The Neighbor Next Door

Getting familiar, and stalling

Saturday was a family day. As in, OJ was taking the Cherries out to the town to go look around at the stores, and shops and stuff, since he didn't work on weekends. This would be the perfect time to actually spend a good bit of time doing this-- only really going to the main store in the area instead of anything else back on Tuesday. Right now, they were all sitting at some local cafe he remembered liking when he lived here before. The Cherries were talking to him about the excitement of all these new places, and things they wanted to check out while they were all out today, and OJ was paying attention. Mostly. He honestly couldn't stop checking his phone every once in a while, really, but he was listening to his kids! He was just... Curious if he was gonna get texted today. Yesterday, and the evening he actually gave his number out went by with nothing, as mostly expected, and of course this guy wasn't obligated to text him, but he still... Wanted to be ready if he did. Yeah.

He blinked back into focus as he realized both of his kids were whispering to each other. He looked up at them, placing his phone down completely with a sigh;

"Okay, I get it, sorry, I--"

"Yeah, we know you're waiting for that guy to text you aren't you?" Cher spoke, a grin on his face.

OJ just blinked. "I mean, uh-- yeah, but it's not that important. You guys should be my main focus. How were those croissants you guys picked out?" OJ moved his phone to one of his pockets. If he did get texted, it'd be there for him later.

"I really liked mine." Cher just smiled.

"Yeah, you liked yours too much because you tried to snatch mine." Ry crossed his arms, sticking his tongue out at his brother.

"How about this, we can get some to go if you guys want, maybe eat them with dinner or something, or if you guys get hungry while we're still out,"

"Yeah, as long as Cher doesn't eat mine,"

"Hey!"

...

MePhone stared at the phone in his hand. He had spent all day yesterday just looking for the thing, letting out a sigh as it was still charging. He was lying on his bed, the paper with the number being on the desk, and the charger plugged into the wall where he usually had his computer plugged in. It was probably charged enough to turn on by now, but he was still nervous. It had been a while since he had checked his phone last, and there was always the risk, and irrational worry that one of the two people he actually tried to talk to over text had tried talking to him in that time. That would mean he'd HAVE to respond, and he'd have to spend so long thinking of what to say so it wasn't awkward. He also had to do laundry today, which there wasn't much this week, just a few shirts and stuff, but he still had to do it regardless. Maybe he oughta do it now. 

More procrastination never hurt anyone. So he got up reluctantly, from the comfort of his bed with a sigh, leaving the room with a glance to the other bed, as he made his way to the laundry room. He stared at the machines for a moment, before looking to the floor, where he usually dumped all his clothes, deciding to go as slowly as possible, picking up one at a time. There was no rush, right? He knew he was stalling, and he knew texting was easier than actually talking, but that didn't mean it wasn't still hard for him.

The only one of the two people he texted, who still talked to him back, was his 'cousin' who had contacted HIM somehow, and well, he didn't... Want to be rude, right? Not at the time, at least when the two had first started talking, and even now that things weren't awkward in the conversations they had, it still wasn't... It just never felt right. His cousin was just intimidating, even though they had never even talked in person, or seen each other before. Apparently his cousin knew what he looked like, and enough about him to seek him out about stuff, but MePhone himself still had no idea who this other guy was, other than the fact he was younger, and the profile picture he had on the texting app of his face, and even then, half of it was hidden under what MePhone would call an obnoxiously coloured bright purple face mask.