Page 34 of Bless This Hot Mess

Japheth then raised his fist in defiance, looking toward the ticket booth, “And screw that ticket boothauthoritarian! Who needs a bus ticket refund when we have a Kia Rio?”

Rebekkah giggled, then added seriously, “Maybe.”

And with that, the trio stood together under the flickering bus station lights, knowing that they had finally found their dream team, each other. They didn’t need the Globetrotters, or Los Angeles, or even a bus ticket out of town. They had everything they needed right here in Greater Napanee.

The bus driver, clearly done with the theatrics, closed the doors and pulled away, the exhaust cloud drifting behind it as the bus disappeared into the night.

Rebekkah turned to the guys, her smile radiant, “So, what’s next?”

Japheth grinned, a gleam of excitement in his eyes, “Next, we save a radio station.”

“And then?” Ronald asked, his voice coloured with curiosity.

It was dusk in the bus station parking lot, the air thick with indecision and the faint smell of diesel. Rebekkah, Japheth, and Ronald stood by their bags, staring at each other and hoping they’d made the right call. For a moment, they had all considered leaving their small town behind. But somehow, between the cheap coffee and shared existential dread, they’d decided to stay. Not just stay but start a band. A band with purpose. A band with a higher calling. A band for their brand-new throuple.

Now, under the flickering glow of the station’s neon sign, they stood shoulder to shoulder to shoulder, forming a huddle of mismatched luggage, newfound solidarity, and musical aspirations. There wasn’t much left to say, at least with simple words.

Rebekkah took a step forward, her chest rising as if she were about to belt out a confession to the universe itself. Instead, she sang.

“David had Jonathan and Adam had Eve,” she began, her voice laced with melodramatic sincerity, like she was auditioning for a musical no one at the bus stop had asked for.

Japheth quickly picked up the thread, glancing nervously at Rebekkah, then throwing his arms wide like he was inviting the whole world to hear,

“Cain had Abel before he made him bleed.”

Ronald, not one to be theatrically outshone, tossed his jacket over his shoulder, eyes gleaming with campy intensity,

“Alexander had Hephaestion way back in the day.”

He paused, throwing a wink at Japheth, who returned it and sang,

“They’re not in the Bible, and I think they’re…”

The former duo, that was now a throuple, but not in themodern sense, was nevertheless in perfect sync; they threw their heads back and sang,

“Hey! You!! You gotta have friends.

God got lonely, so He made a Holy Ghost!”

Japheth, never one to let a rhyme go unmatched, queried their cautious and curious audience of stragglers in the parking lot,

"Throwing a party?

Jesus is a bitchin’ host.”

Ronald, spinning around with a flair that suggested he might break into a triple pirouette at any moment, joined the chorus with gleeful abandon,

“Hey! You!! Ya gotta have friends.

Three’s a magic number. It’s the most!”

Unsure if the situation was safe or suspect, the last remaining travellers skittered away into the night, leaving Trinity an empty house to perform to. But they hardly noticed. The bus station’s desolation seemed to melt away as Rebekkah took centre stage again, her face lit with a sort of clumsy and accidental lighting from the buzzing orange neon that nevertheless added an air of avant-garde, indie, artistic integrity generally found in off-off-Broadway performances or late-late-night karaoke as she sang,

“Mary had Elizabeth and the wise men were three.”

Japheth, his arms stretched like Moses parting the very metaphorical sea of self-doubt that had plagued them all afternoon, chimed in,

“Moses had Aaron when he parted that sea.”