Jeremy awoke with a pained sensation in his back. "Goddamn, that bed is uncomfortable!" Jeremy thought to himself as he sat up in his bed. The frame creaked with every inch Jeremy moved.

He felt like someone was beating him with a sledgehammer as he slept. Jeremy stretched his back until it made a cracking sound. "Oooh okay! That felt good." he exclaimed as he continued stretching. The pain from the lumpy mattress gradually went away, but it still sucked though. Jeremy grabbed his glasses off of the night-stand near his bed and headed into the kitchen.

Chad was sitting at the table. Clustered on it was his journal along with a newspaper. These took up almost all the table room. He was scribbling something down when Jeremy walked in.

Neither of them minded the fact that Jeremy was still wearing his boxers. They were best bros and had seen each other like this a million times. Still... Chad couldn't help staring, just for little bit...

"So how'd you sleep last night?"Chad asked as he looked down from Jeremy's boxers to his notebook.

"Like sleeping on a pile of bricks," Jeremy unenthusiastically answered as he got the milk out of the fridge.

"It went that well, huh?"

Jeremy didn't really like cereal all that much, especially store-brand cereal that tasted like cardboard. So he grabbed a glass from the cupboard. The cup was foggy and there were still what looked like milk stains in it. Without a real dishwasher, they had to hand wash everything. Unfortunately, most of their dishes turned out like this. Jeremy ignored that as he poured himself a glass of milk.

"So what are you scribbling? I though you only wrote your deepest darkest girly secrets in your diary." said Jeremy as he turned back to Chad.

Chad answered, "Oh, you know, making love notes about that cute boy in 3rd period," this answer got a chuckle out of Jeremy, "But anyways, I'm making a list of potential job offers."

"And by potential you mean ones that won't turn us down immediately..." Jeremy coldly said.

"Yeah well, we can only do so much..." Chad replied.

After that, Jeremy got a set of clothes and jumped into the shower. About mid-way through Chad heard Jeremy scream, "AAGH! TOO HOT! TOO HOT!"

Chad called from outside, "Maybe you should have gone for plumbing instead of mechanical engineering?"

"FUCK YOU TOO!" Jeremy yelled from the bathroom. Chad sat there laughing to himself as he continued writing.

"...So what makes you qualified for these positions? What makes you two stand out compared to the other applicants?" the man across the desk asked.

Jeremy answered, "Well for one, we are both always on task. We communicate very well with each other and other customers. And we cooperate very well."

Chad continued, "Also, we both have technical experience. For instance..." Chad leaned over in his chair more as he pulled out his cell phone ready to show it off, "We converted our simple cell phones into-"

The man cut him off, "It says here that you were expelled from ITT due to 'aggressive behavior with other students'... Is there anything you'd like to say about that?"

Jeremy tensed up, "Well, uh... we-we didn't start that fight. There were some disagreements between-"

"Listen, listen," the interviewer said again as he interrupted Jeremy, "I like you two. I think you're both very smart. But... it's for that reason I hope you'll understand you present a liability for our company. You can say whatever you want, but the fact remains you did get into a fight severe enough to cause you to be expelled. We simply can't handle something like that here. I, personally, would like to hire you two. But its a rough economy right now. We can only hire so many. So, I'm sorry..."

Jeremy almost threw down his chair as he stormed out. Chad quickly got up, said to the man, "Thank you for your time," and ran after his friend.

Jeremy slammed his fist on the wall outside of the mall. "Dammit!" he yelled as the pain shot into his fist, relieving some of his frustration.

Chad came out through the sliding doors. "Well that was discrete," Chad sarcastically said. "Anyway, I never did like the thought of working in a department store anyway."

Jeremy said with a defeated tone, "This is humiliating... I'm done... Let's just head back to the apartment."

"Come on, we still have three more interviews,"

"Yeah? We went through four already and they all sucked! And do you think the next will turn out differently?" said the frustrated ostrich.

Chad looked down as he said, "...no... I guess not..." Chad sighed before he said, "This fucking sucks..."

Jeremy calmed down: "Yeah... yeah it does... Anyway, let's just head back."

They trudged through the old apartment building, heads down, full of shame and defeat.

Before they opened the door to their flat, the door of the apartment across from them opened. And older woman stepped out as she said, "Oh, you're the tech kids. My computer is giving me a bit of trouble and I can't seem to find what's wrong. Would you mind lending a hand?" She spoke with a think accent. It sounded Eastern European.

Jeremy looked at Chad, "Well you're the electrical engineer."

