Summary: Spin-off to Bad Luck. Jake Scott graduated from high school, confused about his sexuality. Now the only people who answer his questions are his pretty co-worker, his gay neighbor and Aiden, his ex-best friend.

Warning: Mentions of drinking and smoking, homosexuality, sexual content and mature language.

Rated M for Mature: Material becomes more mature in later chapters.

Author’s Note: Here it is, the spin-off to Bad Luck! I knew I was going to post it soon, since I already had the first chapter done.

Sorry it took so long to post. My computer's been going through a lot of troubles. In fact, I almost lost all of my writing files... I had to save this chapter to a flash drive and I'm uploading it at a friend's house.

Don't worry, all of the files are safe. Hopefully I get to see some readers, old and new, for this story.

For those of you who are wondering why I decided to make a spin-off for Bad Luck, its simply because I wasn't done with the story... anyone who has read Bad Luck to the end can honestly say there's still a lot of loose ends. In this particular story, I wanted to continue things with Jake Scott. He had a major role in Bad Luck and half of the time, he was barely even in it... Also, the story ended with him in such an interesting point. I mean, he just got out of a gay relationship, for crying out loud... there's got to be something strange going on in his head!

Anyways, I'm hoping the spin-off will lead to some conclusions about both Jake and Aiden. Hopefully, this story will also give readers a better understanding of Jake.

Well, here goes the first chapter of Bad News...

CHAPTER ONE

BAD news ruins everything.

One night I’m having the time of my life. Running around the city with friends, getting drunk and simply acting like the high school brat I was. I would spend the evening getting trashed and passing jokes back and forth with my friends and spend the night making out and fucking with my sexy and funny girlfriend.

At the time, it seemed like the night of my life. And then, the next day, bad news strikes: Beth, my girlfriend of eight months, decides to call it quits.

I didn’t expect it and the realization of our ended relationship hit me like a truck. I sat and thought about it for hours, trying to figure out what could’ve possibly gone wrong. At first I thought it was a joke when Beth broke up with me. I thought we would get back together in no time. When we didn’t, I was left confused and with questions. Bitter, I even considered the possibility that she was sleeping with my other friends. Perhaps it was that kind of jealousy and overprotection that caused her to break up with me in the first place.

I thought I had hit rock bottom when Beth dumped me. Confused, I even went to my best friend, Aiden, after we had broken up. I was a wreck. I had nothing to say. I went to Aiden, expecting him to give me the answers, to tell me why Beth had broken up with me. As usual, I did all the talking and Aiden just sat there and listened. I had always been the talker and he had always been the listener. There’s always something comforting about talking to Aiden. He was always a smart person, even if his grades didn’t show it. It wasn’t that he had bad grades because he was dumb or lazy—he was the complete opposite—he just never gave a shit about school. Actually, he didn’t give a shit about a lot of things. There were times where I felt that he was just being dragged along in life. It made me pity him at times.

Independent and anything but in touch with my emotions, it was awkward pouring out my confusion and trying not to cry like an idiot when I was talking to Aiden about Beth. But Aiden, as always, was patient.

Aiden was stronger than me in a lot of ways. Imagine my shock when I heard the news that he was gay.

It’s not that I had anything against gay people; it’s just that Aiden never seemed gay. It was a shock to me. I hadn’t exactly learned in the best way, either.

Aiden had this thing for a guy named Zack… I didn’t even notice when it was going on. Ever since I had broken up with Beth, the friendships and relationships in my life had been topsy-turvy. It’s hard to maintain a good friendship when all I could think about was a single person. From what I knew, Aiden had hated Zack. Then, a couple months later, I tried to visit Aiden and caught him making out (shirtless, at that) with this kid.

Yeah, if I wasn’t confused before, I was certainly lost after that.

It was hard to see someone else take my best friend away from me. I thought that Aiden was the only person I could turn to. He was the only person that was there for me after Beth. So when I found out he had broken up with Zack and that he had been in love with me since we were fourteen, I knew I didn’t want to lose him.

So I kissed him.

The things that people do when they’re desperate and emotional are always astounding. Never, in a million years, would I ever expect myself to lock lips with another guy—a guy who happened to be my best friend, at that. It’s embarrassing to look back on it now, but at that time… when I had kissed him and spent time with him over the several days after that, it felt right.

Was I gay?

That question haunted me ever since Aiden and I began our affair. It only bugged me more when it had ended and Aiden went crawling back to Zack.

