Johnny Boy {ON HOLD}

Chapter 1- Searching For Inspiration

~Tyler~

"Good morning, Columbus, Ohio! What a beautiful third of December and 2017 is officially winding down. But before you get too anxious about all your New Year's Resolutions that you haven't actually done this year, here's the weather forecast for today." I turn the radio down just a little bit, not truly caring about the forecast. I can look outside and see that it's sunny and that there are children playing outside, so that's all the forecast I need. Instead, I turn my attention back to my computer, where I was letting a video load. The video that was made for my birthday, but I'm just now getting around to watching it. Two days isn't that bad. At least I'm actually watching the thing. I wasn't going to, but Josh said I had to. So, I guess I will. It's loaded enough that it will finish loading as I watch, so I click the play button. Now I see why Josh had me watch this. I love seeing real people telling me that I have actually inspired them to do something good, which has been one of my goals this entire time. Speaking of Josh, just as the video ended, I get a video chat request from him.

"Hey, did you watch that video yet?" he asks as soon as I accept the request.

"Good morning to you, too. But yeah, I just finished. I liked it. You knew I would though, right? That's why you pushed me to watch it," I reason, and he shrugs.

"That, and I was hoping you'd get some inspiration of your own or something like that. You did remember that our manager wants to talk to us today, right?"

"How could I forget? It's not like this is the first time he's wanted to talk to us since we started our break," I remind him.

"True. Hey, do you have any plans for Christmas?"

"Oh, no. I forgot Christmas is this month. Can't I just stay at home and watch Christmas movies this year instead of actually doing something?" I ask.

"Well, I mean, you can. If you're gonna do that, though, at least invite me over so I can watch those movies with you. What are you thinking?"

"I don't know. How the Grinch Stole Christmas is definitely a must-have. And maybe the Charlie Brown movie," I suggest.

"What about National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation? That's a pretty sick movie," Josh also suggests.

"Yes! So basically, children's Christmas movies," I clarify, and we both laugh.

"So, is that a plan? Christmas day I'll head over to your place and we'll just chill and watch Christmas movies all day. And I can bring some cookies or something," Josh asks, but something pops into my mind.

"What about your family? Aren't they gonna want you for Christmas?"

"That's not gonna be a problem. See, most of my siblings aren't gonna be able to make it down Christmas day, so my mom is having our family Christmas on the 23rd instead. But I know how your mom is. How's she gonna react when you don't show up that day?" Josh asks. He knows how my mom is.

"Meh. I'll deal with that when I get there. I think she'll forgive me for missing one year," I tell him.

"Alright. But don't blame me when she shows up at your place and tries to drag you home."

"Of course I can blame you. This whole thing is your idea," I remind him. "Random thought, when are you gonna dye your hair again? It can't be comfortable wearing hats all of the time because you don't like your natural hair."

"I'm waiting for Hayley and Brian to release new colors. I've tried the ones they have already. And I tried following some of the tutorials they have on mixing colors, and you remember how that turned out." Yeah, I remember. It didn't turn out very well at all. The color he ended up getting was kind of gross, and we're both glad he didn't put that in his hair. It really was disgusting. "Hey, it's time to go talk to our manager. You want me to swing by your place and get you, or do you want to meet me there?"