An Aftermath Of Many Years (CrankGameplays)

18

9th December 2016

Mark wasn't answering his phone. Then again, when did he really ever answer it? Once in a blue moon, honestly. That was the main personality difference between us. I answered my fucking phone when I got a call or a text. But he was overseas, and I had to give him slack for that. I sighed and zipped up my jacket, choosing to bite the bullet and call Ethan, knowing that he was likely to pick up, to some degree. Whether it was the first time or the third. My exposed fingers scrolled across of the glass until I saw his name.

I listened to it ring out. I was standing alone in the courtyard. There were other people here, but they were doing their own thing. There was a group of art majors, sitting around with Taco Bell. I wasn't quite sure where they had even got it from, to be honest. The phone let out a soft beep and Ethan's childlike voice made my shoulders relax.

"Hey Ki. What's up?"

"If you call me Ki one more time, you're going to be hung from your bedroom window using bedsheets."

"It's a date then," he laughed.

"I guess so. Did mark text you about tonight?"

"Yeah, he did. I'll pick you up at about four so we can have the ultimate movie marathon." I could imagine him throwing his hands into the air and running around in a circle. "Think of it as a reward for finishing your first term of college."

"Yeah, I think that was the point, dipshit."

He laughed again. I wondered if he did anything other than awkwardly laugh when he was around me. "Wear pyjamas. or a onesie. You know what? wear whatever you want. I don't care. Any move suggestions?"

"Something non-stereotypical."

"Cool. So not romance or horror. How about a Marvel marathon?" He asked. I walked while I talked, one hand stuffed into my pocket, the other holding my phone to my ear. I looked around again. There was a gay couple sitting not that far from me. One was serenading the other. I could hear him. He was singing Chasing Cars. Ironically, I hoped.

"MCU or just Marvel films?"

"We could go MCU. I'll have to get copies of some of the movies. They aren't all on Netflix."

"No, Jenny has all of them, for some reason. I feel like she's a bit of a hoarder." Ethan laughed. I wondered if he was sitting or standing right now. Was he leaning against a wall in the hallway, or sat at his computer desk. Maybe he was outside. He didn't seem like a sitter if that made sense. "I'll grab them when I go home after this."

"Oh. Did you do your test thing?" Ethan asked as if he had only just realised it was a thing. "How'd it go?"

"I think it went pretty well. I finished it if that counts for anything."

He laughed, "I guess so. I reckon you aced it though."

I found myself stumbling through the apartment door. No one else was home, gladly. I just wanted to sit for a while, you know. Get things working in my brain again before I even thought about doing anything.

I made myself breakfast, fried mushrooms on toast, for some reason, a ridiculous sounding thing that I started doing in high school when id stay home. I got the idea online and it flew from there. It was easy and tasted good, so who was I to care about what other people thought of my food. Mark said it seemed weird, and then I made him try it. I checked my emails after realising I had t even looked at the one sent from my professor about homework. I knew it wasn't going to be that hard, but I wasn't going to be the person to do it last minute, despite my friends knowing how fucking likely of a thing that was for me to do. With a long sigh, I opened his email. There was a pdf of a script. ALONE, we were to make this script come alive, making no changes. I downloaded the pdf and turned off my laptop, placing it down on the kitchen counter and eating my breakfast instead. I'd worry about that stuff later.

I did a load of washing, to my own surprise and cleaned up around the place. Like putting away movies and taking Jenny's blanket back to her room, because no matter how many times I told her to stop leaving it on the couch, she still did it. I think she just knew that I'd eventually get annoyed and do it myself. We were just as bad as each other in that aspect. She left blankets and pillows in places other than her room and I left shoes and bags and crap on the floor. I smiled and looked at the formulated collection of shoes thrown against the wall. A pair of Converse, a pair of Vans and a pair of Nikes.

I sighed. This house was constantly quiet. Like some shitty space idea. Space made no sound. There was no sound in space, which while that was a really fucking bizzare concept, it made sense. I pulled my phone out of my back pocket and pressed play. There was always a queued song or playlist ready to go. It was an odd habit of mine, that music was always playing.

My heavy head made the room spin, that was normal. I wished it wasn't, but it was. I let out a groan and walked into my room, the blinds shut and my duvet on the floor from my valiant attempts of existing this morning. I put it back onto my bed and sighed, looking at the practically dead plant on my desk. I was not good at keeping things alive. I pulled of my skinny jeans and collapsed into the double bed that definitely didn't fit in this room.