A/N: Hello? (Echo: lo lo lo...) Is anybody here? (here here here...)
So... um... I wrote a chapter. Of this story some of you read, long ago... Remember? The one in the future, with the transport-lines and Raj getting stuck with a Sandra Bullock mask on?
I'm turning to humor 'cause I don't really know what to say... It's been so so long since I'd last posted a chapter. It's not that I didn't want to. I like this story, I love these characters, those from the show and those I invented, and I have a full outline, up to chapter 50 (at least). But between working, dating, breaking-up, family members going through major challenges... I didn't have much time to write, and when I did I didn't feel like putting the effort that writing this story requires. Because it is fun, but it certainly does require effort.
Now, I don't want to leave the story with no conclusion. I think readers desevre closure, even if there's very few of them left. I'm considering just publishing the outline I wrote, so you'd have an idea of where I intended to take the story. The problem is, that would be giving up on actually writing all those plots, and that's hard for me. COVID-19 and the restrictions following it have now created a different life situation for me, and probably many of you, so for the time being, I think I'll try writing another chapter, and we'll see after that.
Thank you very much to all those who read this story, reviewed chapters, followed, favorited, even if they don't read anymore. Thank you very much to anyone who would be reading, and maybe reviewing, this. Very very special thanky to my amazing beta, joyteach, who, after all this time, still stuck with me and went through this one as well.
This chapter brings tou Max's POV, for the first time. Hope you enjoy it.
Oh, and, The Big Bang Theory ended, but sadly, it's still not mine. Boy, would I like that money now in COVID-19 days (though I wouldn't mind it later, as well!). Anyway, Lorre and Prady, who do own The Big Bang Theory, made, and are probably still making it. Cheers to them. I only own my OCs, and to some extent these versions of Halley and Michael.
Chapter 29: Decisions
June, 2038.
[Max.]
I'm okay at making decisions. Probably not the best, but definitely better than my sister. Sophie takes forever making decisions, and they're like torture to her. One time, Mom and Dad wanted her to practice making decisions on her own, so they let her pick a movie for us to watch. It took two hours, three charts and a graph, 'til Mom gave up and chose for her.
No, I'm definitely, definitely not that bad at decisions. But this time, I had a real big one to make. I'd finished my finals in school, and now I had to decide if I wanted to stay, or graduate and go to university.
Oh right, I probably should explain that. I'm 12, but I finished my finals early. I always studied more advanced stuff at school because I'm a genius. I mean really, tests and all. Both my sisters did the same thing. Although I beat them by a year, they finished their finals at 13. I guess I should thank Lizzie, my friend, she's a bigger genius than I am, and I was just trying to keep up with her. Umm what was I saying? Oh yeah, my sisters. They finished their finals at 13, but left school later. Riley, my oldest sister, left at 16, and Sophie at 15. Lizzie's brother also left when he was 16, the same time Sophie left.
My parents think it's better to stay longer so you could be with kids your age. They can make me stay or leave if they want to, because I'm a minor, but they do want to know my opinion, and I wanted to think it through.
I asked my dad for help, and we started making a list of pros and cons to graduating. Mom was there too, but she was practically glued to the window by the front door, waiting for Riley to come back from her date. She's been dating this guy, Dylan, for a few weeks now. They met at a 'Tales of Nova' convention about a month ago.
"Penny," Dad tried once again, "you're gonna end up with a bad back. Just come here and help us out, it will help pass the time. You're not going to make them come back any sooner like this, and they might see you when they do."
"Good," Mom said, not moving even a bit, "this way he would know he is being meticulously supervised."
"Supervised?" Dad asked, "Come on, Penny, I know this is new to you, it is new to me too, but they're 19. And since when do you say 'meticulously'?"
"Since that scumbag is dating my little baby, forcing me to keep a meticulous eye on him."
"Scumbag? Penny you haven't even met the guy…"
"All guys are scumbags."
"Hey!" Dad and I both protested.
Mom didn't respond, remaining fixated on the window, so we went back to our list, starting to add to the cons side.
"Being away from my friends, that's the biggest one," I said.
"You already have 'Staying with friends' as a pro," Dad said.
