Chocolate Strawberries

If there was one thing Leum really disliked about his current life, it would be that he still does not have his own apartment yet. His friend since high school has let him crash on the couch for the past year in exchange for helping with the housework.

But he finally got a lease for a room in the apartment he was currently crashing at. Leases are on a first come first served basis and it lasts for one year unless it is renewed. The only girl in the four-bedroom apartment, Rilee, is moving out because she found a better place to live with fewer guys. Move-in day is the eighteenth of August, only two days away, and he could not be happier.

'The couch is great but after a year of not having my own bathroom to myself is really starting to take a toll', Leum thought to himself.

Leum hummed a popular song as he made his way up to the third story, 'Life has been slowly but surely going my way. I have a stable job, an apartment in a couple of days, and a few close friends I can hang out with. I do not think it can get much better than that. Well, a girlfriend would be nice.'

Opening up the door into the common room showed a couch and loveseat with a small holoprojector and a soundbar, a kitchen complete with a stove, dishwasher, and finally, a sink.

After crashing on the couch, Leum scrolled through the news for a bit.

"Space exploration expands further into discovering what is inside our gaseous planets."

Flick.

"What is the purpose of the Giant Armadillos? Find out on tonight's Evolution Gone Wild!"

Flick.

"Celebrity Jane Kortez has said she will put her virtual streaming career on pause indefinitely to pursue magical education. Unfortunately, no one knows this famous StarTube sensation or what she looks like."

Flick.

Taking his glasses off and rubbing his brow, Leum contemplated what he should do with the rest of his evening.

"Yo, Leum. Want to try some of these chocolate-covered strawberries?" Mikey came out of his room and asked, holding a box of said strawberries.

"Sure. Where did you get them?" Leum asked and got up from his bed.

But as he stood up, he visioned tunneled black he could taste metal in his mouth.

Seeing Leum pause in a standing position hovering over the couch, Mikey came up and put a hand on Leum's back. Healing aura was injected from Mikey's hand and spread throughout Leum's body.

Leum felt the metallic taste fade and his vision returned.

"Thanks," Leum said with a grateful sigh while taking a chocolate strawberry.

Mikey nodded, "I'm heading out to the field. They are making us practice drills at night for us that are in Cross Mortar. They must think that we do not have a life outside of school. I mean, school is not even here yet! We have four days! They could at least let us loose until then."

"I heard that it was the vice president of your team that suggested it."

"Damn. Should have known it was Deedee," Mikey hung his head and walked out the door.

Chuckling, Leum turned his attention back to the news playing in the background.

"This just in. Reports say that Neptune's economy is starting to suffer after the Terrorist group calling themselves 'The Harbingers' raided secure facilities around the planet..."

Ring Ring. "Pick up! Pick up!"

Tap.

"Hello! How was your day?" A hologram of a lady with gray streaks of hair asked.

"It was fine. You know you do not have to call every other day." Leum complained.

"Of course I do! You are my only child. How could I not speak to you every other day? So, what has been going on?"

"Nothing. Same old same old. Just work and personal projects." Leum deferred to his usual statements."

"Really? Well, that is a shame. When do you plan on getting a girl? I cannot wait forever for a grandchild if you are not going to college."

Rolling his eyes, "Working on it. Not many of us Agicks around the university."

A man with a big smile walked into view and wrapped an arm around the woman's shoulders, "Well, you just have to pull a cutie magician then."

"Please, I do not want to be zapped by lightning in a relationship where I cannot fight back."

"Either way, glad everything is going well. Let us know if you need anything. Oh and do not forget condoms!"

'Ugh,' Leum cringed.

"Keep at it. Oops. I have to go. Later, love you."

"Bye, Love ya," and Leums mother hung up.

The clock read six forty-three but Leum was already feeling drowsy.

But before he went to sleep, Leum wanted to finish working on a laptop that was having issues with storage downloading software.

'More than likely it has a buggy hard drive or virus. Let me try scanning it and running it through anti-virus.' Thought Leum.

Three hours flew by in the blink of an eye before Leum realized he needed to go to sleep. With progress made on the laptop, Leum finally settled down onto his favorite of the two couches, covered by a comforter and a satisfied feeling of accomplishment.

Taking his glasses off, he could not see past a few inches in front of his face clearly.

And as he stared up at the blurry white ceiling.

For some reason, he felt confident about going into the next day.