Friends and Foes

Skylar- 1

I woke up in the most uncomfortable position, slumped over in my gaming chair, my hand propping my head up from under my chin. I was exhausted from being up so late I had decided to play a VR game with my brother Gaege, who was in Florida, along his friends Lucius and Josh in Australia and Edmund who was in Nevada.

I used to live with Gaege, my twin brother, but ended up moving out. We had lived together our whole lives even when we turned 18 and had the option to go our separate ways, we got an apartment together. Our mom always described us as inseparable. About a month after we turned twenty-two, I decided to move to California, I wanted to be able to hang out with my best friend, Graham. We basically grew up together. He had been in California for about two years now working at a parkour spot, something we had learned together. He just had the luck of finding a job for it in Vista California.

Gaege decided to stay in Florida, so we said our good-byes and promised to visit often. By the time I had settled into my new apartment Graham had introduced me to a few of his friends who were also YouTube influencers, Coen, Silas, Ethan, and Hollis.

About a month after I moved out Gaege found a roommate, an old friend from high school, Dawson, and I made a few friends with some people around my age in my building, Zach, Joey, Dylan, and Jessi.

I brought myself back to reality, put up my VR set and left my office only to be met by my 10-week-old puppy, Nico. I had gotten him my fourth month out here thanks to Baxtor and Kian who came across an ad on Craigslist. They sent me the link and said, "We know you're lonely, so get a Husky." And I did, it was the best purchase I've ever made.

I walked down the hallway to the front door where I grabbed Nico's leash and slipped my house keys into the side pocket of my gray joggers.

"Nico!" I called hearing him pounce down the hallway, his small black and white body rounding the corner. He skidded to a stop in front of me wagging his tail and whole body with excitement staring up at me with his pale blue eyes. "Are you ready?" I laughed kneeling down to attach his leash to his collar as he let out a high-pitched puppy bark.

I locked my apartment door behind me before starting down the hallway to the elevator. Once we reached the ground floor, we made our way towards the main exit, as we rounded the corner, I spotted Jessi who was looking down at her phone as she walked. Her chocolate brown hair swayed slightly under her gray beanie.

"Jessi!" I called causing her to jolt her attention in my direction. Her hazel eyes seemed to pop with the make-up she wore and her 'I love you' necklace she got from Dylan on their anniversary, sparkled in the sun that streamed through the glass doors.

"Hey Sky," she smiled as she slid her phone into the back pocket of her teal shorts which was complimentary with the snow-white crop top, she wore.

"Where are you off to?" I asked as we continued towards the exit.

"Me, Dylan, Zach, and Joey are going to Dylan's parents' house for game night. I just texted you to ask if you wanted to go."

"My phone is still upstairs, I actually have plans tonight anyways, but you guys have fun." We both let out a small laugh when Nico barked at a butterfly and then sneezed when it landed on his nose.

"Alright," Jessi started once she caught her breath. She glanced behind her nervously and then continued, "we'll see you later then, don't have too much fun," she winked before she took off towards the parking lot.

Nico sat at my feet as she disappeared behind the cars and barked letting me know he was done. He grabbed the leash and started pulling us back towards the entrance. I took the leash out of his mouth and followed him to the door. Once we got back to my apartment on the third floor, I took off his leash and started for my office. I opened the door and walked to my desk grabbing my phone that was engulfed in a red and green case, one side was an outline of Thor's hammer, and the other side was the outline of Loki's helmet. I walked to the black leather couch in my living room, closing my office door behind me. I switched on the TV and chose a random movie from Netflix as background noise.