Throughout my life, I never questioned my sexuality. All I knew was that ‘gay’ could be synonymous with ‘weak’, ‘stupid’ and ‘wrong’. I knew that girls were supposed to be with guys. Yet Aiden opened my eyes and I began to contemplate over it. He showed me that not all gay people were what everyone stereotyped them to be. If anyone had met Aiden for the first time, I don’t think that person would have the slightest clue that he was gay.

It’s impossible to have the emotions and feelings I had for Aiden and be considered completely straight. It wasn’t possible.

Maybe I was gay.

Maybe I wasn’t gay, just lost.

Maybe I was bisexual.

I wasn’t sure.

All I knew was that break-ups hurt all around, gay or straight, and getting dumped is the worst news a person can get.

Yeah, I wouldn’t wish it anybody.

Boxes of my stuff were stacked outside. I was carrying out a box of my valuables when Aiden came jogging up to me.

I was bit surprised to see him. Things had never really been right between us ever since our relationship went down the drain. Even though we tried to agree to be friends, it was hard. We talked once in awhile but it was always awkward.

“Hey,” he said, almost breathless, and I wondered idly how far away he had been when he realized my stuff was in the front yard. He looked a little lost. “Are you moving or something?”

“No, rummage sale,” I said. He gave me an odd look. Man, he was really gullible sometimes. “I’m just kidding. Yeah, I’m moving.”

“Oh...” he said. He laughed dryly. I inwardly groaned. Before, he would’ve caught my joke right away. Just the fact that he couldn’t recognize my jokes anymore was proof of how far we had drifted. “Well, why are you moving? I thought you said you were planning to stay here and just drive to school.”

“Leo’s roommate left and it’s a shorter distance from his place to school than from here. Besides, I need to move out of my parents’ house.”

I decided not to let him know that he was another reason why I was moving. The house held too many memories of him and me. I couldn’t walk a single inch in that house without some childhood memory flooding back to me. It was time to move on, begin anew…

And, most importantly, forget him and all about our short affair.

There was no doubt that I still wanted to be friends with Aiden. Hell, I’d give anything for that again. But it’s hard to be friends with somebody who left me confused, lost and alone. Our relationship, even our friendship, was too personal. Our affair was a mistake, one that permanently damaged me.

Sure, I might have been getting over the pain, but I’d always remember.

Sometimes, remembering is the scariest thing of all. In order to save myself, I would have to forget.

I set down the box on the floor with a thunk. Aiden stared at the box for a few seconds. I did too, even though I already knew what was in it and the actual box wasn’t all that interesting. It was just simple cardboard, taped up with thick, industrial packaging-tape. I just didn’t want to look at him. Things were so awkward between us that I could barely stand it.

“Let’s stay in contact,” he said suddenly.

Damn. Was he trying to make me laugh?

“Yeah,” I said. “I’ll do that.”

I couldn’t even tell if I was being sarcastic or not.

“No, I mean it. I’ll come visit you every once in awhile.”

We took a brief second to exchange numbers. He gave me his new cell phone number and I gave him the number to Leo’s home phone, since he already knew my cell phone number. He waved pleasantly and turned around and left. I looked at the number in my hand and felt almost sickened. I considered ripping it into a million little pieces but, instead, I just pocketed it.

I couldn’t help but notice how uncharacteristically happy he was.

But of course, I thought to myself. He is happy.

I tried not to think about his stupid boyfriend and how fucking jolly and happy they were together. I had seen them together a few times, mostly when Aiden invited me over to hang out with them (as means to relieve the tension between us, of course), and they always annoyed the fuck out of me.

I wasn’t going to lie. Zack, Aiden’s boyfriend, was a decent guy at times. Still, every time I saw him, this vicious, jealous monster inside of me came out. All I could do was hate him for being the obnoxious punk-loser that took my best friend away from me. It’s difficult to get over a grudge like that.

Leo arrived late, as I predicted, to help me put my things in the back of his truck. I didn’t know where on Earth he got a truck—I just hoped he hadn’t stolen it. It had happened before. He had stolen his friend’s car once without realizing it. I’m not sure how it’s possible to steal a car by accident, but I’m guessing he was completely baked when he did. Luckily, his friend didn’t press charges. I’m guessing his friend was baked too. If someone stole my car, I’d take the fucker to court faster than an Olympic runner running a marathon.

Leo came jogging up to me with that big, goofy grin on his face. I had to admit that I smiled back. What could I say? I loved my big brother. Even though he was a professional pothead, we had a lot of good memories growing up. He was my idol, my hero. Even now, I still loved him for his optimism and good sense of humor. At the moment, he was the only source of sunshine in my life.

