Time passes, life goes on, but some things stay the same. The same old house, the same old city, same old life, nothing has changed. My adventures in Orlando became a vivid memory. Nothing came of it, just sorrow.loneliness. When they became big, they forgot about me. I had a few brief contacts with them, but it all faded in the background.
It's been 3 years since I graduated from high school and now attending college. It wasn't a very big place, it was just the large number of people there made it small. None of my high school friends went there so I was pretty much alone. Arc decided to take a break from college and now works in a hospital doing clerical duties. Ulysses went to college at UC Davis, that's about 3 hours away from San Francisco. The rest of them went either to out of state colleges or to some expensive place.
I quit my job at the theatre last summer. It wasn't fun anymore. Too many people bitching, griping and overall the atmosphere just went down hill. Scott, my boss, is a total jerk and that's basically why I left. Jerry stayed there a little bit longer after me, but decided to quit as well, seeing how everything was just getting ridiculous. I haven't seen him since.
The digital alarm blared loudly as I moved groggily under the sheets. I let it keep beeping for a good 10 or 20 min. `Gotta get to work,' thinking of an excuse to get out of bed. Throwing off the covers, the alarm still beeped until it timed out. The clock keeps beeping until someone turns it off or a certain amount of time passes. I was never sure how long it took because I kept drifting in and out of sleep.
Managing to get out of bed, a quick shower partially woke me up. It was a cold afternoon. Even though it was a cloudless day and the sun high in the sky, the air was still as cold as ice. Clouds formed with every breath I exhaled and my ears became numb. Work didn't start till 5:30, but I was about 30 minutes away, give or take a few minutes depending on the traffic and traffic is always unpredictable.
Driving down the familiar and monotonous streets of the city was a chore in itself. I longed the day I left this place and go somewhere new. But of course when you get used to that new scenery, it becomes familiar and monotonous and the endless loop starts over again. Nevertheless, I still drove down the streets almost everyday to work.
Ah work.how uneventful. Parking the car on the second floor of the garage and going through the set of steel double doors is a regular routine. The cold metal doors are always there to greet me silently when I entered everyday. Work is no big thing. I happen to be employed in a mall. Yes, a mall. Not an `upper- class' mall like Stonestown or Embarcadero, but a ghetto one. What can you expect from a mall with a Target, Payless, and all the other discount stores around you. Not to mention the fact that there's construction all around and things are falling apart.
I guess I was fortunate (or was that unlucky) to land some sort of work in a little software store. It also happens to be the most expensive store in the damn place. Yeah.I work at a store called Electronic Boutique. Not much really there, but a mess of games. It does have the benefits to be able to know when something is coming out or get first picks on a limited run software. Of course when a title isn't gonna appear, the customers always blame me for pushing it back. Like I fucking have control over what is supposed to be released.
Store is quite small, but I don't mind. Most of the time it's empty because most of the people living around the mall can't really afford the stuff in there. They just look at things go ooh and ahh, but don't buy anything. The people I work there are real laid back, but know what they are doing. Cindy is currently our manager. Actually, she's an acting manager till we get a full time one. Reason for this is that the other one transferred to a store closer to where he lives, so we're manager-less for a while. Then there's Brian, Paul, and Steve. Brian's Filipino, like me, but only heavier and has a shaved head. Paul's from England and Steve is just nuts. I work with a normal crew round here.
Walking into the store I saw Brian lounging near the counter. He looked to see who walked in, "Hey whattup man."
"S'up Bri," I replied. I continued my walk towards the black mirrored door at the back of the store to put away my coat. Once stashed I went back outside and went to the computer to clock myself in.
"Anything new?" I asked as I typed my ID and password into the computer.
"Not really," he replied reading a magazine, "We finished the shipments early and it's been dead the whole day."
"That's good I guess. Nothing to do till later then."
"Yup."
"Where's Cindy?" I inquired noticing that she wasn't in the store as always.
"She had to leave early. Some sort of family emergency."
"Ah ok."
Brian looked at his pager, "I'm off."
"Heh, have fun at school," I snickered.
"Haha."
Brian pushed a few buttons on the computer and headed to back room. He emerged with his coat and backpack and said good-bye. Alone in the store, for a while anyways. Steve wouldn't be coming in for another hour or so, but that was typical. He's always late, but I trust him for some unknown reason.
I helped customers for a bit and stuff like that, but no major thing happened. Rowdy bunch of kids entering and leaving. Little brats yelling Pokemon, people asking your opinion on a game I've never seen, played or heard of. Same old, same old.
After a couple of hours of mindlessly answering questions so easy to answer, a tall blonde guy came in the store.
"Whaddap man," Steve greeted.
"Heya, nutting much," I replied.
"Awe shit, another boring ass day," he griped.
"Yup," agreeing with him.
With a swift motion of his hand a `psssst' emanated from his hand. Steve raised his hand with a 20oz bottle of Mountain Dew and took a few gulps. That was his favorite drink no matter what time of day it was.
"Where's my Dew?" I complained.
"This was from my car man," he joked, "I'll go to Target to get ya one."
"Cool thanks."
We chatted a bit and helped a few customers now and then. It was pretty boring and we were getting tired. There were probably no more than 5 people at a time in the store. Most of the time, no one wanted to buy anything so it was usually a complete waste for either of us to do anything.
"So are you gonna be on tonight?" Steve asked.
"I think so," I replied.
"You think so?"
"Yeah. More than likely my friend is gonna call me up and I might be a little late."
"Ah."
I found out a while back that Steve played the same game I did, Everquest. It's like Ultima Online in which it's a massive multi-player online community. Ever since I found out he played, I started playing the game as well. It was a pretty fun game, but it became frustrating trying to progress through the levels. Everything and anything was taken up and way too many morons played the game too. I pretty much gave up on the game till Steve told me he played as well. I finally knew someone who played as well and we could romp around and do stuff together. It was pretty cool.
"Hopefully the call is going to be short so I can play more," I replied calmly.
"I'm gonna be on so it don't matter," Steve snickered.
A few minutes of mindless chatter passed while we talked about the game some. Then a very rude and obnoxious customer came by the counter giving Steve a very hard time and wearing his patience as well. It took bout half an hour for the guy to leave the store.
"What a fucking faggot," Steve sneered. I winced a little, "That son-of-a-bitch flaming ass. I can't believe that shithead."
"Heh," I agreed, "What a jerk he is."
"Something that simple and he fucking makes it a fucking big deal. What a stupid faggot," he kept on rambling.
I could have stopped him there, but I particularly didn't care if he said those things. Sure I was gay, but I'm not gonna say that right in front of his face. I don't trust him yet.
Time passed and it was pretty much closing time. I closed the gate and Steve was counting out the drawers. It was quiet as usual and things were easy to put away. When everything was all said and done the lights were turned off and we were out of the store.
"I'll see you later on then?" he asked.
"Ya," I replied, "I'll be bout 30 min late or prolly an hour."
"K, no prob."