Eight hours had passed since we started this whole trip and still we hadn’t reached our destination. Miserable I was starting to wonder if we would ever reach that place and that this was just another excuse for the management to get us out of their hair for a lengthy period of time. Looking outside I had seen nothing but mountains and even more mountains. At first I was pretty excited looking at those snowy hills and even AJ showed some sort of interest but after a while, lets say a couple of minutes I was getting seriously bored. And so was he.
Kevin, our documentary man, had been filming all the time despite Brian's protest that it would be nothing to watch. I think that part of his cousins objection came from the fact that Kevin was driving and filming at the same time! The way things were going I was looking forward to a three hour long tape of mountains and one or two streams. Could there be anything more boring than that? The only good part was that one point when Kevin had to concentrate really good at his driving, we were on a very curvy road, and AJ and Howie decided to play talk show hosts while filming. This was mainly to get Brian off his mind about those deep steeps that we passed all the time. It worked and soon he was joining in as Donald Duck.
After both me and AJ had whined for a lengthy period of time we made a rest stop. Not a second too early. It was a short one where Kevin took charge, telling us that we had five minutes to pee, poop and eat! I felt like I had died and come to the army. Unfortunately I missed eating and therefore my stomach was now growling from hunger. No one took pity over my situation even though the others were taking so long at the rest stop. Instead they were all waiting for me in the car and eating was out of the question. Since I was feeling way better I got to crawl back into the backseat, only to find my place in the middle again. This time however I was told NOT to play Game boy under ANY circumstances. Kevin stated firmly that he did NOT want a repeat performance of that last incident.
I snorted.
Like I was some kind of kid that would make the same mistake again? I felt more than misunderstood. Ok I might have to add that I had run out of batteries already but that was not something I was going to reveal to the fella's. No way!
Weird growling, gurgling sounds kept coming from my gut. I wasn’t the only one that was on the verge of passing out from starvation and for the last hour there had been nothing but complaints. That and gurgling sounds coming from all of our stomachs, Kevin included. I swear that the way we were sounding we could have started an orchestra. The Belly boys.
“Please Kev can’t we stop to eat now.” My voice was so weak that I had a hard time getting the words across my lips. With shaking hands I gestured that I needed the food right now and added to make an effect that a boy like me, a growing teen, needed nutriment at least every other half an hour consisting of chips, candy and soda. To this Kevin told me to stop whining and that he would stop as soon as we came to a town.
Moaning I told him that there was no way I could wait and that I would die in the process. His only response was "Good". Bastard. No pity was shown over how bad I felt. Just when I was about to start another whining round Brian called out, (he was back sitting upfront again) “A gas station! With a diner. A restaurant! Finally.”
Too weak to do anything but nod I leaned my head back to the headrest. It was weird. First I had been so hungry that I was ready to eat a bear but now when the food was in sight I felt almost full. That could have to do with the way I had spent my trip. Sulking. Looking out of the window. Dreaming, longing to be back at home again. Back with mom and dad, Aar, my sis and of course my friends. Since it was summer back home too they would be all on vacation and we would have gone out with the boat or went fishing or something. Thinking about it made me homesick and I had to bit back a tear. After all I was fifteen, not a baby and shouldn’t be the one crying for stuff like that.
"Hey Nick. You all right?" I felt a hand on my shoulder and turning to my side I was met with Kevin’s concerned eyes. "Everything’s ok?"
"Ye..Yeah." I nodded. "Why wouldn’t it be?"
"Just wondering. You were spacing out and when I told you that we had stopped you didn’t listen." Kevin went silence for a few seconds. "You’re not mad at me blowing up at you earlier, are you?"
I shook my head, biting my lip. "No."
"You sure?" There was doubt in his eyes.
"Yes!" And even if I were, which I WAS by the way, I wouldn’t tell my brother that. That would be like admitting that I was easily hurt, which I was, as well as saying that I got upset when he blew me off, which I did too. It’s kind of complicated but sometimes it was better to try and act cool instead of being a wimp.
