Road Trip Across the U.S. of Gay (gxg)

Chapter 6: Ripley's Home, State College, Pennsylvania

How I Met Your Mother reruns play on the TV as I scour the internet, going from site to site trying to come up with some ideas. Yeah, we said that we were going to see that stupid thing, but that's only in Kansas. I'm trying to make this trip last as long as possible, even if it takes all summer. Preferably if it takes all summer, to be honest.

There are a ton of things to see, too. We are starting in the north east of the country in Pennsylvania, we have almost unlimited options of what direction to go, how we will get there. I don't want to just drive nonstop and go directly to our destination. No, we need to find a thing to start with, then once we get there we can see what's next. The less that is planned, the better. It's the unknown that makes it an adventure. Like they say, focus on the journey, not the destination.

Pennsylvania is boring, though. If there's something here, I've probably already seen it. And this is supposed to be fun and thrilling, we're not going to go and see historical shit in Philadelphia. Hmmm, maybe Ohio will be a good place to start. Opening a new tab I type in Ohio landmarks, hopeful that something will come of it. One of the first things suggested makes my eyes widen and I laugh. If they agree, we are definitely going there.

[!][!][!][!][!]

I exit the house to meet Lorelai as she walks up the driveway, pushing my dog back with my foot- I don't need her backing out because Bosco thought it was a good idea to bite her.

"Hey," I greet, bending down and lifting up the garage door from the outside; we're too pour to be able to have a button, and the only way that the thing even locks is by lodging a screwdriver into it from the inside. Not exactly fool proof, but nobody seems to want to steal a rusted truck that doesn't run.

"Hey," she replies, setting down a tool box and box of supplies by her feet. She stretches her arms afterwards and looks at me expectantly as I just stand there. Oh, shit, right.

"Um, do what you need to, I guess. I don't think I'll be any help but I can do whatever you need." I help her lift up the hood and place the support into place. She looks at me and smiles wide.

"Let's get started, shall we?"

[!][!][!][!][!]

I sit in the driver's seat as Lorelai lays under the truck checking the breaks. "Can you press down slowly?" I do as told, notifying her when done. "Great, hold it."

Leaning back in the seat I look around the interior. Kathleen may not have kept the thing running, but she did keep the inside nice. He husband had redone the inside right before his passing, too, so it was fairly new.

As Lorelai continues to work on the brakes, I think about something to make things not as quiet. "I was talking to Kel last night about some stuff that he's going through and...shit, I guess  I should have asked you first, but I think that he wants to come. Is that a problem with you?"

"Um...I guess not. I don't hate him or anything, but he does need to bring something to this. You have the vehicle, I'm fixing the vehicle, I figured that we would both split costs of the trip, but he has to contribute something too," she replies. "Let up on the brake slowly and then that should be good." Slowly lifting my foot, I get out of the truck carefully and shut the door. Lorelai comes out from under the truck and wipes her hands off on a rag she provided.

"Only forty-five minutes in and the brakes are done, I'm impressed."

"There's still a lot more to do, but that definitely gives me some hope. Before I start on anything else, though, can I use your bathroom?"

"Yeah, of course," I assure, leading her into the house towards the bathroom. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Water is good, thanks," she says, going into the tiny space and closing the door. I hear the sink running as I go to the kitchen and get out two bottles of water. Sitting on a stool, I sit the drinks down and take out my phone. I have a text from my parents telling me that they are both working late as well as a missed call from Kel from less than fifteen minutes ago. Pressing the redial button I hold it up to my ear. He answers right away, sounding frustrated.

"Why didn't you answer your phone?"

"Sorry, I was in the middle of something. What do you need?" I ask as I play with the label on the bottle.

"My parents kicked me out for the weekend, said that I can't come back until Sunday afternoon. Can I come over? I'll stay out of the way, you won't even know I'm there-"

"Kel, don't be stupid, just come over. You didn't have to even call."

"Good, because I'm outside of your house." Before I can react, he hangs up and I hear my front door opening and closing. Bosco jumps up from his spot on the couch to greet Kel and I roll my eyes.

"Jesus, Kel, how long have you been out there?"

"I just got here, don't worry." He opens up my fridge and gets out his own bottle before gesturing to the two in front of me. "Someone here?"

"Yup." Lorelai is the one that answers as she comes and sits next to me, petting Bosco's head as he sniffs her. "I'm working on the truck, something that I heard you are interested in."

He leans on the bar in front of us, taking a sip of water. "The fact that my parents just kicked me out for the weekend for no reason other than they don't want to look at me just convinced me more."

"So what do you have to offer to the trip?"

Not saying anything, he simply takes out his thick wallet from his back wallet. "I have a set of rich parents that I don't mind taking money from." Lorelai looks at me as if for approval and I nod, laughing as she grins.

"Welcome to the family."

[!][!][!][!][!]