A Talk

Let me know what you think about the third-person versus the first-person. Personally, I think I could go either way.

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After quickly showering and getting ready, Matt made his way downstairs to the kitchen to let his parents know he was going out.

"Morning." he said as he entered the kitchen to see his mom and dad making breakfast.

His mom, Debb Garetty, was a Pediatric Surgeon and had weekends off unless there was an emergency only she could handle. His dad, Jeff Garetty, owned and operated a successful Fishing Boat Charter Service which gave him the freedom to work whenever he wanted to.

"Morning." said his dad in a gruff voice who, according to his memories, was a man of few words.

"Morning, sweety. You came home early last night. I thought you had a party to go to. I hope you didn't drink. We know you're a teenager and you're bound to drink but not when you're the one driving." said his mom who, unlike her husband, was not a woman of few words.

"Didn't drink at all. Wasn't feeling all that up to it so we left early."

"Who's we? You and Steve?" she asked.

"And Andrew."

"Oh, Andrew! It's been so long since I've seen him or my sister. How is he? How is she? Did he say anything about her?"

'Guess that means she doesn't know her sister has cancer or that her brother-in-law is an alcoholic and abusive piece of shit. Makes sense she doesn't know since according to my memories she's always been caring and would do anything for her sister, especially if she had cancer.' thought Matt.

"He's good, still a little anti-social but what can you do? And he didn't say anything about Aunt Karen. But I'm about to go see him right now so I can ask if you want." said Matt while getting his keys from the key holder.

"Please do, sweety thank you. So no breakfast for you?"

"No thanks, we're going to eat at a diner so I'll eat there."

"Alright, be careful and drive safe." she said.

"Okay." said Matt before exiting his house and getting in his car.

'I sure know how to choose a car.' thought Matt as he started up the car, a blue '71 Chevelle SS that his dad had slowly rebuilt over the years before finishing it when Matt turned 16 and gifted it.

'Should consider buying some of the cars I always wanted in my past life but could never get. Both because of a lack of money and because car prices went up like crazy in the late 2010s. Not that I have the money now either, but with my new skill, it'll be a piece of cake. Shelf that for now though.' he thought before driving off to the diner.

~

Oddly enough it seemed that Matt was the first one to arrive at the diner, so he sat down and ordered a full breakfast and some coffee for himself.

Taking a sip of the coffee, which he preferred with 5 creamers and 5 sugar, the all too familiar and comforting taste of coffee was felt.

'Ah, coffee. How I love you so. Let's hope this doesn't give me the runs though since the old Matt was never too much of a coffee drinker. He was more into the chronic, which I don't mind participating in every now and then.' he thought while drinking coffee and looking through the news on his phone.

And while looking through his phone, something he did not expect to see appeared.

COUGH COUGH

"You okay?" asked the waitress as she brought over his breakfast.

"Fine, thank you. Just went down the wrong pipe." he said as he wiped his mouth to clean up some coffee.

"Alright, you enjoy now." she said before leaving to attend to her other customers.

As to what had caused his coughing fit, it was none other than an ad.

For a bank.

More specifically, a bank called Goliath National Bank.

'Goliath National Bank?! That's from How I Met Your Mother! Why is it here?!' he thought before searching up the Wikipedia page for Goliath National Bank and reading through it.

'This is it. This is from HIMYM. Holy shit. I'm in a world with multiple worlds?!'

As Matt came to the realization that his situation had just gotten a lot more complicated, Steve and Andrew entered the diner before walking over to his booth.

"Yo." said Steve, patting him on the back as he sat down.

"Hey Matt." said Andrew.

"How you guys doing?" asked Matt, snapping out of his thoughts and shelving them for later.

"First, you gonna eat that? I'm starving." said Steve.

"Order something, I'm buying." said Matt before starting to eat his breakfast which had gone a little cold from his time spent in thought.

"Ay, alright." said Steve before waving down the waitress.

"What'll you have?" she asked.

"Full breakfast and an apple juice please." said Steve.

"Nothing for me, thanks." said Andrew.

"You sure, I'm buying?" asked Matt.

"Just an orange juice then."

"Full breakfast for him too, please. And the orange juice." said Matt seeing that Andrew didn't want to order anything, but he was worried for him. Besides, if Andrew didn't finish his food, Steve would.

"It'll be out in a sec." she said before leaving to get their drinks.

"Matt, I'm not hungry." said Andrew.

"You don't have to eat it all. Steve will eat the rest."

