Falling For You

Chapter 2

Tim stood in the foyer of his house with his jaw on the floor. Who could have thought that the neighbor's robot was the one who wanted to help him with his videos? He couldn't believe his unfathomable luck, and according to the expression on Moby's face, neither could he. 

Both boys stood silent and staring for a good 26 seconds. The parents of both boys seemed to realize and decided to carry the conversation in another direction.

"Welcome to our home and our neighborhood, Mr. and Mrs. Stinson!" Maria called out cheerfully. "I hope you like macaroni and Brussel Sprouts!"

"Oh we do," answered the tall woman in the other side of the doorway. "And please, call us  Michelle and Derek."

Suddenly, Maria's face drooped as she seemed to finally recognize Moby's presence within her house. "I'm sorry, I didn't realize he would be here and I only made organic food."

Michelle and Derek exchanged a glance before realizing what Maria was talking about. "Oh, don't worry about it! Moby was updated recently and is now able to convert organic matter into biofuel!"

Maria sighed in relief. "That's fantastic! I was worried he wasn't going to have anything to eat."

"Beep," Moby chimed in. Michelle and Derek seemed to be deep in thought when Tim piped up.

"He said 'Thank you for your hospitality'."

Everyone turned to Tim, shocked and dumbfounded.

"What?" he asked. "I thought you knew that I learned how to speak robot for a video."

His parents still stared at him. Tim looked the 4 adults and robot over once more and said, "I guess you didn't know that."

The adults stood there with blank expressions on their faces for a few moments more before shuffling into the house. They all made their way to the dinning room table while Maria carried in the platters full of macaroni and Brussel sprouts for each of the guests. After some light chatter that didn't concern the boys, Derek asked them, "So, how do you guys know each other?"

Tim and Moby looked at each other before Tim spoke up. "We ended up messaging each other online earlier today. I posted an ad for a partner to help me with my videos and Moby was the one who responded."

"Well that's very convenient for you two. I'm glad you'll finally be able and I make friends, Tim!" Maria stated cheerfully.

Tim looked down at his lap bashfully as his cheeks broke out with a very red pigment. "Mom," he groaned. He didn't want to seem like a loser in front of his new video-making partner. Tim was basically Moby's boss and here his mom was, making him seem like the biggest loser on the planet.

Moby seemed to silently chuckle, along with Derek and Michelle.

"Well boys, since your done with your food, why don't you go upstairs to work out your video situation?" Tim's father, Mark, asked. Tim and Moby looked at one another before shrugging and getting up from their seats and putting their empty plates in the sink.

Tim lead his robot partner up the stairs and to his room. One of his walls was left bare so his videos would be able to have a good background. Moby took a few moments to take in the atmosphere, before plopping down in the center of Tim's blue carpet on his floor. Tim grabbed his laptop from his desk and sat down next to Moby.

"Alright. I don't know if you're familiar with BrainPop but it's basically a conglomerate of videos about topics that kids ask me for assistance on. They'll send me letters to a P.O. box, I research the topic, and create a 5 minute-ish video about it," Tim said, matter-of-factly. Moby nodded along with Tim's words explaining the site.

"So it's like an educational video site?" Moby asked.

"Yeah, pretty much," Tim answered.

"I don't know if you want it but I'd like to be in the videos," Moby said.

Tim nodded along, wondering how this arrangement would work out. "What if we divided the work up evenly for every video. Like you do the script one week and I do the graphics. Then we can switch for the next week's video."

"That sound like a excellent plan. You're very organized, Tim."

Tim looked at his robot counterpart then down at his lap. His cheeks turned a light pink color as he said, "Thanks Moby. I think we're gonna be a great team. Thank you so much for agreeing to be my partner."

Moby beeped in happiness as he said, "I'm just happy to be able to help the kids."

Tim admired Moby's dedication to the kids. His new partner was turning out to be a really nice guy. "I just uploaded a video today so we need to pick another topic for next week's video. Would you rather do the graphics or the script for this week?" he asked Moby.

Moby thought about Tim's question for a moment before answering, "I want to do graphics this week. I'm better at them than writing." Tim nodded.

"Also, I want you to pick out the topic this week."

Moby's face seemed to light up with joy at the proposition. "Really? I'd be honored," he exclaimed. Tim smiled. I think me and Moby are going to be great friends, he thought.

"Ok," Tim said. "I'll take you to the P.O. box now." Mobs nodded and proceeded to follow Tim down the stairs and out the front door.

"I wonder where the boys are going," Michelle mused.

"They seem to be getting along great," Maria said. The adults all agreed and returned to their previous conversation.

Tim lead Moby along the side of the road in silence. It wasn't awkward, but Tim wished that they would bond while on the path to the P.O. box. They passed several tall trees 0n their way, which never failed to make Moby stop and stare. Tim took notice an eventually asked, "Why do you like the trees so much?"

Moby looked at Tim with a puzzled expression on his face. After a few moments he responded, "Where I used to live we didn't have many trees, and we especially didn't have any as magnificent as the ones here."

Tim took a moment before responding. "I guess I never really thought that anyone would feel wonder when they looked at trees."

"Really? Have you never heard of Nature: a magazine with several thousands of readers?" Moby said with a hint of sarcasm.

Tim thought for a while before responding with, "I guess I never thought people actually read Nature. It seems so boring."

Moby scoffed before retorting, "You obviously need to enjoy nature more, the magazine and the actual thing."

Now, it was Tim's turn to scoff. They continued their playful argument over nature before finally making it to the P.O. box. When they entered the door, Moby poked around in shock as he saw a girl standing at the entrance. "Julie?" he asked.

"Oh my god! Moby!" she exclaimed happily before running over to hug him and planting a long and loving kiss on his metallic lips.