Final Ticket

ten

Solomon found himself acting calmly, despite how on the inside he was seething with rage. His little brother ruined an important moment for him. She could've been allergic to his mutt for God's sake, and that wasn't something he wanted to risk.

"You're normally so happy to watch Porgi!" Paul squeaked out, trying his hardest to fake a cry. He guessed now he was going to make him look like a dick in front of his "girlfriend," but he couldn't help but laugh at how childish he was acting. If anything, he was only making himself look like the dick.

"No, I'm not," he uttered after . "All he does is stress me out and right now stress is the last thing I need." Paul frowned. "Now go home to mum and dad and your little girlfriends and complain about how terrible Solliepop is until he gets another nasty virus off your computer from your little porn habit." After a few moments, he stormed away. No "goodbye," "thanks," or "eat shit and die." He slammed the door behind him with Porgi under one arm and his case in the alternate's hand.

Solomon let out a sigh, and instinctively went for the beer in his fridge. But when he caught sight of Maddie on the couch, he stood up from the open fridge, and opted to shut the door and sit down instead.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Maddie asked, her voice almost as soft as a whisper.

"Better now, to be honest," he replied. "He just pisses me off acting the way he does. I'm sorry you had to witness it."

"Meh, I work at a sports center. I'm used to kids acting like toddlers."

They shared a laugh and settled down, and Solomon briefly closed his eyes. For once, he felt at peace; something he hadn't since the whole cancer ordeal began. For just a moment, he had something else to think about, such as what he was going to do with the girl and what he was going to treat her to during her time here. "Are you falling asleep on me?"

At the sound of Maddie's voice, his eyes shot open. Damn. The watch on his wrist read 18:28 and he hadn't taken her for food or really done much of anything outside of chasing his idiot brother's idiot dog around. He remembered he was gonna take her to a nice place a dozen or so kilometers away but now that he had settled down, he didn't feel up to moving much further than the couch. It would've been rude to tell her to fend for herself... "Solomon?"

Dammit. He began dozing off again. He was unable to sleep the night before due to excitement and fear, but he thought it wouldn't catch up to him until later.

"Yes, sorry." He cleared his throat and sat up, looking at the girl. "Hopefully you don't take offense to my sleeping. Was just a rough night. Are you hungry? I have some pad thai soup frozen, it just has to be heated. Is that alright?"

"That's fine," she replied. He could sense that she seemed a little tired as well, he assumed due to jetlag. He offered her a nod, and stood to heat their meal.

For the rest of the night, Solomon found himself content. He only hoped that the rest of her visit, sans Porgi, would go so smoothly as it was right at this moment.

---

[22:11:04] No. 78921: Well, she's here.

[22:14:02] Nolan: ...who's there

[22:14:41] No. 78921: Mad Max.

[22:17:57] No. 78921: Did you die?

[22:18:25] Nolan: I don't think you can die of confusion to be honest.

[22:18:50] Nolan: I didn't realize you two were that close anyway.

[22:19:35] No. 78921: Well, we've known each other since 2010.

[22:20:15] No. 78921: I felt like it was time anyway.

[22:24:19] Nolan: Oh.

[22:24:40] Nolan: Well.

[22:25:17] Nolan: Good luck then?

[22:25:27] No. 78921: Thanks for the support I guess.

Grumbling, Solomon turned his phone off. Nolan was supposedly his closest friend, according to others, but his lack of excitement killed him. He guessed maybe it was because he hadn't mentioned any idea of meeting her before, but he was pretty sure he knew how close they were...

Oh well. He expected a lot of the group to judge him on this, which is why he hadn't expressed the idea to anyone. Now he had the confirmation that it was going to happen.

For now, he had to focus on resting. Tomorrow was going to be a good day. He could feel it.