KISS: Road Trip

Ch 29: Oh My Gosh They Were Roommates (Bruce)

"Okay so we're seriously doing this, right? Like you seriously want to be roommates?" Eric asked, popping open his trunk. "Eric, oh my gosh. We've talked about this, yes I want to be your roommate! I like hanging out with you, you're my best friend and it's going to be fun to share an apartment!" I said, grabbing a cardboard box out of my car as Eric did the same, both of us walking up thankfullt only three flights of stairs.

He unlocked the door, balancing his box on his hip before pushing open the door. "Well, here we go! Here's our new apartment!" he said cheerfully. I grinned, setting the box I was holding onto the counter of the kitchen area and looking around. "Hell yeah man. This is going to be fun!"

Between the two of us it only took an hour or two to unpack everything, and eventually Eric flattened the last box, giving me a huge grin. "Well, we did it! Saved a couple thousand on rent apiece!" he said excitedly. I nodded, returning his smile. "That we did, man, that we did. It'll be fun being roommates, even if living with you is gonna like...triple my grocery bill."

He laughed, throwing a pillow at me. "Shut up I have a job too you know. I can pay for my own food, thank you very much." "But will you?" I asked, before rising to my feet. "Yes I will, don't worry. Speaking of groceries though, we should probably go get some, since we don't have that much food. I mean yeah we have some stuff but we should get more!" he said, jumping to his feet. Shaking my head with a laugh, I stretched, feeling my shoulders pop satisfyingly. "Alright fine, let's go."

The instant we got to the store he wandered off, leaving me alone to get the actual groceries, per usual. I was halfway through getting some of the food we needed when Eric came running back over to me. "Bruce can we get this?!" I turned to look at Eric as he put a three pound gummy bear into the cart. "I mean, would you listen if I said no?" He gave me a grin, eyes shining. "I love you and I respect your opinion but also no I would not listen," he said. "I swear, you act like you're six sometimes," I teased, ruffling his hair fondly.

"Hey! I resent that! I'm just trying to have fun!" he protested. I laughed, shaking my head. "You know what Eric? Go wild, man." His face absolutely lit up and he gave me a huge smile. "Oh hell yes I'm gonna get so much junk food!"

"Okay wait hold on don't go too wild," I started, but he shook his head, hair bouncing wildly. "No no, I have your express permission to go wild and I am getting whatever the hell I want!" he said cheerfully, darting off again. I rolled my eyes, feeling my stomach start to twist into knots and shook my head, looking at the grocery list that I was clutching with a shaking hand. "Calm down Bruce, it's fine. It's for him, you don't have to eat that type of food," I muttered to myself.

Eric was absolutely thrilled with the amount of junk food he had gotten, putting most of it in the pantry but leaving the giant gummy bear on the counter, taking a bite, his eyes immediately lighting up. "Ooh this is amazing! Oh man best $20 I ever spent!" he said happily. I raised an eyebrow, leaning against the counter. "You spent $20 on that thing?" "That I did, and it was worth every penny. You wanna try it?"

I shook my head, pouring myself a glass of water. "Nah, I'm okay." He squinted at me, taking another bite of the gummy bear. "Okay if you insist!" I nodded, forcing a smile. "Yeah I just uh...I dunno, that stuff kind of makes me nervous. No, that's not the word. More like anxious." Eric squinted even more at me, raising an eyebrow. "Bruce."

"I like eating healthy and it freaks me out a bit seeing so much unhealthy food, I'm sorry." He folded his arms across his chest, sitting back in his chair. "Bruce." "I'm not doing anything unhealthy I swear I've just struggled with my relationship with food for years, you know that, and I'm still working on it but I swear on my life that I'm not doing that again," I said, trying to reassure him.

"Bruce, look. I was fucking terrified when you had your eating disorder. I watched all the videos in health class, I know what an eating disorder can do to people. I was terrified you'd seriously hurt yourself, or-or worse you'd end up dying! It was scary man, once you got bad you started dropping weight hella fast, you were really thin and I was really scared."

I swallowed the lump in my throat, staring at the floor. "I'm sorry. I never meant to scare you." "I know you didn't, and I'm not mad at you, I'm just asking you to please, please just stay safe and healthy. I don't want to see you go through that again."

"I know," I mumbled, hands starting to shake. "You won't." "I won't see it or you won't do it? Because you've lied to me before."

"I--" "I won't see it, or you won't do it?!" "I won't do it! I won't, I promise Eric I won't!" I cried, feeling my heart racing again even though this time I was actually telling the truth. He heaved a sigh, rising to his feet and leaning on the counter next to me.

"Look, Bruce, I have watched what you ate ever since I figured out you had relapsed into your eating disorder the summer before college. I was so excited when you started uploading daily posts of your meals on Instagram because it showed me you were eating. And I know it's been years since you've done that, and that makes me really happy and I'm really proud of you. But you've relapsed before and I'm still scared you'll do it again," he said quietly.

I stared at him, stunned, as he took a deep breath and kept going. "Shandi and I used to joke about whose turn it was to stalk you that week because we were both watching what you were eating because we were both scared you'd slip up again and we didn't want you to get hurt. And I guess it's just hard to get out of that habit. So if I'm bugging you about food I'm sorry, it's not because I don't trust you, I just want you to be safe and happy."

"I...Eric, I'm sorry. I didn't realize that you were so worried about me," I mumbled, face burning. "Just do me a favor and keep being healthy. And I'm not mad at you, I've never been mad at you for this, and if you ever need to talk to me about anything I'm always here for you." I bit back a smile, giving him a nudge in the ribs. "You've never been mad at me, huh? What about all the times we fought senior year? Or that time you slapped me in the face?"

"Hey! You said yourself that you needed that slap!" he protested, and I laughed, giving him a hug. "I'm just kidding. I appreciate everything you've always done for me Eric, it means a lot, really." He gave me a fond smile. "I know. Anyway I'm going to go keep making sure that everything's all organized in my half of our room."

I stretched out on the couch as he did that, scrolling through my phone before accidentally falling asleep, worn out as equally physically as I was mentally.

"Hey Bruce wake up."

I pushed myself upright, squinting at Eric as he shook me again. "What? What happened?" I mumbled. "I made dinner! You took a nap and I didn't want to wake you up so I just decided to make the meal. And it's healthy I promise."

I gave him a smile, jumping to my feet and ruffling his hair. "Thanks, Eric. That was nice of you." "Hey, we're roommates now, I get to take care of you and stuff!" he said happily, making a huge smile spread across my face.