KISS: Road Trip

Ch 15: Working (Bruce)

I woke up to what I swore sounded like someone moving through the kitchen area. Letting out a sigh, I rolled over in bed, trying to squint and see if Eric was asleep. Of course, I couldn't actually see in the dark, so it didn't really do too much.

The sound of the microwave starting up was a definite sign that someone was awake, and the faint light that shown through the door on the microwave revealed a mass of curly black hair leaning against the counter. "Eric. What the hell are you doing?" I mumbled. He jumped, eyes wide, shutting off the microwave just before the timer ran out and instantly vanishing in the dark. 5

"Nothing, go to sleep," he whispered back. It sounded really nice to be able to fall back under the covers and go to sleep, but it also felt like something was off with him. "Come on man, why are you awake? It's like...it's like 4 in the morning," I yawned, checking my phone. "Shh. You're tired, go to sleep. I have work to do, I'll see you in the morning," he murmured, grabbing something off the table and heading for the door. "Eric where the hell are you--"

"Mmhph Bruce shut uppp it's too early for this," Paul moaned, pulling his pillow over his head. "Who the hell cares what Eric's doing, I just wanna sleep." Face burning, I rolled my eyes, turning back to Eric only to find him gone. I tried to work up the energy to go after him but made the mistake of lying back down for a second. I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.

Paul was still miffed and Eric was still gone by the time I woke up. "Damn, Bruce, I could not care less what you and Eric do in the middle of the night so long as it doesn't wake me up," he grumbled. Ace choked on his coffee, raising an eyebrow. "And what is that supposed to mean?" he asked.

I shook my head, face burning again. "It's not like that. Eric was just up in the middle of the night and I asked him what he was doing and Paul woke up I guess. Seriously, does anyone know where he is?"

Peter nodded, not bothering to look up from the paper. "Yeah, he's in the lobby. He does it every morning as long as he's not hungover, He wakes up at 4, microwaves himself some coffee, then grabs his tablet and goes downstairs to work. He'll be back by 8, don't worry."

"He does this every night?" I asked, feeling my heart sink. Damn, I was kind of a bad friend if I had literally no clue he was doing this. "Yep, like clockwork. He's done it at every place we've stayed at pretty much. It used to wake me up when he'd use the microwave but now I'll only wake up if he doesn't. Unless I'm hungover too."

I nodded, turning back to my cereal. And sure enough, at just past 8 the door swung open and Eric walked in, setting his laptop on the table and giving us a grin. "Morning! There's free breakfast at this place, did y'all know that? And it starts at 5, it's great!" he said, hands visibly shaking. "Eric they wouldn't happen to also have free coffee with the free breakfast, would they?" I asked slowly.

Eric's smile only got wider, telling us everything we needed to know. "It's free, man!" The four of us exchanged glances as I heaved a sigh. "So you're telling me you've had access to free coffee for the past three hours?" He shrugged, walking toward our room while vibrating. "Maybe."

"How many cups did you drink?"

Smile practically splitting his face, he shrugged again. "New record! 32!" Paul shook his head, burying his face in his hands. "Change of plan, we are not having Eric drive today. I do not trust someone who can't keep their hands still due to being hopped up on caffeine behind the wheel of my car."

"I second that. But yeah, I'll drive. And Eric I swear, if you kick my seat once turning the drive you're walking," I said, pointing at him with a raised eyebrow. "I make no promises," he said with a smile, ducking into our room.

The rest of the day was chill, we just sort of relaxed at the motel before Eric got up from winning another round of poker with a grin, still slightly jittery from his coffee. "Just give me like an hour to finish something for work then I'll be free. Plus it'll give someone else a chance to win," he said, heading for our room.

We kept playing until he walked back out a minute later, white-faced, and set his drawing tablet on the table. We could all see the very obvious long crack down the middle. "Who did this?" he asked in a scarily level voice. The four of us exchanged glances but no one said anything. Eric took a deep breath, hands balling into fists. "This tablet is two hundred dollars. I need this tablet for my job. Someone has broken my tablet, which means I can't do my job, which means I might get fired. And not being able to complete a commission gets me basically blacklisted. So I'm going to ask this one more time. Who the fuck broke my tablet?!" he shouted.

The silence got even more uncomfortable as we kept looking at each other. Eric was shaking with rage at this point, looking furiously at all of us. "Somebody better fess up right the fuck now because this isn't funny. My job's riding on me being able to finish my designs on time, and I can't do that without my fucking tablet!"

Finally, Peter raised his hand. "I think I might've...I think it might've been me, I stepped on your bag on accident and I heard something crack but I didn't think it was anything and I'm really sorry man, tell me how and I'll get you a new one, I promise!" he whispered.

Pure rage spasmed across Eric's face and he shook his head. "Order me a new one right now. If I get fired, you're fucking dead," he snarled, storming back to our room and slamming the door shut behind him. Peter buried his head in his hands as I rose to my feet with a sigh. "I'll go talk to him. Don't order one yet, we might be able to get it repaired."

Eric was lying on his bed with his face buried in the pillow, shoulders shaking. I sat on the edge of the bed. "You okay?" I asked gently. He shook his head, burrowing even deeper into the pillow. "I'm sorry, man," I said after a pause, patting him on the back reassuringly. He lifted his face, tears streaming down his cheeks. "I'm gonna get fired. I have a design due tomorrow and I was so close to being done but now I can't finish it!" he wailed.

"You're not going to get fired. Email your customer and tell them what happened! Or can you try and finish your design even though your tablet's cracked?" He shook his head, going back to the pillow. "No. It won't even turn on. It's broken."

I bit back a sigh, trying to think of what to do. "How close to being done are you?" He sat up again, sniffling and wiping his eyes. "Really close. I just need to finish coloring the last letter in the logo," he said miserably. "Can you use the mouse on your laptop?" His face lit up and he gave me a huge smile. "Oh Bruce you're a genius! Oh my gosh I'm so stupid, it's just coloring, I can hella just use the mouse!" he cried, leaping off the bed before turning around to give me a hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," he said in a rush, before scrambling for his bag.

I sat on the edge of the bed, watching as he worked, hunched over his laptop. "Do you know if we can get your tablet repaired or does it have to be replaced?" I asked. "Hell if I know. Peter can look it up and figure it out. And apologize again and make me dinner," he grumbled with a grin. I rolled my eyes, throwing a pillow at him. "You're so dramatic, you know that?"

He gave me a look, raising an eyebrow. "I'm dramatic? That's rich coming from you."

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?!" I cried. "Don't even get me started, man. You can be so dramatic at times." "Aw, bullshit. The really dramatic one is Paul. And Gene. And Ace. And Peter." "Add yourself to that list," he said, still staring at the screen before sitting back, squinting at whatever he was working on. "Well, full send I guess," he said simply, before emailing it to his client.

Which was a fat mood to be honest.