Billy awoke to something heavy on his lap; he figured it was his guitar. He rubbed his eyes, and ran his hand over his face several times, and then grabbed at the guitar, but what he'd touched wasn't his guitar, it was in fact a human, Spencer to be more precise; he was curled up, resting his head on Billy's thigh.
His first thought was to panic, but then he smiled, there was always something soothing about seeing someone else sleeping. Everyone looked so peaceful in their sleep, they looked as if everything in the world was fine; he wondered if he looked like that when he slept. Of course, The Cobra always looks good, he thought, laughing to himself.
He then felt something move, and remembered that he still had his hand resting on Spencer's shoulder. He glanced down to see if the boy had awoken and quickly pulled his hand away, and averted his eyes to the window.
Billy thought things looked so much more simple in the daylight. And they did. The dark had a habit of bringing out everything wrong in the world, so a fear of it was very rational.
The car was surrounded mostly by trees and open fields. In the distance Billy was able to see a WiFri sign, it'slight must've been burned out last night, which was great because as if on cue his stomach made one of those terrible hungry sounds.
"Oh!" a voice said. "I'm, uh, really sorry."
Spencer was finally up, and his face was red.
Billy wanted to laugh, how terrible is it to be embarrassed the moment you get up; that peaceful face gone just like that.
"Its really alright," Billy assured, softly patting Spencer's shoulder, which made the boy's face turn redder. There's really no way to talk to this guy is there? Every little thing Billy did made the kid blush.
He sighed and clumsily climbed back over the back seat; he had to take a wizz.
Spencer yawned, and rubbed his eyes. His cheek had the imprint of Billy's pants on it, and his mouth hurt, presumably from the way he was lying. You know how when you lay your mouth against your arm or something too long and then there's pain?
He ran his hand through his hair; it was always tangled a bit whenever he woke up, and he'd use his fingers to get them all out. Combs always left his hair to "tidy" for his liking, so he'd opt for his hands.
It was now Sunday, he'd wondered if his parents had called him. Probably not, they rarely called when they were away, once when they reached the destination, and once when they were leaving, but still.
He stared at his phone, though it had no signal he still wished a message would appear. He could've been murdered in the amount of time they were gone, and they wouldn't know until days later.
The thought gave him chills, he shoved his phone in his pocket and reached for his bag. He grabbed his toothbrush, and a bottle of water; he'd forgotten toothpaste, but this was better than nothing.
...
"Rajeev, do you think we were a little hard on Spencer? I mean I know we're always late because of him, but he is still our friend," Shanilla asked, taking a sip of her drink, sitting at a booth with Rajeev.
They'd been kind of avoiding Spencer for the past few days, he didn't know it, but they'd gotten detention that day he made them late, and the week after that he did the same thing; they were getting tired of picking him up: they were being distant.
Rajeev took a bite out of his sandwich and spoke a few incoherent words. Maybe she was right, Spencer was actually their only friend, other than that they only had each other, and as loving as that sounds being best friends with your sibling is kind of embarrassing. But that still didn't make it okay for Spencer to make them late everyday.
"I guess," he finally said, swallowing the food in his mouth. Rajeev didn't like to admit that he was wrong, so instead he'd always use 'maybe'. It was a trait that one had to learn to love.
"So why don't we go see him, and apologise then?" his sister suggested. She had that look in her eyes, the one that only appeared when she was talking about Spencer.
She liked him, so she'd easily forgive him, but Rajeev ? Even if he knew he was wrong he'd be too stubborn to just accept and forgive, he'd at least need an apology on Spencer's part before he did any apologising himself because he had the right to be angry, but in the same sense, so did Spencer.
So Shanilla ordered an extra burger, and they began their journey to Spencer's house.
Spencer's home always made the two feel welcome, whether it was just that type of home, or the fact that they'd been visiting there for years, they didn't know, but it just felt homey.
Shanilla knocked hard on the door with an annoyed Rajeev standing beside her.
"Guess he's not home," Rajeev noted, after standing outside for a few seconds.
"Spencer!" Shanilla yelled, "It's us, open up."
But there was still no answer, with the combination of their loud knocks and yells, the house still stayed silent.
"Where would he be at this time of day?" Shanilla wondered, pulling out her phone. Spencer rarely left the house on his off days, only in the mornings for breakfast and maybe around 12 for lunch, but it was only 10: he should be home.
The phone went to voicemail, she tried again and again, but nothing.
She searched through the plant beside the front door, and found the spare key, but when they got into his house the boy was nowhere to be seen.
...
Though it was minimally loud, Billy could still hear the grumble of Spencer's stomach.
"Why didn't you order more to eat? I mean I know you're pretty thin, but one sandwich isn't gonna hold you, 'specially if its from the WiFri," Billy questioned. There was also the fact that Billy always ate way too much, so pretty much anyone didn't eat enough by to his standards.
