"I honestly don't know what to do about this. He's been acting VERY weird lately." the blondie said, sounding as if she were on the phone with somebody.
"I mean, what CAN you do? If I were you, I'd get him admitted into a two to six week psych ward or something." the voice on the other line stated.
Tiffany sighed, not entirely open to the idea of sending her boyfriend to a psych ward, but she wasn't entirely against it neither.
"I may look into it, but I'm far from actually considering yet. He's just confused right now. So, are you coming over today?"
"Uh, yeah? I guess so. After what you told me, I think it's best for me to be there while you're at work today. I'm not streaming today so it's perfectly fine. We can just hang out, or whatever."
"Good. I'll see you later then. Gotta get ready for work. Bye!"
"Bye."
They both hung up, resuming their daily lives. Today, Tiffany had to go to work. But she couldn't just simply leave JD alone by himself, as he was still on suicide watch. After their rather conflicting therapy session, the blondie didn't know what to expect.
She got herself ready, putting on her white and pink nurse outfit. Before she left, she took one last look at him, who was laying down on the couch, presumably taking a nap.
I hope he'll be OK for a little bit.
She headed out the door, ready for another long and productive day at the hospital.
knock knock knock "Hey, you home?" a voice shouted from outside.
Justin immediately woke up from his sleep, now alarmed at the sudden banging of the door.
"Oh... Fuck! It's too early for this shit." he said, stumbling his way to the door. He realized that it was already unlocked, meaning that the knocking wasn't necessary.
He opened it regardless and was greeted by an old friend: the blue-haired nerdy gamer girl, Nikki Anne-Marie, who was now 21 and typically wore a grey sweater and white shorts a majority of the time.
"Nikki!" he shouted, "What are you doing here?"
"Tiffany invited me. I'm just here to uh... Make sure you don't... Yeah..."
Really? She hired Nikki to be the babysitter? Pfft, get outta here!
He let her in and she thanked him. The nerd looked at his house, realizing how much the environment had changed ever since Tiffany moved in.
"So..." she said, being awkward.
"So, what? You want me to give a speech or something?" he said, being a smartass.
"Um, what? No, I just came here to hang out with you. I heard about what happened."
He sat down, knowing what was happening.
"Haven't we done this before?" he stated, realizing that this scenario felt a bit familiar.
"Yeah." she said, sitting next to him. "Last year. It's almost like we're in some sort of paradox."
Heh, NERD.
"Anyway, Tiffany told me to keep an eye on you today. She told me some things and uh... Yeah, I'm not that good at talking about mental health shit, but just know that I'm here for you."
He sighed, feeling like it was useless.
"I appreciate the thought, Nikki. But I don't need you to babysit me. I'm a 23 year old man. I can take care of myself." he said, being stubborn.
"I'm not babysitting you, I'm looking out for you. Do you know how hurt we'd be if you actually went through with your suicide?"
"No."
The nerd was shocked hearing him say that. After everything they went through last year, the months of recovery and realizations, that all seemed to be forgotten, as if it never mattered.
"What happened to you, JD? You're not the same." she said, bringing up that recurring question.
"Life happened. Trauma changes a person. Sometimes, it takes forever to heal. Other times, it NEVER heals and you have to live with it for the rest of your life."
Nikki understood what he was saying. It was still very troubling seeing how he was now. When they first met, things were VERY different.
THREE YEARS AGO...
"Ugh... Audrey, can we leave now?" the 18 year old gamer said to her friend.
"Calm down, Nik. We just got here." the red-haired party girl replied.
"Just got here?" she exclaimed. "We've been here for at least an hour."
"Don't be such a downer! Loosen up a little. I'll buy you a drink. What do you want?" the 21 year old offered.
"I don't want anything. I'm not even old enough to drink." Nikki said, rejecting it.
"They don't care. Okay. Oh my God! Why do you do this every fucking time? Can't you just chill out for once and I don't know, have fun?"
"This isn't fun." she exclaimed. "Everybody here is a complete douche bag. I told you I didn't wanna come here and you dragged me anyway. Just like last time..."
"Because you can't just sit in your room all day. You need to fucking exist or something!"
It was pretty obvious that they both had issues, despite being friends. Of course, Nikki didn't take too kindly to her jabbing at the fact that she sat in her room most of the time.
"I don't sit in my room ALL day." she said, trying to end the conversation.
"Whatever! Go, leave. Bye!" Audrey said, proceeding to go to the bar and drink her problems away.
In that moment, Justin and Kyu approached the now lonesome nerdy girl.
"Awww shit! I was afraid we might run into one of these." the pink-haired fairy said.
"Doesn't look like she's a big fan of people. Buuuut, your weirdness might actually pay off here."
What's THAT supposed to mean?
"Hmm, I never thought I'd say this, but just be yourself."
JD approached Nikki, knowing EXACTLY what kind of person she was: shy, nerdy, and introverted. He knew not to say anything that would make her uncomfortable.
"You look like you'd rather be anywhere else." he humbly greeted.
"No shit. What gave it away?" she said in a sudden annoyed tone.
"I feel your pain. This isn't exactly my scene either." he said, looking at the neon lights and women dancing.
"Okay, so why are you here exactly? Sorry, but can you leave me alone? There's plenty of other girls here for you to talk to."
