saturday mornings are for pancakes // a dream x reader fanfiction

CHAPTER FIVE: THE CODE FAIL

A sigh of relief flows through me as I send the final code to Nick.

I lean back in my chair and yell towards my open bedroom door. "Gemma! Does sushi sound good tonight?"

The TV in her room pauses before she yells back, "Yeah!"

I turn back to my monitor to see a 'thanks' from Nick. I smile before turning off my computer for the night. It's still a little early for dinner, so I decide to wait a bit before ordering sushi.

I do a little laundry and clean up before heading back out to Gemma. She's sitting on the couch with a glass of wine in one of her hands. I shake my head slightly as I sit down next to her.

"Don't judge," she says, "It's been a long day."

I nod once, watching her open her phone. Her long brown hair is tied up in a messy bun, yet she still seems a little put together. Maybe it's the yoga pants. Everyone always seems so put together when they wear yoga pants.

Maybe it's also just because that's how Gemma always been. We met a little over three years ago when I was seventeen through what I guess you would call a mutual friend. I had been going through a hard time, and she helped me pick myself back up. We moved in together right after high school and have been here ever since.

"I ordered the sushi." Gemma looks up from her phone and puts her pointer finger on her nose. "Not it."

I roll my eyes. "Seriously? Not even going to give me a chance?"

Gemma and I have a little competition whenever someone has to go pick up the food. Somehow it always ends up being me. Even if I'm the one who ordered the food, I end up having to go pick it up.

Gemma shakes her head. "Nope. Maybe next time."

"Bullshit," I mutter before standing up to get my car keys.

Nick's empty profile picture shows up on my phone. There's not even a last name showing up either.

"Hello?" I say as I answer, unsure why he would even need to call me. A little panic spins in my stomach as the thought of my code might not be working comes to mind.

"Hey, I need your help." Nick's voice sounds frustrating. "It won't run in my game."

"What do you mean?" I slip on my shoes and glance around my room for keys.

"I need to be able to use it tomorrow at three, and right now it's not working at all." There's a loud clicking on the other side of the call. "What should I do?"

"Did you restart the computer?" I ask. "Or do a reset?"

"Yes, I turned it on and off again, y/n." He scoffs. "Basic technology rule is to turn it off and on again. Geez."

"Okay, Nick, enough with the sass." I sigh, noticing the keys on the floor. I don't even want to know how that happened, but it sounds about right. "I don't know how to help you when I'm not there. Ask Clyde or Gary."

"I can't, they'll know I didn't write the code myself."

"How would they know if the code's all there?" I ask, grabbing the keys.

"They just would," he urges, "Plus, why would I write code without launching it in game to test-run it?"

I pause in the doorway to think for a second. I don't know very much about Nick, so I definitely don't know his lying abilities. He could've been in theatre when he was younger, or he could be the type who turns various shades of red while lying. I don't even know what kind of people Clyde or Gary are, so I can't really narrow down the best lie to tell them.

I'm about to say I can't help him when the sound of a door opening on his end of the call sounds through my phone's speaker.

"Hey is there-" The voice says before being cut off. I lean against my door frame as I wait for him to come back.

Gemma walks towards her room when she sees me. "Why haven't you left yet?"

I check the time on my phone. "I still have twenty minutes before it's supposed to be ready."

"What if there's traffic?" Gemma huffs. "I want my sushi as soon as possible. Don't take me away from my sushi, y/n." She gives me a pointed look before giving me a smile and heading back to her room.

Nick gets back on the call. "I have a crazy idea."

"Who was that?" I ask, "The person that walked in?"

I don't know if he'll actually respond to the question, but that's the second time he's jumped to mute when someone's walked in.

"My, uh, friend is -was- here." His words come out in one confusing tumble.

"Is it Clyde or Gary?" I ask, hoping they'll be able to help him with this. I'm really starting to get hungry.

He laughs nervously. "What? No."

I choose to drop the awkward conversation. "What's your crazy idea?"

"His name is Barthalomeu," Nick says, making no sense whatsoever.

"Huh?"

"My friend?" Nick says, "That you asked about?"

"Oh." I laugh, not believing it for one second. "Okay, but what's the idea?"

"Well, I was wondering if you lived nearby to come over and help it run on my PC?" he asks almost shyly.

"Like to your house?" I ask in clarification.

"Yeah, just to help me out a little quicker. I need it done by tomorrow."

I pause thinking of everything I don't know about this man.

I don't know his last name, what he does for a living, why he needs me to do this project in the first place, if he's a crazy ax murder or if this 'Bartholomew' guy is going to be at his house, which, in all honesty, I don't think is his real name.

But what do I know?

I know his first name, his time zone, the fact that he calls randomly, isn't very punctual, he's very determined to prove his point, he has a friend named Clyde, he has a friend named Gary and he possibly has a friend named Bartholomew who could be at the house when I get there.

"Let's say this," Nick starts trying to reason, "I'll send you the address, you seem trustable enough, and if it's less than thirty minutes away, then you come help me. Does that seem okay?"

"Nick, you are a strange man that I've never even seen before, and you're offering me to come to your house. Does that seem safe to you?"

He laughs. "Not at all, but let's just see how close you are." He sends me an address. "Remember, if it's less than thirty minutes then at least consider helping me out."

I plug the address into Google Maps and laugh.

"What?" Nick says impatiently, "What does it say?"

"We're twenty-nine minutes away from each other, Nick."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

thank you guys so much for 1k!

i love that we're five chapters in and haven't even met the love interest yet lmao.. it's coming i promise we're just in a weird place

this wasn't originally a fanfic so i have to change a lot to get to the point lmao

have an amazing day!