It's Just You, Me And The Loading Screen

The Game

I walked with the delivery guy up to my apartment, we made polite chit-chat with each other in Swedish, I was a little bit rusty, having used English as my main language for so long. He unloaded the first lot of boxes and went back down the elevator to get the rest. I opened the fridge and pulled out the cheap bottle of wine I had brought before Anna and I had got back from shopping, I poured myself a glass, not wanting to get drunk again just using the alcohol to calm my nerves before Felix got here. The delivery guy came back with the last of my boxes and Felix still wasn't here, I didn't think it would take him this long, maybe he had changed his mind and wasn't coming after all. I decided to start unpacking, taking the bedside tables out of their boxes first and placed them against the wall opposite my wardrobe, hoping they would be far enough apart for my bed to fit. I had plugged my laptop in to play music and had just started trying to rip the wrapping off of my couch when I heard a knock at the door.

"Hey Ally, it's me"

He's here, there's no need to panic, just control yourself. I had a mouthful of wine before going to answer him, I opened the door and was about to say hello but he was on the phone.

"...ok, I'll see you after Christmas, Goodbye" He spoke to the phone but was looking into my eyes, I heard Marzia's voice say that she loved him, Felix hesitated, the both of us still making eye contact.

"Me too" He finally answered, I didn't let any emotion show on my face but I looked away from his eyes. He hung up and slid his phone back into his pocket, I pretended not to care about what I had just heard and smiled at him.

"Hey, thanks for coming over"

"Sorry I'm late, I just had to finish uploading a video" He walked in and I locked the door behind us.

"No problem, I started unpacking some stuff already, I'll mostly just need your help putting the bed together"

He started pulling the rest of the wrapping off the couch, there was an awkward silence between us, I wanted to mention the almost kiss we had last night but knew it was probably for the best if we just kept pretending that it never happened. I packed my clothes into the wardrobe, trying to think of anything normal to talk about to break this silence.

"Have you started looking for work yet?"

"Not yet, I've got enough money saved to last me a few weeks without a job, but I'll start looking soon"

By the time I was done packing my clothes Felix had started putting the bed frame together, he hadn't gotten very far though, it made me laugh watching him look so confused as he read the instructions, trying to figure out where everything was meant to go.

"Are you laughing at me?" He asked, pretending to be offended, it made me laugh even more.

"Yes, you look retarded" I sat next to him and grabbed the instruction sheet out of his hands.

"Give this to me before you hurt yourself"

He gasped and snatched the sheet back.

"Hey, give that back" I lunged at the paper but he lifted it high above his head, out of my reach.

"Who's the retard now?" He laughed at me while I still tried to grab the sheet, he stretched further and further back as I climbed on to him to get it until eventually he fell on his back and I was laying on top of him. The fall distracted him and I ripped the instructions from his hand but before I could get away with them he rolled us so that I was now on the ground and he was on top of me, pinning my hands above my head all in the same movement. We where both laughing, it was like all the times we used to mess around when we where together.

Our laughter faded quickly and I realized that laying like this made me want Felix even more then usual, I bit my bottom lip and looked away as I waited for him to get off of me even though deep down I want this to go further. He soon noticed how awkward things had gotten again and released me, moving back to where he was sitting before. I sat up and started reading the instructions out aloud, completely ignoring the moment Felix and I just had.

It didn't take long with the both of us working together to put the frame together, put the matress on and make the bed. Finally it was starting to look like a real bedroom. Felix sat on the couch and opened one of the few boxes I had left, he gasped again, this time for real and looked up at me with wide eyes.

"Oh my god, you still have all of these?" He started pulling out all of the old games we used to play together and my PS2.

"Of coarse I did, remember this?" I showed him one of our favorite games 'Champions Of Norath'.

"We have to play" He grabbed the PlayStation and ran into the lounge room to set it up, I grabbed us a blanket from the linen closet while I waited. A few minutes later and we where both on the couch, under the blanket with all the lights turned off with our controllers ready, about to begin a new game.