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I stare at my screen, pointing at it with the spoon I had just finished eating my Mac ‘n Cheese with. I stare at the document that had just fixed all the tough shit I had gotten my characters into, and it’s blank. I don’t remember what I’ve done. I haven’t done anything out of the ordinary. And while I know laptops won’t just do stuff on their own account, it feels like that’s the case. I can’t lose this chapter. I don’t have the mental capacity to write what I have just written again. It’s already taken a lot out of me to fix my character's problems the first time around. I try some of the stuff I’ve used in the past to retrieve my work, but none of it works and my temperature rises.
My leg starts to wiggle uncontrollably while I’m biting my lip. It’s just words, and I can rewrite them, but I really, really don’t want to. My eyes tear up as I set my laptop aside and stand up. Looking out of the window, I see that dusk has set in. I really worked on that chapter for a long time,so me going bananas over losing it isabsolutely not me overreacting, it was justified.
A light is shining in O’s house. It isn’t shining very brightly yet because it’s not fully dark out, but it’s enough for me to see that somebody is home. Before I’m even aware of what I’m doing, I pick up my laptop and run out of the house. I cross the lawn to the fence, and I run over to O’s house. Look at me, getting fit, working out twice in one week. My heart’s pounding, but that’s probably more related to the missing chapter than the run over to the house next door. I rush to the front door and start banging on it so loudly they can hear it three states over. It doesn’t take long for someone to open the door.
“What the hell?” O answers, looking all grumpy. “Why are you banging so loudly?”
He looks at me from my bare feet to where I’m holding on to the laptop.
“My laptop stole my chapter and I want it back. Can you help me?”
He raises his eyebrow. I realize then that I might come across as a chaotic mess at that point.
It then registers I’m still inside my blanket burrito, in my pajama-bottoms looking like a crazy girl clutching a laptop for dear life, while he’s standing in the doorway looking, well, not like me. He’s wearing grey business pants with a white button-down shirt. He looks very professional and I? I certainly don’t. If I could disappear right here and now, I’d do it. He opens the door further and lets me in with a crooked grin, whilenudging hishead at me forme to follow him.
“I can try, come on in.”
I meekly follow him, still holding on to my laptop, as if holding it tightly enough will fix it. The house I walkinto is completely different from my parents’ house. Even though the houses are made by the same builder, this house is very modern and light. The style of my parents' home is best described as if entering my mother’s mind. There’s all kinds of chaos and charm. O’s house isn’t. It’s styled to perfection, clean and very bright. That isn’t how it used to be. When we were kids there was a certain homeliness to it. A lot has changed since I last stepped foot in this house. The biggest change probably being that O’s parents, Mark and Laurie, are no longer alive. The house I’m seeing now must reflect O’s style.
We walk into the kitchen - that’s also modern. It’s black and there’s marble opposed to the wood and country style kitchen I’ve got at home. There’s a small bar with four barstools in front of it. They’re different shades of grey and from a stylistic point of view I can see the appeal. My mis-matched colorful attire is looking severely out of place in this house and I pull the blanket around me a little more tightly, so my t-shirt isn’t showing anymore.
One of the stools is occupied by a guy I’ve never seen before. He looks at me with a questioning look, his dark brown eyes burning a hole in me. There’s a twinkle from a tiny silver nose piercing that graces his friendly face.
“Not the pizzas,” he says with a deep voice that sounds like music to my ears.
“Not the pizzas,” O confirms before he turns his gaze to me.
“You think you can let go of the laptop so I can see if I can help you, or are you holding it hostage?”
Unknown guy chuckles while I set the laptop on the bar as O starts hovering over it, staring at the screen.
“So, tell me again, your laptop stole your chapter, and you want me to fix it?”
He stares at the empty document, moving the mouse over it while he seems to be aimlessly clicking around.
“Yes, I just wrote a whole chapter and fixed all the shit my characters are up to and then it ended up gone.”
“Don’t you auto save?”
“Of course I auto save! I’m not some newbie. I do the thing with the cloud as well. But it’s just gone. And before you dare ask me,” I say while pointing a finger at O’s chest and poking it, “I’ve tried control z, but it didn’t magically reappear!”
Unknown guy laughs again while he scoots over to the barstool that’s next to the laptop.
“Move, O. Let me.”
He pulls the device in front of him and starts clicking on stuff.
“What are you doing?” I ask suspiciously. My whole book is on there. What if he clicks on the wrong thing and makes more chapters disappear? I don’t know this guy, for all I know he’s a covert book hater and he’ll make more of my work disappear.
“Well, for starters, I’m hooking you up to the Wi-Fi, because your cloud thing doesn’t work without the internet.”
Ah, well, when you put it like that.
“Continue,” I say to him while casually nodding and waving my hand as if to give him permission.
“You changed the password?” Unknown guy asks.
“Jonah did. If I remember correctly, it’s LongIslandIcedTea this time. Capital with every word,” O answers while he leans over and hangs over the bar.