"Ok..Well let’s get going then." He smiled briefly at me as he stepped outside. Like a dog on a leash I followed his trail. It was afternoon still it was warm outside and the sun hadn’t even started to go down yet. Looking at my watch I found it was 7.15 am. No wonder that I was weak and starved and wanted nothing more then to sit down and bawl.
"You are coming?" He nodded towards the small diner.
"Yeah..Sure." With those words I tagged along.
The restaurant was small and dusk. The interior decoration old style. It was some kind of joint, filled full with people, mostly families and low budget tourists. Since my legs were almost shaking from not eating for so long I walked towards the window and sat down on a hard wooden chair, waiting for Kevin and Howie to take charge of the food situation. Normally I would have stood in line but today I was too weak to do anything but sit and frankly I didn’t care what they would order since I was so hungry that I could eat just about anything.
"Come on Nick," Brian said, standing there in the line. "It’s time to order."
"You do it."
"Come on Nick..?" he urged back.
"No. I’m too weak" To state my point I laid my head on the table. Like a drama queen. "I’m dying from starvation."
Brian laughed. "I know. We’re all hungry Nick. But you have to come over. There is so much to order from and I don’t know what you want."
“I don’t care.” More drama. I laid an arm over my eyes just to show how miserable I was feeling right now. “Just get me something. Anything. Just get me food.” My voice faltered as it was being strenuous enough to talk.
“Awww.” There was false concern in Brian’s voice as he chuckled. “All right I’ll order you something then.”
Nodding I closed my eyes and I must have dosed off a couple of minutes since the next thing I knew I felt a hot breath next to my skin and a voice whispered hoarsely, “Wakeeee Wakeee Niiiiccckkkyyyy. Iiiittt´sss foooooooood tiiiimmmeeee.”
Opening my eyes I found myself staring into AJ´s grinning face. He was so close that I could see his fillings in his teeth. “Urrgghh.” He smelled like dog breath! I jerked back so fast that I lost my balance and from that everything happened in a matters of seconds. The chair fell backwards and suddenly I found myself lying on the wooden floor. Arms and legs flailing in the process. God did I feel stupid.
"Ouuuccchhhhh." That one hurt!
There was a loud laugh in the restaurant and my face colour became fire truck red instantly. People, families, tourists with cameras around their neck were all staring at me. Laughing and pointing like I was some kind of freak. I even think that one or two of them were taking pictures of me. Oh boy! The white American boy sitting on his ass in the restaurant. I bet that would be something for the family photo album.
The guys did nothing to help me out either and their comments were not the nicest.
“Way to go Kaos.” AJ snickered, clapping his hands in approval very amused over my embarrassing situation. Glaring up at him I noticed that he was grinning as wide as that cartoon character Garfield does when he has caught a bird in his mouth. “Wow dude that was some kind of fall!”
I opened my mouth to reply back when I heard Brian’s voice next to me. Standing there with a tray in his hands he giggled. “What are you doing?” As to add more to my wounded situation, I had hurt my ass in the process, he made some comment about how funny I looked and that had AJ laughing even louder.
Thank you bro´ I owe you one!
Pissed I looked up at him. “What does it look like I’m doing?” I sneered back as I was rubbing my sore butt which I hurt on the stupid ass floor. None of the guys did any attempt to help me up which had me even angrier that I was in the beginning. Sitting up I did my best to stand but that wasn’t the easiest to do since there were chairs, tables and legs, other people’s legs, all over the place.
Suddenly a booming voice could be heard from the back. “Kaos what the hell are you doing on the floor?” So NOWhe noticed that I was on the floor?Ass!
“It wasn’t my fault,” I whined in defense. “It was Ajees. I was just sitting there minding my own business when..”
But Kevin wasn’t too perceptive at that point of time. “I don’t care whose fault it was,” he hissed. ”Nick get up from the floor. NOW! And stop acting like a baby!”
