(11)-Savanah Suites.
At the Savanah Suites Hotel, inside one of the suits, Kyle and Cobey sat at a table, facing each other while eating the meal Kyle had ordered at the Dairy Queen, with Kyle's fingerless gloves off and resting on the table on his left. The open blue box of fries and chicken-strips laid on the table with the wrapped burger, the sunda and two sodas while the ice-cream birthday cake was in the freezer part of the refrigerator. Two clear-wrapped red plastic spoons and two white-wrapped red straws were also resting on a stack of four folded napkins. Three ketchup packets rested on the table, with one of them open, and there was an open white foam food-container of white gravy by the packet, with the container's lid resting beside it.
After getting the order at Dairy Queen, Kyle got his backpack and duffle-bag, exited the restaurant with Megan and Cobey, got in Megan's car with them, and then they came straight here so Cobey could eat and rest up for the night. Kyle hadn't protested, as he needed all the rest he could get with all the walking he had done since he arrived here in Arvada-Colorado.
Megan, meanwhile, was next door in the other room. Most likely on her cellphone with CPS, letting them know where she and Cobey were, informing them that they were going to stay here for the night, as well as probably having a discussion regarding Cobey's adoptive mother and whether or not she'd be able to maintain custody of him. For Cobey's sake, Kyle hoped she didn't. The poor kid had suffered enough at the hands of that woman already.
"You ever been here to Colorado?" Cobey asked before getting a fry, dipping it in the ketchup and then taking a bite.
"First time." Kyle answered before getting a fry for himself.
"So...what's it like? Where you're from, i mean." Cobey said as Kyle dipped his fry in the ketchup before taking a bite.
"Prairie Grove-Kansas? Oh, it's great. It's great, there's a lot to see and do and...Well," Kyle said before dipping the rest of his fry in the ketchup. "It's really the people. They're the best." He said before eating his fry.
"They must be. You practically jumped to my rescue back at the Dairy Queen." Cobey said.
"Oh, yeah?" Kyle said playfully while smiling.
"What else is your home town like? You know, besides the people." Cobey said before getting another fry.
"Prairie Grove is like a blended culture. A fusion of the old west and the 21st century's 2000s. People ride horses, wagons and carriages pulled by horses, drive vehicles, and they wear western clothes. We even have a stage coach service, a cab company and a train station." Kyle explained as Cobey dipped his second fry in the ketchup and ate it.
"Does everyone in your town wear western clothes?" Cobey asked as he got a chicken-strip.
"No, just the adults. And they only wear them on their jobs. Except for that restaurant my Mom works at called '50s Diner', they dress like the 1950s." Kyle said as Cobey dipped his strip in the ketchup and took a bite.
"Sounds kind of cool. Tell me more." Cobey said, clearly interested, before dipping the rest of his stip into the gravy and eating it.
"Well...we all live on the prairieside of town, which is a farm/ranch community. And there are two more western towns not too far away from our's. There's Springview-which is two miles away, and Sleepy Town-which is three miles away." Kyle explained before getting a chicken-strip.
"Is there a reason why you left home?" Cobey asked, getting a third fry.
"Yeah. A very important one." Kyle said while Cobey dipped his third fry into the ketchup.
"Okay. So what's the reason?" Cobey said before taking a bite of his third fry.
"My older brother. I haven't seen him since he graduated college in 2022." Kyle said.
"Oh, so this is like a brotherly re-connection." Cobey said before finishing his third fry while Kle got his second chicken-strip.
"Uh, no, not even close. This is more like me wanting to connect with him for the first time ever." Kyle said before dipping his second strip into the ketchup.
"Oh, really?" Cobey said, getting a fourth fry while Kyle took a bite of his second strip.