Feeling overwhelmed, and somewhat embarrassed, he spewed out his feeling right then and there.
"That's why I'm talking to you. I can't stand these other girls." he said, glancing at the drunk party girl, who was now on the dance floor.
"Look, I see what you're trying to do, but I'm not interested, okay?"
The nerdy girl then walked away, making JD feel a bit of defeat. He thought that having a love fairy by his side would somehow make it much easier, but it turned out to be a complete lie.
"Don't beat yourself up over it. She was a lost cause to being with."
He frowned, still bummed out that it happened.
"Plenty of fish in the sea. Let's see, how about..."
But the moment she tried to spot an alternative, the blue-haired girl started making her way back over.
"Wait, is she coming back over here? This ought to be interesting..."
The nerdy girl came back, realizing she had messed up.
"Um, hey? You know what? It's Nikki... My name. Maybe I was a little bit quick to judge. Force of habit. I'm normally not the type of girl that like talks to people, or whatever. But I guess you can keep me company until my friend is ready to leave."
From that moment on, Justin and Nikki made more and more of an acquaintance, sharing a bond over their love for video games and fine arts. It only grew from there...
END OF FLASHBACK
"I get that you miss the good old days. But even if I'm not the same person as I was back then, I still care about all of you." he said, trying to keep the peace.
"Yeah, I just... I'm worried about you. Tiffany told me about how your therapy session went. She told me you've been acting weird."
"Weird? Huh, that's not out of norm for me. I am weird. My weirdness finally paid off the night we first met."
She chuckled, seeing him act rather goofy, despite everything going on. Still, it was nice to see him trying to cheer up after a suicide attempt.
"Alright, alright. Anyway, besides that, what have you been up to? Play any games?" Nikki asked, switching over to a more practical conversation.
"Eh, not really. Unless you count the game where I go to the store have to wait for a bunch of mindless zombies to move their asses in the grocery aisle, then yeah. I've played some games."
Nikki busted out laughing, as that was both funny and relatable to her. She knew how annoying it was trying to get groceries, only for the items to be blocked by some mindless douche in the way.
"So, what about you? Anything new happening in your life?" he asked, wondering what the nerd was up to these days.
"Heh... Funny you mention that. I uh... I went to a gaming convention on my 21st birthday. It was on some island in the tropics."
"Inna De Poona?" he asked, wondering if that's where she went.
"Yeah, that one. Anyways, I met someone while I was over there. She's a uh... stripper named Candace."
"Candace Crush?"
"Yeah. Wait, do you know her?"
Oh yeah, I know her alright. I know her A LOT, actually. I know what she tastes like...
"Everyone knows her. I went to Inna De Poona last November, as a matter of fact. Me and her are really good friends."
"Oh, nice. Anyway, back to my story: me and her also became friends and she's been talking me into doing something that you MIGHT judge me for..."
The moment she said that, many different thoughts went through J's head.
Camgirl? Porn star? OnlyFeet?
"What are you doing, Nik?" he asked, ready to hear something outlandish.
"You might not like this... But she convinced me to become a... a live streamer."
The moment he heard that, he laughed. The thought of Nikki Anne-Marie, the most introverted person he knew, was live streaming was almost unreal.
"Why would I judge you? That's awesome." he said, being supportive of her recent life change.
"Wait, really?"
"Yeah, I think you'd be a really good streamer. Just don't let the fame get to your head..."
What fame?
"So, I assume you're one of those cute gamer chicks that play games and receive donations?" he continued.
She nodded, now under the impression that he was familiar with the whole concept.
"Yeah, it's kind of out of my comfort zone, but Candace has been very supportive. She's actually supposed to fly out here in October. We're gonna hang out. Maybe then, we can play some games. I think she'd like DDR."
Ooh, nice. Candy's coming here. Maybe I can watch her dance!
"Well, I hope your new lifestyle goes well. What's your username?"
"Ugh... Don't judge me, but it's ThikkNikk64."
He smirked, knowing that was also a very out of place username for a girl like her.
"THIKK Nikk?"
"Y-Yeah. Hey, quit laughing at me!" she said, starting to blush.
"Relax, Nikki. I'm just messing with you. I'm just glad you found a decent occupation. Hey, a lot of thirsty guys would pay BIG money to see you flash your boobs."
Did he REALLY just say that? Ugh, that's kinda creepy.
"Yeah..." she said, starting to feel a bit of discomfort.
Although he was acting a bit strange, she still had to hang out with him regardless. Though, the vibes he was giving off felt very off-putting.
"Anyways, you wanna play some games? Tiffany told me to stay here until she gets home from work, so we have a lot of time to kill."
"Of course, Nikki. What do you want to play?" he asked.
"Whatever you want, JD."
He smirked, knowing what games HE liked, personally. He then plugged in his laptop and turned on the TV, ready to play a competitive game that Nikki had probably never heard of.
"So, what are we playing?" she asked, very curious as to what game he would pick.
He pulled it up, showing what it was. It was a rather dark horror game where the players had to hunt each other down and execute one another. Whoever gets executed first loses.
"I've never played this before." Nikki stated.
"You'll like it. Just be warned, it's pretty graphic."
They spent the rest of the day playing video games and hanging out. The entire experience felt like a fever dream. The gamer girl had never dealt with something like this before. Even last year when she came to visit, he never acted this wacky.