He ruffled my hair when he got out of the truck.

“Hey, what’s up, kid?” he said charmingly.

“Fuck, you’re late,” I scolded, though I couldn’t stop the grin that spread across my face. “Help me get these damned boxes in the truck.”

He didn’t hesitate to help me out. Immediately, we began loading up the truck, conversing lightly over various topics.

“Where’d you get the truck?”

“Darryl lent it to me.”

Darryl and Leo were best buddies. I had only met Darryl a few times in my life. All I knew was that he was the only person on the planet who loved weed as much as Leo. He seemed like a nice guy but how would I know? I barely talked to the guy. The last time I talked to him was when he and Leo were still roommates, which was back when Leo had first met the guy. Last thing I heard, Darryl had his own place with his girlfriend. I knew he and Leo had plans on moving to Amsterdam together until Darryl started getting serious with the girl he met.

As usual, love ruins plans.

Everything was packed. Leo turned to me, asking if I was ready to go. I looked back at my house for the last time. Then I looked to the house next to it—Aiden’s house. I felt a sharp pang in my heart as I remembered our childhood, our friendship, our affair—everything.

I told Leo to drive me as far away from home as possible.

Anything to get away from that place.

The city was big. I had visited the university before and it was flawless. It was large, with lots of other students, and the perfect academia. The apartment complex I was going to live in was not far from the university—it was just a few blocks away.

“You’ll like this place,” Leo insisted, when he pulled up into the parking lot. “It’s great fun. You should try finding a job before the summer ends, so you can help me pay rent.”

“Aww,” I whined, pretending to be upset. “You mean I don’t get to mooch off you?”

“Not unless you wanna live on the streets! I don’t have the cash to pay for the rent by myself!” Leo protested. We both got out of the car and went to grab an armful of boxes.

“Got any recommendations?” I asked.

“Well,” said Leo thoughtfully. “I have a friend who manages a café. It’s really popular around here, since it’s so close to the campus. You’d like it.”

“I hate coffee.”

“Yeah but you’ll probably get paid well. That’s good enough, right?”

“I guess so.”

I followed Leo up the staircase to drop off the boxes into our apartment. Leo propped the apartment door open. He gave me a brief tour of the place. It was small but better than most apartments I had seen. It had two bedrooms, a small bathroom and large room that combined the living room, the kitchen and the dining room. The large room was cluttered, since there wasn’t a lot of space for many things.

Leo showed me my room. There was a bed, a nightstand and a lamp, but not much else. That was fine by me. It just gave me more room for my stuff.

We went back out to the car and continued to unload things at different paces.

I was carrying a small box filled with books and movies up the steps. When I got to the top, I caught someone out of the corner of my eye. It was the first person I had seen other than Leo in the apartment building. I narrowed my eyes, trying to figure out the gender of the person. In the end I decided it was a guy since there were no boobs. At least, none were apparent.

His jet-black hair was in a crazy hairstyle, one that probably took several useless hair products and expensive trips to French salons to do. His hair was layered and his bangs were long. I bet his natural hair color wasn’t even black. His jeans were incredibly tight, tighter than what any of my ex-girlfriends would wear. His shirt was a purple v-cut and was cut low, lower than any guy should ever wear his shirt. He was skinny as a stick and—thanks to his seemingly long limbs—I hadn’t even noticed he was short by first glance. Placed on the tip of his nose were obnoxiously large sunglasses.

I couldn’t stop staring at the train wreck before me. He looked like a fifteen-year-old girl. He locked the door to his apartment and realized I was watching him.

I was a bit startled that I had been caught staring. He looked at me long and hard over the top of his sunglasses. I expected to get yelled at but then a smirk spread across his face. He laughed a little bit and I decided I didn’t like his laugh. It was an airy, Paris Hilton-like laugh… something pretentious and annoying. I immediately disliked this guy and I was about to dislike him even more.

“Sorry to disappoint you but I’m taken,” he said. His voice was laced with amusement and I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t checking him out. I was staring at him because he looked like a fucking chick. He was a guy and I wasn’t interested in his type…

…at least, I didn’t think I was.

Leo came out of the apartment to take the box in my arms from me. He noticed the guy with girl jeans and acknowledged him.

“Hey Chris,” he greeted. I blinked, surprised that they were on friendly terms.

“Hi Leo,” the guy named Chris said, waving. He waved like a girl too. He did that thing where he wiggled his fingers as he waved. I almost felt sick. “Are you moving out or something?”

