So, it's been like living in Antarctica here on the east coast.. I know.. I have a friend who used to live in Alaska, I mean Antarctica.

Read..

July 24, 2010

10:43 AM

The fan behind Delilah and me whirred as we sat at the computer in Peter's office. It was hotter than hell outside; I don't ever remember it being this warm, not even when I lived in Connecticut. We were talking to Buster on video chat.

"So what are your plans today?" Delilah asked. "Take Elwood to try New York Pizza again?" I laughed and Buster shook his head.

"He just doesn't like it." Buster replied with a shrug. Ever since graduation Buster and Elwood had reconnected as a father and son type duo. Buster is the happiest I have ever seen him. "I think we're doing something with music today. Hold on." He walked away from his computer and we stared at the wall in his bedroom.

"That was a good one with the pizza." I said quietly and Delilah smiled. We heard a door slam upstairs then someone run down the stairs stop at the second floor then run down the stairs to where we were.

"Hey." Sydney said as she walked by the desk then sat down on the couch next to me. We turned the monitor of the computer completely around so we could sit on the couch.

"Good morning." I said.

"Hi Sydney." Delilah said then looked at me and shrugged. Sydney always gets up at 7:30 during the summer, never past 8:00. She slept in till about 10:15 today, which really freaked me out because the firehouse was dead silent. But I swear I heard the muffled sounds of footsteps coming from the third level.

"I'm back." Buster said and he popped back on the screen."And I've got awesome news." He noticed Sydney sitting next to me making annotations to a book she brought down with her. "Hi Sydney."

"Hi Buster." Sydney said and looked up quickly and waved. Delilah and I have been trying to get Sydney to interact with people more. For instance, before, she wouldn't make eye contact with people when she talked to them, but she does now.

"What's the news?" I asked and Buster grinned.

"Oh yeah!" Buster started. "Elwood is taking me to the AFM to get my card!"

"AFM, the musicians union?"Delilah asked and Buster nodded his head.

"I need a card to take part in the music program when I get to college." Buster said."I got in to the University of Memphis. They have an amazing music program, and it's pretty much a blues capital. Plus, I'm most definite Elwood is allowed there." We all laughed. Buster told us about Elwood's past, and how he isn't allowed in a few states and can only be in Chicago for a few days at a time, so living there would be hard. Sydney wasn't writing anymore, but was looking at the sidebar on the screen where all the usernames were.

"We're all gonna miss you Buster." I said. He was really the only one going out of the city for college. Everyone else was either going to Columbia or another college. I glanced at the usernames and read them to myself. Buster's, KnightInArmor, was green because he was online. All the other ones were a gray color, indicating they were offline. I smiled as I read them, BGirlZedd (Delilah), ChefStantz (Mine), CO48.92 (Sydney), JVHaute (Jo), NostradamusJr (Manny), OBarret (Oscar), and ShowOffNoMore (Jesse).

"I'm going to miss all of you too. We'll talk a lot though, I mean come on." Buster started to rant. I glanced at Sydney and her eyes bugged out of her head then she pointed to the screen at the usernames. Her finger landed directly onto OBarret, which was now glowing green.

"No way." Delilah mumbled so only the three of us could here.

"Did you say something?" Buster asked.

"Buster, we'll get back to you!" I said and Buster shrugged.

"Bye then." He said and went offline. He was used to us signing off at odd moments because everything is so unexpected here. Delilah clicked Oscar's username and a new window opened on a blank screen then a video, a live video, appeared. It looked like someone was looking directly into the camera and all we could see was a brown eye. Delilah and I leaned back and Sydney leaned forward.

"What the hell are you doing? Sit back! It went through!" An unmistakable girl's voice yelled. The brown eye moved back and we could see Oscar and Jo sitting outside somewhere, it looked really familiar to me. They were both wearing normal clothes but had a Ghostbusters patch attached to each of their shirts on their right side. I figured it wasn't best to ask about it.

"Well, I wasn't expecting this today." Sydney said and she leaned back with us.

"You were expecting something?" Delilah asked and Sydney shrugged.

"Since when does the internet work interdimensionally?" Oscar asked. He had his serious face on.

"I don't know," Sydney started and another person appeared onscreen and sat down on the other side of Jo. It was Manny. I could feel myself smile and he smiled back. He had a patch on his shirt as well. "I guess it always worked. I never thought to try it before."

"Someone's coming, only a few minutes away." Manny said. He must have been the designated lookout.

"Ok, we'll make this quick." Jo said.

"What are we doing?" I asked.

"Yeah, what's going on?" Delilah asked.

"Sydney," Jo started. "I need you to open a portal." Sydney let out an illegible noise.

"Jo," Sydney responded. "I can't do that, at least not controlled."

"Well, think of it more like a test." Jo argued and Sydney considered this. Manny gestured that they needed to wrap things up. Oscar cut in.

"I have 11:52. Synchronize your watch Ellen." Oscar said and I pushed my watch ahead a minute to be the same as Oscar's.

"Ok, we're in Bryant Park right now, at my favorite bench. Go to the right side of it, near the tree, as if you were sitting on it." Jo instructed and Sydney took mental notes. "I'll send something through the portal once I see it and then you close it."

"Wait, what are you sending through the portal. Nothing alive, we can't risk that yet." Sydney said. Manny interrupted before Jo could answer.

"The patrol is coming around. I can hear their thoughts a lot more clearly. I'd say about a minute away by now." Manny said. Jo sighed as Manny looked around. "You need to shut it down!"

"Bye!" Jo whispered and Oscar waved.

"Bye!" The three of us yelled in unison as Jo passed the laptop to Manny and he squeezed in one last word before the image was gone.

"Love you!" Manny whispered and the image flicked off the screen. Sydney stood up immediately and ran downstairs to the workroom.

"I need shoes!" Delilah yelled as she ran up the second floor in bare feet. I sat there smiling at the computer.

"Love you too Manny."I whispered and saw Oscar's username go from green back to gray. And I could tell; he heard that.

So cute, I cry to myself softly when I read this..

Button.