Dirty Hacker✖️Egobang

Ch. 33

a/n: missed me? i'm going to finish this book and fix anything in previous chapters that might not have made sense in regards to grammar or the plot.  i'm about to start my first year of college, but i'll try my best to finish this book because it's been haunting me for the past 3 years lol. maybe it will even have a nice ending?

"Arin!" Barry yelled from the comfort of his porch. Arin ran out of Ding Dong's car as fast as he could to hug his long distance friend. Out from Barry's house came Chris and Matt, who were both excited to see someone who they missed so much.

"Hey Arin, do you want your bags?" Ding Dong put his car in park and opened the trunk. Arin sprints back to the trunk, grabs his two tiny bags, and thanks Ding Dong for the ride. Unfortunately, Ding Dong has to go to work right away, so Arin hugged him goodbye even though Ding Dong was strongly against it.

The remaining boys went inside. It seemed like no time as passed since they last sat on that couch and talked bullshit until the sun came up. Everything in Barry's house was the same. In all life threw at them, they always had Barry's SNES in his living room. Luckily, the only thing that did change was the added Nintendo Switch and it's eight controllers.

The boys asked Arin about how his life was and they filled him in on everything: the drugs, the jobs, the boyfriends, the kidnapping, the Jon, everything. Matt and Barry could do nothing but listen slack jawed while Chris searched for food in the kitchen. "Do you nerds want regular or sour cream and onion?" Chris shouted, stopping Arin mid-sentence.

"Sour cream and onion, please!" Barry responds. Arin nods and Matt, although not liking sour cream and onion chips, says nothing. Arin goes back to telling one of his stories while Chris slams the chip bowl onto the coffee table.

"I'm going to set up Mario Kart. This talking thing is getting boring." Chris walks over to the twitch and gets everything ready. Arin, while slightly annoyed, is glad the spotlight isn't on him anymore. "Are the others coming?" Chris turns to Barry, but Barry doesn't answer.

"Who else is coming?" Arin turns to Barry as well. Barry darts his eyes back and forth between Arin and Chris. "Well?"

"I invited Ryan, Julien, and Ross over, but Ryan's bringing his laptop so we can Skype with Dan." Barry's voice gets progressively higher pitched as he continues. Arin's face turns from a smile to a desolate stare. Chris, totally forgetting about the whole Dan plan, turns around and continues configuring the Switch.

Once Mario Kart is ready, they start a short few rounds. On their third lap of Sweet Sweet Canyon, they hear a knock at the door. Barry opens the door and in comes Ross, running straight to Arin and giving him a big, warm hug. Not far behind comes Ryan, Julien, and Ding Dong, who's now back from work.

For the first time in a long time, Arin doesn't feel stressed, and although there are tons of people, he's not overwhelmed. He's simply happy.