Supernova Souls - Ryan Upchurch

-11-

A month later

"Riley! Come on, we're already twenty minutes late, Chase is waitin' on us."

"Five more minutes, I'm putting my hair up!" Riley yelled back, staring at her reflection in the bathroom mirror with a forced smile. Her lips were painted a deep shade of red, her long sleeve crop top matching the color of her lips and she had on black leggings, and her blonde hair was almost put up into a messy bun.

Ryan tapped his boot against the floor by the front door, his eyes shooting daggers at their open bedroom door. He could see the cracked open door to the bathroom attached to the master bedroom and almost smell her perfume and hairspray from the foyer.

Damn, woman. How much hairspray do you need to keep that blonde bun in place? Just stick some bobby pins in that bitch and call it a day. He thought, then glanced down at the watch on his wrist.

"I'm gonna go warm the truck up." Ryan shouted. He didn't wait for her answer, and instead he slipped through the front door and went outside to where Black Sabbath was parked, which was right out front.

He pressed the unlock button on the key fob and opened the driver's side door and got in, then started the lifted Ford.

—
"Hey Chase." Ryan said, a forced, annoyed grin on his lips as he slammed his truck door closed.

Riley followed behind Ryan as the two walked up to where Chase was. He was sitting on the curb with his elbow on his knee, chin resting in his grease stained hand. His clothes were also stained, but with both dirt and grease from what looked like a vehicle- probably one of his shitty, barely running second generation Dodge Rams.

"Hey." Chase said, looking up at Ryan.

"Where's your truck?" Ryan asked as his eyes scanned the mostly empty diner parking lot, unable to find Chase's black Ram.

"It broke down a mile away from here,"

Riley swiftly cut him off, her blue eyes shooting daggers into Chase's brown eyes. "What happened to it?"

"Either the transmission gave out on it again or it's outta diesel." He sighed. "Hell, maybe a little bit of both at this point." Chase chuckled, hoping to laugh off the shitty situation he was in. He didn't have the money, parts or time to keep his old trucks running as good as he needs. He had been busting his ass to make it in the music industry and hadn't made much money yet, barely enough to eat, not nearly enough to pay for a whole new transmission for his Ram.

That truck's his only form of transportation. Ryan thought, feeling a pang of empathy for the young man sitting on the curb in front of him.

He had the things to help Chase out, so.. why not?

I don't need Black Sabbath, but Chase does.

"Why don't you go on inside and find us a table? Me 'n Chase will be in there in a few minutes." Ryan said, then kissed Riley's forehead. She nodded and started heading for the door to the tiny diner on the outskirts of Cheatham County and slipped inside.

Ryan watched until she was out of his sight, then sat down beside Chase on the pavement and laid his hands in his lap. "How much you need to get your old truck running good?"

"Kraken's on her last leg, I don't think fixing her up would be worth the money right now and I really don't wanna be a hassle."

"Chase, you wouldn't be no hassle. You need some way to get back and forth to the studio, and that old truck ain't gonna run well much longer."

"What're you sayin'?" Chase asks, raising one eyebrow at Ryan.

"I'm giving you Black Sabbath."

"What?! No, you keep it, I couldn't take that beauty of a truck from you."

"You need it, Chase."

"Ryan, I can't take it- I just.. I don't deserve a truck that nice."

"Aw, come on, don't tell yourself that bullshit. You deserve a reliable truck that when you go outside to start it, you know it'll run."

"Y'ain't shitting me right now, are you?"

Ryan chuckled and looked up from his hands, his blue eyes meeting Chase's wide brown ones. "Naw. When I get home I'll work out the paperwork for 'er, and then you can drive off into the sunset with ole Black Sabbath."

"Man, you don't know how much this means to me. You really don't have to do this for me."

"I want to."

Chase smiled wide and looked up at the blue Tennessee sky above him. I couldn't have been signed to a better record label.

"Now, let's go eat." Ryan patted his back as he stood up, then dusted off his bluejeans.

Chase nodded and stood, following the taller red headed man he was proud to call his friend inside with a shit eating grin on his face.