"Yes, please." said Steve, causing all three of them to chuckle.

"So, you boys sleep okay?" asked Matt, wondering if they experienced the same dream/attack he had.

"Like a log." said Steve.

"Me too." said Andrew.

"Good." said Matt before looking around to make sure no one was paying attention.

"Any injuries?" he whispered.

"No." whispered Andrew.

"No, and why are we whispering?" said Steve.

"As a precaution." said Matt in a normal voice.

"From what?" said Steve.

"I don't know. But just in case." said Matt in between bites of eggs.

"Right. You're scared some secret government agency is going to come and take us away because we entered a cave?" said Steve while shaking his head with a grin.

"Shh! Steve! Quiet!" whispered Andrew as he looked around.

"Haha, calm down Andrew." said Steve.

"F-fine, just shh. Okay?" said Andrew.

"He's right, Steve."

"Fine, fine." said Steve.

"Here's your drinks and your food. Enjoy." said the waitress, dropping off the order before leaving.

"So, we know Andrew's thoughts and opinions about the rock. Steve?"

"Just a rock." said Steve, mouth full of food.

"It's not just a rock." said Andrew, who for someone who didn't want any breakfast sure was eating it quickly, which made Matt a little sad.

"Well, my thoughts are it's not just a rock. But we don't really know nor is there any way for us to find out. Not like we can post a picture on Reddit and ask." said Matt.

"You too?" asked Steve.

"I mean, look at the facts. It glowed, it changed color, it made noise, it made us bleed, rendered us unconscious, and we woke up outside the cave without any recollection of how that happened. If that's just a rock, then it's the weirdest rock ever." said Matt before taking a sip of coffee to rehydrate his throat.

"So you think it's alien or something?" whispered Steve.

"Like I said, who knows? Even if it was, there's nothing we can do. The only thing we can do is forget about it."

"Forget about it?" said Andrew.

"Yeah."

"But i-if it's an alien, then we have to do something."

"Like?"

"I-I don't know. Put it on the internet or something."

"And if it attacks us like it did last time? What do we do then?" said Matt causing Andrew to be unable to retort.

"He's right, I don't really feel like going back there either." said Steve.

"You too?" said Andrew.

"Yeah, I mean we're not scientists so it's not like we can break a piece off and analyze it. Just let sleeping dogs lie."

"Fine." said Andrew, very reluctantly.

"Look. If something changes in the next few weeks, we'll do something then. Deal?" said Matt.

"Deal." said the both of them.

"Good. So, what you boys up to this fine weekend?" said Matt, steering the conversation away from the crystal.

"Girlfriend." said Steve as he continued to scarf down his food.

"Nothing." said Andrew, looking a little despondent.

'Andrew looks sad about staying home and doing nothing but who wouldn't be when they have an abusive father and a mother dying of cancer? I think I'll invite him to hang out at my house. Knowing my mother she'll talk his ear off and maybe that'll lead to him telling her about his mother's cancer which will lead to help.' thought Matt.

"Come hang out at my house then. We can watch a movie." said Matt.

"What about me?" asked Steve, looking a little offended that the didn't get invited.

"You said you had plans with your girlfriend. Don't tell me you'd rather hang out with us two than your girlfriend?"

"No, but I'm hurt you didn't ask."

"Haha, next time. So, Andrew, yes or no?"

"S-sure."

"Good."

~

After Matt invited Andrew, they finished their food and Matt paid for the three of them, before Steve left and he and Andrew got in his car.

As they made their way to Matt's house, the car ride on the way over was a little silent.

"So, Andrew, how are things?" asked Matt.

"Fine."

"Nothing going on in your life that you might want to talk about?"

"No."

"Okay then."

~

A silent car ride later, they arrived at Matt's house.

"I'm home." said Matt as he entered his house with Andrew in tow.

"In the living room." said his mom.

The two then made their way to the living room where they saw Matt's parents cuddled up and watching a movie.

"Andrew's here." said Matt, causing his mom to look over before standing up abruptly and rushing over to Andrew to hug him.

"Oh my god! Andrew! It's been so long! Look at you! You're all grown up now!" she said as she hugged him.

"H-hi Aunt Debb, Uncle Jeff." said Andrew uncomfortably.

"Mm." grunted Jeff in response.

"Come, come, sit down. We have so much to talk about." she said as she dragged him to the couch while Andrew looked to Matt for help, who could only shrug helplessly.

~

"What?!" yelled Debb.

'Cat's out of the bag.' thought Matt.