KISS: Road Trip

Ch 24: Let's Go Home (Peter)

I rolled over in bed, throwing one of my legs over Ace's and pulling myself halfway on top of him. "Babe I wanna get married soon," I mumbled, still half-asleep. He kissed me lightly, stretching with a yawn. "Mmm me too. We need to go back home and then we can get married and I can move in to your place and it'll be perfectly perfect," he purred. "Have we set up a date yet?"

Ace nodded, kissing me again. "Yes we have, my darling. We decided on next next Saturday, don't you remember?" I sat up in bed, giving him a smile. "Well damn, that is soon. Guess I better hurry up and ask Gene to be my best man." Ace sat up, staring at me. "You're asking Gene?" My face turned red and I shrugged. "Well...yeah, I'd like for him to be. He's helped me a lot, he's always supported me and he really helped me get out of drugs and straighten out my life and he's a good friend. I mean as long as you're okay with that."

"Well yeah curly, if he's okay with it I'm okay with it! He's a good friend, even if he's been a bit of a distant one lately. You should ask him, cause if he says yes then he probably is gonna want to come back with us, right?" "Good point. Good point, I'll ask him when we see him today." "Oh he's already downstairs talking with Paul! We slept in."

I looked at my phone in surprise, realizing it was past 12. "Oh shit we did. Okay I'm gonna get dressed and wait for him and Paul to wrap it up!" He yawned, kissing me before sinking back to the bed. "Mkay I'm going back to bed, tell me when Gene says yes." I kissed him on the forehead, sliding out of bed and getting dressed before joining Bruce and Eric in the living room. They were sitting near the open balcony door, both of them listening intently.

"What are you guys doing?" I asked, but Eric shushed me, shaking his head. "Eavesdropping. Gene and Paul are fighting downstairs," he whispered, before falling silent as Bruce nudged him. I sat on the floor with them, barely able to hear snatches of Gene and Paul's heated conversation before Paul stormed off. The rest of us scrambled to act like we hadn't been listening as Paul walked back in the room, face still a deep red. "He's downstairs if you want to talk to him," he snapped, slamming the door to his room shut.

"Yeah I got first dibs on Gene!" I said, already heading for the door. Gene was in fact still sitting on the bench in the courtyard, looking sadly at the half-dead palm trees. I took a deep breath, trying to get my heart to stop racing, and sat next to him. "Hey, I gotta talk to you."

He looked away from the trees, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah, sure, what's up?" "Look we haven't...we haven't always gotten along in the past. Some of that was my fault, some of that was yours, but a lot of it was mine. You're one of my best friends though. You were always there for me in high school no matter how bitchy I was. You always wanted what was best for me and was always there for me even if you tried to act like you didn't care. I mean hell man, you're like...you're the main thing that started me on the path to getting out of drugs. That punch in the face senior year? I needed that. And uh...and so I was gonna...I was gonna ask if you wanted to be my best man," I mumbled, face burning red.

He sat back, staring at me, before a smile spread across his face. "I'm honestly really honored you've asked me, man. I love you, you know that, and I really want to be your best man! When are you guys planning on having the wedding?" I smiled back, heart skipping. "Like two weeks."

His smile vanished and my heart plummetted. "Oh. Oh shit hm. That's kinda soon. I still wanna be your best man, don't get me wrong! But I'll have to ask Shannon first, you know? Cause she can't really travel so I'd have to leave her here. And I don't want to...I don't want to leave her seven months pregnant if she doesn't want me to go. I'll ask her today though, and I'll get back to you!" he said, smiling again.

I smiled back. "Awesome! Yeah that sounds great! We were thinking that like you know, if you were able to come to the wedding that maybe like...maybe like you would want to come back with us? Just like drive back to New York with us? It'd be fun!" Gene looked at me in surprise before giving me a grin. "Yeah! Dude that'd be fun! If-if all of you guys wanted to, of course. I mean I don't...you know, if Paul..."

I rolled my eyes, punching him in the arm. "Stop. You know how Paul is, he gets attached to people and when he loves someone he really loves someone. And he really loves you and you hurt him and he's still hurt but he's getting better, he's opening up to you again and it'll be okay. You just gotta give him time and accept that it's gonna take him time."

Gene heaved a sigh, rising to his feet. "Yeah. I know. I didn't realize that I'd mess everything up this much. Looking back on it, like holy shit I was selfish." "I mean...yeah you were. You really did hurt all of us. But you're sorry and you're back and we're glad that you are." He gave me a really grateful smile. "Thanks Peter. I'll talk to Shannon when I go home and I'll talk to you tonight!"

"Sounds good!"

GENE

Later that night, I stared up at the ceiling in the dark, heart racing. I wanted to go back to New York and watch two of my best friends get married more than anything. I wanted to be able to spend time with Paul, to be able to catch up after breaking our relationship. But I couldn't leave Shannon alone, and I couldn't bring her with me either because she had already told me she wasn't traveling anymore.

Shannon let out a sigh, resting her head on my chest. "What's bothering you?" she murmured. I played with her hair absentmindedly, still staring at the ceiling. "Peter and Ace are getting married in like two weeks. Peter asked me to be his best man and I want to say yes, I'd love to go to their wedding, but I don't want to leave you here by yourself so I'm trying to figure out how to tell them I can't make it."

With another sigh, Shannon kissed me on the cheek, shaking her head. "Gene, no. Go to their wedding. You said it yourself, it's only two weeks, three at the most. I'll be fine! I'm only seven and a half-ish months along anyway, and I have my parents and your mom nearby for help if I need it. I mean hell, your mom lives in the city. It's been five years and I know you've missed them and they've missed you."

"No Shannon love I don't want to leave you--"

"Gene Klein Simmons, as your wife and the love of your life I'm telling you to go to their wedding. I will tell Peter myself that you're going to be his best man if you don't."

I smiled, slipping an arm around her waist and kissing her. "Thanks, dearest. They were saying I could just go with them and drive back to New York are you...are you okay with that? If not I can wait a bit until I leave." Shannon let out a yawn, stretching, before snugging closer against me. "No, go back with them! That'll be fun, it'll give you a chance to make up with them! But before you leave can you go get me a quart of cherry ice cream and also as many chicken nuggets with honey mustard as you can buy?"

"What, like now? Babe it's like eleven at night." She gave me a look, raising an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, did I stutter?" she snapped. Holding up my hands in defeat, I leaned over and kissed her. "Alright, alright, I'm going! To get you chicken nuggets in the middle of the night, I guess." "You know what Gene, come back to me when you've been pregnant and then we'll talk," she said in a huff.

Laughing, I kissed her again. "Point taken. Love you Shan, I'll be back soon."