Come Christmas Steve
Chapter 1
Going Home for Christmas
There were shadows in Steve's past, that was certain. Whenever the subject of family came up, he found a way around the conversation. We'd been roommates in the freshman dorms since school started in September and all I knew about him was that he grew up in Bozeman and he was on some sort of privately funded scholarship. He was a serious student and studied more than he played. Rarely would he accept an invitation to a party or other outing with me or the other dormies. Not that I was some sort of social butterfly, but I at least made some effort to partake of the college life. He stayed at school over Thanksgiving break and I felt sort of bad leaving him when I headed home. He said he didn't mind being alone for the holiday and he would use it to catch up on some extra credit work. That made me laugh out loud. "How can you 'catch up' on something that isn't even required?" I asked. He just smiled at me. I was pretty sure he had no need of extra credit, but he was just that kind of student who usually did the extra credit work, making students like me feel guilty for passing on it.
Neither of us were exactly ladies men, having not been on an actual date the entire time we were at school. I at least flirted here and there, but Steve never did. I assumed he was shy around girls. It wasn't much of an assumption since he never did more than answer a girl's questions in the shortest possible way and with no follow up conversation of his own, ever. I wondered a bit if he was gay, but I didn't really think so. There were no other signs of it, not that I'd know really what sort of signs that would be.
"How are finals coming?" I asked, looking up from my small study desk. The desk was littered with my open anatomy text and poorly scribbled notes. I twisted to look at Steve who had just walked in from taking a shower in the communal bathroom down the hall. His thick brown hair was damp and disheveled. The towel cut across his flat stomach. The smooth chest was slightly damp still, having been inadequately dried and below the towel emerged his strong legs with well defined calf muscles. They were lightly dusted with brown leg hairs from his knees to his ankles. He ran a couple miles every morning for his fitness routine then did pushups and sit-ups between our beds in the evenings.
"Fine. Two more to go: algebra and music appreciation," he answered while nonchalantly pulling the towel free from his waist drying his chest. As he moved up over his shoulders, I was treated to a view of his uncircumcised dick and dangling balls. They were average in size and he had a nice triangular patch of thick brown pubic hair with a small treasure trail leading up to his innie naval. The human body fascinated me and I was thinking more and more about getting into the medical field in some fashion but probably not as a doctor. The amount of schooling for that deterred me.
"I just have this anatomy class left and then I'm out of here," I said. "When are you heading home?" Steve slung the towel over his back and swiped it back and forth causing his dick and balls to swing side to side. Neither of us were shy about being naked in front of each other. I'd grown up with three brothers and no sisters in the house so I'd seen my share of dicks and balls and even boners now and then.
"I'm not. I'm just staying here."
"You're not going home for Christmas? Dude, what's up with your family? How come you never talk about them?" I stood up and walked over to my bed and hopped up onto it. The dorm room beds were really high off the ground because there was literally no storage in the tiny rooms. So everyone got blocks of wood and put under the legs of the beds to raise them up and put storage boxes underneath them. My mom made me a large quilt that hung way down to the floor. She'd used Montana State's colors and put the logo on the center patch. I loved how warm it was. Steve just used the school issued bedding and I planned on giving him a warm blanket for Christmas because I could tell he froze at night sometimes. We had no control over the heating and they turned it way down at night.
"There's nothing up with my family."
"There has to be. You never talk about them. You never really talk about growing up experiences at all. You didn't go home for Thanksgiving and you're not going home for Christmas. That's kind of messed up. Why won't you tell me about it? I'm not judgmental about shit like that."
