Ain't No Mountain High Enough

"Call Me"

I figured that everyone would lose their minds when I told them I would be applying for a job as an entry level programmer at some tech company. I wouldn't even have to do much, and I could work from home from what I understood. All I would be doing was writing code, which I could do quite well. Computer programming was what my major in college was, anyway.

Yet, Keto and Veronica acted like I told him I wanted to climb Mount Everest. "Are you sure you can even do this?!" Keto asked. Geez, did the guy have to be so dramatic?

Arjun was a little less pessimistic about my chances, which I was grateful for. "Keto, he's just going to be working on a computer. What's so bad about that?"

The twins glanced at each other, and neither could seem to come up with an excuse as to why my getting a job was a bad idea.

"You two need to stop treating him like a kid," Arjun said as he crossed his arms.

I gestured at him and said,"Yes, thank you!" I gave the others a look. "Exactly what I've been trying to tell you all since I left the hospital!"

At last, Veronica sighed and plopped down on the sofa. "Well...I guess you're right."

"It's not like you can still do everything by yourself," Keto said. He still wasn't on board with this, and I couldn't figure out what the big deal was.

I sighed. "No, I can't do everything by myself, but I can still work," I said. Somehow, I was keeping my internal volcano in check. In fact, I was feeling pretty good about myself. And I haven't even applied for the job yet!

"Give him a chance," Arjun said. "He can do it. He can't rely on you forever anyway."

Veronica clapped her brother on the shoulder when he sat down next to her. "Yeah, Keto, you have your own work to worry about, not to mention finals are coming up!" Why did she seem so excited about finals? Probably because it meant Christmas break was finally almost here. For some reason, I couldn't find it in me to share her enthusiasm.

"I guess..." Keto shrugged. "All right...but we'll be around if you ever need us!"

I couldn't help but smile. "Thanks, Keto." I started wheeling myself to my room. "Well, wish me luck, because I'm going to apply." As I disappeared into my room, a chorus of "good lucks" followed me.

~ ~ ~

After applying to the job, I noticed that it had been exactly a week since Arjun's birthday party, and I hadn't heard a peep out of Valerie. I hadn't expected to, either. If she was going to talk to me, it was because I was apologizing. Now that I had time to think about it, what happened that night really was my fault.

So I gathered up what courage I had and texted her an apology. It probably sounded a little lame, but I did my best. My heart was pounding when I hit send. I caught sight of the last conversation we had. It was one of the last nights I spent in the hospital.

Me: I'm so ready to get home.

Her: I bet! I'll be over to see you first thing tomorrow. I'll bring breakfast :)

Me: Looking forward to it ;)

Ugh, the winking emoji was a little much in this situation, and I'm sure she saw it as flirting. Which, for the record, I definitely wasn't flirting. I never had the guts to flirt with a woman like Valerie. I just didn't have it in me.

I waited several minutes, then half an hour, and she never responded. According to my messenger app, the text hadn't even been seen yet. It was nearing five o'clock, which probably meant she was about to go to her evening classes. I smiled as I thought of her. She was such a hard worker. Along with being a talented dancer, she was an excellent artist, and was going for a degree in concept art. You might be wondering why she chose concept art. Well, she was in our nerd/geek group, remember? She loves video games just as much as the rest of us, maybe.

When we were in middle school, we decided to make it our personal mission to start our own video game company. Big dreams for a few kids, right? Well, I wanted to do the coding, Keto was already great with animating software, and Veronica would be writing the story and script. Arjun, while he does play video games, wasn't as interested in making them, which is why he's getting a degree in business. Once we got to college, still holding onto this childhood dream, he decided he would be in charge of all the financial and business related stuff of our little "company". And once Valerie joined our friend group, she was designing little characters for whatever future games we would be making.

Did we ever actually make a game? As of now, we had only made little demos and short games. Nothing major, and they didn't pay. I hadn't thought of our dream in awhile, but now that it was on my mind, I felt a bit of determination rise in me. I was only two semesters away from graduating, then we could give our all to making a video game that would set us on the right track.

In the midst of my thinking, I barely noticed Valerie texted me back. I paled as I read the little blue text:

Her: It's okay, Randall. It's not entirely your fault anyway. I'm sorry for bringing Stephen like that without any warning. I just didn't know how to tell you, I guess.

So why did that make me pale? It's not that bad, right? Well, that's not all. At the end of the text she asked if we could get together sometime.

She wanted to talk to me in person.

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Thanks for reading!

Check out "Call Me" by Blondie!

Peace ✌ ~ A.J.