Time And I

Seven

"You are a piece of human garbage," I snarled. "I hope you wake up in hell!"

Buddy laughed so hard he fell off the couch. I don't know why he would do this shit to me, but he loved to torture me with the stupidest levels in Mario Maker. They were all 'Blink and You Miss It' levels where you screw up and that's that. And he had no checkpoints either! He had to be a demon sent up to torture me through one of my favorite games.

"You're ruining Nintendo for me."

"No, I'm not," he snorted as he climbed back up. "If I don't give you some form of a challenge, you will get cocky."

"But you have to ruin my joy?" I sulked as I tossed the controller onto his lap.

"Yes," he stated. "Of course I do. That's my job."

I rolled my eyes and opened the mini fridge under the side table. I chucked a Coke at him, but he easily caught it without batting an eyelash. I was never trying hurt him. He always knew when I was going to throw something at him, since I always gave him a moment to prepare himself.

Taking back the controller and restarting the level, he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. Kicking our feet up on the table, he said, "There's a band I want to see at Oakdale this weekend."

"Underground?"

"Yeah. They're a folk rock band."

I groaned. Folk rock could be good. I enjoyed the occasional Mumford and Sons song, and I even enjoyed The Highwomen, but folk rock was not my favorite genre by a landslide. I enjoyed the more raging beats, the headbangers. I enjoyed watching people grow pale when they read the names of the artists I listened to. I just didn't care for folksy, southern rock. It was never something I would put on because I was in the mood for it.

"I love you, so I'll go with you. But you are buying me food," I stated, dying again. "Motherfucker!"

"Thank you," Buddy sang, as he kissed my cheek. I pushed his head away and he laughed. He tried to wrap both arms around my waist, which caused me to die the moment the level restarted.

"You are being such a dick right now," I said, trying my hardest not to laugh.

"But you said you love me."

"Cause we've been friends for so long that I don't have the energy to find someone new to replace you."

He sat up and scoffed. "Rude."

"Says the person who made the level 'For Mel, Who Will Never Beat It.' You deserved that."

Shrugging, he agreed and wrapped his arm back around my shoulder. "Why not just talk through it?"

"Fine. But what I say, you're not allowed to freak out over."

"Gee, what a great way to start the conversation," he deadpanned.

"When I went to the community center with Brody yesterday, some punks were messing with me."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," I chuckled. "You'll never believe who helped scare them off."

"Who?"

"Devon Quid."

He gasped. "You're shitting me. What was he doing there?"

"His cousin owns the pretzel he was working at."

"Devon Quid has a job at a pretzel stand?"

"Yeah," I giggled. "He's actually a really sweet guy. We started talking after the punks left, and I felt so bad for him."