"They say some things are destined to be…"
Alex sighs as he puts down his phone, he just got done messaging Justus, his online boyfriend, they met through social media and the two had begun to form a bond- a very special bond.
His usual group of friends eventually found out about this and of course, like any good friends, became obsessed with knowing about this Justus character.
His friends, Shawn, Joey, Rachel, and Flora were all curious and always wanted answers even though it bothered Alex sometimes.
One day, after school, Alex, Shawn, Flora, Rachel, Leo, and Joey headed down to the nearest coffee place, it wasn't Starbucks, but it would have to do, and they all enjoyed the little shop. It was kind of their place because they came here so often, they knew the owner very well.
As soon as they walked in, Alex flashed a smile and waved at the owner, "Hello, Ms. Bailee." He greeted. Bailee looked up from sweeping to see all of the teens, she let to broom lean on the nearest counter and smiled, "Well, well, well… if it isn't the gang." She smiled as she put her hands on her hips, "What can I get y'all?"
"A table, please." Joey answered sarcastically, but no one laughed, so he just huffed and crossed his arms.
"Nothing to drink? I'm not tryna take ya money or anything… but y'all usually order a drink." Bailee says.
"Well, we're just here to do our homework. We would usually study over at Flora's house, but, her parents are having a wine party tonight, so no kids allowed." Alex explains. Ms. Bailee nods, "Alright, just find what ya can, we've been really busy today." Ms. Bailee says, as she wipes the sweat from her forehead.
As soon as Ms. Bailee finished, Rachel hollered from across the café, "Guys! Over here!"
They all followed Rachel's voice, while they were walking, Ms. Bailee called, "OH! And good luck with ya boyfriend!" She hollered. Alex groaned, he loved Ms. Bailee, but she could be a loud-mouth at sometimes… well, most of the time.
The only reason Ms. Bailee knew was because when Alex told them about Justus and him being an item, Leo practically said to loudly, "ALEX HAS A BOYFRIEND?"
Luckily, only the 6 were in there, but, Ms. Bailee was cleaning the table behind them. She heard this and causally walked up to the booth and smiled, "Does one of my precious little things have a boy toy?" She asked with a wink.
Rachel nodded, "Yep, and we legit just found out."
"How cute!" Flora squealed.
So now, Ms. Bailee always keeps that on her mind.
As soon as they all got there, they gathered into the booth with Rachel, Flora, and Leo on one side, and Alex, Shawn, and Joey on the other. Flora then cleared her throat, "Okay guys, let's get down to business... So we have to do a report on Moby Dick for Mr. Weaver's class." She said, pulling out the green sheet Mr. Weaver gave her. It had all the rules.
As Flora was examining the rules, Alex sneakily pulled out his phone, Justus had texted him:
"Hey babe, how was school?"
Alex smiled and unlocked his phone to get on his messages
"Good, what about you?" Alex texts back, adding a heart emoji at the end.
Alex tuned in just at the right time, because Flora was about to ask the question that determined who really cared or not, "So. Who read the entire book? Raise your hand if so." Flora smiles, as she raises her hand.
Alex proudly raises his hand; He then scans the faces of Rachel, Joey, Shawn, and Leo, and asked "You guys didn't read it?"
Rachel sighs, "Well, when I got Daisy and Damien, I didn't think that two golden retriever puppies would be so much work, but I was wrong! And my mom's on a business trip and my dad has to work 24/7. There's no time for reading. Although, I will say I am halfway finished with the book!"
"Wow, you go get 'em Rachel!" Flora says. She then turns to the boys, "Okay Shawn, your excuse?"
"Same as Leo and Joey… Grand Theft Auto 5, baby!" Shawn says as he looks over at Joey and Leo. Joey is giggling like a little girl; Leo is looking at Flora, terrified. He knew Flora can be scary when everyone doesn't do their fair share. Flora has given him the silent treatment many times, and after (literally) two minutes, he begs her to talk to him again, which she does.
"Okay, fine. How about instead of playing GTA 5 tonight, you read some of it?" Flora suggests.
"But what if I can't?" Shawn asks.
