3.

Abigail couldn't believe how much she missed the smell of California as she exited out of the airport Sunday morning. She didn't even care that it was raining either, she was just happy to be back. Then as soon as the happiness came, it went with thoughts clouding her mind.

What if she ran into someone she knew from high school? What if people who knew her family reached out to her to talk… it had been five years since everything happened, what if they hadn't forgotten yet.

As she sat in the back of the cab a few minutes later, she looked out the window as she thought about her family. About how happy she was back then without a care in the world, living a sheltered teenage life with a brother, a mother and a father.

Her mother hid the fact that she had an alcohol problem from Abigail and her brother Daniel, her mother hid the fact that Abigail's dad lost his job and was smoking meth. His addiction got the better of him one night when she was at her best friend Steve's house for a sleepover, by the time Abigail had woken up the next day, she didn't have a family anymore.

"Miss we're here… "The cab driver said, bringing Abigail from her thoughts as she looked out the window again at the two-story house. "Do you need help with your bags?"

Abigail shook her head, handing cash over to the driver before exiting the vehicle. Once the trunk of the yellow cab was opened, she pulled her suitcase and backpack out and walked up the steps and rang the doorbell.

Maybe he wasn't home? Abigail thought after a few awkward minutes of standing there holding her things. She placed her suitcase back down and rang the doorbell again and then knocked three times before finally she saw movement inside.

"You're here early! I thought I was getting you from the airport," Steve said as he gathered her up and hugged her tight, her bones felt like they were being crushed by his six-foot fit frame. "You've lost so much weight, shit what the fuck," He commented making Abigail roll her gray eyes.

"Leave my weight alone, I couldn't stay a chubby girl for the rest of my life plus I could only afford ramen in college, you know that" She said and walked inside as he held onto her suitcase.

"I know, I know, I just haven't seen you other than on facetime so it's just weird seeing you like this," Steve mentioned and walked in front of her up the staircase and into an empty room. "This'll be your room, I gave you the back of the house because it's got a shitty view," He said making Abigail smirk.

"Thanks, I really appreciate it, honestly and I'm not trying to be a jerk about it… this means a lot that you're letting me move in here when you could have any one of your cool gamer friends with you," She said as she put down her backpack on the bedframe.

Steve had made it big on twitch recently, mostly because of a game called Among Us. He would stream all day and eventually some other big streamers liked how animated and engaging he was with his audience, so they asked him to join their lobbies and before anyone knew it, he was climbing in subscribers and viewers into the tens of thousands. His YouTube was another story, that had over a million subscribers because of the way he edited his game plays.

"Yea, yea don't mention it. I'm just the best of the best friends ever in the history of the world." Abigail smiled. "Oh, and don't worry I'm not making you sleep on a frame; I have mattresses coming today and I think your stuff should be here tomorrow?"

Abigail nodded, "Yea everything got delayed a day but that's fine. I packed clothes and essentials," She said as she motioned to her suitcase.

"Smart… so I have a lobby I gotta get to in about fifteen minutes but there's plenty of food in the fridge and you can totally sit in while I stream, I don't mind," He said trying to make her feel more welcome than she already felt.

"Alright, yea I'm a bit hungry," He nodded and showed her where his room was downstairs and then the joining room which was his gaming room. He had probably set that up first, it was immaculate. Steve had always been a bit of a perfectionist with his things, she could remember in elementary school when she would mess up the colors on drawing a map and he would get so angry at her and pull her hair. She smiled thinking about that memory and the easier times it held.

Abigail decided on just making a cup of coffee and then sat down on the extra chair he set up in his room as she stayed off to the side of his camera as he started his stream with his usual intro, then talked to his audience.

"Yea I'm going to put up a house tour video once everything is set up and gets here… Yea I have a roommate, it's one of my oldest friends, she just got here today and maybe she'll be in a video or two, she's a bit camera shy," Steve mentioned trying to pull the rolling chair she sat in over to face the camera.

"No, no, no," Abigail said as she batted his hands away playfully as she rolled her chair back over out of view as she hid her face. "Ill talk just like on my stream but I'm not showing myself," she told him as he nodded smirking.

"Oh, yea that's right, she's on twitch too. Her tag is ASterling, go on and follow her and make sure to embarrass her when she's live," He said as Abigail just shook her head. Steve kept on talking to his fans, thanking them for subscribing, sending donations, or sending out gifted subs before he joined a discord call with the lobby he was joining today for his stream.

"Ok so who am I killing today," He said into his microphone as I heard a few people chuckling and laughing on his call while he brought up the Among Us game on his display.

Abigail was happy for her best friend; she knew how hard he had worked on his craft. At first his mom wasn't on board with it but when he started paying house bills with it and making this into a job, she was so on board and happy for him for doing something he loved.

Steve grew up without a dad, his mother had said that he split as soon as he learned that she was pregnant, so his mom had to play both roles. Then when Abigail lost her family when she was 16, his mother took her in like a daughter. She really was an incredible, selfless woman.

Abigail watched as he played the game, talking through his microphone to his chat every so often and then becoming very animated anytime a meeting or a dead body was reported. She grinned watching him, missing his antics and the way he got so into a game. She felt like she hadn't smiled this much in years, and maybe she hadn't because her cheeks were already sore.

"You're really going to believe Corpse over me?" Steve shouted. Corpse? What kind of name was Corpse? Abigail peeked over at his screen again seeing there was only three people left, two crewmates and one imposter. "It's because of his voice isn't it, Karl? You're simping over his voice again, I'm crew, I've been done with my tasks since the second round. I even reported a body, I never do that when I'm the imposter, so it's gotta be Corpse, they all sussed him since round three because Rae said she thought he vented in Admin…"

He trailed off when he saw the votes come in and his little lime green crewmate was dropped into the lava. "You dick," Steve said, making someone on the other end chuckle. The chuckle was deep and rich, it tickled a part of Abigail's ear she didn't know she had. Curiously, Abigail got up and went onto twitch to search up Corpse into the search bar. She found his profile, but he wasn't streaming which she found odd.

The doorbell rang then, scaring her as she flinched out of her thoughts and her eyes darted away from her phone as she shut it off. "I'll be afk, movers are here with some stuff… actually Abby why won't you hop on and play as me, I'll shut the camera off so no one will see you."

"Are you sure?" Steve nodded and took off his headset and handed it to her before disabling his camera on his computer screen and stood up.

"Go ahead they won't bite, just don't lose," Smirking, Abigail saw that as a challenge and sat down in his chair. "Hey everyone, this is Abigail, my roommate she's going to play one round with you guys if that's ok," Steve said into the microphone as all the little crewmates were still in the lobby.

"Yea that's fine," A girl said, "Yea no problem," A guy said, and Steve looked at Abigail.

"Hey everyone, I'm Abigail but yall can just call me Abby if that's ok," Steve nodded and left the room, and she could feel her heartrate increase as the panic set in. These people were hardcore gamers, Abigail didn't stand a chance. She could hope she got crewmate and died within the first round.

"Do you know how this game works Abby?" A guy said and she looked up seeing little bubbles pop up with who was talking.

"Um, yea I play it a lot but I'm not that great at it. I'm not saying go easy on me but like, if anyone wanted to kill me within the first round, I would totally be ok with that," Abigail laughed nervously.

"Aw, no way no one kill her in the first round, or their will be hell to pay," Rae said as Abigail looked up at her bubble as she spoke.

"Thanks Rae,"

"No problem, girls get it done."

"Alright let's go," Toast said, and Abigail watched as the ticker counted down from 5.

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