Boyf Riends

Jeremy VI

"I hope you're worth four hundred dollars," I said quietly to the small pill in my hand.

Michael tapped the table in front of me, right next to the small container of chili fries that he bought as a celebratory snack. "Four hundred and one. Don't forget the Mountain Dew."

I sighed.

"If this is real, my whole life would change-" I held out the pill to him. "We should split it. You helped me get it. We should both benefit, right?"

Michael just shook his head, popping a chili fry in his mouth. "I don't think it works that way."

He checked his phone and then set it down on the table. "Besides, I like knowing that when you're 'cool' you'll owe me."

I smiled and unscrewed the cap off of the green soda. "Alright, here goes everything."

I popped the pill in my mouth and took a swing of Mountain Dew.

"So-" Michael asked. "-How does it taste?"

"Hmm. Minty."

He leaned forward. "How do you feel?"

I stayed quiet for a moment before answering.

"Like a chump." My body slid down in my chair.

"Nothing, at all?"

He sat back in his chair and rubbed his temples like he was trying to think of something. "Try to say something cool?"

"I think I just blew all my bar mitzvah money on a wintergreen Tic Tac."

Michael inhaled sharply. "Yeah, not cool."

"Please leave me alone to mourn in my chili fries, forever?"

"Nah-" He shoved his phone back in his pocket. "-I'll give you five minutes."

"Where are you going?"

Michael pulled his phone back out and showed me a conversation he had going with a person called "Link To The Past"?

"Check it out. A guy in Spencer's Gifts is hooking me up with a case of Crystal Pepsi. It's like regular Pepsi, but clear!" He smiled and bounced on the balls of his feet.

"But it was discontinued in the nineties?" I asked when I got to that part of the thread.

"Yeah, Jer. That's what makes it so awesome!"

Michael left with a pep in his step while I sat all by my lonesome in the middle of the food court.

A perfect ending to the sad story of Jeremy Heere, duped into trusting that everything works out in the end, once again.

I was never the type to be lucky.

With a heavy sigh, I let my forehead rest against the table. Probably a bad decision considering that this was a food court, but it was just as thought out as all of my other choices in life.

A familiar voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

"Shouldn't we wait for the rest of the cast?" Christine asked Jake Dillinger.

"Yeah, well we aren't meeting the rest of the cast. I figured that we could get to know each other. Alone."

I looked up to see Jake grabbing Christine's hand and leading them to a store down the strip. "That's why I'm taking you to one of my favorite spots in the world, Sbarro-"

I didn't know why I got the wave of courage and confidence that I did, but it happened. Interrupting Jake, I ran up to the two of them to talk to Christine.