Regret (Squip x Jeremy)

16. Voices in Your Head Reprise

-Jeremy-

We stand in front of Al's small house, wondering how we're going to actually get inside. You can't exactly knock on the door of a demonic super computer and expect everything to turn out alright. Al needs to pay for what they did to Squip, he doesn't deserve such a horrific fate. Doesn't deserve to be Al's plaything. Unless maybe he wanted to be with them. Maybe Al reprogrammed them somehow. What if he actually doesn't want to date me and the cry for help I heard was a figment if my imagination. Rich saw my expression and gave me a quick pat on the shoulder, "Come on, you know he loves you, he sent you that message! A bet he's thinking of you right now."

Michael makes Rich try to improve upon his outlook, trying to give him a more positive attitude. Michael also makes Rich act nice to losers like me without requiring a fee.

But despite Rich's best efforts at positivity, I can't shake the feeling that maybe he doesn't care for me. Maybe he fell underneath Al's spell. Maybe I hadn't heard his voice in my head, shouting above all the others telling me he doesn't like me, he doesn't want me, that I am, and always will be, a loser.

Sure, I hadn't been the best boyfriend. I'm not the best looking and I don't have much of a heroic personality. I'm just an average guy. Yet somehow Squip had fallen for me, somehow he could love someone so boring, so mediocre...

Unless he hadn't.

Michael can probably see my sour expression because he bounds over to me with a big grin on his face, "Don't over think it, just, say what's on your mind Jeremy."

I look at him, so many things on my mind, how could I possibly form the words? A million thoughts spin around my head I can't possibly find the right thing to say? I open my mouth, making an attempt anyway, "Everything about me is so terrible. And I don't deserve him, I don't know if I should buy him a rose or complement him on his clothes. Say I appreciate that he's smart? No man, that sounds stupid! He's a bloody supercomputer, of course he's smart!"

I sigh, burying my face on my hands. Chloe moves them away, giving me an eye roll. "Look, just be yourself."

I give her a weak grin and thumbs up, "I'll be myself?"

She drops my hands. "Don't be disgusting, be yourself!"

Chloe has no one trying to keep her nice, so she probably doesn't care about manners. Meanwhile Rich has Michael walking next to him, lecturing on how having a positive disposition on life can lead to psychiatric benefits in the future. Which he knows for certain because, "I saw it on Discovery."

I fiddle with my fingers, still standing in front of the house with no plan, no clue of how to get Squip back. Michael shoves Rich toward me who attempts a friendly pat on the back. I cough at the force. "So, Jeremy, he loves you, stop stressing and just go for it, we'll have him back in no time," he looks back at Michael with an annoyed expression, mouthing, "Do I have to?"

Michael says yes and Rich turns back to me, plastering a cheerful smile on his face. "Besides, he probably thinks that super skinny dweeb with a ton of flab and zero muscles is really hot."

"Really?"

"Yeah! who wouldn't want a sack of ache and bones?"

Michael pulls him away at this point and looks at me sheepishly. "So! What are we gonna do?"

A shiver runs up and down my spine; I dread going in there. At this point I can't turn back, willing to do whatever it takes to rescue him. Even if that means getting locked up to.

"So what's the plan, bitches?" Rich asks, earning a slap on the shoulder from Michael.

I look at the building, thinking back to all movies I have watched. "He's probably in the basement. They're always in the basement."