Page 18 of Can't Stop Now
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 knowsomethingabout 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.