Look What I Found!

Ch 4.

The following day, Richie and Jason woke up extra early due to Jason losing his pills; they were in the car. With IHOP breakfast served, they were back on the road again, with Jason passed out in the passenger's seat.

Between the visit to the hospital and now, a black eye has appeared on the kid. Richie's had his fair share of black eyes, so he knew the kid would need an icepack. So now they were heading to the store. Hopefully, the kid would be ok sleeping in the car while he ran in and out.

Rushing in, he headed to the food section first cause who knows when they'll be on the road for miles with no people or stores. Next, he searched the first aid section and found one of those instant cold packs and some gauze.

And now for his final stop, the alcohol section. He really shouldn't be drinking and driving, especially with an injured kid in his car. But he's gone a whole 24 hours without a drink!

He stood before all the selections, slowly reaching out for his main beverage before freezing. He really shouldn't, but damn it, if he wasn't fucking stressed over everything that happened in the last 24 hours.

He retracted his hand with a sigh, slowly shuffling away from the alcohol section, and headed towards the cash register.

Right now, what was more important was this kid.

Walking out, he saw the kid was up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes before looking towards the food bag in his hand. He practically saw in slow motion the kid's face light up at the sight, even if he did eat, not even 2 hours ago.

"I only know you like root beer and coffee," he started after climbing in the car, "so everything else was a complete guess. Bon appétit."

The kid chuckled a bit, grimacing at the strain on his ribs before pulling the drink out and nearly chugging half of it.

"Jesus, kid, slow down. It's a good thing I bought you two, huh? And a few energy drinks as well. Do you mind handing me one, actually?"

Jason reached into the bag, pulled out his monster drink, and pulled out his beef jerky.

Aw crud. Why didn't he think to buy the kid one?

"Can I have this?" Jason asked, looking at Richie with these puppy dog eyes that he literally didn't have 2 seconds ago.

Richie could only do one thing.

"Yea! I bought it for you, kid." His face lit up even more before practically tearing into it. "I mean, as I said, I don't know what you like, really, so most of it was me just grabbing stuff."

"I like this," he answered with a mouthful, "They don't usually sell these much where I'm from. Why? I don't know. The whole town is stupid. I really like them thou-pickles and peanut butter!"

The kid was excitedly pulling out the pickles he bought and a whole jar of peanut butter. He honestly didn't know why he bought them. It was a weird thing to take on a road trip.

"You.. Do you like those two combinations?"

Jason gave him a look like he was offended, "um... Yea. It's actually really good." He finally got the lid off the pickle jar and was currently scooping out a big spoonful of peanut butter with one of the pickles. "It's kinda like fries and milkshake... You've had that, right?"

"Of course! But pickles and peanut butter?" The kid nodded, having eaten half his pickle and peanut butter monstrosity. Richie sighed, "give me a pickle."

Jason smiled while handing Richie a pickle. He slowly tilted the peanut butter jar towards him, and Richie scooped out a good chunk of peanut butter before taking a large bite. Jason watched with a satisfied smirk as Richie's eyes widened comically before he got more.