"There's just nothing to tell. Leave it be." Steve didn't look sad and there was no anger in his reply, he just seemed empty. I was sad for him, though. I had an amazing family with two older brothers and a younger one. We were tight with each other and I looked so forward to seeing them again. Karl, my oldest brother was out of college and working as an accountant in Bozeman. He had a steady girlfriend but not a live-in. Mom would freak out if any of us did that. Tom, my next oldest brother, was a senior at Dartmouth and planning to go on to law school. He was the braniac of the group. Billy, my little brother, was living the dream as a junior in high school. He was a high scoring hockey star on the school team. It seemed he was high scoring on and off the ice. Rumor had it he was fucking a variety of hot chicks. He had the looks and athleticism. Except for playing nasty in the hay barn with a couple cousins, I had no sexual experience. I'd barely been on three or four dates.
"All right, if you don't want to talk about it, I'll drop it, but you are not spending the break here. No way I'm letting that happen. I'll call Mom and let her know you're coming home with me."
"No, I couldn't do that."
"Why? And don't say you want to get a head start on next semester's extra credit work or I'll be forced to kick your ass."
He chuckled and pulled on his grey boxer briefs. It was the only thing he ever wore. He had seven pairs of grey boxer briefs. He actually had them labeled for the day of the week. It was weird. It made sorting the laundry easy whenever we washed our stuff together though. "I just couldn't impose like that," he insisted.
"It's no imposition, believe me. My family would love to have you come. On Christmas day, we have so many relatives show up for dinner, I scarcely know them all. I swear we need name tags or something. My mom and dad both came from big families and I have so many aunts and uncles and cousins you can't believe it. I'm not giving you the choice. You're coming - end of discussion." I jumped down from the bed and pulled my shirt off exposing my slightly pudgy middle section. I'm not fat, but I could afford to work out a little more than I do. Well that's obvious since I don't really work out at all. I kicked off my fuzzy slippers that Mom gave me and dropped my pants and pulled off my Hanes. Steve glanced at my naked body with no reaction as he pulled his Wrangler jeans on. I pulled my towel free of the bottom bed rail where we hung them to dry and wrapped it around my middle. "After I shower, we'll go get some breakfast at the slop hall. Want to?"
"Sure." Steve was looking at my anatomy text and smiled. "You really have to study this section? I thought you'd already know all about this."
"I do smartass. But they use all the wrong terms for things. I bombed my quiz on that section when I labeled the female parts as cunt and hooters and dick and baby-makers on the male chart." He broke into his infectious laugh. I loved how he laughed and it made me laugh whenever he did. I was wiping tears from my eyes as I headed out the door and down the hall. I was pleased to find Whittaker just stepping out of a shower stall and no one in line for it. Whittaker was a tall red headed goofball from Wyoming with the biggest dick I'd ever seen. We had horses with shorter ones back home. He wasn't shy about showing it off either.
"All yours Steele," he said as he stepped past me dripping wet. I hung my towel on the hook and turned the water back on. It was instantly hot since Whittaker had just gotten out and I followed my daily ritual of grabbing the shower nozzle and arcing it around to rinse out any snot rockets or urine or worse yet, cum. I'd stepped in something slimy early on and ever since then started rinsing the tile floor before stepping in. I imagined Whittaker could unload a gallon or two if he cranked one off in the shower.
I loved taking long, steaming hot showers. Mom always limited us at home and if we went overtime, she'd simply go shut the hot water valve off. That always worked. I hated it when I got caught with a head full of shampoo and no hot water to rinse it with. With four boys, five counting Dad, I guess she had to take some controlling measures. The dorms seemed to have unlimited hot water and I took advantage. Steve asked me what the hell took me so long several times. He was into efficient showers. Get in, wash up, get out, brush teeth, shave and then go to the dorm room to finish drying and comb his hair.
This particular day, however, I wanted to go eat and then get back to studying for my final. I soaped up and scrubbed under my pits then over my chest. I liked the feel of my soapy hands roaming over my body and I longed for the day someone else's hands would do it. I followed my inguinal 'V' down into my blond pubic patch and lathered up my dick and balls. I'd never seen an uncut dick before college and besides Steve's, I'd only seen a couple here at school. I was fascinated by them for some reason. I was especially curious about Steve's since I saw his most often. I wondered what it would look like boned. It was a gay and weird thought to have, I knew, but I couldn't help entertaining it from time to time. This was one of those times. I pulled my foreskin down and covered my tip with it imagining what it would look like if I were uncut.
