Unexpected Fate

Chapter 6

As we loaded up in the car I had a gut wrenching fear of being seen. What if I get caught? Will they listen to my side of the story? All the thoughts ran through my mind. I got in and sank down in the front seat , keeping my glasses and hat on so hopefully I wouldn't be noticed. Jay seemed to act pretty normal. He got in the car, closed the door and put the key in the ignition. As we started driving, the feeling in my stomach got worse. I felt really nervous about leaving Jay's apartment. As we reached the city limits, the feeling slowly started to ease. Part of me could not wait to get out of here, but this is not how I wanted to do it. After about an hour of driving, Jay looked over at me and smiled, "Jess, I think you can take the hat and glasses off now."

"I'm fine." I replied.

"Okay." He said with a slight smile on his face.

I slightly rolled my eyes. How is he so relaxed? I thought to myself. We rode mostly in silence. I stayed slumped down in the front seat with my head against the door panel, looking up at the sky. After about another hour and a half, we finally reached the Missippi state line. I kind of gave a sigh of relief, I was so relieved to be out of Alabama.

"What's wrong?" Jay asked.

At this point, I was kind of annoyed with the fact that he was so relaxed and acting like it was some kind of fun road trip. "Nothing..." I replied.

"Jess, you know you can talk to me," he said.

"Can we listen to the radio?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Sure." He sighed.

I leaned forward and started flipping through the stations. I kept flipping until I found a country station. I sang songs to myself as I continued to stare out the window. We kept driving for several more hours until we were finally at the tip of Tennessee.

"We've got to stop for gas," Jay said. " After that, we have got to find a hotel. It's starting to get dark."

"Why don't we just drive through the night?" I asked. "And you know I can help you drive."

"It's more risky to drive at night and we can't risk getting pulled over."

"Yea, I guess you're right."

We drove for a few more minutes and found a small gas station and pulled over. Jay pulled up to a pump, put the car in park, and turned it off.

"You want anything?" Jay asked.

"No," I replied.

"You mind pumping the gas?"

"Sure."

We got out, and Jay walked into the store. I stretched and walked to the back of the car. I opened the gas tank and lifted the nozel and began pumping the gas. I leaned up against the car and was looking around. This didn't seem like a very busy gas station. There was only one other car here. I scanned my surroundings, hoping no one had noticed me. I wondered if the news had made it this far. Surely it hasn't, I thought to myself. I hung my head down and looked at my dirty old converse shoes. One was starting to rip. They had definitely seen better days.

"You ready?" Jay asked.

"Yea." I replied. I finished pumping the gas and got back in the car.

"The cashier said there's a small hotel about ten minutes up the road." He said. " We will stay there for the night."

"Okay, sounds good to me." I nodded.

"Jess, you gotta take those glasses off. It's starting to get dark and it looks suspicious." Jay informed me.

"Okay." I said as I took the sunglasses off and laid them on the dash.

Jay gave me a slight smile. We continued to drive until we saw the small hotel sign that the cashier had told Jay about.Beside it was a small grocery-looking store and Jay pulled in. I looked at him confused.

"We are going to get you some hair dye and something for dinner," Jay said.

"Okay," I replied, "but why the hair dye?"

"Jess, we got to change your appearance a little, so you can't be easily identified."

We parked the car, got out and walked into the store. I tagged along a few steps behind Jay. We walked down the isles and found the hair dye. I was looking at all the colors in slight amazement. I didn't know which one to choose. I had never dyed my hair before. After all, growing up with all boys' girly things like hair and make-up were out of the question. I looked at a dark blue, black color. It was a little darker than my normal hair color. I picked it up and handed it to Jay. He nodded in approval and we grabbed some sandwiches from the deli and started to check out. The cashier stared at us as if we looked familiar to her. It made me slightly uncomfortable. She knows, I thought to myself. I gave her a slight smile and picked up the bags, while Jay paid for it. We got back into the car and Jay pulled next door to the hotel.

"Wait here, I'll go get us a room." Jay told me.

I nodded.