Chasing Summer

Somewhere Not Here

After being on the road for two hours, Petra decided that she was tired of driving, so she pulled into a Chevron gas station with the dual purpose of filling up on gas and switching driver's.

Once we were parked at a pump, I pushed open the passenger side door and a gust of cool wind blew back my hair. Eren turned his head to gaze at me over his shoulder, a gorgeous smile lighting up his face. I knew that every fiber of his being wanted to get away, to get lost in the world and leave pieces of himself behind that could later be found by someone who didn't know him. If he could describe his soul in poems and art, and pin it up on the universe as galaxies and nebulas, he would. Although he hadn't admitted it to me, I knew that he longed to be remembered in a devastatingly beautiful way.

I'd always remember him like that, his eyes being tiny planets of their own.

"I have to pee," Eren announced, loud enough that I was pretty sure the people parked in front of us had heard him. "Come with me to the bathroom."

"Oh," said Jean, donning his I'm-about-to-be-an-asshole smirk. "You guys better not get 'familiar'with each other's knobs, if you know what I mean." He winked in the most sarcastic way possible.

I rolled my eyes so hard, I was sure that they would stick to the top of my eyelids. "Your face is about to get 'familiar' with my fist, if you don't shut your mouth."

Eren chuckled before tugging me out of the truck. He popped his head back inside and said, "Jean, I'm already very familiar with Levi's knob."

Why, Eren? Why?

I didn't wait to hear Jean's response to that, instead grabbing hold of the handle of Eren's oxygen cart with one hand, and his hand in the other. I started walking toward the convenience store, and felt him put his free hand on my hip, thumb brushing my skin. I glanced back at him. He doubled his steps to press his front to my back, dropping his chin onto my shoulder. We shuffled awkwardly to the front entrance that way, but once we were inside, he pulled me toward the restroom.

The stench that emitted from right outside the restroom was enough to make me double back. I wrinkled my nose, because that was the definition of foul. There was no way I was going in there.

Eren shuffled from foot to foot, a pout creasing the skin between his eyebrows. "I really have to pee. Don't make me go in there alone."

"Ugh, fine," I grumbled, "but I'm not touching anything."

"Mkay."

He opened the door and immediately the smell slapped me in the face. Oh, fuck. He should've just peed outside, where there was fresh air to breathe. I didn't even want to think about breathing in this stuff, but Eren was already stepping inside, so I followed after him.

"I'm dying," he bellowed as the door clicked shut behind us, covering his nose with the sleeve of his shirt.

I pulled the collar of my shirt up over the bottom half of my face in a desperate attempt to block out the stink. It didn't help much. "Hurry up and pee before we both die in here."

"Okay, okay." He stepped up to the toilet that was a ghastly shade of yellow, and said, in a too calm voice, "Um, there's a hole in the wall." He pointed to it. It was to the right of him; big enough that someone could stick their hand through it, and level with his crotch.

I instantly tugged him back behind me, realizing what it was. "It's a glory hole. That's it. You're peeing outside."

"A glory hole," Eren repeated, peeking at it over my head. "Do you think a guy is really going to poke his dick through it? Or, wait, they could watch me too."