Chapter 11

Eleven

Jacob

Jacob hopped out of the driver's side of the car, getting out and stretching his arms above his head as far as they'd go.

" Ahhhh , it feels so damn good to stretch," Jacob said, tilting his head back and rolling it left to right.

He looked over at Will, who was stretching on the other side of the car. He was bent over, with his hands flat on the ground in front of his feet. Jeez, Will is flexible as hell , Jacob idly noticed. Will's hair was windswept from having opened the window the last 20 minutes of the car ride, and it was going in tons of different directions but still managed to look good. Jacob's stare lingered a little longer before he turned away, running his hands through his own short hair and stretching out his back some more.

They'd been on the road for a few hours and were stopped in Buffalo, New York for lunch. They'd found a great taco place thanks to an app on Will's phone, and were parked outside. It was overcast in Buffalo and slightly chillier than it had been back at school.

Will stood back up and breathed in deep.

"You ready for some tacos? I'm ready for some tacos," Will said, smiling at Jacob, and started to walk into the shop.

The place was decorated like a beach hut, even though they were still in upstate New York. There were surfboards on the wall, and tons of photos of beaches and surfers hanging everywhere.

"You better get used to this, Jacob," Will said, looking at him as they sat down at a table.

"What, you mean because I'm going to San Diego?" Jacob asked.

"Yup. Although I'm sure the tacos there are even better," Will said.

"I'd definitely hope so. Hey, so did you look up what's going on in Cleveland tonight? It would be nice if we could do something other than just go sleep in the motel," Jacob said.

"Actually yeah, I saw online that they have some sort of art festival going on tonight, I'd definitely check that out if you're down for it," Will suggested. He picked up the menu and started glancing over it.

"Yeah, totally. You just can't make fun of my lack of art knowledge."

Will laughed. "Don't worry, I'll teach you whatever you need to know."

Jacob noticed that when he was talking about art, Will's eyes did that thing where they got wider and seemed to sparkle a little bit. He glanced at them before looking back down at the menu.

They ate, and it turned out the tacos were actually really good. Jacob ate four and Will ate three, and they were ready to get back on the road again. They got back in the car, this time with Will in the driver's seat. After fueling up at a gas station, they were on the road again for a few hours until their final stop in Cleveland.

"This app is the best," Jacob said from the passenger seat. "Just booked our 2-bed motel room for just 60 bucks."

"Cool! I promise I won't raid the minibar and add an extra $60 onto that," Will joked.

"You better not, or I'll fight you, Will. You know I could take you," Jacob laughed, lightly punching Will on his shoulder.

"Jacob. …Jacob…"

Jacob felt a prod on his shoulder. What ? He opened his eyes. He was being woken up from a nap in the passenger seat. He opened his eyes just a crack and saw that the afternoon sunlight was beginning to turn golden. They'd been on the road a few more hours and had just arrived at their motel in Cleveland.

"We're here!" Will said, parking the car in the lot in front of the motel. Jacob looked out the window, rubbing his eyes and checking out the building. The place was small, and definitely not going to win any awards, but it at least looked safe and relatively clean.

They grabbed their suitcases and went to the front desk to check in, and then headed up the elevator to the second floor where the room was. Jacob opened up the door with his key and stepped in.

"Okay, now I know why this was so cheap," Jacob said, looking around the room. It was really small. There was only room for the two beds, a tiny TV, and the small bathroom.

"Well, ya get what you pay for, and we don't need fancy," Will said, plopping down on one of the beds. "It's got a comfy bed at least! And everything looks clean."

"Yeah, it'll be fine for a night," Jacob said.

He settled in, unpacking his toiletries and laptop from his bag.

"Did you wanna nap a little more before we go back out? You seemed real sleepy in the car back there…" Will asked.

"Nah, I'll be good. Let's head out to that art festival. Not like there's anything to do here," Jacob said. Truthfully, the motel room was so small that it felt intimate, and Jacob didn't know what to do in tight quarters like that with Will. It was stirring up those same damn feelings he got the other day when Will had been massaging him – feelings that "confusing" couldn't even begin to describe.

"Sounds good to me. Let's go! It's only supposed to be a few blocks from here," Will said.

They took turns changing in the bathroom to get out of their road trip clothes and then headed out down the street toward the festival. They passed tall buildings and a beautiful cathedral. Even though Cleveland wasn't a big city, it still felt more developed than the small college town that they'd been in the past four years. Jacob felt good being somewhere even slightly more urban.

They walked a few more minutes and finally came upon the art festival. There must have been almost a hundred booths set up on the streets, with a different artist at each one showing their work. It stretched out across about four blocks. There were sculptors, painters, photographers, and even some street performers and musicians in the street intersections.

