Chapter 7 An Unscheduled Errand
An Unscheduled Errand
The engine of the truck rattles as they speed down the road, the warm air blowing through the windows and dragging through their hair.
Whatever song is on the radio crumbles to bits of wailing vocals and distant guitar screeches in the noise.
Teague is a king on his throne as he steers the truck, proud of himself.
Liam looks downright miserable.
This isn’t quite what Teague was hoping for when he insisted to be the driver and take his truck. The last four times he tried to start a conversation since leaving the store, Liam shut it right down with a single word or giving the silent treatment.
They will arrive at Gary’s ranch in just another ten minutes. How can Teague salvage this opportunity to break down Liam and his castle walls?
“Sorry about the AC,” Teague says over the noise.
Yes, this is his fifth attempt at making Liam speak.
“Been broken for a while now. Swore I’d do something about it, but between this job and …
” Is this what he’s going for? Sympathy?
That’s a waste of breath. “I shouldn’t make excuses, right?
I just haven’t gotten to it. And now we’re both suffering. ”
“It’s not that bad,” says Liam, gazing out the window at the sprawling countryside.
Wait. That was more than a one word response. “Oh, okay. I’m glad to hear I’m not torturing you,” chuckles Teague, encouraged.
“No, I’ve dealt with broken-down ACs countless times, even at school. The real torture is bearing this errand with you.”
Teague’s face tightens. “Am I really that bad to be around?”
Liam sighs and tucks his hat over his face, slouching in the seat and crossing his arms.
“Taking a page from my handbook?” teases Teague. “Getting a ten-minute shuteye? Y’know, it’s an acquired skill fine-tuned over twenty years of hard living, catching z’s on the fly when all you’ve got is a bucket and a mop head …”
“You’re nineteen, not twenty.”
An idea clicks into Teague’s brain. He senses the opportunity. He needs to turn Liam’s mood around. “Well, actually …” He peers at Liam, who looks so cute with his hat over his face, trying to take a nap in this unrelenting noise. “… today’s my, uh … my birthday.”
Liam lifts his head. The hat slides off into his lap. “Today?”
“Yep.”
He shakes his head, baffled. “But it … it isn’t on the employee calendar. I check. Every day.”
“Guess they haven’t added it yet. Me being a new hire and all. And I don’t really like to make a big fuss about it, y’know? Never did in the past. Why start now?”
“But …” Liam sits up fully. “It’s still your birthday. You only get one a year.”
Teague shrugs. “Hopefully I’ll have many more.”
Liam appears surprisingly annoyed at Teague for not making a big deal out of it. “You should’ve asked for today off! You would have easily gotten it. Mr. Michelson loves you.”
“He’s not the one I want loving me.”
Liam rolls his eyes. “Whatever. Forget I said anything. Happy birthday.” Then he slaps the hat over his face and slouches back in his seat once again. Teague smirks to himself, satisfied with that last little poke at Liam’s cute heart, as they continue on down the long dirt road.
Upon arriving at Gary’s ranch, however, they are confronted by another issue.
“Oh, shit, my bad, what day is it? I don’t think y’all’s order’s ready,” says one of the ranch hands, who introduced himself as Hoyt.
At least Teague thinks it’s a ranch hand.
He’s some fit guy around their age decked out in tight booty-hugging jeans, boots, and a t-shirt with the sleeves ripped off showing his guns.
The mud splotches spackled over his left side indicates they caught him in the middle of his work.
“Gotta ask my man Harrison about it when he gets back, which I hope is soon, ‘cause my ass has to be at my other job by four, and I smell like a yeti’s armpit. Hey, you guys wanna, like, come back in maybe an hour or two? These bozos should have it ready by then, or so help me.”
Teague and Liam are walking back to the truck across the hot, dusty lot, sun blaring at an angle over the backs of their necks. “An hour or two??” groans Liam in disbelief. “They’ve had all day! It’s, like, the afternoon! How’s it not ready yet?”
“Wires got crossed,” suggests Teague, hands in his pockets, walking alongside Liam. “People run on their own time out here.”
“That guy didn’t even know what day of the week it is.”
“When does anyone, really?”
“Now what’re we gonna do? Wait around in this blazing heat? He didn’t even invite us to wait inside Gary’s huge house. Rude.”
Teague stops. “You haven’t had lunch yet.”
Liam stops, too. “Are you calling me hangry?”
Teague chuckles. “I’m just saying we’re basically halfway to Spruce.
Why not go all the way to Spruce and grab ourselves a tasty bite somewhere we’ve never been?
I heard about a popular burger joint owned by the Mayor’s in-laws.
Burger Bites, or … or Billy’s Burger Bits … Bites … uh, something Bites, I think …”
“I don’t feel like … I’m not …” Liam visibly squirms in front of Teague, now hugging himself and scowling. “I just want to—”
“—bake yourself inside my truck? Hey, we’ve got an hour or two to kill.
We’re still on the clock. Why not enjoy it?
Besides, isn’t it someone’s birthday?” Teague then reminds him with a playful smirk.
“We oughta celebrate!” He grins as he saunters toward the truck, whistling, while Liam stares after him with a glower.
