Slight Detours | Wattys 2015

(5) JARED

Ally was being unreasonable. There was nothing wrong with me driving my dad's pickup truck. I had a license and four working limbs so I didn't see much of a problem.

Until I got us lost, that is.

"Where are we?" she must've asked for the thousandth time. There was no end to her chatter. One second, she'd be freaking out over how I wasn't wearing a seatbelt then the next she'd be telling me how she never wanted to move to California and that her heart and soul was back in New York.

I did respect her opinion but, to be frank, I was also a little offended. Sure, she was great and all- funny, overly-concerned. But California was fantastic. She just wasn't trying to see it for how it really was. All she'd done was search for taxi cabs and skyscrapers while neglecting all the beauty around her.

For what it was worth, I'd honestly thought she was a San Diego type girl. She had the personality, the sarcasm. And, she was gorgeous. Pretty.

So far, we'd been driving for two hours in an attempt to get away from those armed guards back at the party. They had probably lost our trail an hour ago but I wasn't taking any chances, not with Ally with me anyways. From what I recalled, dad's forgery bought us around thirty minutes in a yacht which wasn't all that bad, actually.

As soon as I'd seen those thugs, though, I took off, dragging "Miss I Love New York" with me.

Sometime ago, I'd began calling her Albert. I guess it was to annoy her. She sort of was a know-it-all so why not call her after the deranged mathematical genius himself?

In my opinion, though, "Miss I Love New York" was way more appropriate that Albert. Thus, the change of nickname.

"We've been going straight this entire stretch of the road," I said, rolling my eyes, "We have nothing to worry about."

"What if we run out of gas?" she questions.

Considering the tank was full, I was pretty confident that we wouldn't run out of gas. But, if it did come to that, I was praying that dad had stashed a couple of hundered dollar bills in the glove compartment of this thing.

"Then we'll stop at a gas station," I shrugged nonchalantly.

"We haven't seen a gas station for miles," she mutters, negative energy radiating off of her. It wasn't helping.

"And that's supposed to make me wallow in sorrow because..."

Look, I couldn't help but be a little sarcastic. I didn't mean to hurt Ally, it was simply out of habit especially since no one ever bothered to stop me.

"Because we're lost!" she screamed, "We're going to get arrested, put in juvy, or maybe even worse. I'm going to have a criminal record! Goodbye, University of Columbia. Goodbye, New York. Good-"

I cut her off, "Before you say goodbye to anything else, I would like to tell you that none of that is going to happen."

"But we're lost. And if you've watched any episode of CSI, you'd know that lost people never get happy endings," she snorts.

"I already told you! We aren't lost," I insist, frustrated with her nagging.

The truth was, we could've been in Mexico for all I knew. But I wasn't about to admit that. One thing would lead to another, and the other thing would lead to Ally suffocating me with her surprisingly sharp fingernails.

"Um, you clearly have no clue as to where we are going."

Did she just read my mind or something? Because it most definitely looked that way.

Focus. Eyes on the damn road.

I forced my most calm expression, "What makes you say that? I know where we are."

"Really?" she smirks, "What highway is this then?"

Shit.

"Uh, route 66?" I ponder, rubbing my jaw.

Yes, I know, horrible cover-up. But what were highways even called these days? Maybe something along the lines of "Ventnor" or "Baltic" Avenue may have done a little better. You know, assuming Ally didn't play much Monopoly.

Her eyes widened then she sighed hopelessly, "We're lost."

My mind was reeling, a mess of half-thoughts that made no sense. So what if we were lost? It was the middle summer. We were free to do whatever we wanted. For once, there were no agendas, no deadlines.

I didn't know about her but I wasn't going to be missing home by a long shot. We could have an adventure right at our hands. Why not make the most of it?

"We don't have to be," I whisper quietly, thinking about what to do next.

"Sorry to burst your bubble but we're lost. Period," she mocked.

I swear, she's the source of negativity everywhere.

"Just think about it. You could either look at this situation and think that we're doomed. Or, you could look at what's in store and think of this a detour to wherever you want to go," I relayed my thoughts calmly.

For a second, I think she bought it. But then she reaches over and takes hold of the wheel.

"What the hell?" I manage before I nearly go flying out of the window as Ally tries to turn the car around. She conveniently forgets to change the gear, of course, sending us on a collision course with a walnut tree.

How I identified it as walnut tree, you ask? I was no genius. But, I did happen to be unlucky enough to be smacked in the head with a walnut.

"An a amazing morning, if I say so myself," I said sarcastically. There was nothing amazing about this right now.

I was hanging out of a window, just got ambushed by a couple of falling walnuts and was stuck with "Miss I Love New York" who refused to look at any part of the bright side.

"No shit, Sherlock," she mumbled.

"Well, I'm so sorry, Doctor Watson, that my powers of deduction aren't sufficient enough for you," I said, pulling my lower body out of the truck.

"Wait. You read Sherlock Holmes?" she asked.

"No shit, Sherlock."

She gave me a once over, her mouth forming into a perfect little 'o', then she turned away. I could see her playing with her thumbs, fingering them gently and scratching at the nails. She'd been doing the exact same thing back at the party.

"Didn't expect a guy like me to read lame old Arthur Conan Doyle, did you?" I question.

"Nope," she said, popping the 'p'.

"Well, I do," I laugh a bit, "Or used to, anyways."

There was a tense moment between us. We didn't say anything, didn't move, didn't blink. But then it was over just a quickly.

"We better get going if we want to get back by this afternoon," I said, slamming the door of the truck.

I maneuvered out of the shrubbery and turned in the direction we'd come from. Just before I hit gas, Ally puts a hand over the wheel.

"Not again," I sighed dramatically. She laughed.

"Go the other way," she said, staring into space.

"But I thought you wanted go back?" I shot her an incredulous look.

"I did want to go back," she stares for a second, "But then I figured, why not go for a detour?"

A/N

Hello! Okay, I'm feeling a little better now that the virus has left my body. Ha. Ha.

So, this is the fifth chapter and I know it's unexciting and sort of a filler but I promise the next one will be a little more... breathtaking.

P.S. Votes and comments make me smile :)

Next Update: Thursday assuming everything goes aaccording to plan...