The attention being paid to my phallus structure, and in particular the corona ridge of my glans penis, caused blood to infuse into my corpus cavernosum, producing a firm erection. I took a handful of scrotum and rolled my testis between my thumb and fingers locating the epididymis and vas deferens. I traced it up until it disappeared beyond my pubic bone. Then I poured a healthy glob of conditioner into my palm and smeared it over my pulsating erection. I gripped it, pressing my fingers into the corpus spongiosum. I started slow at first, sliding my slippery hand up and down my shaft, enjoying the tingling sensations. After a minute or two, I added a fresh supply of conditioner and coated the middle finger of my opposite hand. I double checked to make sure the plastic shower curtain with the mold on the bottom was pulled all the way from edge to edge and squatted slightly. I reached between my legs and inserted my coated finger into my clenched sphincter muscles as far up into the recesses of my anus as I could manage. I'd discovered this little pleasure around age fifteen and employed it regularly since.
With my finger in place, I resumed the attack on my dick at a quickened pace and was quickly rewarded with the emerging sexual pleasure. Tingles spread across my forehead and down the side of my face. My body twitched and contorted in small jerks as shocks of sexual energy shot through me. I curled up my toes against the tile floor just before the explosion. I shuddered and gasped under the hot water streaming over my back as the muscles in my ass clenched and spasmed on my finger intensifying the expulsion of the sperm laden semen. As was my custom, just before shooting my first load, I'd open my eyes in a frantic urgency to watch it happen. "Ohhh, yeah, cum Shaney cum." I moaned under my breath as I stooped a bit lower and propelled a spritz of cum onto the tile wall. Again it came and then a third time. I plucked my finger from my ass and used that hand to steady myself against the wall. I continued to slowly stroke my tender dick nice and gentle as the last bit oozed from my tip. I relished the post orgasmic buzz and regained my breath.
Once recovered, I splashed water against the tile wall to rinse my thick cum down the drain. I didn't want to leave any evidence behind. I washed my ass and legs and then verified my dick was back down enough to be seen in case someone was waiting for the stall. It passed inspection for being soft enough to not be suspicious but still pudgy enough to look bigger than it really is. I liked that and actually hoped there would be someone there waiting who I could show it off to. I pulled the curtain free and was rewarded with not one but two impatient guys there to witness my expanded dick. I took my towel off the hook and stepped aside waving the short, Hispanic kid in with a sweep of my hand. "Took long enough," he grumbled as he stepped in without taking his towel off. He definitely copped a peek at my dick as he pulled the curtain shut. He slipped his towel out of the edge of the curtain and hung it on the hook so no one could see him naked. Some guys were really shy like that. Most were, actually. If you grew up with a band of brothers, you got over that pretty quickly. I assumed Steve must have had brothers in whatever messed up family he came from because he was not body shy at all.
The other guy was secretly peeking at me while he leaned against one of the sinks on the opposite wall from the showers. I made no attempt to hide it since it was still showing off a bit. However, from the attention it was getting, I felt it start an upward movement and slight swelling and I realized I had to get that under control quick or risk the embarrassment of popping one in front of my one man audience. I had no desire to become the topic of common room gossip so I turned away and finished drying my dick and balls and then wrapped my towel around me tightly and headed off to the dorm room. I found Steve at his desk dutifully studying his algebra, calculator in hand. He didn't turn to look at me as I finished drying and dressed. I was a bit disappointed since I was still sporting a pudgy and would have liked to show it off for him a bit. Once dressed in my jeans, boots and flannel, I suggested we head to the cafeteria. He agreed and immediately closed his book and stood up. We both had the unlimited meal cards and he definitely put his to use. I was amazed how much he could put away without getting fat. He had filled out since we became roomies, however. When he first arrived he was skinny in an unhealthy way.
