To Never Fall In Love 🤍 Boat/Lee

Chapter 9 ~ truck stop ~

The smell of grease was nauseating and every so often the aroma of sweaty male mixed with cigarette smoke would assail Liam's nasal passages, did Champ really expect them to eat actual food in this place?

They both walked to a counter where a couple of middle aged ladies were serving.

"morning Vera, how are you?" Champ said to one of the ladies.

"Champ luv, not seen you for a while, how are you doing?" the woman called Vera asked him.

"not too bad V' I don't get down here very often these days, this is Liam, my friend visiting from Thailand" Champ introduced them.

"Hello luv, are you having a good time?" Vera asked Liam.

"yes, thank you" Liam replied.

"right, what can I get you boys?" Vera asked them both.

"I'm thinking two mugs of tea, and a couple of bacon butty's V', is that ok Liam" Champ asked him.

"I guess" Liam replied after looking at the menu board which was basically a variation of dishes consisting of the same ingredients, bacon, sausage, egg, chips and beans.

The woman called Vera put two massive mugs on the counter in front of them and Liam had never seen a mug as big so when he mentioned it Champ told him they were pint pots.

"literally, a pint of tea?" Liam asked incredulously.

"come on, lets sit down" Champ replied smiling.

They managed to find a booth away from everyone else so it wasn't as bad as Liam imagined and Champ added sugar to his tea before offering the sugar to Liam,

"I don't take sugar" he replied.

"trust me you'll need the energy and some carb's for this job" Champ said.

Vera soon approached the table and put down two plates with the biggest bread cakes Liam had ever seen, they must have been about 10" in diameter and crispy fried bacon was poking out from the edges.

"thanks V', these look tasty" Champ said.

"they should be, I fried em' in home made pork dripping and I gave you boys extra rashers" she winked before walking away.

"ok, get stuck in Liam" Champ said picking up his knife and cutting the bread cake in half.

Liam copied him and took a bite of his butty, he had to admit it was very tasty but he wasn't sure he could finish it all.

"is it good?" Champ asked.

"mmm this is the first time I've eaten bread in years but what is pork dripping?" Liam said.

"it's the fat that drips off pork when it's roasting" Champ replied.

"shiyaa Champ, I'm eating bread and fat" Liam paled.

"but it tastes so good and there's nothing better when you've been on the road for several hours" Champ laughed.

"it's certainly an interesting life you live Champ" Liam said.

"it pays the bills, what more does a person want or need, a roof over your head, food on the table, good friends and if you're lucky, someone to share your life with" Champ replied.

"what are your thoughts on celebrities then?" Liam asked.

"if that's what makes them happy, it's nothing to do with me" Champ shrugged.

"no, I meant as someone to share your life with?" Liam corrected.

"it wouldn't matter to me what that person did for a living as long as we got on well"