Problems of adults

Chapter 15 : Video Games

The next day, Joyce refused Jane at work, wanting her to take some rest. Jane completely disagreed with that, but she couldn't do anything. She was now sinking in her couch, channel-surfing, when she heard knocks at the door. She switched off the TV, stood, and walked in direction of her door. When she opened, she saw her new neighbor, Mehdi.

- "Hey," Jane frowned.

- "Hi," he smiled. "Um, I was with Mallory and Melissa, I don't know if you remember them—"

- "I do."

- "Okay, great. So, um, we were wondering if you wanted to spend the day with us, and if your sister wanna come too, she is welcomed."

- "She is working."

- "Okay, well, the invitation still works for you. What do you think?"

Jane didn't answer. She took support on her door and looked behind her like if she could find something to convince her to stay here. But this apartment was sad as fuck.

- "We're just in the girls' apartment, playing video games, chatting, and eating sweet things, junk foods, and things like that."

- "Um, just give a minute to change my clothes."

- "Sure," he widely smiled. "But don't worry too much about your clothes, we're not Queen Elisabeth's family!"

- "Oh yeah? I would have never guessed it. You can wait on the couch if you want."

- "It would be my pleasure."

She invited Mehdi to enter her apartment before closing the door. She left him to go in her bedroom to find something to wear. Her father sold almost all their clothes; she was wearing the same things almost everyday now! She took her tee-shirt with written "bad mood", her last black jeans, and a jacket in jeans. She wasn't really in the mood to spend time with random people but staying alone wasn't a good idea neither. And they seemed nice, so why not. She put on her shoes, took her bag, and joined Mehdi in the living-room.

- "I like your tee-shirt," he happily said.

- "Thanks. Let's go."

The man lightly chuckled, amused by Jane's behavior, and stood to follow her. Once the door locked, Jane followed her new neighbor upstairs. He knocked at the door and entered without waiting for an answer. The two girls were in the living-room, sitting on the ground with the couch behind them, playing Mario Kart 14.

- "Hey girls! Jane is here," Mehdi smiled.

Mallory stopped the game and quickly stood to take Jane in her arms. Jane wide opened her eyes and frowned, surprised by this amount of love from a stranger. Jane wasn't a big fan of physical contact, but since she realized she liked girls more than boys, she was avoiding hugs with girls, creating weird sensations inside her. Mallory broke the hug and stepped back.

- "Good, you embarrassed her!" Melissa stated while she was standing.

- "Sorry, I'm happy to see her!"

- "You don't even know me," Jane mumbled, realizing she was all red.

- "I don't need to, I'm sure you're a good person."

- "Yeah. We should hug too, or a wave is enough?" Jane frowned.

- "A wave, I'll hug you when we're both ready," Melissa smiled.

- "Good."

- "You wanna play with us? We have four controllers; we can lend you one."

- "Um, yeah, sure, it looks fun."

Melissa smiled to her. Mehdi and Jane sat on the couch while the two other girls went back to their first places. They gave controllers to the two comers and began the game.

- "Jane, just push the A button," Mehdi explained.

Jane frowned and obeyed.

- "You never played this game before?" Melissa asked.

- "Um, yeah, I did, I mean, my best friends are all big fans of video games."

- "But not you, right?"

- "I...no, I didn't have lots of opportunities to play, and then, I guess, I wasn't very interested."

- "You never had a video game console?" Mehdi asked.

- "We had, but I spent most of my time in hospital..."

- "Oh no, why?" Mallory said with a concerned tone.

- "A long and sad story about sickness, it doesn't really matter, but I wasn't allowed to have a video game console in my room."

- "Oh no, I'm sorry..."

- "It's okay, I did other things. I leant how to draw and how to play the guitar, so it's fine."

- "Are you still sick?" Melissa asked.

- "No, still in remission, but it's fine, in a few months I'll be completely fine."

- "Cool, we'll have to celebrate that!" Mehdi said with enthusiasm.

The three friends widely smiled to each other before all looking at Jane, waiting for a reaction. Jane raised her eyebrows, thinking they were weird but nice.

- "I guess we'll have to," she mumbled.

Mehdi, Melissa, and Mallory exclaimed their happiness by giving friendly taps on her and shouting. Once calmed, the four teens went back to their game. Jane was still not happy to live here, but at least the neighbors were very nice and funny, she would spend some good moments with them, to forget a little bit the reality of life.