|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 10:02 pm
Zia had wholeheartedly agreed to be Azzo's ride up to the ranger station for their volunteer stint while the park handled the influx of campers for Camp Larkspur.
Of course, it wasn't until she was packing up, all her clothes and make-up, emergency supplies, snacks, a book, that she realized she didn't know who she was going to put Harley up with. She didn't trust that many people to watch him. Her dad didn't tolerate him, and Chris was going to be at the camp, so in the end, she reasoned, it was perfectly okay to bring a dog camping, especially since her job description was walking around the woods.
So he was there, the large mastiff mix taking up more of the front seat space than a person, while Zee pulled up in front of the house Azzo had given her instructions to pick him up at, honked the horn a few times on her beat up little sedan, and sat in the idling car, texting something angry to her mother who was complaining about how the universe was not properly bending to her will today.
Zia was so into her furious key tapping, she just pushed Harley's head away when he popped it out of her window to acknowledge Azzo's approach with a deep bark. The mutt was going to be quite adamant about Azzo getting in the back seat with the snack bag, because the front seat was his seat.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2011 10:28 pm
Azzo had packed light basically for their time in the woods. Or well probably what Zia would consider light, Merlin was following behind Azzo looking at Harley curiously.
"Soo.... dog gets shot gun?" Azzo asked curiously with a slight grinning before frowning that Zia was texting. Oh lord... he hoped she didn't do that while driving. He opened the door for Merlin and let the dog hop into the back seat. The white German Shepard was easily dwarfed by the mastiff.
Azzo paused, "Will my stuff fit in the trunk?" He asked curiously waiting to see if Zia would say yes or if he had to sit with it.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Jun 13, 2011 11:37 pm
"Oh!" Zee looked up from her intense text composition and glanced over at Harley being attached to his seat, cringing a little. He was going to want to lay down in the back soon, but no one really pushed that animal into doing what he didn't want to do. "Guess so," She said with an unsure laugh.
"Yeah! It should fit back there," She said, popping the trunk for him. It wasn't a big trunk, but Zee was a master at turning reality in to a winning tetris game. The amount of organization and working around to get all her stuff in there and leave a nearly perfect rectangle for another suitcase or bag took about an hour, but it was so worth it just for the fact she was able to bring a near complete make-up department along.
"There's a cooler back there with drinks if you want to grab something for the road. There's chips, cookies, and salami in the back in the middle seat," She rambled off, finishing her text rant, hitting send, and twisting around to see Merlin. "Oh, hello cutie," She gushed the second she realized he was there, reaching back to pet him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2011 10:56 am
Azzo dropped his luggage into the spot that was left, "Uh.. do you really need all this Zia?" He asked as he grabbed a couple of sodas for the road. He then settled himself into the back seat, "So.... you're not going to be texting the whole time are you?" He glanced at the phone in her hand over the back of her seat and then at her. "'Cause I'd really like to get there in one piece and don't want to have to take your phone away from you."
He gave a smile as watching her pet Merlin who thoroughly enjoyed the attention. "That's Merlin by the way." He added as the dog was sniffing the sodas Azzo had grabbed. "No, you can't have Soda." He said with a sigh shaking his head. Merlin was always trying to steal stuff that wasn't good for him.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2011 10:02 pm
"The food or the make up case?" Zia asked with a little frown. "Because the food stuff Noah packed. Camp cooking's kind of his thing," She said, hearing the familiar text alert and pausing to pick her phone back up off the console at her side. "And as far as the make up, well you obviously haven't seen me without my face painted on," She huffed, typing something, sending it, and putting the phone back down.
"Everything good to go?" She double checked as she put the worn little Impala in drive and took off. It was a newer model, only a year old, but they thing already looked like it had been through a lot. Even inside, which had the same lingering scent of White Linen and freshly bathed dog fur that seemed to follow all of Zia's possessions, was immaculately clean, but had various tears and patches scattering the interior upholstery. It definitely wasn't the luxury of any of her dad's cars.
"So... we're heading up past the camp to the ranger's cabin, right?" Zia asked after they'd turned onto the next main street, glancing at a little sketched map she'd made for reference with scribbled notes that translated directions into her own shorthand language. Then the phone beeped again, and even though one hand was kept on the wheel at all times, the other was busy stuffing the note/directions away and retrieving the phone to read whatever Caroline had replied back.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2011 10:27 pm
"The... make up..." He said with a pause and a frown, "It looked like you had a whole store. He watched as she pulled out stuff and started searching through things while driving. "ZIA!"
He looked mortified, what the hell was wrong with the world. "You don't text while driving damnit. You're eyes are suppose to be on the road. I can navigate if you want a map." He was pointedly glaring at her he would steal her phone, he wasn't against it. He also had sorta memorized the main roads they needed to go on, since they were fairly simple. "And yes past the camp to the ranger cabin."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 12:45 am
"Gotcha," Zia said with a nod and rolled her eyes at his paranoia. "God, Azzo, I know what I'm doing. I haven't had an accident in like... ten months. And it wasn't even my fault!" If you were hit from behind that made it not your fault, right?
"Besides, I'm just reading, it's not like I'm going to stop paying attention to the road to--" Unfortunately, Zia could never just read a text from Caroline, her biological mother. They were in a constant, everlasting b***h fit like a pair of spoiled sisters who never got along, and as usual, Caroline had sent something inflammatory that demanded a response.
"U-um..." She could resist temptation. It wouldn't be that hard, right?