"I'll catch you back inside," Chad said as he stepped into the woman's apartment.

Jeremy laid sprawled out on the couch watching some movie on TV. Whatever it was, he had no idea what was going on; mostly because the TV would turn to static for minutes at a time. He laid there smoking a cigar, enjoying the sweet taste of tobacco as it calmed his nerves.

It wasn't for three hours before Chad finally stepped through the door. "Hey man. She had a ruptured motherboard. It took me a lot longer than I-... DUDE! What the hell?! We're supposed to be saving those!" Chad yelled as he saw the cigar in Jeremy's hand.

Jeremy's head sunk down into his shoulders as a quick rush of guilt filled through him. "Sorry man, I just really needed it after today."

Chad looked desirably at the cigar. He knew it was wrong, they were supposed to be saving those. But to be honest, he really could use one as well. "Alright fine," Chad said as he held out his hand towards Jeremy. The ostrich handed over the tobacco as Chad took a heavy breath of the cigar. About an eighth of it burned out in a single huff. Chad let out a large plume of smoke as he handed it back to his friend.

Jeremy moved his feet from the couch to the ground as Chad sat down next to him. "So what are we watching?" Chad asked as static ran up and down the screen. They were able to catch quick glance of what looked like a battle in space.

"Could be Space Wars. Or Star Venture. Either way I can't tell." Jeremy said as he got up and slammed a fist on top of the TV. The static dissipated for a second.

"How much did you get?" Jeremy asked nonchalantly.

She paid me in this..." Chad said he held up a six-pack of beer. Jeremy didn't even notice it in his hands when he walked in. "That and twenty bucks."

Jeremy seemed a little more cheerful at the sight of the cans. He reached for it saying, "Well what are we waiting for? Let's crack open a few and-"

Chad pulled the alcohol away. "DUDE! You already wasted a cig. We need to save these. It's not like we can just go out and get more. Not on our budget anyway..."

Jeremy sighed as he sat back on the couch. "Fine. Anyway, we got anything for dinner?"

"'Dunno, let me check." Chad opened one of the kitchen cabinets and was completely horrified at what he saw. "FUCK!" he screamed as jumped back.

Jeremy ran to his side. He stood there open mouthed. The cupboard was filled with tiny ants. They were everywhere: in the bread bag, on the walls, climbing in and out of the cereal. "What the hell?!" Jeremy exclaimed. They didn't really have anything for fighting ants, so Jeremy grabbed a couple paper towel sheets, whetted them in the sink, and tried to wipe out as many as he could.

"How bad is it?" Chad asked.

Jeremy answered with an aggravated undertone, "Well they got the bread and the cereal. The bag of chips wasn't open, so its alright. But for tonight, sandwiches are a no go."

"Well they just add protein!" Chad joked. "...I guess its a good thing we got paid today."

Jeremy slammed his fist at the cabinet in anger. "I hate living like this!"

"I hear ya. But it could be worse. At least I'm living with you and not by myself. Or with my parents..." Chad replied.

Jeremy turned to face his friend, much more sympathetic now. Chad's parents weren't exactly the greatest. His dad was a drunk and his mom was a major bitch. Granted, as parents they both loved Chad. But that didn't mean they liked him. Fights, shouting, arguments, Chad could hardly stand it. When it got really bad he'd head over to Jeremy's. He was his only brother. The only way Chad got into ITT was through a whole lot of scholarships and a couple grants. His parents were a little glad when they kicked him out for college.

"Trust me: I'd rather be living here right now with you in this shitty apartment than back with my folks," Chad said to his best friend. "Th-thanks. For being there for me."

"You know I'm always here for my bro." Jeremy replied.

Chad wanted to hug Jeremy right then and there. That's all he wanted to do. All those years, Jeremy was his only real friend. True he had other friends, but none of them were as close as he was with Jeremy. After all, the two had practically been living together since the beginning of college. He wanted to thank him, for everything. For helping him when he had trouble with his family, for sticking up for him even when it got them expelled, and just for being a great friend.

Chad was about to extend his arms out for a hug, but something told him not to. No, it wouldn't be a good idea. Chad liked Jeremy, but he didn't want to come off as... you know... at least in front of Jeremy. He wanted to stay friends. He didn't want anything to ruin it. So Chad awkwardly held out his fist. Jeremy responded with a fist-bump.

Chad wanted to do so much more. But that would probably ruin everything. Chad was extremely unenthusiastic. Jeremy could see this, but he still had no idea why. He cared for Chad after all... a lot...

Chad sighed as he walked over to the fridge. "So... who's up for pizza...?"