Life is Weird

Matt stared at the TV absent-minded from the world around him. His thoughts were swirling in his head, not making sense to him. There were normal things, yes, meeting his friends during the long summer months ahead, when he was next working in town (which happened to be later this afternoon), and if everyone in Cyberspace was safe. But there was one more thing niggling at his brain. And her name was Inez. He was unsure as to why. But the thought gave him a feeling that to him was almost sickening. The feeling wasn't natural to him, but for some reason, it made him want to spend more time with her. He shook his head, trying to shift the feeling. He looked at his phone, his wallpaper was of himself, Inez and Jackie on a roller coaster at a local theme park. He smiled at the photo, bringing the memories of the last seven years flooding back.

A lot had changed over time, but not the friendship of the gang. The human trio of the Cybersquad had aged gracefully over the time that had passed. Jackie and Inez had been very fortunate during their ageing process, puberty being extremely kind making them beautiful young adults. The same could be said for Matt. The inches and muscle he gained certainly made him happy with the changes.

Of course some things never change, like the Hacker, and the trio's bond. In fact, it had just grown stronger over the years that had passed. It had been a crazy roller coaster of emotions, hormones, drama and sheer stupidity, but the gang don't regret a second of it. They still go into Cyberspace to help out Motherboard, but it was a lot less frequent as before. They had access to Cyberspace and could go whenever they pleased, which explained where Jackie was for a majority of their summer before college. She and Slider had been dating for some time now, which according to Inez was cute, but Matt wasn't too sure that he was thrilled by them becoming an item. When Inez asked why he felt was way, he made a lame excuse about their feelings getting in the way of college.

The gang lives in Indiana. Both Jackie and Matt decided to study closer to home not only because of their family and friends, but because they didn't want to have to move out of home just yet. Jackie was picking up a degree in mathematical analyses with a minor in musical theatre while Matt was picking up a degree in digital media with a minor in environmental sustainability. Inez was still at high school, winging it a lot at the moment. She still has no idea what she wants to do with her life. But she was trying a bit of everything to find what she should do.

Matt looked at his watch and realised that he had to be at work soon. Switching off the TV in front of him, he tried to remember who else had a shift day. He couldn't remember and decided that he would just surprise himself when he got there.

"Hey Matt," the sixteen year old brunette said, as he dropped his backpack in the staff room. Inez and Matt both work at the local mall in a frozen yogurt store. Jackie works in a small clothing store in the same mall. Matt and Inez knew that when he and Jackie started college, it would be a lot harder to hang out with Inez, but as long as they kept the same shifts, he would see her at work and they could catch up after shifts with Jackie.

"Hey Nezzie," Matt said, putting on his work cap.

Inez grizzled at Matt. "Don't call me Nezzie. Come on Matthew, you've known me for at least seven years now, shouldn't you know?"

Matt grinned at the female in front of him. Her button up work shirt was baggy, and her jeans had a small stain on them but he still loved Inez's style. A pair of black framed glasses sat on the bridge of her nose, and her hair, which was now long and flowing, tied up in a high ponytail for work. "If Slider can, I can," he retorted to his friend.

"That reminds me," Inez said, recalling a conversation she and Jackie had the night before that she had to tell Matt about. Inez isn't one to share secrets, but Jackie asked her to inform Matt, and Inez wanted to keep her word to Jackie.

Inez lives in an apartment block, and Jackie lives reasonably close to her, so when she had news to tell her younger friend, she knew that she had to run over to her place. Partly because she was excited, and also because she wanted to talk about this on the apartment's balcony. Inez wasn't expecting Jackie, but when she said she had news, Inez knew something had happened, and that it was exciting. Inez listened to every single word, but the one sentence that stood out was 'Slider kissed me'.

Inez explained to Matt that Slider and Jackie had (finally) admitted to liking each other. Matt rolled his eyes at that. He and Slider still weren't in a very good terms (because of the whole Nezzie thing) but he was happy for his female friend.

"How long do you give it?" Matt said.

"Excuse me?"

"I give it a year. Max. I'm gonna put five bucks on that."

"MATTHEW!" Inez said, offended on Jackie and Slider's behalf.

Matt grinned, cheekily, "What?" He instantly regretted what he said. He didn't care about Slider, but he did care about his other female friend. Jackie and Matt had a very strong brother-sister bond. When Jackie had her heart broken for the first time, Matt was there at school to make sure she was okay and he made sure Inez was at Jackie's house with Ben and Jerry's and a cheesy movie. Jackie was also there for Matt when he didn't get into the state baseball team. He had almost got there, but was just beat out. Jackie was there for him to train his butt off (with some assistance from Inez) and the following year, he made the team.

Inez rolled her eyes at her male friend and began refilling the toppings containers. It was quiet at the store this afternoon, and customers had been scares over the last few hours while Inez was in the shop. Inez wasn't ignoring him per-say, but she was staying very quiet for a long moment, knowing that the silence would make Matt take back his rude comment.

"Okay, I take that back…" He said, guiltily. Inez smiled. She wasn't one to make her friends feel bad for no reason, but she felt Matt deserved it for Slider's sake at the very least.

