THE JOCK JUST WANTS THE NERD [2]

42

||ETHAN||

The three of us spent the entire day as much as we could; Carla and I frankly enjoyed it a lot, but Kenny still has yet to show any signs of cheerfulness.

It was very late at noon and we chose to head back home. Like last time, our positions were the same. Chill music played and drowned out the silence, the car's rumbling along the road mumbled under the dim evening. Carla has her eyes focused ahead of her, I was paying attention to my phone, and I could see Kenny leaning on the window while he stared outside. Exploring more on the new app Carla introduced me to, I received a notification, a pop-up appearing briefly on the corner of my screen. I tapped on it to see that a username with a wacky style had followed me. Upon further reading into it, I found out that it must be Jackson; posts of memes, football stuff, and a shirtless mirror selfie of him filled his account. Blushing at his beefy bod, I averted my eyes and scrolled back up. With that being said, he was my first follower that I gained. I did the same thing and obviously followed back. With the idea that I could do that, I immediately searched for my other friends', each having their own personal theme:

Noah only had a few pictures of mainly him, Anna, and Brad.

Annabel had quite the aesthetic with professional photography. Her's too consisted of herself, Noah, and Brad.

Kate was a random collage of anime boys, coffee, and edgy quotes.

Felix had only one image published. It was a picture of a single bag of chips with a self deprecating description saying, "I'm fat."

To my surprise, James had such a big number with around 100k+. How does one achieve something like that?

I went on and on of who I wanted to keep up with, but the person that I most definitely want to check was Kyomi. As I typed in her profile, I was presented with her beautiful profile and her 1.m of followers. I blinked, stunned with a shock when I stared at such a massive digit. I thought James was popular, but Kyomi surpasses him in comparison. My friend is famous? Not only that but her following list only consisted of one referred to as a certain idol company.

"Woah..." I mumbled astounded. Viewing her gallery, she looks so beautiful in her images. Eyes furrowed and a warm tinge of red resurfaced on my cheeks as I gazed on her.

-

Halfway through our drive, I am the first to be dropped off. Here, we parked just outside of my apartment complex. Turning to Carla, I smiled at her, "I had such a good day, thanks for everything," I said gleefully.

She nods, "no problem, we should do it again next time."

Our eyes then drifted towards Kenny who was quiet, only then did we realize that he must have passed out a while ago because he had himself laying down peacefully in the back seat. The two of us giggled silently and decided to part. I waved goodbye at her as drives out of my neighborhood. Walking up the stairway, I lightly knocked on the door to my home. I waited momentarily until my Dad opened the door to sigh with relief. "Come on, get in," he says urgently.

Doing so, I stepped in and looked back to see him making sure that our locks were set into place, "is something wrong?" I asked

His tense shoulders loosened as he laid a hand on the wall next to him. With a pinch on his nose bridge, he glances at me, "there's been an increase of crime lately, from burglary to almost a homicide. According to the police department's investigation, it is assumed that there are drug addicts on the loose..." he murmurs with serious concern.

I fell silent and hung my head low with a frown, "oh, I'm sorry for making you worry Dad. I didn't know."

He looks at me with a pout before coming closer to give me a hug, his hands rubbing my back and head leaning on mine, "it's alright. I'm just glad that you're safe home."

-

After that, I consoled him and said that I would be more careful. We talked about safety precautions such as making sure we have our doors and windows secured, and that I should come back at an appropriate time. He advises that I should follow at least until he comes back with more information that the convicts are captured. Even though it was just his sense of paranoia, I understand his cautious behavior. He went to bed later before telling me that he had prepared dinner for me in the fridge, also adding that he was proud that the building didn't burn down. I chuckled at the thought and checked to see what food.

There in the middle, displayed neatly with plastic wrap covering it, fettuccine alfredo. A sticky note was on top of it as well. I picked it up to see it scribbled with his handwriting, "I hope you like it, son, I tried my best to make your favorite pasta!"

"Love you! ~ dad."

I smiled from the comfort of the message as I took it out of the fridge.

-

Following my routine, I took a refreshing shower and dried myself up. Did my hygiene and took my pills before laying down with the softness of my bed. I let out a calming breath as I stared at my phone in deep thought. I was quite interested in Kyomi's life after my discovery. What had she been doing ever since I left? Peculiarity surged me as I wondered what that company was. I thought about it, she 'is' a very beautiful girl, no wonder a lot of other people including me must like her. So much attention, so many eyes on her, she's got admirers everywhere. Shaking my head, I try to avoid my feelings from overwhelming and distract myself before eventually drifting off to sleep.