My Robot (boyxboy)

Chapter 5- Buffering

After we'd gotten our fill in all the stores, Fawn decided where we'd eat. For all the stereotypes about girl's picking food, she was rather good at it. It might of been from her straightforwardness but I'd take it.

We sat down once we had gotten our food. Andrew sat down beside me on the outside of the booth, his arms resting on the table since he had no food taking up the space like we did. I began to take bites of my fries while Fawn mainly sipped her soda, always thirsty. No pun intended.

We started to slow down our eating enough to speak after five minutes. Fawn was the first to break the silence.

"Do you experience enjoying things? Like I like the color purple and I love ice cream. Do you get that?" She questioned.

Andrew took a few seconds for this question. It was the first time I'd seen him have to think about something.

"I don't think I experience the same way you do, but yes. I told Ryker I didn't have a favorite color yesterday but I think I like red a lot. Like your hair," he answered her. He gave her a smile before looking back to me like he was asking if his answer was acceptable. I smiled back to him before looking over to Fawn. She narrowed her eyes at me before smiling.

"That's awesome, Andrew," she praised. Andrew grinned from how pleased she seemed by his words.

We began to eat again, finishing up our meals. I was putting a fry in my mouth when I saw Andrew out of the corner of my eye. He seemed to suddenly not be there with the way his face relaxed but his eyes trained on the table, not moving. It certainly wasn't something normal.

"Andrew?" I whispered. He didn't respond to me. Fawn looked up when I spoke. Her face slowly contorted into confusion when she saw why I was calling his name. "Andrew?" I called again, my voice a little louder. He finally sat up properly and looked over at me. It didn't seem like my voice brought him out of it though.

"Yes?" He responded and waited for me to continue. He blinked a few times, looking as normal as he did before he seemed to blackout.

"Do...robots sometimes randomly shut down and act spaced out?" I asked, unsure of it being normal.

"Buffering," Andrew answered as soon as I was done speaking, no smile or nod. It was more mechanical than he had been.

"Okay," I mumbled, my eyes slowly searching his face for any other answers. All I got back was his relaxed face.

"You're food is going to get cold, Ryker. You might want to start eating again before it starts to produce bacteria," he suggested. I looked down at my food, my top lip curling up. I pushed it away before shaking my head.

"You usually don't bring up stuff like that when people are eating or they might lose their appetite," I explained. Across from me, Fawn was proving quite the opposite with how she popped her fries into her mouth. She raised an eyebrow at me and extended her neck forward.

"What? I paid for this food and I'm hungry," she grumbled.

I rolled my eyes at her before looking back to Andrew. I didn't know what had happened but it didn't seem like something that should happen. Andrew always smiled when he responded to me but after it, he didn't. It was probably a little glitch but I didn't like it. It only fueled my worries about these robots.

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For the rest of the day, he didn't seem too out of the normal. We spent it watching movies in my room to let him process and learn things. He sat down on the floor in front of my bed, his back against the foot of the bed. I'd offered him a spot of my bed but he still seemed reluctant, saying that it was rude of him. Eventually, I let go of it. Fawn and I settled on the bed with our stomachs to the mattress.

I must of fallen asleep because when I opened my eyes, it was dark in my room with no Fawn in sight. Light caused me to squint my eyes when I turned my head towards the bathroom. After a few seconds of adjusting my eyes, I made out Andrew's body. His neck was tilted forward for his head to be facing down. His hand was cupped just below his mouth. On both his mouth and hand, there looked like a substance resembling blood splattered all over. I sat up, getting a better look at what was happening. He seemed like he was staring at something in his palm.

I frowned before calling out his name. He looked over to me before looking back down at his palm.

"I don't know what happened, Ryker. I was sitting there and began coughing when I got a tickle in my neck. This came up," he began speaking before I could ask him what was wrong. I stood up and stumbled over a pair of my jeans before shuffling over to him. I looked in his palm to see a capsule on the top of his finger, no bigger than an earring. I took the capsule, running water over it to clean off the blood. I brought it up to my eyes, now looking at the little metal pieces inside the clear capsule.

"I'll put this somewhere we won't lose it and then I'll take you to the AIFP store tomorrow to see what to do," I decided. I went over to a box I kept a few wristbands and put the little capsule inside. I walked back over to Andrew in the bathroom and grabbed a washcloth. I turned on the faucet again and ran the corner under the water. I brought the washcloth up to his face before wiping away the "blood." His eyes trained in on the mirror, looking at his mouth in the reflection. Once the blood was all gone, I tossed the washcloth in the hamper by the door. "You can run your hands under the water with some soap and call it good," I spoke. He listened to me and did I had told him. I shuffled back over to my bed, still a bit tired. The light was turned out after I found myself under the blanket. He sat down at the edge of the bed and I decided not to argue with him about it.

"Goodnight, Ryker," he whispered but I was already asleep.

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