The day went normally after that, cleaning, refilling on toppings, serving people the over-priced yogurt and the pair of them talking and mucking around. When it came to closing Matt was happy to go home and get some sleep. Matt looked over at his friend, who took her hair out of her pony tail, the strands falling perfectly by her face. He smiled at her, the sickening feeling bubbling inside him.

Inez saw her friend look over at her. He gave her a feeling Slider didn't and never would give her. It was a feeling of love. Sure she had her share of romance, but she still wishes that Math could've been her first kiss. She smiled to herself, thoughts of romance filling her head. She also made a mental note to call Jackie and let her know about this.

"That is just so cute! Omigod Inez, you two would be perfect together!" Jackie said, excited. Inez had gone around to her house to talk about feelings that had been bubbling inside of her for a long time. Of course her best friend already knew about the crush, with all the stolen looks and blushing cheeks, but she was unaware of the intensity of it.

Inez was sitting in Jackie's very colourful room. Her bedspread was a creamy white with multi-coloured cushions. Her room was full of photos, tags and little trinkets that defined her and really showed her personality. Her computer on her desk was on with a screensaver of photos and photos from the internet about fashion and the entire room was incredibly clean and neat. Inez liked being in the room, but not for too long because of its brightness.

Inez blushed at her friend, "I'm not too sure about 'perfect' but I can dream right?"

Jackie shook her head. "Oh honey, don't say that. Matt really does like you. And he would be stupid not to."

Inez took a moment to look at herself. She didn't think she was insanely pretty (Like her best friend in front of her), she wasn't graceful and her fashion sense wasn't amazing, she was just plain old Inez, the girl too smart for her own good. In her own mind, she was just nothing special.

"I think he likes you," Jackie said firmly. "Make room, I gotta pace!" She said, walking around her room, trying to think of a way to get Matt and Inez to confess their feelings to each other. A wave of brilliance hit her, "We should all have dinner together tomorrow night!" She squealed, loving the idea she came up with. "I can invite Slider too, and when we go for alone time, you and Matt can have some alone time too! And you can tell him you like him! Oh this is so brilliant! I'll text them now..."

Inez wanted to protest but once Jackie had an idea she wouldn't budge. But she was worried. What if Matt didn't like her in that way?

"This is not good," she mumbled to herself, "This is not good at all."

The gang sat around Jackie's dinner table, talking about random topics. Jackie squeezed Slider's hand under the table and smiled at him. They both got up.

"And where are you two going?" Inez teased.

Jackie grinned, "I'm just showing him my room. Inez, you know where the ice cream, M&Ms and games are. Don't know how long we'll be. See ya!" She said as she and her boyfriend walked out of the room.

Matt rolled his eyes, "So now what?"

"We could just spilt the ice cream in the freezer and play blackjack," Inez suggested. The pair of them are often with each other due to not only work, but also when Jackie and Slider first started dating. Their tradition was to play blackjack or some other board or card game.

Matt smiled (Inez noticing a twinkle in his eye). "You know what makes me tick Nezzie."

Inez turned a deep pink "Don't call me Nezzie," she said as she left the room to get the food and two spoons as well as a deck of cards and a jar of M&Ms for betting purposes.

Inez began splitting the M&Ms and Matt shuffled and dealt the cards. At this point, both of them were very quick at performing these tasks. Inez had the harder job to make sure they were even with their candy.

Inez looked at her hand. A perfect 21. But she wasn't going to give in that quickly. She simply placed two of her chocolates in the middle.

The cards in Matt's hand added to 9, he picked up a 7, paused for a moment, and picked up another card. A 4 joined his set of cards. In the bag, he grinned to himself, putting a decent amount of chocolate.

Inez smiled as she put down her cards. "Read them and weep," she said, grabbing the sweets on the table in front of her.

Matt groaned, "Sometimes you really annoy me..." He said, putting his cards down. Even though it was a game of chance, somehow Inez always won the first hand.

Once they got bored with the game (more like Matt got tired of losing) the two relocated to Jackie's over stuffed sofa in the living room, and the pair of teens spent time talking about whatever came to mind. Their friendship just worked because of the complete trust in each other, and that they could be comfortable to tell each other anything.

At this point Inez, was too tired for a filter on her thoughts and words, so she just said what was on her mind. "Why do you hate Slider?" She asked.

Matt was not expecting this question. He suspected that Inez was over tired and that she wouldn't remember too much in the morning. He looked at his friend and replied honestly. "He had exactly what I wanted."

Inez was puzzled, "What do you mean?"

It finally felt like the right time. To confess the feelings her had hidden for the last seven years and to let Inez know how much he really liked her. But for him, he felt like his actions would be louder than his words. He lent over to Inez and placed his lips on hers. It was a quick peck, but there was passion in it. When Matt pulled away, Inez just smiled, and pulled him back for more.

Matt smiled to himself, I did it, he thought.

Inez felt her heart melting, it's really me for once.

Jackie and Slider saw the couple kiss from the top of the staircase, they smiled at their friends. "It's about time," they both said in unison.