It was a day like any other. A day of gaming, recording, editing. And like all other days since he'd befriended the guy, Evan waited for the text that always came around noon when Delirious found a stupidly funny joke or picture to send him. But to his disappointment, the chime on his phone never echoed in his ears. He kept glancing at his phone as he set up his game. The Xbox powered on as he went into the kitchen for a drink where he heard the familiar sound of his friends popping up online. He got comfortable, but not completely. He couldn't. Delirious wasn't even online like they'd planned. He tried to shrug off the disappointment he felt, but he could never help it. Delirious was the laugh of his day, the one who always got things going, the one out of all of them that got Evan in the mood to laugh and blow shit up. He jumped when his phone chimed and he clutched at his chest. "Shit."
He would have to remind himself to turn the volume down while he was right fucking next to it. He shook his head and laughed as he slid his lock screen away. His grin faded when he read "Message: Brock".
He opened it.
"You comin'?"
He thumbed a quick reply before starting GTA up and joining Moo's lobby.
"Sup ladies?" He asked as soon as he was locked and loaded. He hopped in the car with Tyler when he swung by to pick him up. He saw explosions in the distance.
"Do I even want to know?" He asked and Tyler laughed as they heard Mini Ladd screaming as he ran in circles engulfed in flames.
"Nope. You don't."
They did the usual, exploiting glitches, shooting each other and innocent pedestrians in the process, calling off the cops. He didn't realize he was being so quiet. But he had a nagging thought in the back of his mind the whole time.
"Duuuude. Evan." Brock interrupted his brooding. "You're fucking quiet today."
"What?" He blinked and glanced at his phone for the millionth time. "Am I?"
"Yeah, man." Tyler added. "It's fucking peaceful as shit in here! Shhhh! Nobody say a word!" Everyone laughed including himself and he was about to brush the whole thing off when Mini said, "No you guys, we all know that he's only loud and obnoxious when Delirious riles him up."
"Yeah, you guys are like the terrible twos. You alone is bad enough but get you two together and chaos ensues." Lui jumped in and giggled. "Where is he anyway? I though we all said one o'clock."
"We did." Evan nodded to himself. "But I have no fucking clue where he is. Hasn't even text me today." He didn't mean to sound so mad about it. His friends didn't miss his tone and all was quiet for a moment.
"Soo, like . . . what you're saying is that he texts you every day?" Brock asked him cautiously.
Evan hesitated, "Yes."
"And he hasn't text you yet, per your guys daily routine?"
"Uhh . . . yes."
He couldn't help but feel like he was being interrogated. It wasn't like he'd ever talked about their friendship outside of gaming. It was just a thing that they had started. He'd see something that cracked him up, screen shot it, then send it to Delirious. His favorite though was getting a text every Monday morning at five o'clock that read, "Good morning, bitch." Always accompanied by a tiny little picture of a hockey mask. Even if it was five in the fucking morning it still made his day. He couldn't tell you why he felt closer to Delirious than all the other guys but things were just always off without him. Including himself. And he kind of hated that.
