Night in the Ruts

Shovel and a Shotgun - Charlie

Would it be logical to wake up an hour earlier to drive an hour to get to school?

        No.

        But am I gonna do it anyway?

        Yes.

--

I woke up on Saturday morning, wanting nothing more than to get away.  Weird, right?

        Well, I was tired of the whole Nicky deal and I thought that maybe if I were to go a little farther away, I could escape the trouble for a little bit.  Of course, in time, it'd catch up to me, but it was worth a shot.  Plus, I like Alice and my dad and Boston.

        That's why, when I joined my family for breakfast on the morning of Sunday the fifth of September, I said, "I think I'd like to go to Dad's."  Jess gaped at me, my mom stabbed the knife through the toast she was buttering.

        I made myself a bagel.  "Why?" Mom asked.

        I shrug.  " 'Cause I never see him."

        "You had the chance over the summer," she offers.  It's true.  Way back after my first Aerosmith show, my mom told me to pack a bag to go to my dad's.  I ended up not going, though, for some odd reason.

        "I have the chance now, too," I say smartly.

        "Says who?" my mom demands.  She doesn't like my dad.

        "Me."  I bit into the bagel, feeling kind of bad-ass after the answer I gave.  I need some aviators and a leather jacket right now.  Maybe a cigarette if I was in to that kind of thing– but I'm not.

        Jess just kind of gaped at me still.  Mom started buttering another piece of toast.

        So I called my dad and he said to come up whenever.  I tried to get Jess to take me, but she was like, "No.  Way."

        Midway through packing, the phone rang.  Because it's right there on my night stand, I answered.  Of course it was Steven Tyler.

        "Hi," he said tiredly.  "What're you doing?"

        I already feel my cheeks growing hot.  Why do they do that?  I'm talking on the fucking phone!  "Nothin'– just packing," I say back casually.  In my mind I keep saying, Don't be a loser, don't be a loser, don't be a loser!  God, you're such a fucking loser!

        He seems kind of alarmed.  "What?  Why?"  It's kind of cute that he's so worried.  Wait, what the hell?

        I laugh.  "I'm going to my dad's for a little while," I say.  "Why?"

        "Oh," he says.  "Just wondering."  It's like he's disappointed or something.  "Where's he live?"

        I throw a pair of jeans onto my bed.  "Boston."

        "Really?"  I can see his eyes light up in my head.  It makes me smile.

        "Yeah."  I grab some shirts from my closet.

        "As in Massachusetts," he says, not making it a question.

        "That's what I said," I chuckle.

        "When're you leaving?"  He's having trouble masking his excitement.  Why is he so happy about this?  Doesn't this mean that we'll see each other even less?