"Yeah, but that's important enough to be in both. I want to stay with my friends and I don't wanna be away from them," I explained, "I have quite a lot of friends at school, we go to parties and go hoverboarding. If I'm not around I'm probably gonna miss a lot of that."
"Ooh Ooh!" Mom suddenly joined in, finally leaving the window and coming to sit with us, "Add that to the pro list! The hoverboarding thing!"
"Mom, I said I won't be hoverboarding if I graduate," I cleared up.
"Exactly," she grinned.
"Hey, don't write that!" I told Dad, who started writing 'No hoverboarding' on the pros, but he kept going.
"She's got a point," he shrugged, "The last time you went hoverboarding got you the name 'Grass-head'."
"It's not my fault they planted so much grass where I fell!"
"You mean, the park?" Mom asked, with her arms crossed.
"And what about the time you came home all soaked up, in the middle of the summer?" Dad said.
"No, that one was a mini-golf thing," Mom corrected. "Ooh, add 'No mini-golf'! And also 'No bowling'," she turned to me, "One day Mr. Burns won't manage to catch you when you go down that lane, and you'll end up coming out of the ball machine. Although that might be safer than you hoverboarding."
I scoffed, crossing my arms. Alright, so I'm not that great at a lot of the stuff my friends do. Just the more physical stuff. Okay, I did break my thumb once when we were playing video games but that was an unfortunate chain accident. Mostly, it's the things that require balance, and coordination, and… any kind of movement. But I want others to like me, and to be a part. So what if I sneeze sand for a week?
"Hey, I've got something more for the pros," I said, wanting to change the subject, "I could make friends in the university, and they'll be older, that could be cool, we could have college kids' fun."
"Not too fond of that…" Mom said, warily.
"Relax, it'd be my kind of 'college kids' fun', not yours," Dad said, with a chuckle.
Mom sighed, "Still, I don't want him staying up all night playing video games, that's how you end up with Cheetos in your hair."
"Mom, I'm old enough to keep Cheetos out of my hair," I argued.
But she turned to me, cupped my face, pouted her lips, and said, in her baby-tone, "Sure you are, my biiig little Chubby-Wubby," and kissed my nose. Uggh, I'm not even complaining about the 'Chubby' anymore (they keep calling me that 'cause I was a chubby baby but now I'm not!), but why does she always kiss my nose?!
Suddenly we heard the door open, and Riley came in.
"Damn it," Mom whispered. She jumped up from her place and went to hug Riley, putting on a very big, very fake smile, "Hey baby, how are you? How was the movie?" she asked, and kissed Riley's head.
"Hi Mommy," Riley said, letting herself be hugged, seeming kinda down. When Mom released her, she went to sit down next to Dad, hugging him from the side for a bit, and then leaning on him. Mom came back, to sit by Riley's other side. "The movie was nice, a little predictable," Riley said, "The guy who turned out to be the robber had that obvious wicked smile from the beginning, and was disappearing all the time. Also, I hope real-life police officers aren't that slow, and don't need 11-year-olds to do their jobs."
Mom nodded, but she was clearly just waiting for Riley to finish, to ask, starting in a fake friendly tone, but quickly getting faster and more nervous, "And how was, umm, Dylan? Did he, maybe, try anything? Touch anything? Lean? Did he look at your neck? You should not trust guys who look at your neck too much, you'll end up with-" she suddenly stopped, "Never mind. So, uh… How was he?" she asked again, 'sweetly'.
"Uhm… I don't know," Riley said, "He did touch me I guess, when we were walking to the place. He just kept kinda.. moving me around along the way, I felt kinda like a pinball machine's ball."
"Oh well, that's okay, things don't always work out, you're only 19, you have a lot more to experience, there's plenty of fish in the sea," Mom hurried to say.
"H- Hold on," Dad said, "No need to jump to conclusions, maybe he was just nervous, and didn't know how to get to make physical contact. You know, one time when we were young, Howard thought he had the perfect strategy to initiating physical contact. He thought walking with a girl in a parking lot and steering her away from cars was the perfect opportunity to.. um.. get closer, but he didn't get dates so he would wait in parking lots and… uh…"
"Thanks for making my point, Honey," Mom retorted, smiling.
Dad narrowed his eyes, "Alright, bad example. Let's just say this is something you could put in the 'cons' list, and see if it changes."