He piled on the hash browns, pancakes and sausage. He poured buttermilk gravy over the hash browns and smothered the pancakes in maple syrup. Three glasses of orange juice and a toasted bagel later, we headed to a table near the window. We watched the students walking by as we ate. I had oatmeal with brown sugar and raisins with wheat toast. I hadn't liked the spreading bulge I was developing and decided I'd better cut back a bit. I had a cup of coffee, black. Occasionally, I'd make the obligatory comment about a hot chick walking by and Steve would give a perfunctory grunt. Sometimes he would comment on the overdressed kids. It bothered him a lot when people overdressed. Growing up in a rural farm community, overdressing was never something we did. We were happy to get two shirts and a new pair of boot cuts for school clothes each year. My dad ran a few acres on his own, and had a little livestock but nothing more than a hobby farm. Mostly, he made his living by doing welding and farm equipment repair. He was really good at what he did and I thought, as I got older and could recognize it, that a lot of the farmers took advantage of his kind heart and good nature. Oh well, it was what it was and when I tried to say anything about it, he snapped at me. That wasn't like him and I wasn't sure if it was because he knew it and didn't like having it pointed out or if he thought I was being a snotty dickhead. Either way, I never brought it up again. Truth is, he'd saved enough to help all of his boys get into school and he'd had all of us start our own college funds and work summers to put money into them. By doing that, and with the Pell Grant, I was able to get by with only an on-campus job. My brother, Tom, was going to have to go into some serious debt for law school.
By the time I had only a couple of spoonfuls left, he was just mopping up the last of the syrup with his bagel. I never saw anyone put it away like that and I grew up with three brothers. I didn't think anyone could eat more than Karl but Steve put him to shame. No contest. I pulled out my cell phone and Steve got up for more OJ. He asked if I wanted more coffee but I declined. I didn't want to be too caffeinated for my final. One cup wakes me up, two gets me jittery. I remember it being a big deal that I drank coffee over Thanksgiving break. It wasn't something kids did at our house and apparently being away at college hadn't yet qualified me as an adult. I wondered what they would have thought about having a beer. Don't get me wrong, I'd been to a kegger or two in high school, but to openly drink one around the house would have been complete anarchy. So I hadn't gotten into the party scene at college and neither had Steve. As far as I could tell, he had no vices. I'd never even caught him jacking off at night in bed. Since he didn't date, I was sure he must be doing it somewhere, so I suspected the shower and probably an occasional yank on the toilet. Not that I cared, of course. It just seemed odd. I remember when little Billy learned to do it, he'd keep me up nights while I pretended to be asleep so he could get his little rocks off. It was awkward for me though, being the older one. I really did have to wait for him to be asleep before pulling on it for years. Usually, I'd fall asleep waiting and miss out. Once he started though, it was okay for me to let him just pretend to be asleep when I needed one as well.
I called and Mom answered right off. I explained about my roommate, Steve, and how he had nowhere to go for Christmas and that his family must be dysfunctional or something and of course, Mom insisted that he come for Christmas break. When Steve arrived back at the table, I was in the middle of hearing about May Bell's delivery the night before. Hearing how Billy and Dad were up to their arms in blood from it made me glad to be at school. It was a little steer and would grow up to become steaks and hamburger one day. I never named the steers - only the cows. It's really hard to eat things with names.
Steve caught the drift of the conversation as I was wrapping up and he started shaking his head at me. "Hey Mom, Steve would like to talk to you and thank you for the invitation. Here he is." Now he was scowling at me and waving the phone away. He refused to take it from me as I reached it across the table but after I shook it at him a couple times, he reluctantly plucked it from my hand.