But that only lasted until they were at the next red light. Figuring she had enough time to at least text out a comment on how her mom was too old for picking up frat boys and reiterate the old part over and over, she was back to texting. And she was still texting when she absentmindedly sped forward at the realization the light had turned green and everyone in front of them was long gone. Upon hitting send, the phone was tossed away to both hands could grip the wheel and control the speed increase.
Zia was an aggressive driver in general. She cut people off and pushed her way in and was constantly swearing and flipping people off when they did the same. Like it was cathartic anger therapy for the repressed and passive-aggressive.
In the meantime, Harley had gotten sick of hanging his head out the window and decided it was time to claim the backseat, and tried to push his way back there with enough force, Zia's seat suddenly ended up pushed forward against the steering wheel. "Ah! No! This is not okay!" She wheezed in surprise and tried not to weave too badly. Luckily there weren't that many cars by the time they hit this last stretch of road.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 9:59 am
Azzo stared at her, "I don't care, you are going to get us killed. I'd take a youma over you texting and driving." He frowned at her she was reading but that still meant that.... yup. As soon as they stopped for a light she had started texting.
"See it's like cancer now give me that." He had reached for the phone to snatch it until Zia sped forward knocking him back. When she threw it though he took the chance to grab the phone and shove it in his pants pocket. Now, she couldn't get to it, and if she did she'd have to take it from him.
Of course his triumph only lasted for a few minutes before Harley decided to move seats of course. "NO BAD DOG!" He managed to shove the dog back into the front seat since only part of her front was with him, "Zia find someplace to pull over so your dog can have the back." He was looking at the pale haired girl this was obviously the most irritating road trip ever.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 2:01 pm
"Azzo, did you take my phone?!" Zia squealed out in all the 'excitement' once she realized he'd snatched it, and started looking for a place to pull over, finally making a sharp turn off the road and slamming on the breaks, causing all bodies in the car to lurch forward.
"Ugggh," she groaned, pretty positive she had a steering wheel shaped bruise on her chest now. She rebelled against the shifting of Harley trying to throw his weight around by slamming her seat back into it's regular position, or at least to a point it wasn't forcing her up against the dash. And grabbing the canvas totes full of car snacks. Those had to be rescued from all the movement.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 4:46 pm
Azzo didn't answer but he got out grabbing Harley, "Come on," He said and shoved her in the backseat after Zia rescued the food. "I might have" He said settling in the front seat and placing his seat belt back on.
"You're not getting it though, it's in my pocket." He crossed his arms. "Now we have to get to the cabin before we miss our briefing the ranger that's going to brief us won't be there long.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 2:05 am
"No, nononononono," Zee complained, making a meek pawing motion towards Azzo's pocket. "No, see, just one more text," She begged before balling up her hand in a frustrated fist. "Azzo, if I don't text her back she'll think she won. Pleeeease?" She continued, wondering if her desperation was enough to attempt holding him down and rifling through his pockets.
Harley, now satisfied in his back seat position, decided to rest his massive head on Azzo's shoulder from behind and inadvertently slobber all over him as he tried to pretend he could totally tell what was going on. Harley was a nosy dog.
"Ugh, I don't understand why I even signed up for this," Zee muttered, digging around in the snacks for something to rapidly eat her nervousness away with while they were still pulled over.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 6:13 pm
Azzo watched her as she panicked, "Nope." He crossed his arms, "You don't text and drive so I'm keeping it."
He looked at Harley who was slobbering on him, he looked at his shirt, good thing it was a regular Tee and not one of his dress shirts or the park ranger khaki thing. "Because you wanted to do it for the fact it looks good on a resume."
He crossed his arms, "You don't want that resume to say we were late do you? It won't look good."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 8:10 pm
Zia let out a defeated whine, and then an angry snarl before she put both hands on the wheel and pulled back out on to the road.
There was a weird silence except for the rustling of the chip bag and angry crunching. Until the phone beeped and the car lurched in a sudden burst and then decrease of speed. "What does it say?!"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 9:05 pm
Azzo pulled out Zia's phone keeping it out of her reach as he tried to figure out how to open the damned text message. Obviously it'd just be easier to turn the stupid thing off.
It took him a good few minutes in which Zia was probably cussing him for not knowing how to work text messaging. "Well... lets see here." He finally found it, it did take forever though at least to Zia it probably seemed like forever.
"By the way stop speeding up and slowing down some cop is going to think you're drunk and I'm going to have to telling them you were doing something worse." He looked at her honey brown eyes seemed to indicate he was slightly joking but his face and his tone didn't.
He started typing without telling Zia what it said, "You can read it later actually, I have no idea how to read this incoherent babble you call talking." He was writing out can't talk, driving, will text back later. He then proceeded to turn off the phone so it couldn't distract Zia further.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jun 21, 2011 4:39 pm
"I don't call it talking," Zia snapped, her eyes glued to the road as she picked up speed on the highway. "Mom is just... really in to chatspeak for some reason."
She snarled a little, not really like the sanctity of her smartphone being violate by inexperienced hands. "And what kind of person doesn't know how to work the texting on a cellphone? God."
With a sudden, sheer drop, her bitching ceased. In fact, all talking at all ceased, and she just drove with a wholly unpleasant look on her face as she dealt with the occasional other car on the road by speeding up even more and passing them on the other side.
She finally got to their exit and let out a sigh of relief. Almost there!
Of course, this had to be when her battered little Impala decided to choke up and coast to a stop.
"What!" She half shriek and tried the ignition several times, the sedan refusing to come back. It acted like it was out of gas, but the gauge claimed it was still halfway full.
In a panic, Zia popped the hood and darted out to examine it, hoping something would stand out as fixable, even though she already had a creeping suspicion. "Oh god, I think the fuel gauge is broken."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
