It was a disgustingly warm autumn day, which was seasonably normal for Arizona. For his entire life, Alex had been living in the hell city of Phoenix with his father. There was one point where he could remember a woman being present, but that was another story. As for his father, the man was usually busy running business-like errands and doing business-like things for his business-esque job, but Alex didn’t complain. That was just the way the cookie crumbled.
The air was wet with humidity when he opened the front door. Almost immediately, he closed it again. There was no way he was going outside to check the mail, even if the raised, red flag was tempting. He was expecting a delivery. A game, as a matter of fact. It was called SBURB, and he and some of his online friends were supposed to be playing it together. His best friend and next door neighbor, Rich, was playing it as well.
In fact, the thought of Rich gave him an idea. Instead of trudging all the way out in the heat to see if the game had come himself, he could just ask his friend if his own copy had come. He quickly dashed back up the staircase to his bedroom, successfully avoiding an encounter with his father.
That concluded that Rich’s copy wasn’t there yet, Alex supposed. That also meant it wasn’t coming today, considering the mail had already been delivered. Maybe his other friend had received her copy already, but talking to her made his heart do weird, uncomfortable flops. He hovered over her handle in his contacts and debated with himself about contacting her, when a slip of the finger clicked on her name against his will.
Oh, shit. That meant she could see he’d started a conversation with her. Panicking, he switched back to the conversation with Rich.
Right. Just say hi. What’s so hard about that? he thought sarcastically to himself, opening the other conversation.
Ouch. This was not going well.
Asking how she was; that was a thing Alex felt like he could do. It didn’t have any kind of other implications or undertones. Not that there needed to be any.
Realizing that he’d completely forgotten about Rich, Alex switched back to his other conversation to check up on him.
Awesome! Alex thought. Now that both of their copies of the game was in, he could work on making sure everyone else had their copy. Then would come actually playing the game. The hype was so real.
That was probably the worst and most awkward sendoff Alex had ever felt leave his mind. That was the most awful to ever say goodbye to anyone that he’d ever had a crush on. He felt like he wanted to just crawl under his desk and never come out; to never speak to her ever again. Of course, he was sure she understood, so he wouldn’t do any of that.
The most important thing was retrieving the mail without having to suffer the consequence of being forced to listen to one of his dad’s long rambles. They usually made no sense and made Alex incredibly uncomfortable. Because of that, he did what he could to avoid encountering his father in the hallways.
Peeking out of his bedroom door, the coast seemed pretty clear, captain. He snuck out on tiptoes, heading for the staircase. Much like himself, his father was a very minimalistic person -- there wasn’t much decor. Sometimes it made the place seem boring and ready to be sold. Sometimes, it was comforting.
As Alex neared the bottom of the staircase, crouched low, he saw his father sitting on the living room couch. Damn it! It looked like he was absorbed in the newspaper, so maybe there wouldn’t be an encounter.
Carefully, Alex pressed himself against the wall and started half-crawling to the front door. The television drowned out the creaking floorboards underneath his feet. His father stirred and made a weird face. Alex held his breath. There was a long moment of silence before the man let out a violent sneeze and seemed to return to reading the newspaper.
Close one.
He dashed out of the house and out to the mailbox. The heat was already making him sweat. Having lived there his entire life, one would think he was used to it by now, but he was not. The mailbox felt like it was a good mile from his front door, even though it was, in reality, only a few feet. But it was a fruitful journey. Opening the mailbox revealed his copy of SBURB amongst a pile of bills and junkmail!
Without further interference, he ran back into the house and up to his bedroom.
The air was wet with humidity when he opened the front door. Almost immediately, he closed it again. There was no way he was going outside to check the mail, even if the raised, red flag was tempting. He was expecting a delivery. A game, as a matter of fact. It was called SBURB, and he and some of his online friends were supposed to be playing it together. His best friend and next door neighbor, Rich, was playing it as well.
In fact, the thought of Rich gave him an idea. Instead of trudging all the way out in the heat to see if the game had come himself, he could just ask his friend if his own copy had come. He quickly dashed back up the staircase to his bedroom, successfully avoiding an encounter with his father.
That concluded that Rich’s copy wasn’t there yet, Alex supposed. That also meant it wasn’t coming today, considering the mail had already been delivered. Maybe his other friend had received her copy already, but talking to her made his heart do weird, uncomfortable flops. He hovered over her handle in his contacts and debated with himself about contacting her, when a slip of the finger clicked on her name against his will.
Oh, shit. That meant she could see he’d started a conversation with her. Panicking, he switched back to the conversation with Rich.
Right. Just say hi. What’s so hard about that? he thought sarcastically to himself, opening the other conversation.
Ouch. This was not going well.
Asking how she was; that was a thing Alex felt like he could do. It didn’t have any kind of other implications or undertones. Not that there needed to be any.
Realizing that he’d completely forgotten about Rich, Alex switched back to his other conversation to check up on him.
Awesome! Alex thought. Now that both of their copies of the game was in, he could work on making sure everyone else had their copy. Then would come actually playing the game. The hype was so real.
That was probably the worst and most awkward sendoff Alex had ever felt leave his mind. That was the most awful to ever say goodbye to anyone that he’d ever had a crush on. He felt like he wanted to just crawl under his desk and never come out; to never speak to her ever again. Of course, he was sure she understood, so he wouldn’t do any of that.
The most important thing was retrieving the mail without having to suffer the consequence of being forced to listen to one of his dad’s long rambles. They usually made no sense and made Alex incredibly uncomfortable. Because of that, he did what he could to avoid encountering his father in the hallways.
Peeking out of his bedroom door, the coast seemed pretty clear, captain. He snuck out on tiptoes, heading for the staircase. Much like himself, his father was a very minimalistic person -- there wasn’t much decor. Sometimes it made the place seem boring and ready to be sold. Sometimes, it was comforting.
As Alex neared the bottom of the staircase, crouched low, he saw his father sitting on the living room couch. Damn it! It looked like he was absorbed in the newspaper, so maybe there wouldn’t be an encounter.
Carefully, Alex pressed himself against the wall and started half-crawling to the front door. The television drowned out the creaking floorboards underneath his feet. His father stirred and made a weird face. Alex held his breath. There was a long moment of silence before the man let out a violent sneeze and seemed to return to reading the newspaper.
Close one.
He dashed out of the house and out to the mailbox. The heat was already making him sweat. Having lived there his entire life, one would think he was used to it by now, but he was not. The mailbox felt like it was a good mile from his front door, even though it was, in reality, only a few feet. But it was a fruitful journey. Opening the mailbox revealed his copy of SBURB amongst a pile of bills and junkmail!
Without further interference, he ran back into the house and up to his bedroom.