"Hello," he said almost seeming unsure if he should. He held it awkwardly away from his ear and looked very uncomfortable with it. It was hard to believe, but he didn't own a cell phone. I doubt there was another student on campus or on any campus on planet earth for that matter who didn't own a cell phone. When I pressed him about it, he simply said it was an unnecessary expense and there was no one who needed to call him and no one he needed to call. He was annoyed by the absence of pay phones anywhere on campus and pretty much anywhere else. When he did actually need to make a call, he borrowed my phone or someone else's but mostly mine. I didn't mind but I just couldn't imagine not having one. If I had to give up my dick or my phone, I'd choose to lose the phone but I'd definitely have to think on it a bit first.
"Well, I really wouldn't want to impose," he said. I rolled my eyes and shook my head. "Yes, Ma'am, I guess so then. Thank you very much, Mrs. Steele." He handed the phone over to me and said, "She's hard to turn down. I see where you get your stubborn streak from."
I laughed. "I actually got a double dose of that. I'm not sure how my parents have survived together as stubborn as they both are. So, this is going to be fantastic. You'll love it up there at the ranch. I'll show you all around."
"You live on a ranch?"
"Not really, but Dad likes to call it that. Most of it is grazing land. Still, it's pretty wild west up there."
"How big is it?"
"Getting kind of personal aren't you? How big is yours?" I snickered.
"What?" Steve looked confused at first then the corner of his mouth pulled up into a grin. "You've seen how big mine is, roomie. Neither of us is making the Guinness Book of World Records. I meant, how big is your ranch?"
"It's only 25 acres and a lot of it is dry farm and grazing. I'm not real sure about the city of Kalispell itself, but the whole surrounding area is around 100,000 people, I'd guess. We're just seven miles north of Flathead Lake which is the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi. We're not very far from Glacier National Park. That place is amazing. We can call and find out if the Going to the Sun Road is open and if it is, we can drive up to Lake McDonald. It's breathtakingly beautiful."
"Sounds wonderful."
On our way back to the dorm, I asked, "So is there something special you want for Christmas?"
"What do you mean?"
"You know, for a gift. Is there something you'd like?"
Steve looked at me for a while and then responded, "I hate to break this to you, but there's no such thing as Santa Claus. I learned that a long time ago."
That was the first time I'd ever heard bitterness in Steve's voice. I felt pity for him. Not really pity, it was more like empathy I felt. "I wasn't talking about Santa Claus, I was talking about me. Is there something special you'd like me to get you or would you rather just be surprised?"
Steve stopped in his tracks and looked at me. I stopped and turned around, "What?" I asked.
"You're planning on giving me a Christmas gift? Why?"
"Because we're roommates and I like you? Why wouldn't I?"
Steve's lips were pressed together and he pulled them side to side as he struggled against becoming emotional. He reached up and rubbed the sleeve of his well worn jacket across his eyes. Finally, he managed to speak, his voice trembling as he said, "You don't have to."
"I know I don't have to. I want to. So is there something you need or something you just want? Or should I just surprise you?"
"No. Nothing really I can think of. You really don't have to. Letting me come home with you is enough of a gift."
"Okay, a surprise it is then. I'll have to think on this. I have one idea but I need to think of something a little more personal for you to go with it." I grabbed him by the sleeve and said, "C'mon, let's go study." He was silent and deep in thought. He had me make a detour into the student union so he could get some money from the ATM. I'd never seen him do that before. He rarely spent any money on anything besides his lab fees and school supplies. We both hit the books until early afternoon when we had to go take the finals at the testing center. We walked over together and checked in with our student ID cards. Two hours later, I'd guessed at as much as I was able to about the human body and turned in my exam. Steve had finished his algebra and was busy on his music appreciation final. The single electronic gadget Steve owned was an iPod Mini that he listened to. He had all kinds of music on it from classical to jazz and rock to rap. One of his few free time activities was to go to the computers in the library and check out new music, and whenever he could manage it, he would tune the TV in the commons room at the dorm to American Idol. Now and then, he'd have to endure a snide comment about who chose to watch that gay shit. But he just ignored rude and mean comments for the most part. He never argued if someone wanted to change the channel.
