Saturday, 4/13/2216, Part 1

“Well aren’t you just Mr. Popular,” Ami said, mockingly, as I rolled on the floor, writhing with anxiety.

I had woken up feeling like shit, and my day only got worse from there.

At first things looked promising. After pounding the glass of water Ami had left out for me (thanks Ami) and dry heaving twice in the sink, I sat down in the kitchen and let the glorious freedom of the weekend wash over me.

The weekend! How I had missed her. How many days had I fruitlessly pined over her, longing for her sweet two day embrace? (Five). I smiled as I ate a chocolate breakfast bar and swallowed a dietary supplement, thinking about how I would beep BLAZE after a cup of coffee and how late in the day I could potentially hold off to avoid looking like a total loser.

Then I remembered.

Ami was in the middle of summarizing the news.

“… what is possibly the largest bust of a terrorist cell in the tristate area in the last 7 years last night in Astoria, Queens. Responding officers attempted to use non-lethal force until such tactics proved infeasible. Thirty four non-living bodies were taken into police custody as of 10am, as well as several tons of illegal violence inciting materials of a propagandistic nature. The terrorist group in question is believed to be radical unemployed terrorist group the “Human’s Union” who have been emboldened in their attempts to hijack democracy since—“

“WAAAAAHHHHH!” I yelled, clutching my head and curling into a ball.

“What happened?” Ami asked.

“Ahhhhhh! I was very rude to Ontivia last night!” I exclaimed through gritted teeth. “Aghhhh, she just wanted to talk and I said ‘Nope!’ like a dumbass!”

I would have to take drastic action. Hadn’t I been waiting for her response for so long? And when it finally came what do I do? Why am I so stupid? I have to wake up for this. Main menu, select body, select brain, select focus, increase 10 points. Ok, there it is, I’ll just apologize profusely and hope she hasn’t realized that I’m not worth the effort.

Ami, patient as always, sat down next to me and said, “it’s ok, just tell her you were out drinking with your boss last night and—”

“WAAAAAHHHHHH!” I yelled again, doubling back over.

“Hey, it’s not that big a deal, just tell her—“

“NO!” I cut her off. “It’s not that. UGGGHHHH!”

“Then what?”

“I was drinking with my BOSS last night. My literal actual boss! And I was a terrible drunk and I really upset him, and I just found out he was a good guy and, and, AGHHHHH!”

This required incredible unimaginably drastic action. For all my complaining about it, I didn’t want to lose this job. How long could I last in this apartment if I was unemployed? Maybe five or six months? Not only that, my landlords might kick me out if they found out I didn’t have a job. It was tough for the unemployed. Not to mention I couldn’t go into half the bars, stores, or restaurants in this town if I had a U on my ID. Well, not that I go out anyway, but yiiiiikes, this is bad.

My heart was beating like a hyper-drum line and my head was pounding as my hangover pain came back with a vengeance.

Internal Notice: Heart rate unusually elevated. Do you require assistance?

Select no.

I reached down and hugged my knees in a vain attempt to flatten myself onto the seat of my chair.

Then… I froze.

My NAC was notifying me about an incoming call on my personal line.

“Ami. Ami. AMI AMIAMIAMI what do I do!?”

“Answer!” She said with an evil smile.

“But… aaaahhhhHHHHHH!!!”

And thus, I fell to the floor to writhe in agony.

. . .

My augment made it look and sound as if he were standing right there but it was an entirely internal illusion, unlike Ami who was projected. The man who appeared to be standing before me was tall and slim with golden brown skin and straight black hair tied back in a ponytail. He wore a white denim jacket with the sleeves rolled up, large totally aesthetic sunglasses, and a big goofy gap tooth smile. He looked way cooler than when I had last seen him.

SI:2178:—;GOVT:102, Seitaro Ibrahim

“H-hey Seitaro, how are you?”

“How are you? This fucking guy, how long’s it been and that’s what you hit me with? Nah, how are you bro?”

I smile despite yourself. He’s always been like that. I would never know he was a high ranking government official who had worked his way up there through the Orange corporate ladder. Well, I wouldn’t know know a high ranking government official or Orange employee if they slapped me in the face. Big 4 employees weren’t exactly a dime a dozen and I was very fortunate to even know one.

“Decent bro, real decent.” I say, slipping back into the mannerisms of my youth as best I still could. “What’s good?”

“Kriiissss! I’m just tapping in with my guy cause I’m about to be in the land for a little minute. Links real soon if you can swing it, yeah?”

“Yeah, for sure.” I respond immediately before following it up with disbelief. “Wow, that’s so crazy, I just had a dream about you.”

Some people might be put off when someone they haven’t seen in years mentions that they dreamed of you, but I knew Seitaro better than that.

“Ordained bro, real shit.” Then after a pause, “When you off work on Monday?”

“5:30pm”

“Bet, I’ll come scoop you, be easy my guy!” He said matter of factly and then ended the call.

I stood there in silence for a second, staring at the place where his image had been with the same stupid half smile on my face.