"No, I'm fine," Spencer answered, even though he wasn't. Truth be told, he didn't like spending other people's money, it always made him feel selfish, so he always ordered just enough to get something there. And if that didn't satisfy him, then oh well.
"Really," he assured after seeing the look Billy gave him.
Billy frowned and slid the rest of his fries and half his burger across to Spencer.
The two boys shared a series of looks ultimately resulting in Spence accepting the food.
"So," Billy started, shoving a piece of a cookie in his mouth, " What kinda stuff are you into?"
"U-uh, well…. what do you mean?" Spencer asked cautiously.
"Like, y'know stuff you like to do, music you like, stuff like that."
"Oh," Spencer responded, laughing nervously, " all I really do is make films, and do special effects."
"That's really neat, broski," Billy said in awe," that's why you brought that camera along?"
"Yea, I had, uh, planned on, maybe recording some stuff. But I wasn't sure if you'd think it was dumb or not, so.." Spencer trailed off nervously.
"No way dude, I obviously think it's totally cool," Billy clarified.
"Yea, I kinda get that now,"
The two were silent for a moment.
"So can I see one?" Billy then asked, " like one of your movies?"
"Ahh, well, I don't really have any with me, they're all at home," Spencer responded.
"But, I, uh, I do have a few short films on my MeTube I can show you later," he added, seeing the look on Billy's face fall.
"Sounds like a plan," Billy concluded, closing his eyes and resting his head against the back of the booth they were currently sitting at.
...
"So I was thinking, since Nevada is a few hours away from where we are now, we should cut through there later, just to, y'know, see more stuff," Billy suggested, looking at a map he'd bought.
"Won't that put us way off track though?" Spencer asked. He didn't know much about geography, or maps, but he knew that going to Nevada then to Oregon would take quite a bit more time.
"Well yea, but it's just one more day y'know?" Billy pointed out.
"A school day," Spencer mumbled, staring straight ahead at the road ahead of them. He had no idea where they were heading, he'd just drive until Billy told him to stop.
"Pffft, what's one school day to this? Like you said, how often do you get to do something like this? For free nonetheless."
"I guess you're right," Spencer mumbled to himself.
"Of course I am, The Cobras always right, how do you think I got this far?" he joked.
"Anywho, since we're in the wonderful city of Sacramento, I figured we could do some pretty cool stuff. They have lots of parks we could check out; you like parks right?"
"Oh, uh, yeah," Spencer responded, caught off guard. How'd he-
"Yesterday morning you were, like, napping under that tree, so I just figured that only someone who enjoyed being outside would do something like that," Billy explained.
"That, or you were homeless, but I doubted that. You-"
"We need gas though," Spencer interrupted. Hearing what other people thought of him made him anxious, and scared, and nervous; he just didn't like it.
"Oh yea, I totes forgot about that," Billy laughed to himself.
He pressed on the radio which was playing some song Spencer had never heard before, and before they knew it they were at a gas station.
In that moment it was brought to Spencer's attention that the two of them had been wearing the same clothes from yesterday. Of course Spencer was the king of wearing clothes several times before he washed them, but they'd been outside in the grass in those clothes. That can't be healthy right?
He suddenly felt dirty. Spencer was used to showing every morning; feeling the warmth of the water on his skin. It always made him feel refreshed getting out. He felt insanely dirty.
He hadn't been able to do is morning brooding either; he'd spend so much time in the bathroom thinking about his life problems. It gave him time to think and try to sort things out. Unfortunately that hadn't really gotten him anywhere because he'd do the same thing every morning: contemplate the same things, and even create more problems from the small variety he had.
Once his thinking process was over he was left more miserable than before, he'd then have to deal with Jessica, and being late for school, and things would continue to spiral downward until he was able to forget it.
Eating in the park always helped him forget. It felt nice to turn all your problems into hunger. That hungry feeling and the sadness would become one, and once one was gone, so was the other.
"So where're we headed first?" Billy asked, hopping back into the car.
Once again Spencer thoughts had been interrupted, but this time, maybe it was for the best.
"This is your journey, I'm just the driver," the brunette said with a sad smile.
"Right, right, right," Billy muttered, shaking his head amusingly to himself.
So the two boys spent a what felt like forever visiting different parks throughout the city; that's all they really did to be honest. Billy even played a few songs on his guitar.
Spencer thought the boy was a great guitarist, and an even greater singer. He'd never really cared for up and coming musicians, but if they were all this great, then he was seriously missing out.
He had secretly recorded Billy's little performances, and though he doubted the boy would even care, he kind of wanted it to stay a secret; a secret between himself and his camera.
Spencer would never have thought that Billy was that type of person. Of course he knew that you should never judge someone based on what they looked like, but Billy seemed like one of those people that were super popular and had tons of friends; those people that always went out to parties, and had their heads so far up their asses that you literally had to question humanity as to why anyone liked them.
