Chapter Text
"Are you kidding me?!" your friend Mathew exclaimed as he drove down the empty sun damaged road. You and your friends had been driving for around 3 hours from Matthew's family's house, having gone to visit them after Matthew asked if he could borrow your car, being too cheap and scared to fly on his own. You were hesitant at first, worrying that something would happen to your car without your knowledge, but you eventually compromised, saying that he could borrow it if you and a couple of other friends could tag along for a road trip. He had been reluctant, but as the date got closer to his family's gathering, he eventually obliged. And now you were on your way back from said gathering after a somewhat eventful and awkward get together.
Rolling down the window, you groaned as you felt the unforgivable Texas summer rays fall directly on your face. You turned your head away from the sun and moved over to the middle seat of the car sighing at the relief of the freshness of the seat before replying to Mattew's previous question.
"We haven't had anything to eat since we left your parents' house, I'm kinda hungry."
"That was literally like 3 hours ago though", your friend Vanessa chimed in from your right. She was looking down reading a book about flowers or something else dumb, you thought.
"Literally bro, your fatass just ate, we all ate at the same time," Matthew said looking at you through the rearview mirror.
"I just want a snack or something, its not my fault Ivan ate the rest of the chips that were here. The ones that I bought" you scoffed and shook your head looking at Ivan, sitting in the passenger seat. He turned to look at you and stared right at you for a moment before finally replying.
"You do know that those were mine right? You had finished the last ones you bought so I bought more with MY money", he stated, chucking at your ignorance of.
"Dumbass" Matthew said as he laughed at you too, not taking his eyes off the road as he did.
You sighed in slight frustration, scooting down in your seat. They laughed at you for a couple more seconds before they finally fell silent and you rolled your eyes. They always found a way to turn things on you and you hated it, even if you knew most of the time you brought this upon yourself.
A couple minutes passed, Ivan and Vanessa started up a conversation on future plans to hang out. They were talking about going to the beach when we returned to California and you mindlessly joined in, mentioning going to Santa Monica and stuff. You kept talking with them but your gaze was focused intently on the outside road, waiting and searching for any sign of a gas station or an isolated restaurant of some sort. Finally, somewhere in the distance you caught a glimpse of a building. As you approached it, you could make out the letters 'GAS' in big bold faded out red letters on a rotting wooden sign in front of the car entrance. Not taking your eyes off of the upcoming building you grabbed ahold of Ivan's arm and shook it slightly in excitedness.
"Oh my God, look, a gas station" you directed your gaze to Matthew who saw you in the rearview mirror "finally, can we stop. I wanna buy stuff."
"Fine, but you're paying for gas too" Matthew said, sighing in annoyance as he pulled the car into the station.
"Ok" you say, getting out as soon as the car comes to a full stop. You took a moment to stretch out your limbs, tired of the multiple hours sitting on your ass. Yawning, you walked around the back of the car as Vanessa stepped out, stretching as well.
"Come with me," you say walking past her towards the building's doors, her following right after.
You made it to the door and pushed it open, immediately you noticed the very different environment. It looked nothing like the other gas stations in central Texas. This one looked more like a dingy little bar. It looked almost deserted if the older lady behind the bar counter wasn't wiping it down. You offered her a smile as she looked up at you and Vanessa for a moment before slightly smiling and going back to wiping the counter. You looked around some more and noticed a couple of tables and chairs in the center, all old looking and vacant. This was probably some sort of bar gas station thing you thought to yourself as you turned your attention to Vanessa who pointed at the small rack of chips and snacks next to the bar counter.
"Oh sick" you said walking over to the little rack. You grabbed a couple of your favorite chips and snacks before asking Vanessa, "Are you gonna want anything? I'll pay."
"Can I get some gummy worms?" she asked, walking over to grab them.
"Hey get some sodas or things to drink too" you say making your way over to the counter the lady was behind. Up close, you caught a glimpse of her name-tag, 'Luda Mae' it read. You hadn't heard a name like that before.
"Good afternoon ma'am" you say smiling as you place your items on the counter.
"Good afternoon" she said counting the items and pushing in the numbers on the old looking register. It had to be at least 30 years old, you thought as you listened to the heavy clacks of the keys. Out of the corner of your eye you saw Vanessa reach over to place the items she got on the counter.
"Will it be together?" Luda Mae asked as she grabbed the items Vanessa had placed on the counter.
"Yes" you replied watching as Vanessa, without saying a word, turned around and walked out of the store, back to the car.
"You young people know nothin' bout manners these days"
"Yeah, a lot of them don't even, at least, greet people now. I always try to say even just a ‘Hi’ to people, even if I feel a little silly or awkward. It's the bare minimum but it's something." you say.
"At least there's an effort made," she smiled in your direction, "that'll be 15.78." You took out your wallet and pulled out a twenty before remembering about the gas, reaching in and taking out another 10.
"Oh wait, can I also get um, 20 on the first pump please" she nodded as you handed her the money and she took it, putting it in the register, handing you back your change.
"Thank you" you offered her one last smile before grabbing your bag and turning to walk out. "Oof" you say as your face comes into contact with a broad chest. You feel a hand wrap around your arm, holding it in place so you don't drop the bag of things you're carrying.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry I didn't see you there" You say, your face heating up in embarrassment, as you looked up at the man you bumped into. He was huge and burly, wearing what looked like a dirty apron accompanied by a dirtyish button up shirt and tie underneath. His hair falling in strands on the side and in front of his face, made him look intimidating and yet the most interesting part about him was the mask he wore over his nose and mouth. It covered his face from ear to ear, with the exception of the slit for his mouth. His eyes were focused on you, unfaltering as you stared at him for a moment. You took his appearance in for a little longer before stepping to the side, and tearing your eyes from him, feeling stupid knowing you probably made him uncomfortable for staring at him. How rude of you.
"Oh Tommy! I didn't hear you come in!" Luda Mae says, smiling brightly as she motioned for the man to get closer to the counter. He obliges and walks past you, dropping the giant piece of meat wrapped in butcher paper he had over his shoulder onto the counter. You didn't even know he was carrying it until the loud thud made you look at it. That was a pretty big piece, goddamn he must be strong, you thought subconsciously before Luda Mae spoke again.
"Sorry bout that! This my son Tommy, he don't speak much so don't take it to heart he din't 'pologize. He din't mean to" she offered you another smile, this one more genuine than the previous ones.
"Oh no, it's alright! I shoulda been looking where I was going" you chuckled sheepishly. She just shook her head and smiled
"Well I'll be heading out, thank you ma'am." you say turning and making your way to the door. You opened it and looked back at them, smiling.
"It was nice meeting you, Tommy!"