"You can, just get off your lazy ass, pick up the book, and read." Flora reprimands.
There was silence, because Shawn knew he couldn't fight back, "Fine." He groans. Flora smiles, "Hey! Since we're in a coffee shop now! You can start!"
The boys pull out their books and Leo complains about how big it is.
Flora then turns to Rachel, "You can help us with whatever information you have, is that good?" She asks the blonde.
Rachel nods and scoots closer to Flora so they can both talk to Alex without having Shawn, Joey, or Leo hear them. Alex then looks next to him, the boys were so focused on the book, they wouldn't notice. "Hey guys, wanna look at some characters?" He whispered to the two girls.
"Characters?" Flora asks, confused.
Rachel then laughs, "Flora, while you were out with the flu, Alex here created some characters. I forgot to tell you."
Flora nodded, "Okay, tell me more."
"Well, there's a guy who's just like him, named Albo. He's like the main dude. And there's an evil guy, forget his name. A dog named Skyler, who I would probably go all furry for, and so much more." Rachel gushed.
Flora nods and smiles, "Well it's about time he did something with all that creativity. I mean do you know how many times he's got caught drawing all those Mario characters on homework?"
"Did I mention one of them is a female hero?" Rachel coaxed.
"I'm sold." Flora says.
Alex and Rachel laugh and Flora shrugs, "What? You know how strongly I am on feminism. I'm sick and tired of females always being portrayed as helpless and a damsel in distress. I mean, we aren't ALL like that. It's great Alex has decided to make the female a hero!"
Alex, knowing that Rachel (and now Flora) was excited to see his sketches, pulled out his notebook and sketchbook and gave the notebook to Rachel and the sketchbook to Flora.
"WOAH!" Rachel says as she flipped through the light pages, amazed.
"I'll say… I'm impressed as well!" Flora smiles as she flips the pages and examines. Flora then reaches a page and squints, confused. Alex notices and says, "What's wrong, Flora?"
Flora squinted once more and then looked up at Alex, "This one drawing... It's not your drawing style, it looks different... and in fact, it's not even your little signature. Flora puts down the sketchbook to reveal a drawing only familiar to Alex.
Alex smiled, "That, Flora, is Justo. I didn't make him, Justus did, and He's the one for Albo, like Justus is the one for me. It's special because he made it just for me… only if I could meet him." Alex said, he then looked sad, Flora noticed his watery eye.
Alex had done so much for them, and they probably took him for granted, Flora wanted to pay him back, a smile then made its way onto her face. She then looked at Alex.
"Hey Alex, my mom texted me and my phone just died, mind if I borrow your phone?" Flora asks. Alex hands her his phone and gives her the passcode. Flora then grabs Rachel's wrist as Leo moves out of the seat.
"What're you doing?" Rachel asks.
"Remember how Alex made female heroes?" Flora asks.
"Yeah." Rachel replies.
"It's time to be one." Flora says as she and Rachel enter the bathroom, she locks the door behind her and opens Alex's phone. There's the conversation and Justus asked:
"Hey, wanna dirty RP with Justo and Albo, or Olimar and Skyler? ;)"
Alex responded:
"Suuuure ;)"
Flora shuddered and exited the messages and went to the phone app. She went to contacts and looked for Justus' name; she found it and tapped it.
RRRRRIIIIINNGGG…
RRRRRIIIIINNGGG…
RRRRRIIIIINNGGG…
RRRRRIIIIINNGGG…
"Come on! PICK UP!" Flora said, panicked.
RRRII-
"Hey babe.. I was gonna start the roleplay, don't worry." A male voice sounded.
Flustered, Flora decided to speak, "Hello is this Justus?"
There was silence until he slowly said, "Yes… who are you and where is Alex?"
"This is one of his best friends… Flora. I dunno if you heard about me or not, but we've definitely heard about you." Flora says. Justus then laughs slightly, "Oh yeah, I've heard of you, Rachel, Leo, Joey, AND Shawn." He says.
Flora was relieved to hear that, "Okay, well it's nice to meet you- sorta. But anyways, let's get down to business. We all know Alex really loves you, and he wants to see you, but is there any chance you can come and see him?"
