Life of Spike Murdoch

Chapter 16 - Drinking Buddies

Same events played out throughout this new alternate timeline after Remmy and his parents came back from the hospital safe and sound, mellowing down at home for the next few days. Without having to help Remmy fight through his depression, Spike and Autumn went to the movies by themselves, still avoiding Autumn's father in the process of leaving the movie theater afterwards. The Stonewells kept to their plan for their getaway vacation, meeting up with Lenny, and having him and Roxie compete in the surfing competition, resulting in the same winner placements. Everything seemed normal from here on out. Spike became closer with Autumn, Remmy kept his parents safe, Truck and his family, alongside Lenny, came back from their vacation, and Tyrone got the chance to hang out with the big crow again, outside of the gym.

The kind-spirited donkey did his own thing during the last few months that led up to meeting up with Truck at their favorite pub. He was still dealing with a broken heart from his ex-girlfriend, but he still kept a big smile on his face. Taking a seat next to his feathery friend by the bar, both ordering a simple beer with some honey-roasted nuts on the side. They get to talking right away, laughing and joking throughout the whole night, like real brothers who've been through their time of messed up shenanigans and past occurrences, like a couple of mischievous hedgehogs we know.

"Well, Big T!", said Tyrone. "How was your family vacation? Pretty rad, if I might say? Your wife was kicking ass out there in the water on my television!"
"Heh, oh, definitely!", enamored Truck. "TJ and I were surely starstruck at her performance out there! I still can't believe she got third place out of all the other competitors!"
"Haha, I bet! Gosh, if only I could get me a woman like that. Would definitely make my life more worth living than just muscling it up at the gym all week long."
"Hm. How've you been holding up, by the way? With your ex, I mean."
"Ah... well, she's out of my life, so I couldn't be happier. All she saw in me was looks and wealth, instead of my 'charming' personality. Can you believe that? What a gold-digger."
"Ouch. I'm really sorry to hear that, Ty."
"Thanks... but, hey, we're not here to talk about women. This is men's night, bro! Better drink up your fill!"
"Ha! Here, here!"

The boys continued their night, as they left the bar with a happy grin on their faces, albeit a bit drunk. Tyrone was more buzzed than Truck, since he only drank one beer and some water since he can't handle much liquor in his system, so he drove himself and Tyrone down to the bowling alley so they could finish off their night with some good ol' strikes. Tyrone was awful at bowling, but he didn't mind if he sucked; as long as he got to hang with his best pal and have fun doing so. Truck, practically a master at bowling, racked up multiple strikes and spares down the alley, as Tyrone cheered him on, bringing around some patrons to watch the large crow destroy the pins with every throw.
"Hell yeah, Big T! You're- HUP!- CRUSHING it!" Tyrone cheered from the back, holding another beer in his hand. Truck turned around, giving his friend a thumbs up and a huge toothy smile. He didn't wanna intrude in Tyrone's grieving, but he kept worrying about Tyrone as he continually drank himself to near unconsciousness near the end of closing time, practically dragging the poor donkey out from the establishment. He didn't make too many noticeable scenes around the public to get kicked out, which was a good sign.

He fell into a deep slumber as soon as he was thrown into the backseat of Truck's vehicle. Truck is able to drag someone as heavy as Tyrone was with no real issue, but now having the responsibility to get him back home and in bed in his state was another story. Tyrone lived in a small apartment complex up on the third floor. Truck having to soon regret his decision to literally drag the unconscious donkey up multiple flights of stairs was a huge task. Pulling and grunting his way up the stairs, passing by some of the oncoming residents; some of them offering to help Truck, but he denied the help. After what felt like an eternity, they made it to the front door of Tyrone's room. Grabbing his keys from the donkey's sweatpants, Truck inserted the keys in the door and welcomed himself in. Right away, he got a whiff of a very awful and pungent smell coming from the kitchen, seeing a gallon of expired milk and old leftovers from a Thai restaurant. He held his breath, as he continued to drag his friend back to his room to carefully toss him down on his bed, making a loud sound from the worn-out box-spring underneath the mattress. Truck finally took a deep breath, finally relieved from carrying around Tyrone's weight from the car to the bed. He took a moment to look around Tyrone's room, turning on the lights, seeing how much of a mess it was. Dirty dishes, old pizza boxes, empty energy drink cans and multiple tubs of workout supplements scattered all over the floor.
"Goodness, Ty.", whispered Truck. "Just how rarely do you even clean up around here?"
Truck sighed, finally leaning back up and stretching his muscles, with a bit of an aching pain from his back.
"Hhng! D-dammit..."
Tyrone, still asleep after all the constant movement, grabbed a hold of a nearby pillow and clutched it tight around his arms and chest. Truck decided to leave him be, shutting the door and turning off the lights. He didn't wanna leave his friend right away, so he called his wife to let her know that he's going to stay the night with Tyrone until he wakes up, having Roxie understand the situation. He hung up the phone, as he slumped himself down on Tyrone's squeaky rocking chair. He wanted to clean up a bit of the mess and the smelly food stench in the air, but he was too tuckered out to get back up. After flicking on the small television with the TV remote, hearing crackling static and audio glitches from the glowing box, he began to stare at the screen until he fell asleep. Definitely a better day to have than most do.