The two are soon back on the dusty old road.
Spruce looms in the hot afternoon haze like a town that’s existed forever, and the closer they come, the more colorful the buildings grow, until the boys are driving down Main Street passing every mom-and-pop, family-owned, one-of-a-kind store they can imagine.
An old movie theater with a tired man sweeping out front, sleeves rolled up.
A church with a sleepy-looking parking lot where a circle of kids are kicking a ball.
A park where a couple of men are walking their dog.
And those men are holding hands.
“Wow,” says Teague, slowing down as he watches them.
Liam shrugs. “So? You’ve never seen two men holding hands while walking their dog in a park in a small Texas town in broad daylight before?”
Teague gazes back at him. “No.”
Liam starts to say something else, realizes he has nothing else to say, then scrunches back into his seat.
The burger joint is Biggie’s Bites—“I was so close!” announces Teague as he parks the truck—and the two enter and are seated at a booth by the window.
Business is slow today, so the atmosphere is peaceful and calming, which Teague notices that Liam seems to appreciate, appearing relaxed for the first time since they left the Fairview city limits.
They each order a classic burger from a sweet lady in an apron who, after bringing them glasses of water and staying for some small talk, seems pleased to hear they came all the way from Fairview.
Despite there being no one within earshot, she leans in and quietly whispers, “If you two are in the market for movin’ out here so you can, ah, stretch your legs more, I know a gal who knows a guy, and he will set you up with a cute lil’ house just like that,” with a snap—and a wink—before she heads back to the kitchen with their order.
It hits Liam a second later. “Did she think we’re a couple?”
Teague chuckles, arms folded on the table. “So? Spruce is a … unique kind of place. No one bats an eye.”
“Fairview isn’t so bad, either.”
“But Fairview isn’t a walk-in-a-park-with-your-dog-cuddling-your-man kind of place. You get looks.”
“Why wouldn’t people look no matter who you are? It’s totally weird to walk your dog and hold hands with someone at the same time. Who does that?”
Teague leans forward. “We could do that. Do you wanna hold hands with me while walking my dog?”
Liam is about to scoff at him, then seems to think better of it, and instead lifts an eyebrow, feigning interest. “You have a dog?”
“Sweetest most doggiest dog there is. Rus is his name.”
“Is that short for Rusty or Russell?”
“Neither, actually.”
“Interesting.” Liam takes a glance at his phone—to check the time, Teague presumes. “We still have to take part of the order to Nadine’s on our way back to the store.”
“Isn’t it fun? Going on a little adventure instead of being stuck in the store like we are every day?”
“I like being stuck in the store,” insists Liam, inspecting a spot on his glass of water. “Do they clean these glasses properly? I still can’t believe she thought we were a couple.”
Teague studies his eyes. “Would that be so bad? If you were … I don’t know … with a guy like me?”
Liam retracts his hand from the glass and averts his eyes. “I’m not gonna answer that.”
“What?” laughs Teague. “I’m not that repulsive. I even brush my teeth now and then, believe it or not.”
“Oh, that’s nice. You should put that on your dating profile.”
Teague grins. “Do you do dating profiles, Peanut? Do you use those … silly little dating apps with the gimmicks and the promises to help you find your soul mate?”
Liam checks his phone again, this time picking it up. “No,” he says after a pause, tapping and scrolling through notifications.
Teague smirks. “Me neither,” he decides to say, takes a sip of his water, then smiles again. “Y’know, I’m happy I get to spend my birthday with you. You even gave me a rather generous present just now—yes, I noticed—and it’s those little sweet things that tell me there’s hope for us yet.”
Liam freezes, then squints at Teague. “Birthday present?”
“You let me call you Peanut and didn’t flip out about it.”
Liam blinks. “I did?” He realizes it did slip a second ago. “Oh.”
“And I very, very, very much appreciate that present. It’s more meaningful to me than you know. Don’t worry,” he quickly adds, “I won’t abuse this beautiful gift you’ve bestowed upon me. One use only. Two max, if I’m feeling frisky on our drive back.”
Liam doesn’t say anything after that, but he appears to be in his head in that Liam-like way as he scrolls much slower through his phone, distracted, perhaps bothered.
Teague gnaws on his lip and decides not to press anything further. He likes teasing Liam, but the last thing he wants to do is really hurt him. He can’t even imagine a possible scenario where he’d upset Liam irredeemably. The only thing he ever wants to bring Liam is joy.
Not that he’s even partially succeeded once in their time this summer so far.
But there’s still quite a bit of summer yet.
Long after the boys enjoy their burgers and fries, they’re just about to get up when suddenly the aproned woman comes out of the back with a mustached man bearing a slice of cake on a plate with a candle sticking out of it.
Teague is beside himself as they sing Happy Birthday and place the cake before him.
Similarly stunned, Liam can’t bring himself to sing as he watches the scene unfold like he’s not even here.
“Make a wish!” says the woman as she clings to the mustached man—her husband, Teague presumes.
Before making that wish, he glances at Liam across the table.
Liam stares back, the flickering candle between them.
“It already came true,” decides Teague with a smile, pursing his lips as if to kiss someone, then blows out his candle.