“No, my brother’s moving in. This is Jake. Jake, this is Chris.”

I wanted to glare at my brother like he was a traitor. I didn’t want to be introduced to this guy. But I faked a smile anyways.

Chris lifted his big sunglasses to get a full look at me. His eyes were a bright green. He surveyed me up and down and I squirmed uncomfortably underneath his glance. I didn’t like the way he was checking me out. He smiled the same way he smiled when he caught me staring at him.

“He does look like you,” was all he said. I blinked. I didn’t want him commenting on my looks at all. Or Leo’s, for that matter. “I’m off to work. Bye Leo. Bye Jake.”

Leo said goodbye and Chris hurried down the steps, shoving his keys into his pocket. Leo didn’t bother to say anything else; he just carried the box into our apartment. I picked up the last box that was sitting by the door and followed him inside.

“Don’t tell me that’s our neighbor,” I said, dropping the box into my new room. I almost gagged at the thought.

“Sorry but he is,” Leo said, smiling. “Don’t worry. He flirted with me for the first week I moved in and then stopped. He’ll leave you alone too.”

“I don’t understand how you lasted a week,” I said, snorting. “I could barely stand five minutes of him…”

“He’s a fun guy,” Leo insisted. “You just have to get used to him.”

Of course Leo would say that. He was a total pacifist, believing that everybody was a good person and that quarrels should be avoided as much as possible. Normally I wasn’t so opinionated but Chris hardly left a good impression on me.

Leo helped me unpack the boxes. It was a long, tiring process. I had only gotten halfway through unpacking all of my things before we decided to finish for the day.

“We can finish tomorrow,” said Leo, though I wanted to finish up that very night. “Let’s go eat.”

We went out for pizza. When we got back home Leo went to bed while I kept working until I was finished unpacking.

When I went to sleep, I was exhausted.

I wasn’t the type of person who procrastinated.

When something needed to be done, I drove at it with complete determination until my goal was completed. The very next day, I took Leo’s advice and went to the local café to get an application.

The café was titled, Die Café, which meant in German (oh-so-originally): The Café. When Leo wrote down the name for me, I thought the person who named it was forcing death upon a café. Then, Leo pronounced it to me, and the ‘die’ part was pronounced more like ‘dee’ rather than the word ‘die’.

It appeared to be a rather successful place. Many students were sitting outside, enjoying the beautiful summer weather. I loved summer, it was my favorite season. It reminded me of my birthday, in August, and all the summer memories I had garnered over the years.

Die Café was exactly what one would picture for a coffee shop near a college campus—it was crammed with students, ones that sat at tables with their laptops, writing their essays and thesis papers. Overall, it had a friendly, busy environment. It seemed like a job that would be a challenge—I loved challenges. It didn’t seem like the place where there would ever be a quiet moment. It seemed to thrive with energy and business. I couldn’t imagine getting bored in a work environment such as that.

Needless to say, I didn’t hesitate to ask for an application.

The inside of the coffee shop was busy but still nice. There was plenty of room, even with all of the students huddled inside of it. They waited in a long line and the baristas were working hard to keep up. The inside was nicely air-conditioned, a welcome relief from the blazing sun. People sat in groups at the tables, chatting comfortably. The smell of coffee woke me up.

At one point, I made it past the people to the counter, and I met with a pretty girl. She was wearing the standard uniform—black cap, black apron, white top, black bottoms and dress shoes. Her nametag read Audrey. I thought it was a nice name, it was suiting. Her eyes were a bright emerald and her thick, blonde hair was pulled back in a ponytail. I asked her how I could get a job.

She raised an eyebrow.

“Well, you’ve come to the right girl. But it’ll cost you. I’m not cheap. A hundred dollars just for a hands-free session, if you catch my drift.”

She winked. Her performance was so convincing that I actually had to wonder if she was for real or not. I stared back at her peculiarly, eventually blushing. I couldn’t believe she was actually offering me a—

“I was just kidding.”

Comprehending the joke, I laughed dumbly, trying to act like I was thinking innocently. She just smiled at me. Now that I understood that she was teasing, the whole thing was pretty funny, but at the time she had said it she convinced me that she was really… well, I wasn’t going to think about it. I guess I needed to get my mind out of the gutter.

“I’ll go get you one. We could use help in this place.” She went to the shelf behind her, quickly grabbed a sheet from a stack of papers and handed me the page.

