Genius Rivals (Ongoing)

16 - EYE OF FESTIVAL

"Have any plans for today? The parade is marching in downtown by now."

My back lying in the sofa and my stomach full. The vacuum cleaner is steered by Mom across the floor. She needs to get a new one since the machine is abnormally loud and dies most of the time if in use.

"It's too hot out there."

I leaned my back on the backrest. The moss green palette of the sofa make me feel like I'm on the middle of the forest. Such a lame color.

"At least it's not raining" Mom said nonchalantly.

"I got plans later on the noon" and then I yawned.

Just another morning. Sleepy after I spent the whole night awake. Grinding those digital points is still worth it. It has been weeks since I last played and getting all those has been pretty hard.

As I was sitting and minding my own business while the sound of vacuum cleaner ringing in my eardrums, a door has been knocked hard enough to be heard through the machinery running throughout the whole living room. Mom turned it off and opened the door. A shadow almost covered the whole floor space.

"Heyyy Tristan!"

My heart almost sank when Mom shouted that. Of all the people to come into the house, Tristan was all of it. Damn, I gotta hold my ground this early of the day.

"Good morning, Aunt Becky. Is Virgil around here?"

I looked behind. Seeing Tristan almost reaching the transom of our home's entrance.

Mom turned to the direction where I am. "Yes yes. As if he goes out of the house very often."

Tristan enters. The grip of his rubber shoes is slightly heard. I stood up and faces him across the couch.

"What do you want, Tristan?" I interrogated him.

"Just wanted to hang out, that's all" he answers.

"This ain't a place for hanging out."

"Visit rather. I'm visiting you, Virgil. Is that okay?"

"Sounds better than before."

We hiked upstairs to go to my room. Upon entering, Tristan immediately jumped to my messy bed. He sure do love lying on my bed which is basically a dried sweat and saliva.

"Yooooo, this bed sheets reek of virginity" Tristan mocks me. "I can see no females has gathered here even once."

"Are you just here to talk shit?"

"Oh, speaking of that..." Tristan opens his bag. He takes something out of it. "Here's my promise."

He hands me a manga book. A new manga book. Still covered in plastic and smells smoky. Perhaps I gotta commend him for buying the right one I always read.

"This is so long overdue."

"Ehhhh? My wallet's been air lately. Be thankful I still did what I promised."

"Yeah yeah whatever."

Tristan takes off his bag and blue varsity jacket. "Is this really August? It's supposed to be wet season but we're being scorched like it's summer."

The big guy then opens the transparent window to ventilate himself. Perhaps I subconsciously wanted to open the windows too but he did it already.

After opening, the breeze instantly cooled off the room's temperature slightly. Glancing on the window made me realise that his t-shirt is as white as the clouds itself. Talk about cleaning your clothes appropriately.