Ricky dragged his feet to work, absolutely exhausted. He stayed up that whole day watching videos on Vinny's channel, rather sad that he was abandoned. It wasn't until he saw the other man he was traveling with graffiti 'Ryan was here' that he recognized who he was. No wonder he hadn't been responding to the notes they left.
The nights were long as Ricky waited to go home. It was going to be a while until Vinny and Ryan returned and he was trying to be patient but it wasn't working.
No book caught Ricky's attention for long enough that he could get engaged. The customers were few and the cook was barely around anyways. After all, it wasn't that hard to make a sandwich and Ricky was capable of doing it himself.
"Two more weeks." Ricky kept repeating to himself. He had never felt so lonely before.
Ricky frequently complained about how annoying Vinny was, but he missed him now. He missed his pestering remarks. He missed his scattered and messy personality. He missed the comfort he received from their friendship.
At first, he liked watching the videos Vinny emailed to him to preview, but then he got tired of them. He got tired of being the one that was left behind. He got tired of being up all night and alone all day. He just wanted his friends back.
It was almost a dream when Vinny came charging through the door a week later, hugging Ricky tight. He was unshowered and unshaven, a mess from weeks on the road with no real place to rest.
"How was your trip?" Ricky asked, grinning from ear to ear. He held his shoulder as he walked him to his typical booth and they kicked up their feet.
They stayed there, at the table, until morning. Ricky's cheeks hurt from smiling and his ribs from laughing but he couldn't be more overjoyed. Vinny had brought back quite a few souvenirs for him. Mostly rocks and such from states they visited but also tee shirts, magnets, and mugs.
As the sun began to rise, Ricky cleaned his things up and got ready to go home, silently praying that Ryan would come in. But he didn't. Even Vinny didn't know where he was at the moment.
Just as Ricky was walking out, he bumped into someone. Their book fell from their handed and Ricky rushed to pick it up but they bumped heads. Ricky laughed it off and picked up the book, smiling at the title. Tuesday's With Morrie. He could see a hundred sticky notes sticking out with annotations.
Ricky looked up and was met with a gaze that had such warm energy that he couldn't help but grin from ear to ear and look away shyly.
"Ricky?" He was asked, to which he nodded bashfully. It was his Ryan. Ryan was there.
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