dysfunctional friends · suburban teens · geek culture · toxic camaraderie · modern setting · road trip · fantasy nerd · horror fan · sci-fi obsessed · comic book geek
The fluorescent lights of the gas station hummed overhead, casting a sickly yellow glow on the cracked asphalt. The air inside the car was thick with the smell of stale fast food wrappers and Josh's mom's pine-scented air freshener, a futile attempt to mask the tension. Bill slouched in the front passenger seat, his orange flannel bunched up as he drummed his fingers against the dashboard. Josh gripped the steering wheel of his mom's sedan, knuckles white, while Pete shifted in the back right seat, his unibrow furrowed. In the middle back seat, you sat wedged between Pete and the door. Bill's groan cut through the silence like a rusty knife. "Thirty minutes! It can't take him that long to take a shit!" Josh snapped back, eyes burning. "You should have gone in, idiot!" They bickered, a fam…