"Yeah…" Riley said, sheepishly, "that might change. But… I'm not sure his yelling at theatre workers would…"
"Maybe they did something wrong…?" Dad tried.
"Like not making a new batch of popcorn when he ordered a serving…?" Riley said.
"Maybe he had a bad day?" I suggested, trying to get into the 'game'.
"Maybe, but he also yelled at them for telling him to shut down his phone… And for letting people move to the seats in front of us… That time he also gave the guy a threatening look, grabbed his arm and did this 'watch out' gesture…"
There was a moment of silence.
"Well, umm… you're young, and, there's fish…" Dad said.
A couple of hours later, the Cooper-Fowlers came for dinner. We eat dinner together a lot, 'cause they're our neighbors. Our parents have been friends even since before we were born, long before. Uncle Sheldon was Dad's roommate for years.
I forgot to say, that's Lizzie's family. That makes it hard sometimes. I don't know, things are fine, kind of, when we're all talking together. But when I talk with Lizzie, not to mention when it's just the two of us, it's…umm… not going as easily as… anything.
Like that night, yesterday. We were just starting to eat, and Lizzie asked for the apple juice, which was next to me.
"This one?" I asked, reaching for it hurriedly.
"Yes! Thank you, Maxi," she said, and smiled, looking straight into my eyes from her seat across from me, with her shiny emerald eyes.
Then I started talking so fast, like I'd lost control of my talking speed, "Or or I can bring you the one from the fridge, it would be colder and colder is better, right? I mean sometimes, but this is summer and who doesn't like a cold drink in the summer, it helps cooling off, although the A/C's on so maybe you don't need to cool off, so I could give you this juice, or maybe I could warm it up a little, if the A/C's too much and…"
Thank goodness Mom finally took the carton out of my hand and handed it to Lizzie. I don't know how long that would've gone on.
"Thanks," Lizzie said.
"Sorry," I said, embarrassed.
"For what?" Lizzie asked, "You made good points. You always do."
I smiled, staring at her, until my mom elbowed me. "Uhh thanks," I said, realizing I'd got stuck.
Then for the rest of dinner, I was trying to find something to say to her, to make up for my screw-up, but I couldn't. I was about to start talking several times, but every time I did, words wouldn't come up.
I wish I could say it was just that night, but that's how it always is. Either I talk too much, or I freeze, or I just don't know what to say to her. She's already smarter than I am, but when I talk to her I feel like I get 10 times dumber than I usually am.
It wasn't always like this. I don't remember it that well, but my parents say we used to get along greatly when we were little. I don't know when it changed, maybe around first or second grade.
That's another thing, I've known her for that long. My entire life. And still, I don't know how to talk to her.
And we spend a lot of time together. Not as much as when we were little, I guess. We go to the same school but we don't talk that much there. We're not in the same.. uh.. friend groups. I kind of get along with most of the kids in class. I may not be the best at some of the things they do, but I'm still a part. I like it, I want others to like me, that's why I do all those things they do, even if I.. kinda suck at them. But Lizzie, she's.. she's got her own thing. She reads her books and comic-books and writes equations most of the time. She's either alone at school or with her friend, Martha, this girl who collects spiders. The other kids, they just don't understand Lizzie that much. They don't know how amazing the things she does are, so they just… they kinda think she's weird and they stay away from her, or don't really notice her.
Anyway, after that dinner debacle, I was glad my sisters and Lizzie's brother, Stephen, came with us to the garage to play. Oh, in case you don't have one, a garage is a place they used to keep cars in, back when people had cars. Actual private cars they used regularly, not like the cars used for games. When my parents sold the car they had, I think it was before I was even born, they'd decided to make the garage sort of a game room.
So we were in there, playing the new Storm Troops game, which was a nice distraction. But I couldn't help looking at Lizzie, who was sitting next to me on that old brownish-orange-ish couch, and wonder what her plans were. Was she staying at school? Was she leaving? Things would be different if she was leaving. Sure we don't talk to each other much at school, but.. I'd notice.
"Hey, Lizzie?" I whispered to her, sneaking a quick look at her while playing.
But the game was too loud for her to hear.
"Lizzie," I tried again, a little louder, but Stephen just started shouting at her, something about her velocity-to-accuracy balance.
