Keith walked up the stairs to the glass door and stepped in. There was a woman at the desk.

"How can I help?"

Damn. Keith wanted to back out.

"Hey, Keith!" Lance greeted, leaning out of an office doorway in a rolling chair. He looked at the woman at the front desk. "I've got him!" Lance watched Keith shift, nervously. "Keith, you can come back here."

Keith wasn't hiding behind a hoodie this time, which was good because it was hot as hell outside. Lance was spinning around in his chair behind a desk. Keith took a seat. Lance stopped.

"Happy Saturday and oh! check it out- I got an office!" Lance said, gesturing to the room. Behind him was a wall with large windows that showed the warehouse.

Keith leaned back in his chair. Lance leaned forward on the desk.

"What can I do for you today?"

Keith thought for a second. "I feel bad taking food without paying but I just don't have money."

"But you know that's why we're here, right?"

"I know." Keith replied. "I've decided that I want to volunteer."

Lance smiled "Welcome to the team." He looked at Keith. "Do you need community service hours?"

"No." Keith responded.

"Tight." Lance replied, pushing back and twirling in his chair. He stood up. "I'll show you around."

Lance held the door open for Keith and they stepped into the warehouse. "Welcome to Food for Friends. We are a food bank that has been running for over 30 years and we serve mostly college students and single parents." Lance stopped and pointed at the front of the open warehouse. "That is the loading bay." He corrected himself. "Well right now it's the unloading bay. We get deliveries from local grocery stores. We get a lot from Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts. They come and get community service hours on the weekends. Some kids are coming today at 2. We mostly have them sort out cans because well, they're weak."

Keith laughed. "Okay."

They arrived at the loading bay. Lance stepped into the back of the truck. He picked up a heavy box and hefted it up onto his shoulder. Keith followed and picked up a box.

"So what are these?" Keith asked. "It's heavy."

"Cans." Lance answered. "Probably vegetables. Or peaches. We get a lot of canned peaches."

"I got canned peaches last week."

"See?" Lance laughed. 

Keith set down the heavy box next to Lance's.

"Are we really going to move everything like this?" Keith asked.

Lance leaned back against the wall of boxed cans. "Nah. Dan will come and use the lift to get the rest of them." He looked at his watch. "I tell you what- let's get lunch and get back before the student volunteers."

Keith was quiet. Lance clapped a hand on his shoulder. "I'm paying."

"I've got some cash." Keith offered.

Lance laughed. "And I have my dad's credit card."

---

They got lunch at a ramen shop.

"The Japanese are genius." Lance said after swallowing.

"How so?" Keith asked.

Lance pointed with his chopsticks at a sliced egg. "Who else thinks to put an egg in soup?"

Keith rasied an eyebrow. "The Chinese?"

Lance frowned, thinking of egg-drop soup. "Oh."

Keith smirked. He pulled noodles out of the broth with his sticks and ate, happily. This was the best meal he had in weeks.

"So you're a student?" Lance asked.

"Yeah." Keith answered. "I go to Mason." He looked at Lance. "What about you?"

Lance shrugged. "Well now I work part-time at Food for Others but I also work as a mechanic at my dad's shop. College didn't really work out. You must be pretty damn smart."

Keith laughed, lightly. "I'm an art major."

"What kind of art?"

"I do a lot of mural work. My class painted over some graffiti in the city and we also painted the brick wall of Cunningham Park elementary school."

Lance thought and then had an idea. He perked up. "So could you... potentially paint the outside of the food bank?"

Keith bit his cheek before replying. "It would be pretty big." He thought. "I mean, it's the outside wall of a warehouse."

Lance frowned. "Oh."

"But-" Keith said, thinking. "If we had volunteers that could help cover most of the side, I think I could do it. It would take a month."

"Let's do it!" Lance said.

"One problem." Keith explained. "That much paint would be expensive. I can't afford it. I'm sorry."

Lance shrugged, trying to hide his disappointment. "No sweat." He spoke. "Well let's go help some volunteers."

"Boy Scouts?" Keith asked.

"Yeah. And Girl Scouts- they're vicious."

"How?" Keith laughed.

"The girls will plow you over with carts. One hit in the shin and you'll learn to steer clear."

They returned to the bank which was a fair walk.

"Hey." Lance said, greeting his manager, Dan. "This is Keith. He's helping out."

Dan shook Keith's hand. "Hi, Daniel Tucker. I just go by Dan."

"Hi, Dan. I'm Keith." He greeted.

Dan pointed at Lance. "We have a group of Girl Scouts coming in ten minutes. Can you take them?"

Lance laughed. "Fine. But I'm not letting them push any carts. They can carry the damn cans themselves." He turned back to Keith. "I'll show you what we're going to help them with."

After Keith was briefed on their objectives, a shipment truck pulled into the loading bay and the boys helped the Scouts unload the truck and organize the food.

Keith hefted a heavy box onto a pallet. Lance used a cart to pull away the boxes Keith had set.

"There." Lance said, locking the wheels of the cart. "The kids can unload the pallet. Let's take a break."

Keith stretched his arms out. It made sense now why Lance had so much muscle... why was he thinking about that.

The two made the 6 foot drop onto the cardboard recycling dumpster from the warehouse loading bay and then the 4 foot drop to the hot pavement. Lance held out his hand to help Keith down, which he took. They walked to the side of the building.

"Wow." Keith said. He closed his left eye and held up his thumb. He measured the building's brick wall. He turned to Lance. "I'll paint it. IF we can get the materials and some help."

Lance smiled and clapped his hand on Keith's back.

"I'll get to fundraising." Lance smiled.