KISS: Road Trip

Ch 1: Five Years (Paul)

I looked over my notes with a sigh, shaking my head. Calculus sucked. It was the easiest math class I could take but I was still barely passing. "Bet Gene wouldn't have any issue with this," I muttered, looking at the clock as I reached for my phone. Midnight, it would only be nine for him, there was no way he'd be asleep.

Even still, it rang for awhile before he answered. "Hello?"  "Hey! How's your day been? You free to talk right now? I'm kinda struggling with math and I was wondering if you could help," I asked, trying to force a smile while also immediately feeling like something was wrong.

There was a long pause before Gene let out an even longer sigh. "I'm really sorry man, I've got uh...I've got a test tomorrow in...uh...calc and I really need to study. I'll call you when I'm free, how about that?"

My heart sank but I shook it off. "Yeah, sounds good! Good luck on your test, let me know how it goes! Reminds me, I gotta study for my test next week anyway. I've got a C in math right now and that's not ideal."

He laughed, and I could almost picture his smile. "Paul, Paul, Paul. Of course you do. You better get on that before your parents find out. I'll catch you later, love you man!" "Sounds like a plan. Bye Gene, love you!"

I hung up and ran a hand through my hair with a sigh. "Guess it's just you and me tonight," I grumbled to my textbook, sliding it closer with a scowl. He'd call later, I could talk to him then, it would be fine.

But he didn't call later.

He didn't message me again at all.

~Five years later~

I yawned, throwing another shirt into my duffle bag before throwing it over my shoulder. "Finally," I muttered, running a hand through my hair and looking around the room. I had gotten everything I needed for visiting my parents for a few weeks in the summer, which meant I could lock up my apartment and head back home. It was going to be nice to see the rest of them, even if it was going to take a few days to get everyone together. But on the bright side, Ace said he'd meet me for lunch this afternoon.

It was going to be nice to meet up with him and Peter and Eric and Bruce and not think about anyone else who might not be talking to us anymore or anything. Definitely wasn't still heartbroken about the fact that someone had stopped talking to me for no reason or anything.

I was really looking forward to lunch by the time I pulled into the parking lot at the restaurant, sending a text to Ace.

u here yet?

Ace: lol u know me im like six minutes out

ofc u are. hurry up im starving tho

Ace: hey now no breaking the law for me, im gonna go the speed limit

alright alright fineee see u soon

His six minutes turned into more like fifteen minutes and my stomach was growling by the time he finally got to the restaurant, giving me a huge smile as he walked over. "Damn, man, about time!" I cried, smiling back. "Oh, shut up, Paulie," he said, giving me a tight hug. "I've missed you! Living up north and all that! But I gotta say, you're looking really good," he said, winking

My face turned red in spite of myself and I shook my head. "Thanks. You look like the exact same since the last time I saw you," I teased. He gave me the same wide grin as always, shaking his head. "Well we can't all be hunky football players, now can we? But come on, let's eat! I'm starving."

"Yeah you're telling me," I muttered, holding open the door for him. We sat at our table, looking over the menus, before he let out a sigh. "Aw man, I've missed you. Remember when we used to date?" I smiled, setting down my menu and tilting my head as I looked at him. "Well yeah, I'm not gonna forget that. It was like a span of several months our senior year of high school, that wasn't that long ago."

"Hey, it was five years, that's kind of long! That's like half a decade and everything!" Ace retorted, eyes shining. I felt my heart sink a little bit. Yeah. Five years since I had seen him. But it was summer and I didn't want to waste my time thinking about someone who didn't care about me. "Yeah, that was fun. You and Peter still dating? I know you guys have been on and off like all through college."

Ace rolled his eyes, taking a sip of water. "Don't even get me started on Peter. We are off at the moment, due to the fact he's once again been taking my money for cocaine. But we'll see how summer goes. He had told me he was gonna try and quit since he's kinda managing his garage and it's hard to do that while high apparently. But you know. I do still love him, so we might get back together. I've missed him and all that, and we've been texting a lot again lately," he said, soft smile spreading across his face.

"That sucks he's doing that again. I thought we'd gotten him to quit for sure during senior year." Ace let out a sigh, shaking his head. "I know, I know. We need Gene to punch him in the face again," he said, before his eyes widened and he covered his mouth with his hand. "Oh, shit, Paulie I'm sorry. I didn't think," he murmured. I just forced a smile. "No, it's okay! Just sucks, but it's okay. Now come on, let's just focus on summer and having fun. It'll be fun to see the rest of them!"

Ace nodded, grinning excitedly. "It's gonna be really fun! We're all gonna be able to hang out and stuff and like now that we're 23 we can drink and all that legally!" I raised an eyebrow as the waiter set down our plates. "I mean we've been doing that for years anyway." With a shrug, Ace took a bite of his pasta. "Well yeah, but I meant like bars and stuff! Which I mean I guess we have been doing that since we were 21 and maybe also before but still. This is our first summer where we weren't just in college, it's gonna be good! It's gonna be special, I can feel it."

The only thing that would make the summer that special would be if Gene ever called me back. But after half a decade, I had given up.