I waited a minute for things to calm down, and started again. "Lizzie," I whisper-shouted, "Lizzie," I raised my voice a bit more, "Lizzie!"
That one came out way louder than I intended. Suddenly the game was on pause and everyone was looking at me.
"Yes, Maxi?" Lizzie asked, after a moment, making me realize I was supposed to talk.
"What? Oh Uh… Umm… you… you know school, and finals, and… right?"
"Uh-huh," she said, looking me right in the eyes.
"I- I was just thinking- no wondering, I was just wondering, what do you… Uh… Not that it's my business I just want to know, 'cause, I'm just curious, and Uh…"
She was looking at me patiently, waiting for me to ask what I wanted, but I just couldn't bring myself to make up a normal sentence.
"Hey you know what, I think we need more grape juice, yeah we need more grape juice I'm gonna get us more grape juice," I said quickly, got up and started walking to the house.
"But Maxi, we have an almost full bottle," Riley said.
"Y- yeah but what if we finish it? We have to be prepared, you don't want to go get another bottle later in the game, that would ruin the- the atmosphere, and…" I said, continuing to walk, 'til I was out of there.
'What a loser,' I thought to myself, as I was entering the kitchen. 'You couldn't even ask her a simple question, get a hold of yourself Hofstadter!'
"Come on, Bestie, they're meant to be," I heard Aunt Amy say to my mom, who was sitting next to her by the kitchen island, facing the backyard. "It's a love story written in the stars, from before they were born!"
I know this sounds dramatic, but this kind of saying coming from Aunt Amy didn't surprise me. She's a very rational, logical scientist, but when she's excited about something romantic she can sometimes speak like Uncle Raj (who my parents say is like a human Rom-Con Wiki).
"Sweetie I get that you want this to happen, and I see how they are, but we should not get involved," Mom responded.
"Sure we do! They just need a little nudge, or a push, a shove, maybe. To get them in the right direction. You fixed Howard up with Bernadette, you helped Sheldon and I move forward, and we both know that required a lot of work, you're like a relationship master," Amy said.
"I guess you could say that…" Mom said, sounding pleased.
"So get up and work your magic! Come on!" Amy said, "We could make a plan, we could… We could lock them in a room and play a romantic movie marathon, until they professed their love, remember escape rooms? It would be like that, just romantic! We could plant clues in the movies! And use heart-shaped locks!" Amy said, excitedly.
"And what if they don't 'profess their love'?" Mom asked.
"They'd just stay there until they did."
"I don't think that's such a-" Mom started saying, sheepishly.
"Or! Or, we could leave them alone for, say, three days, or weeks, and they'd have to fend for themselves, just the two of them. Overcoming adversity can really bring people together!" Amy said, still excited.
"Three weeks?!"
"Or we could leave them in a dark alley, the sparks would fly right out!"
"Amy they're 12!"
"Do they play video games?" I asked, wanting to help.
Mom and Aunt Amy both jumped at that, and turned to me. They were so busy talking, they didn't even notice I'd gotten to the kitchen and taken a juice bottle out of the fridge.
"Chubby! What are you doing there? I mean, we didn't see you, I mean, how long have you been there?" Mom asked. It was weird, but I thought maybe she was just very surprised.
"Just a minute or two. If the kids you talked about play video games than maybe you could have them play one together, that could count as 'adversity'," I shrugged.
"Yeah, yeah that's a good idea, thank you, Honey," Mom said, smiling a bit weirdly, "but you better get back to your game now, 'cause-"
"Who are they?" I asked.
"Who are who?" Mom asked.
"The kids. That are meant to be. If you tell me about them, maybe I could help, you said they were my age."
"Uh…"
Yes, Mom was indeed being weird.
"They're Matt Hof..senstein and E..liza Flower..Coocker. Yes. Matt Hofsenstein and Eliza Flower-Coocker," Aunt Amy said, nodding at the end of her sentence.
Mom narrowed her eyes at her, but said, "Yeah.. Matt and Eliza."
"They're two kids from a small town in southern Canada," Amy said.
"Yeah, Canada. Maxi you should really go-" Mom started.
"A simple, rural area, where the people are nice and friendly by day, but mysterious murders happen at night," Amy added.