“Good luck,” she said. She flashed me a bright smile, more genuine and vivid than most others’ smiles. I was a bit stunned. I managed to start up my brain again and realized I should smile back. I twisted my face in a grin, said goodbye, waved and then left. I thought about her for a bit on my walk back to my apartment.

I wished I had a girl like that—or, rather, be able to keep a girl like that.

Over the course of the next few days, I had built a collection of applications. I filled out most of them and decided to take a day to finally turn them in. Leo thought I was crazy for wanting to get a job so quickly but supported me nonetheless. Regardless, I would’ve done it anyways. I had to get a job to help pay off the rent. I couldn’t depend on Leo to pay for my half.

It was strange living with my brother again. I forgot how difficult he was to live with. He brought a lot of energy to the house but failed to take anything seriously. Still, I couldn’t think of anyone I’d rather live with.

I shuffled my application in a small little stack. I was about ready to head out the door when someone walked into the apartment. I was confused until I recognized the person who walked in as Darryl.

Darryl—the one who was Leo’s friend. Best friend, actually. From what I knew, Darryl was loud and spontaneous—his energy was admirable. Darryl was of medium height—around my own height—and had long black dreads, a medium build and was of Afro-Cuban descent.

He and Leo also happened to be stoner buddies. Go figure. Practically all of Leo’s friends are stoners, considering how Leo didn’t understand anything outside of pot.

“Hey!” he said enthusiastically when he saw me. “You’re Leo’s brother!”

I was mostly surprised that he had enough brain cells left to remember that.

“Yeah!” I replied, just as energetically. I almost slapped my forehead when I realized how stupid I sounded. Man, this guy’s energy was contagious. Darryl held out his hand and I shook it. “I’m Jake.”

“Awesome,” he said. Once we were done shaking hands, he looked around nervously. “So uh… you uh… you wouldn’t be interested in hanging out with us, would you?”

He gave me a look.

“No, sorry,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m not really into recreational… err, smoking. I’m more of a borderline-alcoholic kind of person.” Oh, how sad.

“Ohhh,” he said in understanding. He clicked his tongue. “Actually, that’s pretty convenient, because I only brought so much… well… you know…” He looked around again nervously. I just smiled and nodded.

“I understand.”

At that moment, Leo walked into the room.

“Darryl!” he yelled.

“Leo!” Darryl yelled back.

What with all their enthusiasm, I half-expected them to cure the world’s manic-depressive inhabitants. That or break out into song and dance. Whatever worked best for them.

“So do you have…?” Leo trailed off, a stupid smile on his face. He glanced nervously at me out of the corner of his eye.

“…I’m going to go turn in my application,” I responded. With that said, I left them to do… well, yeah.

I grabbed my applications and headed out the door of my apartment. Not really paying attention to where I was walking, I bumped into someone.

“Oh, I’m sor—“I stopped when I saw who it was.

It was that… weird kid. I had forgotten his name. When he realized who I was, he just smiled. His smile was a little too friendly for my taste.

“Hello,” he said. “You’re Leo’s brother.”

I looked behind what’s-his-face to see some other twink with him. He seemed slightly annoyed at the interference. I looked and they both seemed to be heading towards that-one-guy’s apartment. I realized what they were going to do and I had never felt so eager to get out of a room in my life.

I just blinked twice at them.

“It’s me,” he said, starting to sound annoyed. “Chris.”

“Oh,” I said. “That’s right.” I totally knew that.

Chris reached behind him, grabbing the arm of the annoyed-looking queer and pulling him beside him. The guy just looked at me disdainfully and I matched him with an equally annoyed glare. Who did he think he was, to look at me like that? I didn’t even fucking know him.

“This is my boyfriend, Rob,” Chris introduced. Rob just smiled thinly.

“Hi,” he said. He reached down and tugged on Chris’s hand, a sign for them to leave but Chris didn’t budge.

I forced myself to smile back, even though I didn’t like either of them and I wanted to slap the make-up right off this Rob-kid’s face.

“Hi,” I said tightly. I held up the applications and said, “Nice to meet you guys but I have applications to turn in.”

“Hmph. Good luck,” Rob said.

“Excuse me?” I looked at him, annoyed. Chris didn’t seem all that satisfied with Rob’s manners (or lack thereof), either.

“Well I hope you moved in okay,” Chris said quickly. It was obvious he was trying to wrap up the conversation and steer in a different direction. “Leo’s a good guy. You’re lucky to have him as a brother.”

“Uhm, yeah,” I said, blinking. Honestly, I had never heard anyone say that about Leo… sure, he was likable. But good? “Thanks.”