"Of course, don't you think I've been begging my parents as well? I wanna see him too. Like majorly. FaceTime isn't enough for me." Justus sighs from the other end.
"Well, what did they say?" Flora asks.
"They said I could, I just need his parent's approval." Justus says.
"I can tell him." Flora nods.
"Thanks Flora, can't wait to see him!" Justus said as he hung up.
Flora and Rachel went back out and handed Alex his phone, "Ask your parents if Justus came come. Trust me, he wants to see you, he just never talked to you about it because he thought that you would think it was foolish." Flora explains to her friend.
Alex smiles, overjoyed, "YAY!" He says, he orders everyone to pack up and they do, they then heads out, Alex was practically running to his house, everyone else was running as fast as they could to keep up with him.
On the way home, Alex was running so fast, he didn't see where he was running nor did he pay attention to the people he was running by. He suddenly fell on his butt, and his head hurt, obviously he ran into someone, he just didn't know who. He looked up, but he wished he didn't.
"Hey, baby." A voice said, the person was a girl with tanned skin, she was skinny, and about Alex's height and was wearing short shorts and a crop top. She had her long black hair straightened.
"Ugh, Chelsea, go away!" Alex said, in disgust.
"Give me a good reason." Chelsea laughed.
"Because you're annoying as HELL!" Alex says, as he gets up, his friends still a ways behind him.
"I wouldn't have been, if you didn't reject me for that dude online. You're so stupid, he's probably 68, and living in his mom's garage! God forbid, it's probably a girl that catfishing you!" Chelsea says.
"Chelsea, fuck you. I have pictures! I'll show you tomorrow!" Alex says, as he tries to make it past Chelsea, she blocks every move though.
Finally, his friends caught up to him. "Ugh, not this bitch." Rachel groans.
"Oh well if it isn't Little Miss Plaid." Chelsea says, crossing her arms.
"It's better than exposing your boobs and stomach." Rachel fights back.
Chelsea was silent, Flora laughed. So Chelsea got on HER back, "You're the one to laugh, Ms. Valedictorian. You aren't 'perfect' either." Chelsea snapped.
"Chelsea, this isn't about being perfect.. it's about how snobby you are being because you can't get over the fact that a guy rejected you. You are spoiled, selfish, and self-centered. You wouldn't even love him; you use men to see other men. It just doesn't end for you, does it? He'd rather be happy than be… whatever you make people feel." Flora says.
"Well, at least I'm not a gamer who's mostly cooped up in his room." Chelsea said, directly towards Joey.
"Hon, I may not be able to beat you at popularity, but I can whoop your ass at Mario Kart any day." Joey winks.
"Whatever." Chelsea says, flipping her hair, she then eyes Alex, "Ha, at least I'm not a fag." She then struts away. "Well, you ARE a bitch!" Rachel shouts after her, "I can't believe her."
"Chelsea's just a popular-for-nothing girl, don't worry Alex, you're better than her." Shawn says. Leo peeks out from a dumpster, is it over yet?" He asks. Alex nods, "It's okay buddy, Medusa's gone."
"Good!" Leo exclaims as he steps out, as soon as he does, the 6 headed to Alex's house. "Mario Party anyone?" Alex asks, knowing the answer would be yes. Of course; they said yes.
"Usuals?" Alex asks. They all nodded.
Alex's usual was Toad, Shawn's usual was Mario, Joey's usual was Yoshi, Leo's usual was Wario, Flora's usual was Daisy, and Rachel's usual was either Peach or Toadette, mostly Toadette.
They were playing Mario Party 8, so there could only be 4 players. Leo, Shawn, Flora, and Joey were playing. Rachel and Alex sat out.
Alex was on his phone, he said:
"So… about that dirty RP?"
Then Leo interrupted, "Hey Alex! I'm leaving, so you can take Wario's place for me!" He chirps, as he walks to the door.
Justus then texted back:
"Ready when you are."
"Rachel can take my place… I'm doing something important." Alex says as he started the RP.
Rachel got up and Flora looked at her and whispered, "RP?"
"Yeah." Rachel laughs as she tunes into the Mario Party world.