KISS: Road Trip

Ch 25: Breakfast (Eric)

We finished putting our bags in the trunk. "Well, all the way to Cali now all the way back!" I said cheerfully, looking at Gene with a smile, which he returned. "Yeah. It'll be nice to go home," he said quietly, looking at Paul, who stared coldly back. "It will be," I said, giving him a nudge. He snapped out of his daze, ruffling my hair before walking over to Shannon, saying their goodbyes before giving each other a really long kiss.

It was a slightly awkward ride for most of the day, all of us having our own little side conversations as Paul drove us. It was nice to see him and Gene kind of talking, even nicer to see that they agreed to share a room at the motel. I passed out in bed next to Bruce per usual, falling asleep almost instantly until my alarm woke me up at 4.

Making certain not to wake anyone else up, I grabbed my laptop and the new drawing tablet Peter had gotten me and headed downstairs for free breakfast. I had only been working for about a half an hour when Gene of all people wandered into the lobby, looking around in confusion. "Gene! Grab some food and sit down!" I called. He looked at me in surprise before giving me a smile. "I'm surprised to see you here. You're usually passed out until noon," he teased. "I know, I know, I'm behind on stuff though. Seriously, grab some food and join me! I highly recommend the biscuits, especially when you put bacon on them and make a sandwich. Coffee's only subpar, but hey, caffeine is caffeine."

He ruffled my hair affectionately before walking over to the breakfast buffet while I kept working. Within a few minutes he was back, taking a sip of coffee and grimacing. "Damn, that is subpar. Anyway, why the hell are you awake?" "I was gonna ask you the same thing," I retorted, not looking up from my laptop. "Eh. Just used to getting up early, and the time difference is getting me." I nodded, draining my own cup of coffee.

"Nice, nice. I've been getting up at four just so I can come down here and get some work done before the rest of them start messing around. It's nice, all peaceful in the morning when the world's still asleep and dark and all that."

"What's your job? Like what do you work on?" Grinning, I turned my laptop around to show him the logo I was designing. "I'm a graphic designer! I work in marketing so basically I make logos and stuff. It's really fun, I really like my job."

"Oh nice! That looks really good man, you're a really good artist. Not surprised though, I mean I still remember what you drew on my cast. How have you been though? I feel like we really haven't had a chance to just sit and talk and stuff." I grinned. "I know, Paul's been hogging you. Almost failed chem 101 after you decided to bail. Had to find a new tutor," I said with a laugh, closing my laptop and setting it aside.

Gene let out a sigh, staring at the table.

"Yeah, I'm sorry man. That was messed up of me. But if it makes you feel better I had the same issue with English." "That does make me feel better, actually. But hey, I graduated and I'm employed, so no harm no foul! I've missed you though. I missed complaining about wrestling with you. I tried with Bruce, but he would just go 'oh you think wrestling is hard, bitch shut up swim is so much harder, I'm actually doing it for the school not for fun, blah blah blah,' so I gave up and just started making fun of him for swimming instead and he made fun of me for track."

Gene nodded, eating a biscuit sandwich. "I know, it was nice to talk with you, I missed it too. How'd your seasons go?" Eric frowned, running a hand through his hair. "Mmm I think freshman year I got seventh in club? Senior year I got first though, that was cool! I'd ask how you did but Bruce and I would Facetime and watch your matches so I already know you did really well."

"Aw, you guys watched? That's nice." "Yep, we'd watch and just provide running commentary on how much you sucked. I've never heard Bruce say 'tripod you fucking idiot' more times in my life than your last match of senior year. That was giving us flashbacks to your last match of high school senior year," I teased. Gene just rolled his eyes. "Shut up man, I didn't break anything and I won in the end."

I laughed, shaking my head. "You got me there. But I will say, the one thing you did ruin for me is 7/11s. I always get all sad when I go in there." "Because of graveyard shifts?" he asked quietly. I nodded, giving him a sad smile. "Yeahhh. I missed that, being able to just sit there and talk with you and have a slushie." Gene nodded, smiling just as sadly back. "Yeah. That was nice. But it's good to see you again, it really is. I missed you a lot. Paul's like my actual brother but you're like the fun little brother I never had."

"I mean I'm almost older than you but okay," I grumbled. "Yeah but you're not and you're smaller than me so it doesn't count." "Five inches just still isn't enough to get you," I said with a sigh, stealing a biscuit off his plate. "You're 5'7" now, that's the new number?" "Yep! But you're what, still 6'2? No wonder you have a wife, girls love tall guys."

Gene shook his head, accepting defeat and sliding his plate toward me. "You have a girlfriend though." I grinned, taking the rest of his breakfast eagerly. "That is true, I'm still dating Carrie. Love her, she's great. Pretty much the same height as me which is less great but oh well. But you know her, I don't know Shannon! Tell me about her!"

His face turned pink and he smiled fondly. "She's amazing. She's such a nice person, really just sweet and funny and smart and all that. And she's pretty too but that's not as important as everything else. I'm just really glad she somehow decided she loved me enough to marry me." I yawned but gave him a smile.

"Sorry, not trying to be rude, I just need more coffee. But that's really great man, I'm really happy for you! I can't think of anyone who deserves it more than you. Man I really missed you. You were my first friend at Casablanca and it just felt weird meeting up with the rest of them without you. Like there was just a hole in the group."

Gene let out a sigh, stirring a spoon through his coffee. "Yeah. It hurt. That's uh...that's why I stopped talking to all y'all. It just hurt in a way, seeing all of you guys getting together and having fun."

"But hey, you're here now! And we're eating breakfast, just like old times."

He gave me a warm smile back. "Hell yeah. I've missed you, man, I really have." "I've missed slushies. I'll have go with you to 7/11 sometime!" I said, kicking him under the table. He laughed. "That's a date and I'm holding you to it."