Unconditionally

Chapter Fifteen

"I want to be in your arms, where you hold me tight and never let me go."

Haze gives me a pointed look while zipping up her suit case. For the past two days, Haze has been bothering me with what I saw at the rodeo on Sunday. I haven't told anyone, not even Ashton nor Haze. I don't know why exactly. It's just something that I'm still ashamed and guilty of. I can't forget about it either.

"Was it a bad thing?" She asks nonchalantly. Haze leans against her closed suit case and twirls a piece of her hair. If we were in a different situation, I would've laughed at her struggling to find my answer.

"Yeah." I mumble.

Haze sighs and releases the piece of her black hair. She straightens her posture only to cross her arms over her chest. She and I both know she'll get it out of me sometime, she always does. But right now, at this moment, I don't want to say anything. I don't look at her in the eye.

"MC, you know you can tell me anything. If you don't want to then that's fine, but know I'm always there for you." She tells me.

I nod my head. Haze lifts up her bag and starts to walk to the motel door. The guilt rises, making me panic.

"A guy was hurting a girl." I blurt out loudly.

I cover my mouth in shock. Haze whips around and drops her bag. Her eyes are widened with confusion written all over her face.

"What do you mean 'a guy was hurting a girl'?" She asks me slowly.

I look down at my lap. Guess I have to explain now because of my big mouth.

"It was when I went by myself to wash off the paint. I was searching for a portal potty, and I heard a girl begging no. When I looked, I just stood there frozen, watching the girl cry and shake her head. He punched her in the gut. She coughed up blood, and that's when I left. It felt like my legs were moving on their own. Then I thought what if the girl gets hurt even more. I rushed back to where they where to see them gone,"

Haze walks over to the bed I'm sitting on and carefully sits down beside me. I look at my best friend in the eyes.

"I kept on thinking I could've stopped him, but I didn't. I wondered how come no one else did anything. Are people that clueless or cold-hearted?" I ask Haze.

Haze places her hand over my clasped ones and squeezes them gently.

"I'm sorry you had to see that. Now I can understand why you looked so confused and worried when you came back. I would have done the same thing, Mackenzie. You have to realize that it's in the past and we're in the present, okay?"

I nod my head, mumbling "Thanks."

Haze hugs me, and I wrap my arms around her. When we let go, I smile gently at my best friend who smiles a bright smile.

"Seven hours of driving then we'll be home." She tells me.

Then it hits me. We're leaving Texas. But this is completely different from the last few times we've left a state. The last few times we've always had a new state to go to. Now we're going home. To Arkansas.

Our road trip is actually coming to an end.

I glance at the digital clock that rests on a night stand. It's slightly past six-thirty at night, so we'll be home around one. We've already had dinner at this small barbecue place. The ribs were delicious. Barbecue sauce was all over my cheeks, but that's the fun part when eating ribs.

"Guess we better get on the road then." I say to Haze.

I reach for my suit case at the edge of the bed, and Haze gets hers also.