“Rob and I are going to have lots of sex and orgasms. See you later.”

With that said, he grabbed Rob’s hand and tried to pull him away. I, on the other hand, was just trying to erase that mental image out of my head. Shaking my head to myself, I tucked the applications under my arm and started heading down the steps. I was only about halfway down the staircase when I heard Rob talk above me:

“Jesus fucking Christ, Chris… Are you planning on flirting with every fucking guy you meet, especially right in front of me? Don’t you consider how I feel at all?”

“For crying out loud, Rob, I was just being friendly… Deal with it.”

Even though I thought what I heard was strange, I dismissed all of it as unimportant and kept walking.

After delivering a few applications, I arrived at the same coffee shop I went to the day before—Die Café. When I went up to the counter, I noticed the same girl from the day before—Audrey. I handed her my application and she took one glance at it before staring at me in surprise.

“Are you Leo’s brother?”

I stared, shocked.

“Uh, yeah, I am. How… how did you know?”

“Leo called me and told me I should be on the look out for a friend of his,” she said, smiling pleasantly. “He said you were applying here. But he never told me you two were brothers… unless you guys have the same last name by coincidence.”

“No, we’re brothers.” I paused. “You mean… he actually called in and…”

“Yeah, I help manage this place,” the girl, Audrey, explained. “Your brother and I… when I was still back in the university, we hung out a lot.” She laughed nervously. “You know… partying and whatnot.”

“So I’m guessing you…” I trailed off, raising an eyebrow. She shook her head quickly.

“Oh no, no, not anymore,” she said quickly. She coughed. “Not that I have judgments toward anyone who does.” She looked at me pointedly.

“No, that was always Leo’s thing, not mine,” I explained. She smiled brightly and I couldn’t help but get this jittery feeling inside. Feeling suddenly nervous, I quickly said, “You know, gosh, I’m really sorry… that’s really unprofessional for him to, well, call you. I’m sorry. I didn’t tell him to do it, it’s just… you know Leo. He tries to help people.”

“Hey, look, it’s all good,” she excused, shrugging. “I understand.”

“Excuse me!” a girl screamed from the other end of the counter. “I’ve been waiting here for about five minutes, now. Can I please get a new latte?”

“I’ll be right there!” Audrey called over. She looked at me quickly and said, “It’s been really nice to meet you. I’ll be sure to hand this application over to my boss. Leo’s awesome. Tell him I said hello!”

“Ma’am!” the girl shrieked.

“You better go help her,” I said and she just shook her head and smiled. She walked off to help the customer. I left in a daze and, even though I hated coffee, I decided working there wouldn’t be so bad.

By the time I had returned home, it was late and Darryl was stumbling out. I saw Leo laying on the couch, watching Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium, a children’s’ movie with lots of bright, vibrant colors. Leo stared at the TV, his eyes as wide as quarters. His body was slacking and I couldn’t help but think of the Above the Influence commercials, where they had the pothead-teenagers sitting on the couches looking like deflated balloons.

He was baked out of his small, tiny mind. I coughed. There were still traces of smoke in the air. I was surprised the landlord hadn’t kicked Leo out already.

“Leo?”

No response.

I walked up to him and saw a glass whale on the coffee table. I knew better than to think of it as a type of souvenir, especially when I looked closer and noticed it was hollow inside. I knew what it was but I still couldn’t help but think it was weird. I mean, how the fuck does one smoke through a whale? Does he suck through the blowhole? I was so confused.

“Leo.”

He didn’t hear me. I nudged him. Quickly, he jumped and looked at me. I grimaced when I saw his eyes. Still, I shrugged it off.

“Leo, dude, is Darryl supposed to be driving on his own?”

“He’s driven while he was high before. He passed the driving test when he was high.”

He went back to watching Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium.

He was watching it for the plot, of course.

It took one weird pot-laugh from him before I decided to run and hide as far away as possible from the room. I walked into my own bedroom, shutting the door so the sounds of the movie drowned out, and plopped down on my mattress. Thankfully, my room was devoid of any bad smells or fumes.

This was life with Leo. The guy didn’t have much of a personality or character outside of pot—he was a walking stereotype. Leo was introduced to it when he was thirteen… at least, that’s what he told me. Knowing him, I assumed that he started using marijuana before then.

I didn’t even know what to think of this new life. Could I really handle living like this everyday? Sure, I loved my brother, but there only so much havoc I could handle.

