waste||moba

one||lonely

"do you like it better here or there?" joba asked quietly. he laid on his belly with his feet in the air and his chin rested in his hands.

"honestly, i miss home." romil said through the phone. he had moved to the other side of the county three months ago with his family because of something to do with his sister; joba could never remember the exact reason. all he knew was that his best friend was 15 miles too far from him. he attended an entirely new school district, leaving joba alone with merlyn and dom. he loved the other two boys in their friend group, but romil was his favorite. they lived in the same apartment complex, joba directly below romil. when joba first moved in during the middle of fifth-grade romil was the first person to speak to him. he even offered to help him unpack and set up his room. since then, the two were inseparable.

"i've gotta come visit you." joba said. romil piped up, "come this weekend!"

"could i stay the night?" joba, whose bleach blond locks were beginning to grow over his eyes, asked hesitantly.

"duh!" romil giggled, "you can meet all of the people that i talk to here. they're so dope- they do music and shit too."

"damn. replacing us already," joba teased.

"i could never. y'all are still my og's."

"it's been so boring without you." joba said as he rolled off his bed and strode to his stereo. he turned on the radio, mostly for ambient noise. his apartment was so much quieter without romil stomping around and yelling through the floor above him. "nobody ever knows where to hang out." the boys had always congregated at romil's place since he had the most music equipment and also an overly extravagant stereo system in his room.

"i thought you guys would've been at merlyn's," romil said.

"merlyn's?" joba repeated, furrowing his brows.

"yeah, since he has the lounge in his basement.."

"he doesn't have your stereo system." joba giggled.

"oh man."

the two fell silent for a moment before romil said, "i've gotta go. i have to finish my physics assignment."

"see ya." joba sighed.

"bye!"

the blond sat himself down at his desk chair. without romil he was so lonely. merlyn and dom didn't care about him like romil did. whenever joba was upset he'd just walk up to romil's door and his friend would invite him in with open arms- no questions asked. it was times like this, especially, when joba wished he still had romil.

his mother's depression had spiked up and so had joba's. his father was almost always away at work so joba was left to care for his sister and his mom, leaving little time to even consider taking time to himself. the only time he ever got a break was on the weekends when his dad was off; otherwise, joba was the one to cook dinner for his family, help his sister with her homework, remind his mother to take her meds, tell his sister to shower, clean the house, and put his sister to bed-it was exhausting. joba's only escape from his depressed mother and unruly 11-year-old sister was romil-and he was gone.

the blond peeled his shirt and jeans off and crawled under the duvet on his bed. he had no desire to stay awake past 11:30 and it was already 11. blink-182 played quietly in the background and joba sang quietly along to all the small things.

as he reached the chorus, the thought of, 'what if i got a girlfriend?' wriggled itself into his mind. he would love to lay down in bed with someone and hum to her as he played with her hair and planted kisses on her forehead. they'd fall asleep together and wake up with their bodies pressed together...

with what free time?

joba sat up and briefly debated on shutting his stereo off but decided against it; he was comfortable and the music didn't bother him. he flopped back down onto his pillow and fell asleep before he could even daydream about his imaginary girlfriend for any longer.

sorry it was so short. it's bc this chapter just an "intro" the rest will be longer i promise.