Hurt that none of them were showing me the least bit of compassion I tried to stand up only to notice that my “war wounds” as I like to call them were much bigger than I first thought. “Ouch!” Sinking down on the floor again I kept rubbing my sore butt. “I’m hurt,” I whined, hoping to trigger some sort of concern. Nothing of that sort happened instead they felled comments about my wounds.
“Nick get up from the floor. It’s dirty.” Brian commented as the laughs had died down. Taking a large bite of his hamburger he said, “Come on I got you one too.”
“Yeah sit down on the chair and eat Nick!” AJ patted on an empty chair beside him. My chair!
Ignoring the wonderful smell of food that wafted my way, as well as the offer for a seat, I remained seated on the floor. Holding my arms around my knees and feeling sorry for myself. I didn’t care if people around me thought that I was acting like a baby since I didn’t know them and would probably never see them again.
“I don’t want any.” I heard myself saying. That couldn’t be more wrong and I knew I was acting immature, being moody and all. But none of them had done anything to help me, instead they had all laughed at me, felling nasty comments like I was invisible. Then they started eating, ignoring me, which made me feel even more pissed. Even the people in the restaurant paid me no attention. This made me feel even more unwanted than before.
“Nick! What are you doing on the floor?” Howie asked, coming back from the bathroom.
“I fell. It was AJ´s fault.” I muttered.
I could hear Howie say something to the rest of the guys only to be met back with some snide comments that I was acting like a baby. Ok he was right but the hunger, the long trip and the embarrassing situations made me think that it didn’t matter. They thought I was acting like an ass anyways. So why not be a real one too?
“You hurt yourself?” he asked as he reached out his hand for me to grab.
Finally ONE person who took the least bit of pity on me. Nodding I mumbled, “Mmmm.” I reached out to grab his hand. It wasn’t for nothing that Howie´s nickname was “Sweet D!”
“Awwww.” He said. “Where?”
Ignoring that last question I made a point in NOT telling anyone where my "war wounds" were situated at. Since Howie had been so kind to drag me on my feet I did however give him an appreciating smile. Very small, hardly detectable but it was there so the guys would see that if someone was nice to me I would be nice back. You know to state my point. B had been right. The floor was very dirty and I started to regret that I had sat on it. Flicking off a french-fry from my jeans I scrunched my nose up in disgust. In the back I could hear some comments being made about that American boy that fell flat on his ass and ignoring that I did my best to sit down on the chair. Only to wince seconds later as my butt made contact with the hard wood.
"You ok?"
"Yeah." I bit my lip hard so no strong words would come out since it hurt like a bitch.
"Where did you hurt yourself?" There it was again. That question that I wanted to avoid of all costs. Looking at Howie´s side I noticed that his brown eyes were filled with concern and decided to tell a white lie.
“In my back.”
AJ grinned. “No Kaos you did not.” Turning to Howie he laughed. “It’s his ass. He hurt his freaking ASS!”
Mad over being made fun of again I snarled, “I did not!”
“You did to.”
“Did not!”
“Too.”
And like that it went on until Kevin barked for us to stop.
I stopped immediately and instead concentrated on the task that I’m getting pretty good at nowadays. Sulking and being moody. I made an art of ignoring every comment, even the nice ones, as well as the hamburger and fries that was put in front of me on the table. Inside me the hunger were eating my stomach.
"I thought you said you were hungry." Brian said in surprised as he slurped on his coke.
I shook my head and ignored the hamburger by sheer willpower. It was laying there so close to me and would have been so easy to eat if only I hadn’t been cursed with the stubborn Carter gene.
“If you not going to eat those I’ll eat them.” AJ offered and was there with his hand to grab my hamburger. At that point I was so close to giving in, since no one takes food from a starving animal, but I steeled myself. To my relief I could hear Howie saying that it was mine. Thank you D, you’re the best.