It seemed like nothing in my life was functioning the way it was supposed to. Not my home life, not my professional life and definitely not my love life.

I would have to take it one day at a time, I suppose.

“So how are you holding up?”

I set my backpack on the floor. It landed with a heavy thump. I looked at Leo miserably. At the moment, I was completely jealous of him. He was sprawled out on the couch lazily, still wearing his pajamas at 3 in the afternoon. Leo had almost all of his college credits—he only had a few classes to take and he took them all at night. He didn’t have to deal with homework and boring professors just yet.

“Well,” I said, cracking my back since I was pretty sure carrying all of those books had rearranged my spine. “I went to the wrong classroom for one of my classes and the professor wouldn’t let me leave and then I was late for another… and now I have nothing but a ton of books and homework that I have to get done.”

Leo grinned maliciously.

“Welcome to college life.”

I groaned before dragging my backpack into my room. Following after me was Leo. Leo stuck his head in my room but didn’t go any further. He knew I would chop off his feet if he took one step past that doorway. He knew I didn’t want him in my room because I had threatened him several times.

“It gets easier once you get used to it,” Leo assured. He paused and asked, “Has that place hired you yet?”

“I applied for a lot of places.”

“The coffee shop, I mean.”

“No, not yet.” I unzipped my backpack and looked at him. “Oh, and, by the way… I didn’t bring this up before but I found out that you called the manager. I appreciate the help but it’s a little unprofessional. Please don’t do it again.”

He shrugged. “Yeah, sure, whatever. But just for the record, I’m sure Audrey will hire you. She’s pretty cool. Besides, you and I were born with the same charm!” He grinned stupidly. I laughed.

“Yeah, sure, charming,” I said sarcastically.

I was pretty sure there wasn’t a single charming bone in my body. If I did though, I would probably have a real love life…

“So how’d you find out?”

“She told me.” Audrey, her name was.

“What’d you think of her?” Leo asked. I perfectly imagined that smile of hers and my heart skipped a beat.

“What?”

“What do you think about her?”

“She’s alright,” I said casually, shrugging.

The truth was that I had thought about her quite a few times after I had met her and I scolded myself each time. It was too soon to be chasing after anybody. Actually, any time would be too soon. Truth is, I simply can’t hold down a girlfriend. Or boyfriend, for that matter.

I couldn’t help it. I was impulsive.

“Wait till you start getting to know her. She has a killer sense of humor.”

“What makes you so sure that I’ll get to know her?” I asked skeptically. I wanted to get to know her, especially since Leo was making her seem like this great and fantastic person, but there didn’t seem to be any possibility that I would.

“You’re getting that job, I’m sure of it,” said Leo confidently. “I would bet all of my money on it.”

“You’re not going to bet your money on anything,” I warned. “You spend too much money on pot to risk losing more cash on stupid bets.” I shook my head in disbelief. “Besides, you can’t be sure I’m getting a job there. I’m sure they won’t want an employee like me, no matter how well you did in your recommendation. Hell, you could be screwing every person there and there’s still a chance they won’t hire me.”

“Au contraire, little brother, I think you have the perfect skills to be their employee. I believe in you.”

“Thanks,” I said, genuinely meaning it. It was nice to have someone who had faith in me, even if that person was both my brother and a stupid druggie. It seemed that, nowadays, the only person that had confidence in me was, well, me. And recently, even my self-confidence was beginning to wane.

“Good luck on your homework,” he said, glancing at my books. Then he smiled. “And if you think things will get easier from now on, they won’t. College is one heartless bitch.”

“Thanks again,” I said sarcastically, thrilled by the not-so-great news. Was there anything that wasn’t difficult around this place?

Staring at my heavy backpack, I groaned before dragging it next to my bed. I went straight to work and he disappeared.

Jeez, I kind of hoped that the professors would go easy on their students on the first day. Man, was I wrong. I worked on homework for a grueling eighty minutes and I still felt like I had gotten anything done.

I decided I needed to take a break. I needed to get up, do something—anything, in fact, anything at all to get my mind off things.

Leaving an open textbook and a bunch of scattered papers on my bed, I abandoned my homework and left my room. Leo saw me leaving. He looked at me curiously.

“Going somewhere?” he asked.

“Yeah,” I said, nodding my head. “I need to get away from homework.”

For good, I added in my head. Textbooks were stressing me out. I felt completely drained.

“You better start getting used to it,” Leo warned. “Homework only gets worse as it goes on.” He grinned and, changing the subject, he asked, “So where exactly are you going anyways?”

