There Once Was Something Here [Fiction Friday, Part 4]

Link To Part 1

Link To Part 3

It was almost three hours later that Tyson completed the mammoth task of unpacking his room and creating a suitable harmony between cleanliness and disarray that would create the comforting illusion that the space he now occupied was indeed his own. He tossed the final black pillow onto his bed, with a sense of apathetic finality, and threw himself soon after.

"Right...Now all I have to do is..." his mind quickly snapped back to the issue at hand - how could he justify replacing his old friends, and so quickly, too? He debated against himself, throwing reasoning backwards and forwards. "Can you imagine the hurt look on Dean's face if he found out you'd forgotten him like this?" He spoke internally to himself, and was briefly distracted by a stinging guitar chord - his music collection had shifted to a punk cover of an ABBA song. The masterfully thrashed guitar beat out a rhythm that Tyson found perfect for an internal debate.

"You aren't replacing them - you're simply adding to them..." the logical side of his mind countered.

Take a chance, take a chance - The oddly sweet voice of the lead singer worked its way into his head, intertwining itself with his own thoughts.

"Yeah, and when I go home to see the old crew I bet they'll want to hear all about the things that we've been doing down here. I'm sure they'll all be thrilled to hear just how much fun I've been having without them."

Take a chance, take a chance.

"Sure, wait the 11 months until you go back to that little town - if you do end up going back - to spend a single month with people who've more than likely made new friends themselves. In the meantime, just hang by yourself - be alone - because you know how good that feels, don't you?"

Take a chance, take a chance.

 "And when I embarrass myself in front of them because I'm not into whatever 'cool' things they are, I'll not only be alone for the rest of the year, but everyone will think I'm a loser, instead of just antisocial."

Take a chance, take a chance.

The main vocals of the song were coming to a head - the instruments building up to an intense level.

 "Stop being pathetic and take the damned chance - you're being deliberately antisocial and you know from experience that this gets you nowhere. Now get up, get changed into the clothes that you feel comfortable in, and meet these god damned new people or I swear all you're going to do is lie on your bed for the rest of your life." Tyson stood himself up, a decision finally having been reached. It was not unusual for him to treat himself like two separate people for the purposes of decision making. It was, however, quite unusual for him to be quite so strict with himself - when logic and emotion fought it out inside his head, logic was not usually quite so forceful in its tactics. He dressed himself in his favourite black cargo pants, and a relatively nice (and atypically clean) black t-shirt.

A stereo knocking at his door interrupted his last-minute preparation, and he performed one last "messing" of his own hair. "OPEN" he yelled, realising that his music was still blasting from his speakers - he reached over and switched it off as the door swung in, revealing his new near identical friends - the pair of whom were currently busy taking in the sights of Tyson's now set up room.

"Nice digs, dude..." Lachlan seemed genuinely impressed at Tyson's ability to brand his space with his own mark.

"...and nice clothes too." Leo seemed more overjoyed at the fact that Tyson was clearly ready to head out to dinner. "We just knew that you'd decide to come with us - you're going to have such a good time."

"We guarantee it." They ended in unison. Tyson shuddered - it still didn't sound quite right when they did that. He looked the two over, finally pushing his nerves down through his sneakers. He smiled inwardly as he realised that no matter how different they may want to be, there were still parts of themselves that they couldn't separate. Lachlan was wearing a blue tee, with black three quarter pants and red/white sneakers - just what you'd expect a product of the surfer culture to wear. Leo, on the other hand, had on a black tee, blue three-quarter pants, and white-red sneakers. Tyson tilted his head sideways slightly as he pondered on whether the pair had done this deliberately - his musing cut short by the shrill sound of a horn being blown.

"Taxi's here!" Lachlan shouted, with the excitement of a puppy about to be taken to the park. The pair grabbed Tyson's hand and dragged him outside, before piling into the taxi, and staring expectantly at Tyson, who clambered after them, his "I don't care" attitude following close behind.

Link To Part 5