Chapter 3

"Hey Gar, remember when we were 13 and Bernie took us fishing..."

"Yeah, that was fun, but if I remember correctly, you did nothing but complain when we got there. The bait smelt fishy, the sun's too hot..."

"Or how about the time in college when we spent spring break in Miami..."

"...And you gave your self alcohol poisoning..."

"Why must you always bring up the negativity of things..."

"Look Chuck, I don't have time for this, I have to go..." He still had some time to get to his next rescue, he just didn't feel like arguing. That's what it seemed like he and Chuck did for the last couple of days.

"Oh sure run off. Leave. Go do something else..."

"It's not that I don't want to spend time with you..."

"Run off..."

"I still don't have time for this, Chuck. If I don't do this people will get hurt or worse..." Gary said trying to argue is point. "Marissa you understand, right?"

"Marissa you agree with me, right?" Chuck asked.

Marissa listened to the two argue about this all week. She really didn't want to take sides on this, but it looked as if she now had no choice.

"Sorry Gary, but I agree with Chuck. If you keep up this frenetic pace that you've been keeping for the last couple weeks, you'll make yourself sick."

"See I told you Marissa agrees with me... " Gary stated.

"You never agree with me. I think you have it against me..." Chuck started at the same time.

They both stopped and turned to Marissa and said "Wait... What?"

"Oh great, not you too," Gary said, exasperated. "So, what about the paper?"

"Leave it," Chuck said. "The world won't fall apart without your intervention for a couple days."

That thought didn't put Gary's mind at ease. It only made him feel guiltier.

"No! I got it, let Bernie and Lois handle it." Chuck said.

"My parents? I can't just dump it on them, Chuck," Gary said.

"Dump it on them? I don't think they would see it that way, Gar." Chuck ran behind the bar. "I'm sure they won't see it that way!"

"What are you doing?" Gary asked.

"Calling your parents," Chuck said quickly as he picked up the phone from it's cradle and dialed the number. "I thought you had to go..."

"Don't do that!" Gary yelled running towards him. "Hang up! I haven't agreed to anything yet."

"I'm not going to hang up... " Chuck said trying to dodge Gary, who was trying his hardest to get the phone. "You need a break... it's for your own goo..." He accidentally backed himself into a corner. Luckily, Gary's mom answered the phone. "Good Morning Lois, it's Chuck."

Gary was about to pull the phone away from Chuck, but stopped when Lois answered the phone. "Oh great..." he muttered to himself.

"I'm fine... no... yeah... nothing's wrong, everything's good..." Chuck said into the phone.

Gary sat on a stool and glared at Chuck from across the bar.

"No... Gary? There's nothing wrong with him. He right here... Actually he wants to ask you something but he's being shy about it so, I'll ask you. Can you and Bernie possibly take the paper off his hands for one weekend? A long weekend, just three days..."

Gary shook his head in disbelief. Chuck actually called his parents.

"No... this isn't about a girl... I know I'm sorry to hear that too... It's for a guy's getaway weekend... uh... huh... yeah.. You and Bernie would love to... this weekend? I'm sure that's fine... you'll be here on Friday? Oh... Thursday night? Thursday afternoon? Okay I'll tell him... yeah good bye Lois." Chuck hung up the phone.

Maybe he needed a break. For once Chuck and Marissa actually agreed on something. That in itself was rare. He was also curious to what Chuck had in mind. Knowing him it probably included scantily clad women on some tropical beach. The tropical beach part did appeal to him. He turned his attention back to Chuck, and waited. Once Chuck hung up the phone, Gary would tell him yes.

"There, now you don't have to worry about the paper," Chuck said still standing a good distance away from Gary.

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yeah, okay. So, where are we going?"

Chuck stood there excitedly dumbfounded. He hadn't actually planned anything. He never thought Gary would say yes, at least without a fight.

"You don't have anything planned, do you?"

"Not a thing. I guess I'll call your mother and tell her to forget the whole thing," Chuck said clearly disappointed. Why couldn't he have had something planned just in case Gary ever said yes.

"Don't do that. I've got something in mind." Gary looked down at his watch. He need to be at a convince store robbery in twenty minutes. If he didn't leave now, he would never make it. "I'll tell you when I get back."

*TBC*

Read and review! The story is going to be about 10 chapters long. :)