"Holy shit, check that out!" Jacob said. He pointed toward a street performer that was tossing a baton with fire on either end.

"Yeah, this is awesome! This festival is way bigger than I expected," Will said, looking around at all the different booths.

They sauntered through, checking out different artists.

"See that guy's stuff over there? That kind of painting is called ‘Rococo' style. It's from the 1700s originally, but that artist is basically aping the style. It can be really beautiful if you get over the old-ladyish feel," Will said.

Jacob followed him down the street, loving how excited this was making Will. They passed by another painter.

"Oh, and that one's--"

"Cubism, right?" Jacob interrupted.

"Yes! Hey, wow, you know something about art," Will said, lightly touching Jacob's shoulder, his face in mock surprise.

"Well, I know as much as I learned from my one high school art class," Jacob added.

They continued going up to booths, Will sometimes asking the artists questions or praising their work. Jacob spotted an antique dealer at one of the booths and went off on his own to check and see if they had anything cool. He looked through the array of metal pieces and found an old brass lock.

"Hello," he said to the old man behind the booth, "is this an antique?"

"That sure is," the old man said, "It's an antique brass seal lock. From T Slaight."

"That's really cool," Jacob said, "I collect interesting locks. I only have a few that are this old. How much for it?"

"For that one, I'd say at least 80," the old man said, unsmiling.

"Ahh, okay. Unfortunately don't have the budget for that right now, but it's really a beautiful one," Jacob said, walking away.

"Understandable," the old man said. "Have a great night, kid!"

"Thank you, you too," Jacob said.

He wandered a bit more, trying to locate Will. He checked the last few booths they'd been at, but couldn't find him.

He wandered for another five minutes before finding him again. He walked over and found him talking to a photographer. The guy was young, couldn't be more than five years older than they were. He was rugged-looking, with scruffy facial hair. Jacob thought the guy looked like he cared a lot about how he dressed.

"Oh, hey Jacob! This is Mark. Isn't his work fantastic? He was just telling me how he actually went to school not far from where I grew up, in Phoenix. Mark, this is my friend Jacob," Will said.

Jacob held out his hand and Mark gave him a handshake. He looked around at the photos surrounding him in the booth. They were all nude figures – no actual explicit shots, but tasteful nudes, artistic nudes of men and women, in black and white. Jacob had to admit that some of them did look beautiful. But he found this Mark guy intimidating.

"So you do only black and white stuff?" Jacob asked, trying to show interest.

"My work takes whatever form it needs to. I give it life, I caress the photo in the darkroom until it sings the way I need it to. For these pieces, that expressed itself in the form of black and white silver gelatin prints. But only the spirit of the art knows where it might go next," Mark said. His voice was soft, lilting, and he didn't make any eye contact with Jacob.

Oooo-kay , Jacob thought. He looked over at Will. His eyes were wide, and he started chatting a mile a minute again with Mark. Jacob listened for a few seconds, but when the conversation turned to apertures and shutter speeds, he spaced out and looked at the photos around the booth.

"That sounds awesome! Jacob, would you come?" Will was asking him. He hadn't been listening to what the question was.

"What?"

"Mark was just saying how he and a couple friends are going to a bar down the street in a little while. The festival's ending in a half hour."

"Oh! Gotcha. Um, no, I think I'll be ok. I'm probably gonna grab dinner and just head back to the motel. Kinda tired," Jacob replied.

"You sure? …Fine. I'm gonna go hang out, but if you're going to sleep I'll try to be quiet when I come back in later, ok?" Will asked, his eyes looking sweet.

"Sure. That's fine," Jacob yawned. "I guess I'm gonna get going now, but have fun. I'll see you later."

"Alright. See ya. Don't have too much fun at the motel," Will winked, before turning back to Mark.

Jacob forced out a little laugh and turned around to head back. The sun had set fully at this point, and the air had picked up a chill. Jacob shivered slightly.

He felt faintly irritated, but couldn't place why. He didn't like that Mark guy. He had just seemed so pretentious or something. He hadn't smiled at all when he met Jacob, and had kind of talked down to him about his lack of art knowledge.

That guy is nothing like Will , Jacob thought, thinking about how eager Will was to teach Jacob about his art ignorance. I don't see why Will wants to hang out with him .

The sense of sadness that had enveloped Jacob last night began to creep back in. He was alone again, aimless. He stopped for a quick dinner in a tiny burger shop near the motel and then headed back to the room.

The room felt a lot bigger, and emptier, without Will. Jacob sat on the edge of one bed and kicked his shoes off. He opened his laptop and turned on the comedy channel, wanting some noise to fill the silence of the room. He slowly drifted to sleep, the glow of the screen the only light in the room.