KISS: Road Trip

Ch 48: Scary Movies Are Scary (Eric)

"And so anyway basically the most important thing is that you set a reasonable goal to achieve. Don't start out trying to get a six pack, start out with something smaller that's more achievable."

I walked into the kitchen, pulling open the freezer and grabbing a quart of ice cream as Bruce kept talking on his livestream, grabbing a spoon out of the drawer next. Humming to myself, I popped open the carton and took a bite. Bruce turned around, giving me a look. "Dude, seriously? At least get yourself a bowl," he said, shaking his head. "Aw, why? It's not like you're gonna eat it! You told me you don't like cookie dough anyway, so I'm gonna take it off your hands! Also can we get pizza rolls next time we go to the store?"

He rolled his eyes, turning back to his livestream. "Yeah that's my roommate Eric. Yes, the same dumbass who burnt dinner. No he eats like that all the time. It's bullshit, kid's got the fastest metabolism I've ever seen. He has yet to lose a restaurant eating challenge. Like I've seen him eat a four pound burger in like fifteen minutes, it's disgusting. Eric say hi!"

I grinned, waving before taking another bite of ice cream. "Hi Bruce's followers! Also don't listen to him, the only dumbass here is him. He got so drunk one time he tried to marry me even though we both had girlfriends at the time."

Bruce raised an eyebrow, giving me a look. "Eric. That was you," he said, shaking his head. "Now get out of here if you're just gonna sit there eating your ice cream." "Yeah like hell I'm eating this in the bedroom or on the couch, I don't wanna spill. You move!" He rolled his eyes but rose to his feet, flipping me off before ducking into our room. "Kid's a dumbass but I love him."

"Hey! I am not!" I shouted. "Eric shut up I'm doing stuff!"

Later that night, I sat across from Bruce, plate piled high with the pizza rolls that he had been nice enough to get from the store. "So I was wondering, not saying you have to at all I was just wondering, have you like...talked about your eating disorder on your account and stuff?" I asked, taking a bite and wincing because the rolls were still hot.

"Yeah I've talked about it. Talked about how like it's not good to do that stuff and it only ever causes more harm than good. And it's...it's honestly kind of cathartic to talk about it. Like I treated it as a secret, or like something I didn't want to admit I had, for so long but now it's like...yeah I fucked up and I did that but I got help and got better and that's what matters."

I gave him a soft smile, burning my mouth on a pizza roll. "I'm proud of you. I really am. You've come a long way from senior year." He gave me a smile back. "Yeah. And I really have you to thank for that, man. You've always put me in my place and kept me in check whenever I needed to be shut down." "But you've done a lot of stuff yourself! You've really taken care of yourself, and I'm really proud of you!" I said happily.

"Thanks man. You want to watch a movie tonight though? I'm kinda bored." "Absolutely! But I wanna get in my pajamas first because knowing me I'm gonna fall asleep halfway through."

After getting changed, I grabbed the third and final bag of popcorn from the microwave, dumping it into the bowl and heading toward the TV area, jumping onto the couch. Bruce gave me a grin, raising an eyebrow. "Nice pajama pants." I looked down at my bright orange tiger-striped fleece pants and shrugged. "I think you're just jealous. Anyway, what are we watching?" I asked, curling up under the blanket. "Mm, I was thinking a horror movie. Maybe Jaws?" he said absentmindedly, reaching over me to grab some popcorn from the bowl.

I froze, staring at the screen in horror. "No," I whispered, hands already starting to shake. "Eric, I'm kidding. I do kinda wanna watch a horror movie though."

"Okay fine let's do it," I grumbled.

By the time we finished the movie, Bruce was asleep on the couch and I had sunk almost all the way under the blanket, trembling and jumping at every single noise, half eaten popcorn set aside in favor of hiding behind my hands. Every shadow was a ghost, every noise a vengeful spirit coming to get me. Eventually Bruce sat up with a yawn, rubbing his eyes. "Oh damn I must've passed out halfway through. Alright I'm gonna go to bed," he mumbled, walking into the bedroom and falling onto his bed, immediately falling asleep again.

Heart in my throat, I leapt off the couch and ran after him, still wrapped in the blanket. He slept soundly while I sat on my bed, staring at the room in terror. "Eric. Go to sleep," Bruce said, throwing a pillow at me. "I can't, I'm scared. I don't like horror movies." "Then why did we watch one?!"

"Cause you wanted to!"

He let out a sigh, shaking his head. "Shut up, you're fine. Go to sleep. Turn on the lights if you want to," he mumbled, keeping his eyes closed. I  turned on the light and sat on my bed, still waaaay too scared to sleep. I probably sat there for about an hour before Bruce sat up, squinting at me and rising an eyebrow. "Eric go to sleep. It was a movie, it wasn't real."

"I know but it was scary!" I protested. "Oh my gosh," he muttered, rising to his feet and flipping off the light before grabbing my shoulder and dragging me over to his bed. "I'm going to sleep because I'm tired and this way if anything tries to get us it'll go through me first and you'll have a chance to get away," he said through a yawn.

I smiled in spite of myself, curling up under the blankets and finally falling asleep.

"Aww, adorable."

I sat upright, squinting, trying to see Gene through the curtain of hair covering my eyes. "Huh?" "Gene how the hell did you get into our apartment?" Bruce muttered, pulling the blankets higher over himself. "Cause Eric gave me a key and I wanted to see what your apartment was like." "What, so you just broke in?" I asked, and he grinned. "Sounds about right, yeah. Didn't realize I'd be ah...interrupting things."

Bruce shoved me out of bed with a laugh. "Nah, Eric's just scared of the dark and couldn't sleep and every time there was a noise he'd go 'oh fuck no' and so I could never fall asleep. So I let him sleep in my bed so he'd calm down."

Gene burst into laughter, pulling me to my feet. "Ahh, of course you did. Why am I not surprised?"

"I resent that," I grumbled. "Scary movies are scary."