Elliot and Julie

Elliot & Julie

After so many years of living at home, having an apartment to myself was a strange feeling; not an unwelcome one, but strange. It was always so quiet, like a void after the boisterousness of home. I was used to watching my favorite shows and sports right next to my brothers or my dad, and immediately having some people to talk with.I guess I was happy to be on my own, but lonely all the same.

I wasn't one of the smart kids in high school; my grades were barely average. I didn't get into a single university that I applied to, so I had to start out at community college. I spent two years still living with my parents,still working my same dead-end retail job, while all my friends headed off toward their visibly greener pastures. I pushed myself through community college with the goal of transferring, and now I'm finally beginning junior year at our State University. I was worried I'd be the oldest guy if I went into the dorms; all my friends already had their own places, so I wound up here, in a one bedroom apartment all by myself.

It's been about three weeks since classes started, and my mom still calls every night. She's big on being the stereotypical mom, asking how things are going, how I'm doing, if I'm getting enough sleep. I think her mom-sense knows I'm lonely, even though I'd never say so. She asks about each of my friends in turn, I suspect, to take measure of who would be around to socialize, hoping to keep me from becoming as hut-in.

"How are Collin and A.J.?" She says, already into, at best, the second tier of my high school friends.

"They're good.They're both in Tau Epsilon Psi, living at the house, hanging with their brothers," I tell her.

I can almost hear the frown through the phone as she crosses them off her mental list."Oh... well would that be something you'd like to try? A fraternity? You know your grandparents were both in the Greek system."

I sigh. "I know, Mom, but that's not what I'm into. I'm happier with my video games than I am with beer bongs and togas or whatever."

She's the one sighing now. "Ohhh, don't be like that, that's not all it's about."

I relent. "I know, Mom, I know. It's just not for me."

I can hear her clicking her tongue with a quick "tsk tsk" as she wracks her brain for another name. "What about Elliot? He's been up there since he was a freshman, you two used to love hanging out."She was referring to the kid who used to live next door back home.He'd been one of my best friends in elementary school, but I hadn't even seen him since his family moved when we were in the fourth grade. She presses on, "I talked to his parents the other day and apparently he's really loving it up there. He's like you, a loner, a gamer, and I think he might be a psych major too."

"That's great,Ma. I'll send him a message on Facebook later or something," I replied, hoping to placate her for the time being. I had no real intention of doing this, but I found myself glancing at my own reflection in my darkened laptop screen to see if I looked exactly as pathetic as I felt for making my mom worry about me making friends.

Her voice gets noticeably higher with excitement. "Oh you should! College is all about connections sweetie. You never know who's gonna be a CEO in ten years, make all the friends you can!"

She wasn't wrong. If he is in psych like me, we might even be referring clients back and forth a few years down the line. "Alright Mom, I get it. I'm gonna go grab some food before the dining hall closes. Love you."

I'm not sure she buys my excuse, but she acquiesces. "Okay! Remember, just because you're a junior doesn't mean you're immune from the Freshman Fifteen! Take care of yourself sweetie, love you!"

I hang up the phone and unpause my game, trying to grind out these last few bonus sections of Bayonetta. After over an hour of failing the same objective again and again, I realize how close I am to slamming my controller into the table and decide to just resign for now. I pull up my laptop and start flipping through my bookmarks. Nothing on Reddit, nothing interesting on the WoW forums, and I'm not really in the mood for YouTube right now. I flip it over to Facebook, where my only notification is letting me know it's my terribly eccentric cat lady aunt's birthday. I give her a quick "HBD!" post and start to zombie through my timeline.