But Billy wasn't like that at all, not that what Spencer had assumed he'd be like was necessarily bad, it just eased the his mind; knowing that he and Billy had something in common made it somehow easier to talk to him. Maybe they weren't that different.
After stopping at a WiFri for dinner, the two boys later found themselves in a cheap motel room on the outskirts of Reno, Nevada.
"Sorry, this was all I could afford," Billy explained coyly.
"Its fine," Spencer mumbled because it was. Part of him hated this, part of him wished he was back at home in his bed, but that same part of him was the part that had never wanted to do this in the first place; that was a small part of him.
The other part of him wanted this. He was excited for this. Sure having to stay in some cheap motel room for the night was probably going to be uncomfortable, but all great things were, right? You had to be okay with being homeless and uncomfortable if you planned on traveling, and were simultaneously poor.
The room had one bed, a couch, and a tv along with a bathroom and a kitchen area; more than they actually needed for just one night.
"I'll take the couch," Billy announced, throwing his bag on the wooden floor next to the beige couch.
"Its not a pull out," Spencer pointed out.
"I know, silly," the taller boy teased, "don't worry about it, keep the bed."
Spencer frowned as he plopped down onto the bed. This wasn't right, Billy was the one who'd paid for the room, he should be the one sleeping here, while Spencer took the stupid couch. He didn't feel right about this, and even though Billy had said not to worry about it, Spencer still found himself feeling guilty and selfish.
"You can go shower first, if you want," Billy conveyed, kicking off his shoes. He'd practically dumped his bag on the floor, looking for something unknown to Spencer.
Seeing as the boy seemed busy, Spencer accepted without any complaints.
Spencer'd always hated using foreign showers, they were always hard to figure out, and just really strange, but right now he didn't really seem to mind it. Yes, trying to get the thing on was pretty hard, but today it didn't seem so bad. Maybe it was the fact that he'd been waiting for this all day, or maybe it was because he'd gotten himself into this, so he really didn't have anyone to blame other than himself, but either way: Spencer was okay.
One thing he did like though about these bathrooms were the fact that they never had those long mirrors, so once he got out of the shower he only had to pay attention to the top part of his unsatisfying body.
He dried his hair off and brushed his teeth, then put on his pyjamas: a white t shirt with black jogging pants- which he'd later take off due to the uncomfortableness of sleeping in pants- and was done for the night.
He opened the door to Billy's guitar playing. He was - again - playing something Spencer couldn't recognise. He also noticed that Billy hadn't tidied up at all since he'd been in the shower, and for some reason that made him smile.
"Oh, you done?" a voice asked, signaling the end of the music.
Spencer nodded.
"Oh, I'd been looking for this music sheet," Billy explained, holding up a sheet of music as he noticed Spencer eyeing the mess on the floor.
"I liked it," the brunette admitted,staring at the ground.
"Thanks, I still need to finish though, I thought this trip would help get my mind juices flowing, but I guess not."
Billy sat down his guitar, grabbed some clothes off the floor, and proceeded into the bathroom.
Spencer then got an idea. He began to grab armfuls of Billy's things and piling them up on the bed, that way he'd have to sleep there.
He then picked up the boy's guitar and lay it down across the bed.
He wasn't sure how Billy had fit all that stuff in his bag, so he instead decided to put some order to it. He'd folded the boy's clothes, stacked all his papers and shoved them inside a notebook, and gathered all his pens and pencils. He searched through his bag for a rubber band- he'd always had one for some reason- and tied the utensils together.
Billy'd also had multiple little trinkets: an eraser, a guitar pick, and various other things that Spencer had no clue what to do with, so he sat them on top of the small stacks of clothes.
Spencer went through his own bag to fetch his blanket, took a seat on the couch, and waited; he wasn't sure if Billy'd be mad or not, but however the boy felt, Spencer'd feel bad if he didn't experience it since he'd be the cause of it.
A few minutes later Billy came out of the bathroom with a confused look on his face. His head was even cocked to the side like a puppy or something.
His eyes glanced curiously between the bed, and where Spencer sat on the couch.
Spencer's face turned red as he tried to explain. "You paid that stupid money for this room, I did nothing, so you keep the bed… I'm fine on the couch, really." And, unlike with the food incident this morning, Spencer really was fine.
"I wasn't sure how you fit all your stuff in your bag, so I just sorted everything out, sorry."
Then it was Billy's turn to blush, even though it was a very small gesture, he'd still appreciated it, he hadn't seen folded clothes in, like, months. Billy never felt the need to fold his clothes, he'd just ruin the structure later, and he also didn't have the time.
He smiled to himself, "thanks," he then said to Spencer.
These sort of things always made Spencer feel awkward, but this time it was a good sort of awkward.
From his spot on the couch he watched Billy pack all of his things back into his bag. Something about him seemed different, but Spencer couldn't quite put his finger on it.
"Night, Spencer," Billy called. He waited for Spencer to say it back, then flicked the light off.
It was around 11:00, but their minds kept them from sleeping.