Jimmy & Richie - 21. Chapter 21

The next morning Nick guided us to I-80. He said it was a straight shot to Ames. Once we got away from some traffic, I stopped at a truck stop just a few miles from where we spent the night. Rich and Nick went to order. I filled the gas tank. This time I took the owners manual, I wanted to check the size of the gas tank.

I saw the guys at a booth and went to join them. As soon as I sat down, the waitress brought our order. Rich and I had eggs, bacon, and toast. Nick had the same with a side of pancakes. The coffee was good and strong, “Rich, see if they have a thermos. I would like to take some of this coffee with me.”

Rich went and check with the cashier, she said something and pointed out the door. “They don’t have them here, but she said they are available at the gas station.”

‘We’ll get one before we leave. It’s going to take us eight hours to get to Ames if we drive straight through. That would get us at your home Nick about five in the afternoon.”

“That’s early. We can stop and have lunch and then go on. I don’t know if my parents are back or not. I’ll call Charles and see if they are home, if not, we’ll go to Charles and Brandon’s place. They have a spare bedroom so we can stay there.”

I started to laugh, “Rich, do you want to drive a while?”

Finishing breakfast, I bought the thermos, had it filled with coffee, and picked up three paper cups. Nick restocked his stash of snack items, and we were off. Interstate travel is great as long as you don’t become mesmerized with the driving. Chatter, coffee helps to break that up as well as nibbling on something. After four hours of driving, we switched drivers again.

“Nick, find a place for dinner.”

“There is a truck stop right off the next exit. We can eat there.”

“Have you called Charles?”

“No, I’ll do it when we eat.”

Rich pulled in to the truck stop, “Jimmy do you want to fill the gas tank?”

“No, there’s enough gas to last quite a while. Gramps must have had a second tank added as a reservoir. I guess he wanted to make sure I wouldn’t run out of gas.”

We placed our orders, they had a buffet, but Rich and I just wanted something light. Nick took the buffet, they lost money on us that day.

“Did you call Charles?”

“No, I’ll call him after we eat.”

“You know, with three drivers, we could have made this trip a lot faster.”

“Not if Nick is one of the drivers, we’d have to stop to refill his tank.”

“Nick, have you always had a high metabolism?”

“I guess so. I never thought it was unusual. I just need a lot of calories.”

Rich and I asked for a carry-out container, Nick couldn’t since he had the buffet, I had one piece of chicken I hadn’t touched, and I put that into the carry-out, Rich added his baked potato. “Rich, add some butter to that box and get a set of those plastic forks and knives at that take out counter.”

When we got into the car, I drove. We just sat up front, listening to music. I looked at Rich, and he had a smile on his face. I smiled back. We were waiting. After about one hour, “Are you guys going to eat the food in that carry-out?”

Rich and I laughed, Rich handed the box to Nick. “We brought this for you, enjoy.”

Nick had a big smile on his face, “Thanks, guys.”

“Did you call Charles?”

“Yes, mom and dad wouldn’t be home till this weekend. So we’ll go to Charles and Brandon’s place. I’ll call them as we get closer.”

As we got closer to Ames, Nick started to give us directions to Charles and Brand’s place. It turned out to be an apartment building close to I-80. I parked in the visitor parking space. Nick took off while Rich and I got the luggage. “We’ll need to come down and clean out that back seat. Not everything went into Nick’s mouth.”

I no sooner had closed the boot, when I felt a pair of arms around me. I knew it was Brandon. “Jimmy, I’m so glad you made it. We weren’t worried, but you can never tell what could happen.”

“We did ok. Nick was the navigator, Rich and I shared driving. We would have made it sooner, but we had to stop to fill the gas tank and someone’s belly. But it wasn’t a bad drive. I’d do it again.”

“Come on up. Charles will be here soon. He’s going to bring pizza home.”

We followed Brand into the elevator, where I got another hug, he gave Rich one as well. When we got off the elevator, Nick was standing there with a sweeper.

“Nick, we can do that after, I may just take the car to get it washed, and they can vacuum the back as well.”

We took our luggage into the apartment. It was a nice apartment, the rooms were rather large, somehow when you think apartment you think small rooms. Nick took our suitcases and placed them somewhere.

“Brand, before we leave, we’ll need to wash some clothes. We didn’t pack heavy as we had to bring all of Nick’s clothes with us.”

“So are you and Rich a couple?”

"Yes, I don’t know if I’m gay. I don’t find other guys attractive, so I just rationalize, I’m gay for Rich.”

“You’re lucky you have Rich. I like him a lot and so does Charles. We did good, bro.”

I smiled as I hugged Rich. He didn’t care if I was gay or not; all he wanted was for us to be together. Brandon showed us the apartment including the spare bedroom. I looked at Rich and then Nick.

“I guess it’ll be cozy with the three gays in bed.”

“Guys only two of you are gay.”

“Oh come on, Nick, who crept into our bed because they couldn’t sleep without touching me.”

Nick’s face turned red. “That’s ok, Nick, I was just teasing you. You know Rich, and I love you like a brother.” I grabbed him and gave him a hug. When I stepped back, he had a smile on his face.

Then we heard, “Hey is anybody home?”

Brand went to greet Charles, “They just got here. I was showing the boys where they were going to sleep. How many Pizza’s did you get?”

“Two, one for Nick and one for the rest of us.”

I looked at Rich, he smiled, we know about the eating monster. “Hi Charles”

“Hi guys, any trouble getting here?”

“No, it was fairly straight forward. Nick did the navigating and eating. Rich and I drove."

“Come on, let’s eat while the pizza is still hot. I have soda, iced tea and beer.”

“I’ll have iced tea. Rich, do you want iced tea or soda?”

“I’ll have ice tea as well.”

“Nick, you can get what you want. I’ll get the plates for us, Nick, that’s your box.”

I thought Charles was kidding, but he wasn’t. Rich and I had two slices, and Nick ate the entire other pizza. I just couldn’t get over the fact that he could eat so much and still keep his weight.

“Tomorrow Charles needs to work, but I’ll show you guys around. Nick can add to the dialogue as he knows this town better than I do.”

After dinner we sat and talked, I always enjoyed talking with Brand, this for me was like old times. We talked about our time at Niagara, they asked Rich about his dad and we teased Nick about his girlfriend. The one thing I did not talk about was the diner and Gramps.

About eight I was getting tired. “Brand, Charles, if you don’t mind, I think I’ll hit the hay.”

“I think we’ll all turn in. Nick, are you going to sleep on the couch?”

Rich and I started to laugh. I put my arm around Nick, “Come on, lover, let’s go to bed.”

It felt like we were back in the apartment. Rich cuddled with me on one side. Nick had his back to me on the other side. With Rich in my arms, I slept very soundly.