“Ok.” AJ withdraw his hand quickly. “I just didn’t want it to go to waste if Kaos were not going to eat it,” he muttered more to himself then to anyone.
Yeah right Bone tell me another one.
“You have to eat.” Howie stated as he shoved his fork into his mouth. Glancing down on his plate I saw that he was eating some kind of green pancakes and I scrunched my nose up. Probably something out of the local cuisine since D always tried out new stuff all the time. That however looked nasty.
“Here Nick you can have these.”
AJ most have felt bad for something he said because he shoved some soggy fries at my direction. No doubt in an attempt to call a truce. Ignoring the gesture I stared blankly ahead. If he thought that a gross looking fry was going to save our friendship he better rethink it. Twice. “I said I don’t want any.” I know it was being childish but there was no way I was going to give in now. In the corner of my eye I could see him shrugging at me and then taking the fries back.
Then I felt a hand on my shoulder. It was Brian’s.
“You’re not going to eat anything? Didn’t you say that you were dying from starvation recently?" The Kentuckian frowned.
I was and I am.
“You sure you don’t want this?” AJ was back pointing at my hamburger.
Bastard now he was about to steel my food again. Despite the hunger pains that was about to rip my body apart I shook my head, only to wait for another reaction.
"Jay that is Nick's and he is going to eat it." Howie said firmly.
Thank you D! At that moment I wanted to hug my pal since he was the only one understanding how I was really feeling.
“Why? Why don’t you want it?” Brian pressed on. “What’s the matter with you today? Why are you so moody?” His blue eyes looked at me with concern.
Jeese get out of my hair will ya!
At that point it would have been so easy to give in. To admit that I was actually dying of starvation but that would have been at the cost of the guys winning and loosing my pride was not something I was willing to do. I must also admit that in a weird way I liked when the guys were nagging at me, asking me questions about why I wasn’t eating and stuff. I know it’s immature but in a strange way it’s also comforting. Like they care about me you know.
“I’m not moody.” I snarled back.
“Yes you are.” Brian nodded, still holding his hand on my shoulder. “Something happened?”
By now I wanted to laugh. Something happened? Yeah you could say that! My whole life happened. I was stuck in some foreign country that had only mountains and curvy roads so hungry that I could eat my own shoe if it was offered to me. I did my best to ignore the food in front of me only to make a point. On top of everything I had already made a fool out of myself, being the dink I was. So yeah I guess you can say that something happened. "No."
“Leave him alone.” Kevin muttered in between his bites. “He’s just being difficult.”
To my dismay Brian actually listened and the comforting hand that had been on my shoulder was taken away. I glared at Kevin. ‘Thank you so much for destroying my only chance at some kind of compassion in this group. Brian had a heart and now you spoiled it,' I thought darkly.
"He’s probably tired." Howie said. "We all are."
"Yeah and when are we going to reach that destination?" AJ whined as he chewed on his french-fries. "Will it be long?"
"I don’t know." Kevin sighed.
Brian was the only one that hadn’t stopped paying attention to me. "Nick I know you’re tired buddy. But you got to eat some or you.."
"Won’t be getting any more food today," Kevin filled in, throwing the hamburger in font of my eyes. "Now eat and stop being such a kid!"
I don’t know if it was the fact that my stomach was growling so loud that they didn’t need the jukebox playing to get music or the fact that Kevin said that I wouldn’t be getting anymore food since the stubbornness suddenly gave away. Instead I dug into the hamburger like I had never seen food before and wolfed it down without a second thought.
“Dude take it easy.”
“Yeah Nick you'll get a stomach ache if you eat like that. Slow down.” Howie could be like such a mom.
What? First they were nagging at me to eat and now they wanted me to stop? Were they never satisfied? Paying no attention to their warnings I ate like I had never ate before and soon both my hamburger, fries and soda was gone as well as AJ´s soggy fries and for the first time that day I felt full. Full to the bursting point.
