Ch.16: Catching Up With The Times.

'Clay seems a little different. He's more...calming and down to earth? That boy better not be smoking weed in my house!'

Heather had thought to herself while drying her hands off. She then pulled out her phone, opened an app, and checked camera footage. 'Or it could have something to do with this.'

A surveillance product called, [Ring]. You bassically replace your doorbell with one that has a camera in it which allows you to see your lawn and stuff from any device such as your phone.

She saw Clay taking the trash out, going back inside, then going back out. 'I assumed he went on a stroll to see the city and stuff, but when he didn't come back, I started to worry...'

And she didn't see him come back in the house, so it only made her worry even more. 'I got a few hours of sleep to not worry myself anymore than I already had.

When I woke up, a notification on my phone told me of activity at the door during the night, so I went to his room and saw him sleeping soundly with Eve..'

She wanted to lecture him as soon as he came down those steps, but decided not to. 'He's...19 and knows what we expect of him. As long as he doesn't worry us to much, he can do whatever he likes.'

It was things like this that made her appreciate her children. They made her feel alive. She used to not worry about what Clay did and as a parent, she could now realize how terrible she was.

'I'm not supposed to be happy with him sneaking out, but me worrying makes me happy. God, I'm so strange..' She laughed at herself before going over to the TV and sitting down to watch it.

....

"Hello, sir. How are you doing today?"

Not even 2 steps into the T-Mobile store, he was greeted. "I'm...fine. How are you doing?" Clay sat Eve down and took her hand. The man had responded, but Clay zoned him out, walking over to a wall with phones on it.

'I have about 10k cash in my pockets. That should be enough I hope. Can never tell with iPhone..'

"So, sir, what are you looking for today? Anything I can help with?"

The man, an adult with average features and height, came up and said. He seemed nice, but Clay knew that,..

'I can hear it in his tone of voice. Doubt and weirdly enough, jealousy?'

With enhanced senses, telling what someones emotions were was as easy to tell as them saying, 'I'm sad' while visibly crying.

"We're just looking around for now. We'll call you over if we need anything."

The man 'tsked' and said, "Fine." He walked off with a pissed expression which made Clay shrug. "So, Eve, don't tell mom this, but I'm gonna buy you something as well. So just tell me what you want, okay?"

He had to pick her up so she could see the items on the shelves. "Okay! Uhm,.." It didn't take long for her to spot a tablet and point at it.

"That one! I want that!" Clay nodded and said, "Alright. Now let's find a phone for your big bro.."

She eagerly nodded as they started looking around. He saw things he's never saw before and had to read each and every single description of the item to get a better understanding of it.

The staff was looking at the pair with funny faces, recording them and laughing quietly. For Clay however, the quieter something was, the more clearer he could hear it. So bassically, all their laughs were like they were right next to him.

"Hey, excuse me.." Clay turned around and saw them putting their phones away. "Huh? Ah, yes, what is it?" The man spoke, his laughing face immediately turning professional-like.

"I'd like to start my purchase if that's fine with you."

"Yeah, of course. Let me get you started. Could you come up here?"

He meant to the front desk and Clay nodded. Making his way over there, the man asked for Clay's personal information like a phone number and I.D.

"I...don't have an I.D. on me right now. Just money." The man looked towards his colleagues, one of which, saying, "How much money exactly?" Clay proceeded to reach into his pockets and pull out the wads of cash.

Stunned by all the money, the workers flocked around the front desk. "S-Sir. Do you plan on using this as payment?" Clay nodded, a little confused as they said that like it was a problem.

"Oh, okay, uhm... So, you said you had no I.D? Like, nothing?"

"I have a school I.D., but it's at my house. I can go back and get it if you want...?"

"No, no! It's fine. Just a phone number is fine.."

Clay nodded and gave them his mother's phone number. An conformation text message was then sent to his moms phone and at home, receiving it, she thought Clay must have been using her number for something and so she verified it.

"Okay, it's done. And we see here you have a family plan with 3 empty lines. Would you like to use one of those?" He nodded and said, "Yeah, put her on aswell. My name is Clay and hers, Eve.."

The entire process took a while. Like 1 hour hour long since things like Clay setting up Google accounts for himself and Eve took time.

They had little to no problems however with that, Clay deciding that he should pay the full amount for the phone and tablet since he couldn't afford to pay monthly bills.

"Okay sir, we'll have your phone and tablet shipped to your address in maybe..3 days time?"

"3 days..?"

Clay sulked, then said, "Well, okay, that's fine. Uh, thank you so much for helping us. We really do appreciate it." With around 5k left, he and Eve left while waving.

They thought of him as a weird customer, probably some poor kids who secretly hit the lottery or something.

"He was kinda cute, wasn't he? His name was Clay, right?"

"Yeah, and he had this vibe about him. And did you see how cute his sister was! Like a little doll..!"

The girls gossiped amongst each other. Being the only guy out of the 5, the mans feelings were secretly crushed. Yeah, his grown self was secretly crushing on high schoolers.

'Damn, that kid!' The man thought to himself as he watched the girls giggle from watching videos they recorded of the boy and his sister.

....

"Now, to go to Bestbuy. They sell laptops over there you can buy and take home without waiting for anything.."

He had picked Eve up and she rested her head on his chest. "I'm sleepy~..." She yawned out and smacked her lips.

"Oh, okay. Uhm, I can take you back home if you want me to?" She grasped onto his shirt and shook her head. "I wanna stay with Kway~.."

Clay couldn't help but smile at hearing her words and voice. "Eve, that's very sweet.." He kissed her on her forehead and started walking away.

He made his way to a bus stop, checked the times of arrivals, then waited there, looking up at the TV which provided news.

....

An: Slowin it down....ish.