“Anywhere but here,” I said, rolling my eyes.

I made sure I had my wallet and cell phone before heading out the door. I sprinted down the steps, slowing my pace only once I was outside of the apartment building. I noticed a person walking his dog down the sidewalk ahead of me. Once I was outside, out in the fresh air, I took a minute to take a deep breath. I needed to calm down.

Stuffing my hands in my pockets, I walked down the sidewalk. I wasn’t sure where I was going. Wasn’t there a park somewhere? Either way, I wasn’t the only one outside strolling. Lots of people were outside jogging, probably to stay in shape. Some might have been walking to go somewhere—there were lots of little stores in this city, I noticed.

I thought about what Leo said and wondered if what he said was true. He would know more about college life than I did so maybe it was time to listen to him. If I couldn’t handle the first day of college, how I was I going to get through at least four years?

Maybe it wasn’t my fault. I was stressed, really stressed. Moving into a new place, trying to find a job, dealing with Leo and my creepy gay neighbor… it was a lot to take in. True, I had been here for quite a couple weeks now, but that’s still not enough time to adjust.

Once I realized what I was thinking, I rolled my eyes. Why was I making excuses for myself? It was so immature. I stopped, contemplating whether or not I should go back to the apartment and finish my homework.

I looked over my shoulder. I could still see my apartment building in the distance, in all its red brick and brown roof glory. Just as I was thinking over my options, my cell phone rang. I picked up the phone, not recognizing the number, but answered anyways.

“Hello?”

“Hi, is this Jake Scott?” a feminine voice said. It sounded familiar.

“Uhm, yes, yes it is,” I said, taken aback. How come I didn’t recognize this person? She sounded really familiar.

“Hi, this is Audrey. I know your brother, remember? Well I just wanted to let you know that my boss wants to meet you for an interview. Is Sunday okay for you?”

My brain shut down for a moment, trying to process all of this information.

Oh yeah! Audrey, she was from the café. She used to hang out with Leo. I felt stupid for not remembering right away… especially since she was the center of my thoughts on many occasions.

Wow, I thought. She had a nice voice.

Then another thought crossed me. I was getting a job.

“Uhm, yeah, sure, that’s great!” I said, my voice cracking slightly, which was extremely embarrassing. Still, this was no time to be humiliated. I needed that fucking job. “Uh… what time did you say again?”

She laughed. I couldn’t help but smile.

“It’s Sunday,” she said. “Can you make it?”

“Yeah!” I insisted. “Thanks.”

“No problem. My boss wants to meet you at noon. Do you think you can be here around then?”

“Yeah, sure,” I said quickly. My heart was pounding really fast. If I could get this job, that’d be one extra load off my shoulders.

“Okay! He’ll see you then. Bye-bye.”

“Bye,” I said. Then she hung up.

I closed my phone slowly, staring at it even though the call had been ended. I couldn’t believe how happy I was. It wasn’t until I looked around that I realized where I was. Immediately, I began to head back home. I wanted to tell Leo the good news. I even wanted to thank him for putting a good word in for me. Hell, I wanted to worship him for everything!

On the way back, I jogged. I went back up the steps too. Upon entering, I practically swung the door open. Leo, who was standing in the middle of the room, turned around in surprise.

“I got the job!” I exclaimed excitedly. I corrected myself, “Well, I mean, I got an interview, but close enough!”

Leo blinked at me.

“That’s great,” he said, not sounding as enthused as I was. Wait, wasn’t this supposed to be the guy who believed in me? His eyebrows furrowed. “Back already?”

“Yeah,” I said, dropping my arms to my sides. My voice was still jubilant. “I have to finish homework!”

He flashed me a thumb’s up.

“Go for it,” he said. Then he continued walking toward the kitchen, opening the fridge and looking for a soda.

I stood there, panting a bit, before shutting the door behind me. Then I walked back into my room. I had to pace around a bit, to shake off my energetic feeling so I could relax and do my homework.

I think the reason why I was so happy was because, finally, something was turning my day around. Not just my day, even, but also changing these past few weeks—maybe even months. Something happened, something good: I had accomplished something. I was proud of that, really proud of that.

After calming down, I finished my homework. After that I fell asleep.

Maybe things in my life weren’t going as well as they used to, but at least I know I could look forward to Sunday.

End of Chapter

A/N: I know this first chapter may not be as strong as the first chapter of Bad Luck... but I promise the story gets better as it goes on.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. The second chapter may take awhile to post, since my computer is so messed up, but it will be posted eventually!