Canada's far, but it was getting scary.
"Of sheep!" Mom added. "Mysterious murders of sheep. There's a very rough rivalry… among the sheep herders… Of southern Canada," she said, looking at Aunt Amy kinda angrily. Maybe she was mad Aunt Amy made it sound scarier than it was. Well, it still was, especially if you're in the sheep-business.
"Matty and Eliza are relying on each other in these tough times," Amy said, "especially after they both lost their parents to a mysterious disease-"
"Small-Southern-Canadian-town-disease," Mom chimed in.
"And are now each forced to live with indifferent relatives who only care for the money they inherited."
"Uh…" I said, processing all of that, "Maybe they should first contact Child Protective Services, and the police, about the murders, and then get to the romantic part?"
"Yes, yes that's a great idea, Sweetie," Mom said, "we'll.. tell them. Thank you. Now go play, the others need you to kill some space robots!"
"They're ro- never mind," I said, and went back to the garage.
We kept playing until our parents called us. I wanted to talk to Lizzie but it was just too loud and I'd already made a fool of myself.
So today I've decided I'll have to find an opportunity, some time for us to talk alone, but maybe for not too long because I might find myself talking about oranges for ten minutes straight. That happened one time. I'm not sure how. I didn't even know I knew so much about oranges.
I'd just finished my lunch and came to empty my tray, when I saw her coming to empty hers. I knew this was my chance.
"So… Did you have a. good lunch?" I started.
Lizzie put her tray away and looked at me, probably thinking I was being such a weirdo again.
Mm… In terms of flavor, yes, it was good, however, nutrition-wise, it was a tad below standard. My mom seemed distracted when she made it this morning, and I believe she was not mindful of the vegetable-to-carbohydrate ratio. "
"Oh. That must have been… uh… disappointing."
"Why yes it was!" she said, more animated. "Oh Maxi, you're so sensitive and empathic."
"Uh… I guess." I scratched my head.
"No one else would've understood my lunch dissatisfaction as well as you did."
"I don't know about that…"
Then it happened again. That awkward silence that happens all the time when I'm alone with Lizzie. She was just looking at me and I was just standing there awkwardly, not knowing what to do with myself.
Then I remembered, "Oh, uh, there was something I wanted to talk to you about."
"What is it?" she said, looking at me curiously.
"I-" I started, but was cut off.
"Yo Hofstadter!" I heard someone shout. It was one of my friends, Roger, who had just come by. "Hover-board race outside, in 5 minutes, you in?"
"Sure, sure I'm in, I'm always in," I said.
"That's my bro," he said, and patted my back. It was pretty strong, but I managed to keep on my feet. "See you there," he said, and walked away.
"That's so cool. You'll do amazing," Lizzie said.
"Uh yeah, sure," I said. Actually, I knew I'd probably crash. But I thought maybe this time I'd manage to make at least half the way. That would be a win. Like I said, I'm not good at this stuff, but I want the other kids to like me, and I want to be in on what's happening, so I always join in.
Seeing the other guys walking outside, I realized I should probably go as well. But, I felt bad ditching Lizzie like that. "Hey, do you wanna come?" I asked.
Lizzie's excitement seemed to wear off immediately, and she seemed somewhat down. "I don't think that's a good idea, they asked you to come, not me."
"But I invited you."
"Yeah, you did, but.. I'd have to refuse the invite, I have some reading to do. I'm sorry," she said, and walked away.
"That's okay…" I said, weakly.
So I missed that chance to talk to Lizzie about her thoughts on graduating, but I did get another one this evening. I'd say luckily, but I don't think that fits, considering I had my left arm in a cast.
Yeah, that wasn't nice. But at least I knew Mom would pamper the hell out of me. Last time, when I scratched my knees, I got her to buy me the Loco-Coco-Jumbo-Mumbo-Jibber-Jabber milkshake at the shopping center. I threw up four times after that, but it was worth it.
I was actually about to ask my mom for pizza, when Halley and Michael came to visit. They're also friends of ours whose parents are friends with our parents. Well, Michael is more like Riley's friend, he's her best friend, and a year older than her. Halley's 21 and not best friends with any of us, but she's part of the group, with our family, and Lizzie's, and the Koothrappalis.
