Reality Check - Chapter Four

Nick’s mouth hung open when Brian wheeled the car up to a convience store gas station pump.

“You can go ahead and get something to put in your lunch while I gas up, I was sucking fumes so I need to top this off,” Brian causally announced as he started to exit the car.

Nick smirked, amused at Brian’s choice of words for the car needing gas. He shook his head at the thought of entering the crowded grocery store without detail being a stone’s throw away. He wondered how the guys would set up a visit to a gas station without either one of them being mobbed. Shrugging his shoulders, Nick decided to walk into the convenience store.

The door chimed as he walked in. No one in the store paid any attention to Nick as he walked down a few aisles. He became clued that something was amiss when he passed a mother with her young, teenaged daughter in an aisle. Neither one of them showed any sign of recongnition. Nick seemed to be a total stranger to them. His stomach growled when he walked past a chip display so he grabbed a full size bag of plain Lay’s potato chips. Walking past the coolers, Nick added a soda and walked up to the counter line to pay for his items. Brian walked in a few moments later and stood next to Nick as they waited for their turn in line.

Brian looked nervously at the watch on his wrist. “We are late already! Nick, this is the last time you’re going to make us late, if you ever got your butt in gear, you’d get yourself a phone and I could wake you up in the morning.”

Nick only grinned at Brian’s insistance that they were late for something where someone named Steve was going to go postal on them. He set his purchases down on the counter, the cashier promptly scanned the groceries. “He got some gas too, put that on the tab.”

“Nick, I’ll get the gas, don’t worry about it,” Brian argued.

“Okay, four nineteen, please,” the clerk stated after she snapped the wad of chewing gum in her mouth.

Nick opened his wallet and became stunned when he found only one one dollar bill inside. He flipped the money back and forth, hoping that his eyes were playing tricks on him. Then he noticed that none of his credit cards were ,missing, just his Florida driver’s license was inside. “Aww, man, this isn’t my wallet. Bri, the joke’s up, gimme back my wallet!”

Laying a twenty down on the counter, Brian shook his head in disgust. “Broke again Nick?”

Nick could feel the heat in his cheeks as the blush slowly surfaced. “No I’m not broke! This isn’t my wallet, all my credit cards are missing.” Nick insisted.

“Take the twelve in gas on pump number six out of that too,” Brian stated as he pushed the money towards the woman.

Wordlessly, Nick walked back towards the car, clutching the bag of chips and the soda. He decided he didn’t like the route this practical joke had been taking. He couldn’t imagine the next stop this practical joke was going to take him to.

Chapter 5