I asked him why he never told guys like that to fuck off and he gave me an interesting answer. "Have you seen the Lion King?" he asked me. Of course I had. "Well there's always a few lions in the group who want to be king and if you do want to be king, you have to constantly battle to earn that position. Once you have it, you have to constantly battle to keep it. I don't want to be king. I don't want to fight for it. If you're not the king, though, sometimes you have to bend over and take it up the ass if that's what the king wants and life's better if you do it without a fuss. Hopefully, you get a good king."
I was back in the dorm and already starting to pack for the trip home when Steve walked in. "How'd it go?" I asked.
"Good, I think. How about for you?"
"All right. I'm pretty sure I got all the proper terms for the reproductive system this time."
Steve smiled and said, "That's good. So I have a quiz for you then. Let's see if you know it. I've always been curious about it but never think to look it up when I'm on the internet."
"Uh-oh," I said, "I'm about to get embarrassed, I think. Go ahead, lay it on me."
"On a guy's dick, what's that little bit of tight skin under the head called? The really sensitive part." "The whole ridge of the dickhead is sensitive because it has tons of nerve endings there. It's called the corona."
"No, I'm talking about just the little part that like connects the underside of the dick to the head. Here, I'll show you." Steve undid his jeans and pulled down his zipper. Then he fished his dick out but it was constricted in the fly of his boxer briefs. So he just pulled the waistband down and tucked it under his balls. He took his dick in his fingers and to my utter fascination, peeled his foreskin back over his dickhead and touched the small connective bit of skin he was talking about. As he pulled the skin further down his shaft, it tugged on his dickhead.
I stared in rapt admiration of his well proportioned dick and the unfolding of the mystery of what lay beneath his long foreskin. It was like unwrapping a Christmas gift as he pulled the skin covering free of his pink head. In the weirdest way, I wanted to reach out and touch it - to feel it and hold it. "Oh, that's the frenulum preputii penis also called frenulum of prepuce of penis. Frenulum means 'little bridle' in Latin and we have them in several places in our bodies where a little elastic tissue is present to hold things in place or to connect one tissue to another. If you rub your tongue up between your upper lip and gum you'll feel a frenulum and there's another one in your lower lip as well us underneath your tongue. Girls have them on their clits and there are some in the digestive tract as well. In the case of the penis, the elastic tissue runs all the way around here." I reached with a finger toward his exposed dick but hesitated. "Do you mind if I touch it?"
"No. I don't mind."
I traced my finger all around the underside of the ridge and up along the frenulum. "The elastic tissue runs all the way around the underside of the ridge and connects here where the head, or glans as it's properly called, is split. It connects the foreskin to the glans." As I slid my finger along the sensitive frenulum, he instinctively twitched. After I pulled my finger back, he slid the skin back over the head and put his dick away, zipping and buckling up his jeans. "Thanks. I've always wondered about that." Then he added as he started organizing his desk, "What's the plan for getting to your ranch?"
"The Rimrock Stages bus leaves tomorrow at 11:30 and we arrive in Kalispell at 6:45 in the evening. Someone will pick us up at the station and take us up to the ranch."
"Oh, the bus. How do I get a ticket?"
"Already done. I booked us right after my exam."
"So how much do I owe you?"
"Nothing. Don't worry about it."
"Look, I appreciate the offer to go with you but if you won't let me pay my way, I'm not going. I'm not going to be a charity case. Got it?"
That was another first for me. I'd never heard him get forceful and even on the verge of anger before with anyone and certainly not with me. "Okay. I didn't mean anything by it. I just thought since I invited you, I should get you there. It's $150 dollars round trip." I saw his expression change briefly as he digested the amount. It was clear that was a big number for him. "Look, I really want you to come and if that's too much, just pay me what you can. I'll let you work off the rest later."
"No. I have it. I just didn't think about it. I have to go into town for a bit. I'll be back before the cafeteria closes for dinner."
"Want some company?"
