“Look, you two stay here for a bit, I’m gonna go see what’s taking dad so long in there,” Jeremy said, and he opened the passenger door and climbed out, disappearing into the gas station after his father. Tyler and Dave watched him, and then Dave slid open the side door of the van, undid his seatbelt and got out.
“Dave? Where are you going?”
“We’ve been in this damn van all fucking day, it feels like. I just want to stretch my legs for a bit is all.”
Tyler thought about telling him to stay–they shouldn’t just walk away without telling anyone. He undid his own seatbelt, flipped around and shook his uncle’s belly, until the older man started awake.
“H-Huh? What?”
“Hey, we stopped to get gas. Dad and Jeremy are inside, Dave and I are gonna walk for a bit, stretch our legs.”
“Oh, uh, sure…don’t go too far…”
By the time Tyler had climbed out of the van and slid the door shut behind them, he was already mostly asleep again, and Tyler hurried to catch up to Dave as he slipped around the corner of the gas station. “Hey, wait up? Where are you going?”
“I was just gonna walk around the building is all–you didn’t have to come along.”
“No, it sounded like a good idea, getting out for a bit. And I told Uncle Logan where we were going, so they wouldn’t worry.”
It was hard to tell in the dark, but that snort Dave made usually meant he was rolling his eyes.
“What?”
“Do you…I mean…No, just forget it.”
“Come on, what–you haven’t said anything all day, what’s up?”
Dave stopped walking and leaned against the brick wall of the building, “Fine, but you have to be honest with me, promise?”
“Sure, of course.”
“Are you actually enjoying this as much as it seems like you are?”
Tyler shrugged, “Look, this isn’t the most exciting trip we’ve been on sure, but that’s just how it goes, sometimes. Once, I remember we were going through North Dakota, and–”
Dave turned and walked away, making that snort again.
“What? Come on. If you hate it this much, then why’d you come along?”
“Because I thought we’d be going somewhere interesting, but it’s like…like none of you want to go anywhere fun!”
“Hey, that second largest ball of yarn was kind of fun–who the fuck cares if it’s the second largest, right?”
“That’s exactly my fucking point! This trip is fucking boring, and your family is fucking boring! What the fuck is even wrong with all of you, that you don’t see this whole thing as a fucking disaster? I mean, we don’t even know where the hell we are!”
“We’ve gotten lost before, we always just get directions back to the highway.”
“That’s not the–gah, I hate it when you get like this.”
“Like what?”
“Nevermind, just…just go back to the stupid van or something, I don’t fucking care, just leave me alone already.”
“Whatever,be miserable if you want, I don’t fucking care,” Tyler said, and walked back towards the van, but didn’t get back in. He saw that while they’d been talking, a muddy tow truck that looked like it hadn’t been washed in years must have pulled up to get gas while Dave was trying to get him to join in his poutfest. It wasn’t like Tyler was having a great time, or anything, but this still wasn’t the worst thing that had happened to him on a road trip. This did suck, but so what? Sometimes…sometimes things sucked, but you had to take the good with the bad. If there was anything these road trips had taught him, it was that. Be patient, solve the problems you come across, and everything will be alright in the end if you stay positive. He thought about getting back in the van, but he did want to walk a bit, so he took a few laps around the pumps, and a couple of people got out of the tow truck. The first was an older guy with a huge beard and big round gut jutting out, wearing clothes that looked like they’d last been washed at the same time as his vehicle. The guy saw him, grinned, and started toward him, when a second voice spoke up, “Pa, stay focused–go git yer beer, I got it handled.”
The man didn’t look very happy about that, “Sure Skip, you…got it,” but he turned and started towards the station and went inside, while the second speaker came around the other side, a young guy who couldn’t have been much older than Tyler himself. He was…big. Probably six foot four or so, more muscular than his father, but with a good amount of fat padding him out as well, just making him look thick–the fact that all he had on was a ragged flannel vest, showing off two thick arms and a very furry gut only accented his size. Skip took a drag off the cigarette he was smoking, and looked Tyler up and down, before walking over. Tyler went back around the van, keeping it between them, ready to get inside or pound on hood to get his uncle’s attention if he needed to. The young man must have found something about this funny, because he grinned a bit, showing off teeth which were way too yellowed for a guy as young as he was. He was a good five feet away, but the most horrendous smell wafted over to Tyler from the young man. He started breathing through his mouth, but it didn’t really help–the only comparable thing he could think of was walking into the locker room at school once after a bunch of practices, how musk had permeated the air so much, it was like the air had taken on a life of its own. But it wasn’t just musk, it was also…pangs of piss, and rotten eggs, and cum, and…and was…was he breathing through his nose? Deep–Deeper? Maybe, maybe it didn’t smell all that bad, yeah, maybe…maybe he could even get a bit…a bit closer. He forced his feet to stay still, but something strange was going on, he could tell, even if he didn’t know what.
Bracken's Corner 