirt that says Uptown Girl across it in silver cursive letters, I leash the dog back up - which I named Luna since it is a black lab - and head back towards the swings.
I sit there swinging for a while until it starts to rain and everyone leave except me. I just sit there swinging until Austin comes over to me looking very sad.
"What are you doing here?" I ask, standing up, putting one hand on his shoulder and keeping the other on the leash.
"He-he's dead Zoey," he says, looking at me and if it wasn't raining so hard, I would say he was crying, but since I can't I just hug him with all I've got and slowly we walk back to the car both of us soaked, sad and in love.
YOU ARE READING
Journey Home
Lãng mạnZoey has been living in Miss Flavrin's orphanage for most of her life, but now that she's seventeen and has finally figured out where her parents live, she's decided that, with the help of her best friends and roommates Nancy and Clare, she's going...