To my surprise, he said no. He wanted to go alone. That set me back on my heels a bit. He pulled on his coat and left without any explanation. I finished packing my duffle and then jumped onto my bed. I pulled my pants and boxers down around my knees and fiddled with my frenulum while I replayed the extraordinary scene out in my mind's eye of Steve exposing his dickhead in front of me. I pulled my shirt and undershirt off and pulled one off. At the special moment, I opened my eyes and called out, "Oh, yeah, cum Shaney cum. I lay there with warm cum on my chest and belly for a minute before fishing some Kleenex off my desk to wipe up with. I pulled a bottled water from the small cooler we kept under Steve's bed and used it to get the sticky residue off. I went down to the commons area and played some ping pong and just chatted with the other dormies about finals and Christmas plans until Steve got back. He had several packages that he squirreled away in his closet. It dawned on me that he'd been out Christmas shopping. I needed to do a little of that myself and cussed myself for not taking advantage of my time like he had done. We headed for dinner and again he ate like it was his last meal. He went back three times for another serving of meatloaf and potatoes. That night, I was awakened by him sneaking out of the room with his packages and a roll of Christmas wrapping paper. I smiled to myself at the childlike expression of excitement on his face. I could see his innocent joy even with the faint light of his desk lamp, which he'd lowered near the desk to reduce the amount of light given off. I drifted back to sleep and didn't hear him come back in.
The next morning, he was shaking me awake. "Hey, don't we need to get going? We need to eat and get down to the bus station." I sat up on an elbow and rubbed the sleep from my eyes. He was fully dressed and shifting impatiently from one foot to the other.
"Okay. What time is it?"
"Eight. Cafeteria's been open for an hour already. I walked down and had first breakfast already. Now it's time for second breakfast."
"What are you? A freaking hobbit?"
He chuckled, "No. C'mon. Let's go. Get up."
I crawled out of bed and slipped on my fuzzy footwear then padded to the toilets to drain my bladder. When I got back, Steve was on my laptop browsing the internet for information on Kalispell and Glacier National Park. "This really is beautiful country. I'm excited to see it. And I'm excited to meet your family. Thanks for inviting me home with you. It's the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me. I mean it."
"No big deal. I'm glad you're coming. I'm anxious to show my friend where I grew up."
He smiled endearingly at me and said almost wistfully, "We are, aren't we?"
"We are what?" I asked.
"Friends."
"Yeah. Of course." He smiled and told me to hurry up and get dressed and he'd meet me in the commons room. I found him alone watching the news on the big TV. Everyone was already up and gone or still sleeping. We headed down to second breakfast and then we stopped again at the ATM on the way back.
We spent almost no time back in the room because he wanted to make sure we were early to the bus station. He took his backpack and a bag full of wrapped gifts. He checked his pockets for his wallet and key and then hurried back to his desk to retrieve his beloved, though outdated, iPod Mini from his desk drawer. "Is that all you're packing for two weeks?" I pointed to the backpack.
"It's pretty much everything I need. It's pretty much everything I have." He joked as he unzipped the top, "Two pair of jeans rolled up, three shirts, some socks and underwear. I'm wearing two t-shirts, a dress shirt, a flannel, a sweater and my jacket. That's a trick I learned whenever I went anywhere so nothing got stolen while I was away."
"Weird. But I guess it works." He pulled his Montana State ball cap on and we headed out the door to the shuttle into town. We talked for a while as we rode the bus and I tried to steer the conversation toward his home life and growing up years but he steered it right back to me growing up in Kalispell and peppered me with questions about it. Eventually, we both put our ear buds in and watched the winter scenery pass by out the frosted bus windows. I let him have the window seat since I'd seen it all numerous times before. I closed my eyes and caught up on some of the sleep going to second breakfast had cost me. Around two, we stopped for a break so the driver could flirt with a waitress at a roadside diner and we both ordered up a hamburger and Coke for lunch. Then it was back on the bus for another four hours.