15 Taking it Slow II

"Honestly? Wish I did." I said with confidence.

     . . .

     A sort of confidence that backfired horribly as an elbow shot unto my ribs. I had to take a knee as I felt like I was coughing up a lung. The things in my hands were dropped to the ground. Slowly, I looked up to see Veronica staring at me with anger in her eyes. 

     It was clear as day.

     She did not appreciate that.

     "I can't believe you'd say that to our new friend, Damon!" She said with puffed cheeks. Swiftly, she turned around with her face turning back to a wide, warming smile in an instant. Kazuya was surprised too. His stance changed with his right foot behind him as though he prepared to leave the moment she turned back around. A bead of sweat rolled down his temple with a quivering lip trying to return the genuine smile the girl that stood at about 5'6" was giving him. 

     Man, she can be scary when she's annoyed.

     I'll make a mental note of that. Makes you wonder how hard she could've hit me in Royal Star with her attack stat in the mix of it all. 

     I finally managed to bring myself back up after the pain finally showed some signs of washing away. 

     "H-Hehe. Uh, okay. . . let's go to the food court and sit down, huh? I think Damon's about to kick the bucket. Might as well give him the chance to sit down." Just as Kazuya offered, I grabbed that opportunity with the speed of a cheetah. "Yes. Let's do that, please." I desperately wanted to sit down. The pain from the elbow wasn't the problem, but my arms were being strained from all the stuff I was carrying. 

     I guess Kazuya noticed this since he grabbed one of the rice cookers and held onto it while we walked over to the food court. 

     We sat together at a table. I was happy to finally have some rest from all the lifting. Veronica and Kazuya went over to grab some fast food. It was around lunch time, so the timing couldn't have been better, honestly. 

     They came back after just a few minutes. 

     Burgers and fries. 

     The heavens crafted this perfect combo of food, like peanut butter and jelly, bacon and eggs, cheese and crackers. Above the great food combos stood the king; Burgers with fries. It sat upon its throne of fries with a crown made of pickles, onions, and tomatoes. 

     Next to it would be a cold soda. The best food combinations were made perfect when paired with a drink. 

     I took a sip of the drink after thanking the two for bringing the food. When I did, I went for the burger after unwrapping it. 

     The world froze to let me enjoy the first bite. The blend of meat, cheese, ketchup and mustard were in perfect harmony. It was simple fast food, but still good tasting food. 

     The sad thing was that I immediately almost choked. 

     To stop it, I took a long sip from my soda to help everything go down much faster. When my attention became focused on Kazuya, he snickered behind a hand that covered his mouth. "Ate a little too much, eh? Bit of karma for y-" He stopped right in the midst of finishing his remark. Just then, the sip of his drink returned fire on him. The soda was cold, very cold. All the ice inside of it brought it down to a chilling temperature, and the result was catastrophic.

     "Agh! Brain freeze!" He exclaimed. The palm of his hand pressing on his forehead as his eyes were shut. He put his head down and let out quick breaths to ease the pain he was experiencing. 

     I would be lying if I said I didn't smile a bit. 

     Veronica watched as she too drank from her soda. "I have a feeling the two of you are just gonna keep butting heads until the end of time." She said as she put her cup down to eat a long fry from it's large cardboard container.

     With that, the three of us ate in silence, enjoying our meals with us occasionally looking at our phones to check social media and see what is new. Things can appear in a split second without you even knowing. The things people post can be seen and then forgotten when something else arrives after it. 

     The same can be said when looking at the forums for Royal Star. Things were being brought to the public eye in a matter of seconds. New quests people find, new weapons and items people find, and monsters people should look out for if they want to earn a few experience points. 

     The three of us finished our meals. My strength found its way back to me. Kazuya offered to carry the rice cooker for me while I carried the other one. I took his offer and the two of us followed Veronica while she took charge and led us back to my own apartment. 

     Something was itching in the back of my head, like I should say something to him as we walked in unison.

     "Hey." I decided to start a conversation. Kazuya looked at me. 

     "What's up?"

     "Are you sure you want to keep partying up with us?" 

     "Yeah? Why wouldn't I? I don't wanna miss the opportunity to have some fun with people. I don't know a lot of people, to be completely honest." 

     "So you'd rather hang out with complete strangers. . ."

     "Mhm. As long as I have fun, I don't have a problem."

