Doing the Most He Can part 1
"Damn Todd you are a lightweight," Gary laughed, "help me out with the legs a little bit buddy, can you?" It was the same thing every time they went out partying, Todd would fall for the hottest girl in the place then drink himself stupid when she ignored him. Of course, they always ignored him because he never actually tried to talk to them.
It was not like he was a total loser or anything. He was a decent looking, tall, thin athletic guy who had ran Cross Country, pole vaulted, and played tennis in high school. The girls seemed to like him and find him amusing in that one drink period between sober shyness and totally wasted idiot. This time frame lasted, on average, about ten minutes.
Once again, Gary wondered how they had become such good friends so many years ago. They were total opposites in nearly everything and yet he couldn't imagine not having Todd in his life.
Leaning Todd against the house next to the door Gary fished his keys out and got the door open.
"OK Todd, you're home. Be quiet now and I'll get you to your room." After a few false starts he got Todd moving in the right direction. Fortunately, the Strom house was all on one level and Gary soon had him sitting on the edge of the bed. He got Todd's shoes off and pulled back the bedding before giving him a little shove that toppled him onto the bed. Gary picked up his legs and swung them up onto the bed. He threw the covers over Todd and shutting off the light, closed the door.
He made his way to the front door and as he exited, he heard Mrs. Strom's voice in the dark hall say, "Thank you for getting him home safe."
Shit, he thought they had been quiet enough not to wake Todd's mom, but apparently not. He pulled the door closed after him without replying and headed home.
Gary woke up to a ringing telephone and was not in the mood to answer it, but the damn thing just kept being obnoxious.
He croaked a, "Hello asshole," into the phone and heard Todd chuckle. One of the few annoying things about Todd is that he did not suffer hangovers. No matter how drunk he got after a few hours sleep, he would have no ill effects when he awoke.
"I just wanted to catch you before you went to work. Mom wants you to come to dinner tonight. She's making lasagna from scratch, about seven, OK?"
"Yeah that sounds good, but did you have to call so fucking early dickwad?"
"Ah, you have to be to work in like twenty minutes Gary."
"Oh shit, gotta go. See you tonight," he yelled as he hung up and leaped out of bed. The good thing about working at the motorcycle shop was wearing coveralls. He grabbed a pair from the closet and struggled into them on the way to the bathroom. When he had finished his morning routine, he grabbed his keys and went out to fire up his 1974 Honda CB750.
He had two minutes to spare when he turned into the alley entrance of the shop. He went in the already open overhead door and the other mechanic handed him a cup of coffee.
"Well, I have seen you in worse shape. You think we can actually get a couple bikes out of here today?" he said smiling.
"Maybe. It would help if you didn't yell so loud though."
"You know, you were a horseshit worker before you turned twenty-one and began your trip down the road to complete debauchery, now you're even- "
"Even still a much better mechanic than you will ever be Randolph," Gary quickly finished for him.
They had worked together at the shop for five years. In that time they had helped each other put together their dream bikes. Randy's was a 1973 Norton Commando 850. They got along well despite the fact Randy was 32, married and had three kids.
The day wore on and about noon Gary felt as if he might live and began wondering where he and Todd would go tonight. There were no parties to go to after dinner so it might end up being a get drunk at home night.
He helped Randy close at 4:30 and went home to take a nap before going to dinner.
His alarm woke him in time to take a shower and get to the Strom's.
Gary knocked on the door, then entered before anyone could get there. Todd yelled hello from the family room and Gary yelled back as he went to the kitchen. Rebecca Strom greeted him with a kiss on the cheek.
Todd's little sister, Lisa, greeted him with a "Hey Psycho." She had called him that since she was thirteen and he had talked her into watching the Hitchcock classic. Gary walked up behind her chair and reached around and gave her a hug.
When the hell did Lisa get boobs he wondered. Pretty nice firm boobs at that. Well of course she has tits you idiot, she's eighteen now. Lisa got up to set the table and Gary noticed she had nice legs and a cute butt too.
He snapped out of his reverie when Rebecca said, "You want to make yourself useful and put the dressing on and toss the salad?"
He grinned and went to the counter to help. Todd showed up and went to the oven and pulled out the garlic bread. Everything smelled great and tasted even better. They had a long dinner, laughing and joking. Rebecca was an office manager in a dentist's office and always had funny stories to tell about clients without giving up their names. Lisa was a senior and confident in herself enough to tell high school jokes. Todd wrote game code for a software company in the Valley, Todd told stories about the weird things that went on with computer nerds in his workplace. Gary told about the strange stories people told about why they had crashed their bikes and needed them repaired.
After helping clean up, Todd and Gary went to the den and tried out a new game Todd's company was beta testing. About eleven Lisa stuck her head in the doorway and said goodnight. They had just started a movie when Rebecca also informed the boys that she was on her way to bed too. Just after midnight Gary heard the phone ring and looked over at Todd to find him fast asleep. Five minutes later Rebecca came in wearing sweatpants and a thin hoodie.
"Oh damn, he's sleeping," Rebecca said when she saw Todd.
"Why, what's up?" Gary asked.
"I am on call this weekend and the police just phoned to say they found back door of the office unlocked. They looked around and it didn't look like anything was disturbed but I have to go and look around and lock up. I'm a little scared to go by myself, I wanted Todd to go with, but I don't want to wake him up."
"No problem Mrs. S, I'll go with you."
"Are you sure? I hate to ask you just because I'm afraid of a dark creepy office building."
Gary laughed and said, "It's all right, I haven't had a chance to wear my superhero costume all week."
"I can always count on you Gary. Let me write a note in case either of the kids wake up."
Gary put his boots on and was waiting by the door to the garage when Rebecca came around the corner and tossed him the keys to her Mercedes SUV.
"Will you drive please? That's another thing this old lady doesn't like to do anymore, drive at night."
Gary looked around as if trying to find something.
"What are you looking for," she asked.
"An old lady, I don't see one anywhere," he teased.
She shook her head and gave him a little shove toward the door saying, "Out you smooth talker."
They arrived behind the office building and found a patrol car waiting for them.