Limitless: The Second Edition

Oliver

Two days later, I'm leading Hannah, Derek, Courtney, Sadie, and David into my house.

Before I can ask them if they're okay with dogs, Sadie asks if I have any pets. I decide to just call the dog over and let her do her thing with them. No sooner have I called Alita's name than she comes bounding into the hallway, tongue out, ready to give all the kisses. Sadie immediately starts squealing and immediately crouches down to pet her and is almost instantly pushed over by the fluffy oversized cotton ball.

"That is the fluffiest dog I've ever seen in my entire nineteen years," Derek remarks. "Heck, I bet she's all fluff. Like, there's barely any dog under there. Just fluff."

"Yeah, if I wasn't on crutches, I could probably pick her up," I reply. "Just warning you, you're welcome to let her sit on you, but if she sits on you, she's not going to move. You're just stuck there until she decides to move or she sees food somewhere else within reach. She's going to make sure you don't go anywhere if you start petting her."

"Fine by me," Sadie says in between getting her face baptized by my overly excited dog. She finally manages to push Alita off of herself and stands up.

"There's video games in the living room, food in the kitchen, and Party Cards and karaoke in the basement," I inform them. "Bathroom is straight ahead to your right."

Sadie and David run off for the food, Alita hot on their trail. I can't help but laugh. You've made a friend today, Sadie, I think to myself as they disappear around the corner.

"I'm going to stay up here with you," Hannah says to me. "What do you want to do?"

I shoot her a look. "You really think I don't go in my basement? Follow me."

I lead her to my basement door, Derek and Courtney following us. I open it to show off my other motorized lift chair, exactly like the one that leads to my bedroom. I casually sit down, holding onto my crutches with one hand and motioning for my friends to go ahead down with the other. As I glide down after them, I wave dramatically like a princess. Hannah begins to laugh, then almost trips over the last step before she is caught just in time by Derek.

"You almost fell for him there literally, didn't you?" he asks with a smirk.

Hannah laughs. "Let's pretend that didn't happen."

As I get up out of my chair, I can see that the basement has already been taken over by multiple cast and crew members. A group of sophomores are playing Party Cards and laughing hysterically. A few more are sitting in the beanbags in the corner with their snacks. My gaze falls upon the vacant air hockey table off to the side, and I realize I haven't told my friends about it. I quickly let them know that there's another option for fun down here.

"How about we go for a game right now?" Derek suggests. "You and me, bro. Whoever wins gets to play the next opponent, tournament style."

I quickly accept his offer. "Let's do it."

"Wait a minute," Hannah says. "I'm going to go get food. Don't start until I get back."

I nod. "Sure thing. Go ahead and get food while I turn it on."

While I get the machine started, another student asks Courtney to do karaoke with her. Courtney, of course, is more than happy to oblige, as she and the student debate what song to play. Hannah returns just as the machine revs to life.

I send the other shooter down the table to Derek. "I'm going to kick your butt all the way to Pluto,"I tell him with my most wicked grin. "You have picked a fight with the master."

"No way," Derek retorts. "You're going down."

"Oh, really? I didn't know you were an air hockey pro as well as an actor."

"Watch me." He starts doing a little dance to mess with me, but fails to protect his goal, allowing me to shoot the puck right into it without much effort. He throws up his hands in defeat. "I should have known. That was my bad. Now let me see you kick my butt all the way to Pluto in the next few rounds."

I'm about to tell him to send me the puck when one of the underclassmen runs up to us. "Excuse me, Derek, but can you come play video games with us?" she asks in the tiniest voice. She's been flirting with Derek the whole time, but she's too shy to admit it.

Derek smiles warmly. "Absolutely. Just let me finish my game with Oliver, and I'll come up and play with you."

The girl leaves, and Derek sighs sadly while looking at us. "Sorry, guys. I wish I could spend the entire night with just you two."

"It's alright, Derek," Hannah assures him.

"No, it's not," he replies. "In these last two months you guys have become like the siblings I've never had. Now we've only got one more show together, and Monday I have to go back home to start shows again on Tuesday. It's almost time for me to say goodbye, and I don't want to. I don't want to forget you guys."

"We'll never forget you, Derek," Hannah answers. "Never."

Derek shakes his head and pulls out his phone. "No. That's not enough. I can't stand the thought of going through my life without ever seeing you and Oliver again." He hands me his phone, open to a new contact screen. "Put your number in here."

All the color drains from Hannah's face, and my hand is shaking as I carefully input my number and hand the phone back to him. He gives it to Hannah, and she puts her number in, tears forming in her green eyes.

"Why are you doing this?" she asks with a shaky voice. "We love you so much."

Derek takes his phone back and sends us both texts. We save his number as he puts his arms around us. "If I never see the others in this cast again, I'll eventually move on. Besides, I can probably find them again on social media. But you guys, you guys touched me right in the heart. You guys changed my life. If I never saw you two again, I would miss you for the rest of eternity. It would be an honor to beat all honors if you agreed to stay in contact on a personal level."

We embrace each other, and then Derek reluctantly leaves to go play with the other girl.

Half an hour later, Ms. Dawson calls us all together in the living room to watch the recording of our show.

Derek, Hannah, and I quickly claim spots on the couch with our food. And as Ms. Dawson hits the play button, Hannah and I steal a quick kiss.