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Surprisingly the trip wasn’t as horrible as he’d thought it would be. The road made him sleepy but not sick. Edgar had woken when the driver had announced their destination over the loud speaker. He’d slept most of the way.
Fifteen minutes after he’d gotten off the bus, and halfway to the hospice his Abuela had been settled into, he noticed he was missing twenty bucks from his wallet and a granola bar.
A month later when he made the trip again Edgar napped before the 34 hour drive and tucked his wallet into the front of his jeans. But outside of some acne-ridden teen making a fuss at the back of the bus, playing his music loud enough that several people complained and the driver warned him to straighten up or he’d be kicked off, the ride was pretty boring. He made a mental note to bring a book next time.
He fell into a light doze about eighteen hours into the journey. Edgar was vaguely aware of someone sitting in the empty seat beside him which was uncomfortable. There were plenty of empty rows scattered about, no need to double up.
He forced himself to wake up, straightening in his chair and drinking a bit from his water bottle. Beside him the acne ridden teen was harshly whispering to a black girl a few seats up. He begged expectantly for one of her candy bars but was refused.
“This one’s for my grandma!” she stage whispered back. “It keeps her regular!”
“Aw, that’s fucking gross.” He threw an empty wrapper at her and sat down. The bus slowed to a stop and when Edgar checked his bag a whole granola bar was missing this time.
Traveling in the month of November meant the bus was especially crowded. He picked a seat near the front and wasn’t surprised when a distinctly gangly young man hopped in next to him. People filed in and for a moment Edgar retained hope that the teen was just getting the lay of the land before choosing something further back. To the older man’s disappointment, however, the teen was handed a couple of candy bars by the same girl from before who was closely trailed by a purple-haired Hispanic girl. They all looked around the same age or at least Edgar thought so. Then again he wasn’t the best judge for that sort of thing. People’s faces blurred after awhile.
“Hey, Pass me my coke!” The teen called out.
Edgar may have had a problem with faces but voices, especially one as reedy and loud as his seatmate’s, he could distinctly remember.
A bottle sailed through the air and into the teen’s arms. He crowed victoriously. Edgar peered back, purple-haired girl hand good aim.
The young man beside him swung his backpack up and into the roped off compartment above their heads. It made Edgar glad he’d opted to tuck his bag under his seat instead. A bright slip of pale skin peeked out from between the his black shirt and jeans while he wrestled the straps of his bag past the cords.
Edgar pulled out his novel, fingers shaking. He had more important things to worry about. As discretely as he could Edgar wound the strap of his messenger bag around his ankle and set his foot over the flap. This time when he inevitably fell asleep and then awoke again his granola bars were safe but also completely crushed.
December was worse than November. Now there were more children on board, which meant more crying and screaming. Edgar rubbed at the pain point between his eyes that had flared up when the noise had started.
Once again the gangly teen picked the seat beside him, a small grocery bag of snacks in his lap. Edgar eyed him curiously. How often did he travel? Once a month like Edgar? The two girls, his friends perhaps, ambled on to the bus after him but chose seats much further back.
Slowly the bus filled up, his seatmate almost immediately making a ruckus over where his headphones had gone. He came dangerously close to crawling under their seats, much to Edgar’s embarrassment when the purple-haired girl called out to him.
“Jimmy, you asshole, you left them in the store bag.” She tossed them with amazing accuracy at Jimmy’s head. They hit their mark and the teen cursed up a storm. It took the bus driver threatening to throw him off the bus several times before he settled into his seat grumbling.
Edgar stared blankly at the bus outlet he’d plugged his phone’s charger into. His name was Jimmy. The older man was so caught up with the tiny chunk of information he’d just gained that he forgot to take measures to protect his bag. When he woke up Jimmy and the girls were gone along with two of his granola bars.
January’s bus ride would be his last. He’d gotten a call from his Abuela’s care facility that she definitely wouldn’t make it to the end of the month. His last visit she’d barely managed to stay awake for an hour here or there. He’d arranged to stay with a cousin nearby for the rest of her time. He was going to have to say goodbye.
That’s why it was a relief when Jimmy struck up a conversation, anything to take his mind off of what was waiting for him at the last stop.
“Dude, let me have one of your bar thingies.”
Edgar gave him a shrewd look. He knew it. Jimmy waved a mini bottle of coke at him and Edgar gave up two granola bars in exchange while they talked.
Jimmy told him that he and the two girls went every couple of weeks to visit a friend of theirs at a juvenile detention facility in preparation for him aging out. They’d all turned eighteen earlier that year.
“We met in that shit hole. We’re gonna have each others' back on the outside, ya know?”
Edgar didn’t but nodded along anyway. His life for the past six years had been devoted to the health of his Abuela as her primary caregiver. When she’d declined beyond his capability to handle he’d let his cousins set her up at a hospice. He’d never had much time for keeping friends. Even now that he had more free time for himself it was hard, he’d gotten out of practice keeping in contact with people. It had never seemed all that important in the face of what he’d had going on.
His Abuela had raised him and now at twenty-two he was going to lose her.
“So, where do you get off?”
“Last stop, about an hour out from you. I have family down there.”
“Yeah?”
The way he was turned towards Edgar and leaning in, watching him intently without blinking. He was flirting, he had to be. Right?
“You live there?”
“No, but I’ll be there till February. Then I go back home.”
Jimmy’s eyes went wide when he told him what state he was from. Most who asked were surprised to see someone was willing to sit on various buses for more than a day every month.
“If you’re gonna be nearby we should meet up. Johnny gets out in a couple of weeks so we’ll be around.”
“Yeah let me,” he searched his seat for his phone and typed in Jimmy’s number when it was offered. This felt like either the best or stupidest thing he’d ever done, “I prefer a text before a call, in case I can’t answer right away.” He gestured awkwardly with his cell. “If I’m with my cousins it’ll be a circus. I’ll let you know or call you myself.”
He fell asleep telling Jimmy about the various places in town to eat and cheap places to crash for a night. He woke briefly at 3am with Jimmy asleep beside him, his head heavy on Edgar’s arm. Hours later he was jolted fully awake when the bus driver announced the last stop on his route. Jimmy and the girls were of course gone. He shifted, moving stiffly to get up and off the bus, but paused when he found a candy bar and three granola wrappers in his lap. Of course, of-freaking-course he took them.
“What an asshole.” Edgar laughed.