"Yeah. It is as bad as it sounds...sad to say. We were both, uh, just kids when things were going bad between us. I was our Dad's favorite when were growing up and...long story short, it made my brother hate me and treat me badly, which, in turn, made me resent him. I was...i was naive. I didn't understand why he was like that towards me until i was 11, and by then he had gone off to college in Oregon in 2018. Well, before my brother left, our Dad bailed the year before without saying a word and never returned. Shortly after that, my Mom met another guy she fell in love with, who hated my guts. And yeah, that is as bad as it sounds too. But was very heart-broken when Dad left, so she didn't make the brightest decisions at that time." Kyle said before dipping the rest of his second strip in the gravy and then eating it.
"Well, what did your brother have to say about your Mom's jerky boyfriend not liking you?" Cobey asked before eating his fourth fry.
"Oh, he could've cared less. But amazingly after our Dad left, he stopping picking on me." Kyle said before getting a fifth fry.
"That's amazing. So what about your Mom? How did she feel about her boyfriend not liking you?" Cobey said while Kyle dipped his fifth fry in the ketchup.
"I don't know. She too smitten with him to notice." Kyle said as Cobey ate his fifth fry.
"Are they still together?" Cobey asked as Kyle ate his fifth fry.
"No. Not since 2018." Kyle answered as Cobey got a second strip.
"What happened? Did it just not work out?" Cobey asked as he dipped his second strip into the ketchup.
"He fell in love with a 22-year old girl he met on Facebook and went off to Las Vegas to be with her. He left a note for my Mom saying so. She was crushed." Kyle answered as Cobey took a bite of his second strip.
"Sorry." Cobey apologized.
"No, no, don't be sorry, i mean...at least he said goodbye...unlike my Dad. It was in a letter, but...still, at least he had the guts to let my Mom know it was over between them." Kyle said.
Cobey was speechless, as he couldn't find the right comforting words to say to Kyle.
"I know. I know, my life is really-I know, it's a mess. But i mean, i...i don't know, i was the golden child of my family and then everything just went south for me for a while after my Dad left, you know? And then there's all this negative history with me and my brother and i don't know, it's just, uh...a really big mistake." Kyle said while Cobey dipped the rest of his second strip in the gravy and ate it.
"What?" Cobey asked.
"This is a really big mistake, i really can't even believe it, i must be going crazy, i don't even know what i'm doing. What in the world..
am i doing?" Kyle said.
"You're okay." Cobey assured.
"I'm an idiot." Kyle said. "I can't believe that i would think this would even work after all these years. I mean...my brother and me, we haven't seen each other since he graduated college. And not just that either. It's not like we kept in contact through letters or social media, i haven't heard from him in six years, you know?"
"So you haven't seen of heard from him in a while. That sounds...normal." Cobey said.
"No, it doesn't." Kyle said. "He's gonna think i'm crazy. "Hey. You know, i know that things weren't good between us when we were growing up, but you know, i realized at 11 that you are not responsible for that. I mean, i know that nothing has really truly been right with us since we were kids, so...you know what, let's go back home to Mom and start our relationship over as brothers"."
"I wouldn't put it like that." Cobey said.
"I'm sorry, i'm sure you just wanna eat this dinner i ordered for you." Kyle said.
"No, it's alright, i don't mind listening to your life-story. You wanna what i think?" Cobey said.
"Sure." Kyle said.
"You're wondering how you can tell your brother that you wanna patch things up with him. But how can you not tell him, you have to take the chance." Cobey said.
"You think so?" Kyle asked.
"Yeah, of course, i would. I mean, yeah, he'll probably be a little hesitant and resistant at first, but...he'll come around. And you'll be glad you tried." Cobey said.
"You're a genius kid." Kyle said.
"I wouldn't go that far. But i don't have any regrets." Cobey said.
"Well, that sounds like a great life." Kyle said.
"Just tell your brother how you feel. I'll bet anything he gives his relationship with you another chance." Cobey encouraged.
"Let's hope." Kyle said. "Well...let's not waste anymore time talking about my sad life. Let's finish eating the rest of this food."
"I heard that." Cobey agreed before he and Kyle resumed eating their DQ meal, with Kyle pcking up his sixth fry and Cobey getting his fifth one, followed by dipping them in the ketchup to eat them.
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