Laughter [Tobuscus/Toby Turner]

Chapter Two

We walk to his house, him talking non-stop the whole way there.

"Oh, and by the way, this is Gryphon. He looks cute, yeah, but he doesn't have a soul whatsoever. I think he traded it for treats once. Do you have heely's too? They're the only shoes i wear. You kind of have to master the whole wheeling-around thing, but once you get the hang of it, it's easy. So how long have you lived here? I haven't seen you around, in fact, I had no idea you were here whatsoever or I would've noticed you, for sure. Definitely."

I just nod the whole time, acting like I'm interested, when in reality I'd rather be anywhere but here.

"This is it!" He says proudly, opening his door and beckoning me inside. I gingerly step onto the carpet. Who has carpet right inside their front door?

The first thing i notice is his kitchen. For one thing, his cabinets are open.

He rushes inside, almost panicked. "CABINET GHOSTS!! WE'VE TALKED ABOUT THIS, GUYS!" I smile awkwardly as he shuts the cabinet doors. "My kitchen's haunted." He says nonchalantly, then throws his head back in laughter. I just stand there. "Oh, come on." he whines. "Laugh. It feels good." I shake my head. "Dude," he says, then covers his mouth. "Dude...ette. Dudette, c'mon," he says in a surfer's accent, taking me by surprise. "You gotta let go of your emotions sometimes, and just... ride those waves."

I shake my head, letting a couple of giggles slip out.

"see, there ya go," he says, remaining in character. "You just gotta go with the flow." He laughs a big laugh again, then breaks character. "Here, follow me!" I walk with him into a room with a desktop and a laptop. He holds out his hands in a presenting gesture.

"Minecraft."

I finally speak up.

"You play Minecraft, too?"

"Well, yeah!" he exclaims, sitting down at the desktop chair. "I don't mean to be cocky, but I'm a, uh... pretty famous YouTuber..."

"Really?"

"Yep! I make Minecraft stuff all the time. Here, wanna play?"

I nod eagerly. Toby may not be my favorite person, but Minecraft sure is my favorite thing.

---

"Alright, mine dat iron, girl!" Toby exclaims in a gangster tone from the chair beside me. It's been three hours since we created a world, and we had made a lot of progress. "Yeaah, baby!" He says, keeping the accent. Meanwhile, i'm going up to fight a creeper.

"No, no, shhh," I "console" the Creeper when it makes the injured noise. "You're going to a better place, it's okay." Beside me, Toby laughs out loud. "Oh, oh, I'm so sorry. It's gonna be okay." I continue. I kill it, picking up the gunpowder. "Amaaaaaazing Graaace," I start, laughing at the same time. Toby joins in. "How sweeeeet the sound..."

"That poor, poor creeper." He says solemnly. I shake my head, smiling. All of a sudden, he yells "Oh!" and scares me. "Let's do a Lazy Vlog!" He shuts off his computer, taking out his iPhone and opening the camera.

"A what?" I ask. Lazy Vlog?

"You'll see." He smirks, then faces the camera towards me.

"Audience, wha?" He starts, then quickly turns the camera towards himself before facing me again. "What're you doing staring at a human of the female species?" He turns the camera towards himself. "That's precarious! So, uh, this is Cassie," I wave. "She is my neighbor. We just had a, uh, funeral for a Creeper... he's in a better place, don't worry. So, uh..." He starts to go into a long story and stands up, starting to walk around his house. I grin.

After a few minutes of listening to him talk, I call for Gryphon. He comes running, jumping into my lap and panting excitedly. "Hey, boy!" I laugh, stroking his fur.

"Stop holding me, i am ferocious." I hear Toby say in an accent i can't place, walking back in. "I will pee on you if you don't put me down."

"Gryphon!" he shouts, talking normally again. "Why are you flirting with my neighbor?! Not cool, man."

"No, Toby, I was scolding her, i swear on your life."

"Dude, don't swear on other peoples' lives. That's even LESS cool."

I laugh. "You're so entertaining sometimes, Toby."

"Thank you, madam!" He says in a British accent, and I set Gryphon down.

"I think i should be going," I say, standing up, and Toby walks me to the door.

"Wait wait wait, what's your number??" He asks, and i smile, writing it down on a slip of paper.

"Call me if you need anything."