Free Open Road by M.J. O'Shea

they really had to say wasn’t meant for a quiet restaurant. Angus knew that time would come, when Reece would expect him to explain. It just hadn’t come yet.
    “So,” Reece said when they were sharing a bowl of fried ice cream, “I might have scored us some concert tickets.”
    “What concert?” Angus asked. “When?”
    Another spark of interest lit in his belly. Angus definitely noticed the change. He used to live for concerts, the louder the better. He loved to get lost in the crowd, feel the guitar in his chest and the bass in his knees, live in the heartbeat of the music and not much else. Angus hadn’t done anything like that in years. He’d never realized how much he missed it until the thought of it sounded… kind of amazing.
    “You know my friend Brenda, the one who lives outside LA and edits for that travel magazine?”
    “Yeah, of course.” Angus had met Brenda once or twice.
    “She has a few plus ones on her press pass for Coachella the day after tomorrow.” Reece smirked around his burrito.
    “ Coachella .” Angus said it like he could barely believe it, which made sense, because he couldn’t believe it.
    The thought of Coachella, his Holy Grail music festival, on any other day would have had Angus jumping up and down and screaming like a banshee. As it was, it was probably one of the only things that had the ability to make him smile. Really smile. “You can’t be serious,” he said.
    “Yup.” Reece nodded. “Get out your hipster jeans. We’re going to a music festival.”
    “We’re going to the music festival. I knew there was a reason you were my best friend.”
    “Yeah, I might suck at everything else, but I can get you some concert tickets from time to time,” Reece said.
    Angus gave him a shy smile and dove in for the last bit of fried ice cream. “Don’t even think about it,” he muttered at Reece, whose spoon hovered a bit too close to the fat and sugar.
    Reece grinned. “It’s all yours.”
     
     
    THE NEXT morning dawned blue and perfect. It was warm but not hot, bright but not too much sun. Pale tufts of clouds floated across the sky, and Angus couldn’t help but to throw open the balcony door and let the new air in. He looked out over a few blocks of town to the shimmering Pacific and wriggled his toes into the scratchy hotel rug like he could feel the sand. Reece had been right. Getting the hell out of Portland had done him a lot of good. His near-perpetual headache was gone, even in the bright morning sunlight, he was hungry for breakfast for the first time in months, and he genuinely wanted to get to Indio and the magic of Coachella. It was almost like some kind of quest or something, to get somewhere he used to want to go. Maybe he’d find something there. Or someone who’d been lost for a long, long time.
    Who knows…?
    Time to wake up Reece. “Get up, lazy.” He hopped on the corner of Reece’s bed until his best friend stirred.
    Reece blinked and rubbed at his messy scruff of wheat-blond hair. He was golden all over, just like always; Lord knew how, since they’d just come out of the wettest, grayest winter in the history of time. The white of the sheets draped over his perfectly sculpted bare hip reminded Angus of some annoyingly beautiful statue.
    “You naked under there? My eyes, ” Angus joked. He felt a bit nervous, though, and his throat got uncomfortably tight. He decided it was a good time to escape to the tiny balcony.
    “I’m not naked, jackass.” Reece rolled his eyes. “When have I ever just stripped down in front of you and shown you the junk?”
    “Tenth grade.” Angus snorted. “At Jordan’s beach cabin.”
    “I was drunk . For the first time, I might add. I thought we weren’t going to ever bring that up again.”
    Angus shrugged. He felt a smile rising up from his belly. “You asked.”
    “I suppose I did.”
    “Where are we going today?”
    “I figured we’d cut inland around LA and head to Indio. We’re going to