"Hey bud, how are you doing?" Michael asked when they came to sit by me on the couch.
"I'm fine, it's nothing," I said, trying to play it cool.
"Yeah, Michael, can't you see? It's just a little scratch, barely even noticeable," Halley said, sarcastically, and they both chuckled.
"What happened, exactly? Did you lose balance when you started speeding up? That happens a lot with hover-boards," Michael said.
"I wasn't exactly speeding…" I said.
"Oh, so did you take a turn too sharply?"
"I wasn't exactly turning…"
"So… were you just not stable enough on the board?"
"I wasn't exactly on the board…"
They both furrowed their brows, waiting for an explanation.
"I..um… I put my foot on, and then when I tried putting the other one, I.. kinda threw it too far."
"Oh," they said.
"Then I kinda started spinning around and then I fell back."
"Ohh…"
"On a friend. Who helped me up."
"Huh."
"And then I bumped into a girl, and fell on my arm."
There was a moment of silence. Then Michael got a text from his girlfriend, Jenna. Halley looked at him texting for a moment, shaking her head, and then was about to say something to me, when suddenly the door opened wide.
"I came here as soon as I heard!" Lizzie said, panting. She was dressed as Anna from the 'Frozen' movies, but her wig was all off, probably from running. It turned out she was cosplaying in the park when she heard of my accident. She cosplays Disney characters every once in a while, but her dad and her brother hate it, so she hides it from them. I love it- err, I mean, I like it, when she does that, because she loves it, which makes her excited and I lo- like, how she gets when she's excited. And she's excited about so many things. That's what makes her so wonderful to be around.
A little after Lizzie got there, Michael and Halley said they'd leave us alone, and went upstairs.
That's it, that was my other chance. I knew I had to take it. "Hey, Lizzie?"
"Yeah?"
"You know that thing I wanted to talk to you about…"
"Oh yeah, what was it?"
"Well, you know how we both finished our finals…"
"Yes."
"And we can graduate now, if we wanted."
"Yes."
"And I was just thinking… I mean, I've made a chart and all for my considerations, but I was just thinking… Wondering, I was just wondering what were you thinking.. about graduating, I mean what are- what are you gonna do?"
"I was wondering that as well. About you. What were your conclusions making the chart?"
"Umm I wouldn't say I'm finished with the charts, because, umm, there is some.. relevant data I need to collect first. What were your conclusions?"
"Well, there's no final conclusion for me either. But, there's a.. leaning."
"Oh. And that is…?"
"To stay. In school. But it may change," she said.
I smiled, "I'm leaning that way too."
Lizzie smiled.
"But it may change as well," I added, "Like, if you change your leaning… Then, I may change my leaning, too…"
"Really?" she asked, smiling.
I nodded.
"So I think I'm staying," she said.
"Me too," I said. "Wait," I remembered, "would your dad let you stay?"
"Don't worry, if he says I should graduate, I'll just threaten him saying I'm going to take literature as a major."
It was settled. "We'll be staying at school," I told everyone at dinner. It was my family, together with Lizzie, Michael and Halley who were invited to join.
Lizzie nodded and smiled.
The others also smiled, but those kind of knowing smiles, maybe even stifling chuckles.
"You seem pretty confident about that decision, Chubby," Mom said, "You weren't that sure yesterday. Did something happen to help you make the decision? Was it maybe.. depending on something, or.. someone?"
I frowned, "What? No, we just, decided."
"So the both of you made this big life decision, together," Sophie said, looking at me weirdly, as if she was expecting me to get some code.
Then Michael chuckled.
"Why are you all being weird?" I asked.
"Uh sorry," Michael said, "I was just thinking about something someone told me, about two people who have strong feelings for each other, and it's so obvious to everyone else, but they don't do anything about it."
"Ohh are you talking about Matt Hofsenstein and Eliza Flower-Cooker?" I asked.
"Yes, yes he is!" Mom answered.
"Um yeah, I am," Michael said.
"It must be so frustrating for those who watch those two obviously in love and wait for it to happen," Riley said, looking at me, "and anytime it seems like something's about to happen, it doesn't."
Halley then looked at her and said, curtly, "Yes. Like, screaming-at-them-in-your-mind frustrating." Then she smiled, "I imagine."
