KISS: Road Trip

Ch 6: Ham? (Bruce)

I closed the mini fridge of the motel with a sigh, looking at the four of them. "Guys we have no food." "Yeah we uh...we did kinda forget about that minor detail," Paul said slowly, looking up from his cards. I let out a sigh, grabbing the car keys. "Alright I'm gonna go get groceries, I'll be back," I said, one hand on the door. Eric gave me a grin. "Ooh, let me come with you!" he said, jumping to his feet. "I would've won that hand anyway, I'll let someone else have a chance." I smiled, shrugging. "Sounds good, go get your shoes."

"Get Oreos too, curly!" "And like a case of beer or something!" "Literally just food we can eat is all I want."

Within two minutes Eric was back, walking with me to the car. "So what's on the list?" he asked, sliding into the passenger seat. "Eh, whatever we feel like and whatever they had wanted. I know Ace asked for Oreos and Peter wanted beer, so at least that." "Aw man I bet it kills you to have to buy so much unhealthy food. Can't post it on your Instagram," he teased, nudging me.

I rolled my eyes, shrugging. "Yeah, it sucks but hey, it's what you guys want. Don't have as much to post but oh well, if I lose a few followers I lose a few. I'll still have like 70 thousand left." Eric laughed, shaking his head. "Alright damn no need to flex on me so hard!" he said, turning up the radio.

We got to the nearest grocery store and I moved to get out of the car before Eric grabbed my arm. "Look Bruce I've never told you but I'm honestly really proud of you and and how far you've come. Senior year you hated everything about yourself and how you looked but now you like how you look and you're confident enough in yourself that you've got an Instagram where you let like 70 thousand people see what you look like and it makes me happy to see that and I'm really proud of you," he said, giving me a smile.

I leaned over and hugged him tightly, burying my face in his shoulder. "You're gonna make me cry," I mumbled. "But...but thank you, really. You're the main reason I got help and got better. I owe you."

"I'll hold you to that. Now come on, let's go get food!" he said, giving me a grin.

I followed him into the store, watching with a grin as he immediately darted off. "How the hell do you have so much energy?" I said under my breath, starting to get things that we probably actually needed while Eric went to get whatever he wanted.

"Mm okay, beer for Peter, a disgusting amount of Oreos for Ace, what else?" I muttered, scanning the shelves.

"Bruce please."

I turned to look at Eric, who was giving me the biggest puppy dog eyes he could muster while clutching an entire ham to his chest. "Absolutely not. Put it back," I said, turning back to the shelves. He of course just ignored me, moving to put it in the cart anyway. "Eric what did I just say?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

He made his already round eyes even bigger, giving me the most pitiful look possible, which I have to admit was pretty effective. "Aw, please? It's not even that much!" "Eric it's a whole ass ham!" I cried. "But it's honey glazed! We'll eat it I promise! I'll eat it if no one else does." "How much is it?" I asked in a tired voice, already pretty certain I was gonna cave and buy it for him.

"Ok it's $30 which I know seems like a lot but it's also 15 pounds so if you think about it that's two dollars a pound which is pretty good Bruce please I really want ham."

I frowned, mulling it over as he clung to the ham and gave me a really sad look. "We don't have an oven," I said after a pause. His face fell for a minute before his eyes lit up and he gave me a huge grin. "But we do have a microwave!" he cried. "Eric Carr I am not letting you microwave a ham." "Bruce, pleaseeee?? I'll pay you back I promise!" Aw, dammit.

"Fine. Throw it in the cart and then go get food we actually need," I grumbled. "Yes! Thanks Bruce!" he said, dropping it in the cart before running off again. Shaking my head, I laughed in spite of myself. He was still the same Eric from high school, and I loved him for that.

He was also absolutely overjoyed to have his stupid ham and ran into the motel room as soon as we got back, dropping it triumphantly on the counter. "We got a ham!"

There was silence for a moment before the three of them erupted into applause. "Yes! Ham!" Peter cried. "Hell yeah, Eric!"

Beaming, he grabbed the one container that the room had, putting the ham in it and dumping in half a cup of water before covering the whole thing with plastic wrap and sticking it in the microwave. "Give it thirty minutes Bruce, you'll see this was worth it," he said, before reaching into the bag and pulling out more things I hadn't even realized he had snuck into the cart.

I just started to make a salad as he mixed together honey and mustard, slathering the ham in it before putting it back in the microwave. "It's not gonna work," I said, peeling some carrots absentmindedly. "Oh it's gonna work. Even if it doesn't, I'm still gonna eat it," he said, putting even more time on the microwave.

Finally, he had somehow managed to carve the ham, putting on even more glaze before passing us each our paper plates. "Ham! Ham! Ham!" the rest of them chanted, pounding their fists on the table as Eric took his seat, holding up his hand for silence. "Bruce doesn't want the ham because Bruce doesn't have taste! The glaze is my mom's recipe though which means it's good. Now let's eat!"

I took a bite before heaving a sigh and throwing down my fork. "Fuck," I muttered.

"What? What's wrong?" he asked, giving me a concerned look. It hurt to say it but I knew I had to tell him the truth. "It's delicious. Damn, it's really good." A huge grin spread across his face and he punched me in the arm excitedly. "Yes!! I knew it! You doubted me, but see??? Oh man tell you what, if we get some rolls, like some King's Hawaiian rolls, put some ham on those, make some sandwiches? Those go hard."

"Ooh damn curly that sounds smack," Ace said dreamily. I rolled my eyes, pointing at one of the bags of groceries on the counter. "We have rolls in there." "Yes!" Eric cried, pulling out a bag of rolls and holding them above his head triumphantly. "We have rolls!"

"You absolute goof, I fucking love you," I said under my breath, shaking my head with a smile. He threw a roll at my plate with a grin, grabbing three for himself. "I know you do."