Solangelo One Shots

Pit Stop(Part 3)

Last part! I never thought that this series would go as far as it did, but I'm glad it did.

Will's POV

The truck door slammed and Nico was next to him, two cokes clutched in his hands and a goofy grin on his face. A sweatshirt encased his frame and he tucked his legs underneath him, leaning his back onto the seat. He handed one of the cokes to Will and he opened it, a hiss escaping the top of the bottle as he took a long sip, the carbonation falling down his throat. "You ready?" Nico asked, bing brown eyes staring at him. 

"Yep," Will said, his mouth set in a grim smile. "Let's go quit my job." He turned the keys into the ignition, the truck rumbling with as the engine started. A feeling of sadness swept through Will's body as he realized that there wouldn't be many more times he would hear that sound. But he knew that he was leaving that sound for something better. Or someone better, someone sitting next to him with his legs pulled up onto the seat and his eyes aimed eagerly at the road. 

"Well?" Nico prompted. "Are we going?" 

"Yeah, yeah, we're going," Will laughed, pulling out of the small parking lot of the gas station. The tank was full, snacks were piled high on the floor and blankets folded neatly next to them. There wouldn't be a need for stopping for miles to come.

"Are you nervous?" Nico asked once the trees were speeding past them, a blur of oranges and golds. 

"A little," Will admitted. "I've been at this job for years. It's my first real job, other than dog walking and babysitting when I was younger. But at the same time, I couldn't stay there forever. I wouldn't have been able to stand it. This is a new beginning." A leaf blew up from the road, turned from a vibrant green to a rich golden brown. He would miss the verdant green of summer but there was something equally beautiful about the rich colors of fall, the oranges and the golds and the browns. They were unrecognizable from their previous states, but the change didn't make them any less beautiful.

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To the right was a little shack, decorated with a peeling bathroom sign and the green grass surrounding it dotted with picnic tables. The reflection of the sun glinted off of the river running behind it and white puffs of dying dandelions stuck up from the ground. Will turned the wheel, pulling the eighteen-wheeler into the small parking lot and pushing open the door. "I'm going to the bathroom," he told Nico, whose head rested on the foggy glass windowpane. "You coming?"

"Yeah," Nico decided, standing up and cracking his back. "It'll be nice to get some fresh air." It was cool as they walked away from the truck, a light breeze running through the trees surrounding the rest stop. 

"Did you have to go?" Will asked, nodding toward the shack. 

"Nah, I'll just wait out here for you." They split off once Will reached the shack as Will slipped inside and Nico was cut from his view. The slats of wood allowed a sliver of sunshine inside, but Will knew that it was fading fast; they days were getting shorter and so was the daylight. Eventually, they would have to stop for the night.

When Will stepped out of the shack Nico was gone but the tall grass that had blocked the path to the river had been pushed aside so Will made his way down to the water, beetles clinging to the ends of the green blades of grass. When he reached the riverbank Nico was wading into the water, his black jeans rolled halfway up his calves and his arms hanging loosely by his side. "Nico?" Will called. "What are you doing?" Nico turned back to him, the sunlight catching in his deep brown eyes and a smile dancing on his lips. 

"Come in!" he shouted. "It's nice." Will kicked off his shoes, tugging up his jeans and stepping into the water. It was shockingly warm and a minnow curiously darted over to his leg, drawing closer and closer until flitting away again.