Untitled Part 1

Chapter XIV

       Travis checks his phone constantly, his group chat with Sal and Phillip at hold for the moment, waiting for a text from Todd. He stands outside Addison apartments, waiting for the go ahead to get in the elevator and hit the button for the second floor. Finally, he hears a ping and looks at his notifications, grinning. Finally. He walks into the building, going into the elevator and not paying any mind to 101. He doesn't have such a good relationship with Mr. Addison. He is his fathers friend after all. He hears the ding of the elevator, walking inside and looking away from some college kids that were on their way out of the apartments. A tall girl, who he presumes is named Azaria, gives a nod in acknowledgement Travis's way. He shyly nods back, not used to seeing them around. They push past him, getting out, and he sighs in relief. He presses the button labeled '2', watching as the elevator doors close and the elevator goes up. Once the doors open, he walks to 202, his strides paced with no sign of rush as he gets to the door. He hurriedly knocks, his face neutral,seeing the blinking light of the recording camera out of the corner of his eye. He doesn't look in the direction of the camera, already memorizing where exactly it is on the wall. Todd answers the door quickly, his bright orange curls poofy and all over the place. His circular glasses hang off his nose, his grayish hazel eyes dull as he stares Travis down with a blank expression. His eyebags lay heavy, making it seem as if he hadn't slept in days, and he wears a blue NASA hoodie with a gay pride flag pin lazily placed on the side. "You alright? You looked like you just rolled out of bed..." Travis says quietly, keeping his voice hushed as his brain finishes the sentence for him. ...After not sleeping for a week.
    Todd shrugs, moving aside for Travis to go inside, not sparing any words for short conversations. Travis slowly walks in, giving a nervous smile to Todd even when he has been here multiple times. Todd gestures to him to sit on the sofa, trying to tame his messy locks as Travis does as he is told. "My mother and father will be here shortly for you. They are just getting your order done." he mutters, his voice gravelly and rough.
    Travis nods, in the meantime bringing his attention to something else. "Are you doing okay with everything as of lately? We know you've been at it with inventions and research. You need to take a break every now and then–"
    "I appreciate your concern but we both are aware of how little time we have left to figure as much out as possible. I'm just working to help you guys get to the bottom of it. Sal stopped by earlier to get another upgrade for the super gearboy. I got that done for him, I am very glad to be of help to you guys though.'' Todd cuts him off, sincere in his tone and choice of words.
    "We are still worried, Todd. You can't overwork yourself, it will only do damage."
    "We?"
    "Me and Sal."
    Todd gives him another shrug as a response, seeing his parents' door open and flattening out the wrinkles in the hoodie he is wearing. "End of discussion." he mumbles, moving his glasses to rub his tired eyes and taking a side step as his parents come into the living room.
       Janis, his mother, smiles sweetly at Travis, greeting him and giving Todd what is to be a chocolate bar. "Heerre, my sweet Todd." she says, and Todd rolls his eyes before hesitantly taking it.
       Travis tries not to smile at his reaction to the 'gift', looking away to stop himself. "I am going back to my room to do more research." Todd says, leaving before Travis could answer.
      Ray, Todd's father, grins, walking over with a bag with no label. A box shape forms in the bag, which is also blank and devoid of color. Ray pats his shoulder, lending the bag to him. "Here, sport. Come back anytime for another batch. You are our best customer after all."
      Travis matches his enthusiastic expression, agreeing with him. "Of course, Ray. how much this time?"
      "25, I gave you a stronger dose like ya asked."
       Travis's eyebrows raise in curiosity, using his free hand to take a 20 and 5 dollar bill out of his back pocket and put it in Janis's hands. "Here you are. Thanks, I'll see you again sometime soon."
Ray nods, leading him out without another word, his welcoming smile staying until the door is finally shut behind the blonde.

        Sal lays on his back on his bed, only his chest and neck up against the wall that goes against his headboard. Gizmo leans against his chest, making biscuits on his shirt and ends of his blue hair that goes down his shoulders. Sal's prosthetic sits on his dresser, his phone on his nightstand right by his medications, though he pays no mind to it as he quickly presses buttons on the console. He hears a little ping, ignoring it and rolling his eyes before going back to his game, assuming it to be his father, Henry. He barely moves his position, only taking his hand off the gearboy to fix his bangs so he can see better, the accident from when he was younger making his eyesight much worse than the average person. He finally finishes his level on his game, smiling and putting the gearboy on his lap. He pets gizmo, looking down at him finally. "You gonna let me go so I can check my phone?" Sal asks, gizmo still doing biscuits on his shirt.
        No answer comes, and Sal finally sits up all the way, causing gizmo to roll down his chest almost instantly. An annoyed meow is heard, and Sal laughs as he grabs his phone. One new notification. Travis had texted him, in jumbled up words, asking to hang out. He was obviously high.

Word count: 1034 words