     He's so carefree. Somehow, even though I get irritated by everything else about him, I can respect that part of him. It might be due to me being unable to live that sort of life; a life where I let things happen when they happen and deal with it as it goes on. I've always tried to think things through. I'd rather not live a life where I can't prepare for something. It's probably why I like MMOs. In those, I can strategize and prepare before pushing. I know it hasn't been like that recently, but I think that's because almost everything about Royal Star is still unknown to me. 

     In other MMOs, my whole thing was staying by myself so I have the time to know as much as possible about the game. 

     Effects, attack patterns, monster types, dungeon layouts, game lore, everything in between. I wanted to know it all so I had the chance to make a near perfect plan for any situation. 

     Ever since meeting these two, I haven't gotten the time to do that.

     But, despite that, I can't bring myself to get angry at that fact. Normally, being around people and not having the chance to be alone would annoy me.

     The thing is. . .

     I don't feel that way around them. When Veronica first made eye contact with me, with those soft green eyes, things started to peel. The framework that I built around myself in that room with just me inside was starting to show some cracks. Her deciding to temporarily move in with me just made the process go faster. Kazuya's sudden appearance didn't help it either.

     Still, I wanna hang out with them, at least for a little while longer. 

     "Damon?" Veronica's voice suddenly took me out of my mind. I was startled, in all honesty. 

     "Huh?"

     "You kinda stopped all of a sudden. Are you tired? There's a bench a few feet away if you're still having a hard time."

     Kazuya took the other rice cooker out of my hands all of a sudden.

     "C'mon, man. Don't worry about the heavy stuff."

     The both of them were concerned with my well-being. 

     I knew not to reject. It was an instinctual feeling. Somehow I knew that the two of them would force me to get on the bench if I said no.

     I sat down on the bench with the two sitting beside me. I probably needed this, just for a little bit longer. Since I wasn't tired, I just took a bit of time to think about what to do with these two. I assumed Kazuya would ask to come inside to see what's up with the place, and Veronica was probably gonna go into her little world and experiment with what we bought at the mall.

     My only plan was to go and check out some stuff online.

     It would've been rude to start playing Royal Star the moment we got home, and that's because Kazuya didn't have his headset with him.

     We all agreed that after seven o'clock we'd play some more of the game. The three of us needed to level up more, especially me. 

     But that could wait since I wanted to see what Veronica had in mind. She talked up a storm about some recipe she wanted to whip up with the rice. 

     When we arrived, everyone dropped their bags and fell into the chairs I had lying around in the bedroom. I only ever used them a few times in the past since I would either be on my computer or playing a VRMMO, but this was the perfect time to put them to use with everyone here.

     Veronica acted like she was the most drained out the three of us despite her holding the lightest bag out of everything. 

     Although, I can't say that's the only thing since it was also blazing hot outside. 

     Kazuya tried to hold his own carrying the rice cookers in the heat, and I couldn't help but respect that since he was holding the heaviest items. I was left with the ingredients. Obviously, we got a ton of rice, but also a lot of vegetables and spices. I think she bought some chicken, which is where most of the weight is coming from, but I was too worn out to check despite it being just a few inches from my hand that hung over the armrest. 

     "Damon, do you have AC here?" Veronica asked me in a weak voice. 

     "Yeah. Problem is that it barely works, so that's why I keep the fan on all the time." I answered in the same way she asked me. Trying to say the words was a challenge in and of itself. 

     I looked up to see the ceiling fan spinning around with the chain dangling, lightly moving side to side. Earlier in the week, I noticed a bunch of dust in the vents that blocked some of the air flow in my room and in the living room. I've been thinking about doing it myself after finishing some stuff up around the place.

     But all that can wait.

     Surviving the heat was our top priority. 

     In a desperate attempt to keep myself cool, I opened the fridge and sat there while grabbing something to drink. I had some canned juice in there, so I cracked it open and took a sip. Hopefully some of the cold could flow into the rest of the place. 

     The other two that slouched in my chairs stood up, mustering all the strength they could get to walk toward the fridge to grab some juice. 

     Not even bothering to ask if they could have one. They were desperate for something refreshing. 

     I couldn't blame them. I just let them take a can and we walked back to the chairs after closing the fridge. 

     "Let's just order some food somewhere and call it a day. The rice cooker might make it worse." I told Veronica, who immediately nodded in response. She knew she didn't have the strength to go through with making food for everyone.

     "How about we wait until it gets darker out, then we can play together?" Veronica suggested. Kazuya and I nodded at the same time. 

     We were not in the state to play as we were now. 

     So, we all waited in our chairs as the minutes ticked on by until it was time to start ordering some food.

     Pizza was what the three of us decided on.