Arrius opened his eyes. He had been exhausted the night before and had fallen fast asleep, almost immediately after his head had hit the pillow. He felt like sleeping a little longer but knew he had some errands to run this morning and the earlier the better. He stretched his muscular body in preparation for getting out of bed. He then had a feeling that something wasn't as it should have been. He looked over his shoulder to the other side of the bed. That was it! Verrius was not there. Arrius had not felt the man's back pressing lightly against his own, something that was unavoidable in the bed that was too small for two big men. Arrius wondered where he had gone. He hadn't mentioned anything the previous night about having to get up early. He was disappointed that his friend was absent. He wanted to explain about Sextus. Even though he had sidestepped the issue yesterday he knew that Verrius wouldn't let it go. Would his friend be horrified to find out about his sexuality? Had he done something in the middle of the night that had so disgusted Verrius that he had to get out? No, that couldn't have been it. It had to be some simple reason, most likely hunger. Yes that was it. Verrius had gone to get breakfast. Little did Arrius know that at that very moment Verrius was on the road to Green Acres.