Making Plans

“That was one hell of a morning.  Good night, Ari.”  Toby muttered as she left him at his own door.

“Thank you, Toby.  I’ll get Lisa settled in and fixed up at the monastery for now.”  Ari said as she disappeared.  Lisa had chosen to go to America, but it was definitely not possible at this moment in time.  When she was 18, and could have a reliable back up story, sure.  But for now, it was trouble enough filling in her parent’s memories about her taking a trip to Italy with her friends.  But the monks would teach her a decent amount of self control, and there was nothing too valuable stored there.

Toby sighed and headed up the stairs in his house.  He definitely wanted to go back to sleep.  He had spent a whopping two hours with the girl, Lisa, comforting her and trying to show her that it wasn’t the end of her life.  He really couldn’t imagine being a female, by any stretch.  Or getting that drunk when he was that young.

Toby awoke hours later, somewhere between twelve and two, ravenously hungry.  He decided that this night would be his.  He would go and lead a normal life.  They would go bowling, or to the mall, or just hang out and play video games, or go see a really bloody, really bad movie.

“You slept late.”  Toby’s father commented as he walked into the kitchen, immediately beginning the search for food to ingest.

“I couldn’t sleep for part of this morning, for some reason.  And then I was exhausted, so I just kept going.  I can do that, you know.”

“Wait until you hit the real world, and have a job.  You don’t get to sleep as late as you want.”

No, no I don’t.  Toby agreed with his father as he finally found something sort of appealing: cereal.  He pulled the box out of the cupboard and sat down at the table with it.   Cinnamon Toast Crunch.  Yum.

A drink was required.  He pulled himself out of the chair and went for the fridge, with milk in mind.  He pulled the gallon jug out of the fridge and opened it, taking a small whiff before putting it to his lips.  He had learned the lesson about sour milk the last time he had tried to drink it straight from the jug.

I wish she had just... waited an hour.  Or something.  She didn’t need me the entire time... now I’m going to be exhausted all day.  Ugh.  Toby’s thoughts echoed in his otherwise empty brain.  He reached over to the kitchen counter and grabbed the phone.  His friends should be up by now.

“Gary there?”  Toby asked.

“Sure, hang on a second.”  Gary’s mother yelled for him through the phone.

“Sup bro?”  Gary asked as he picked up the phone.

“That was ghetto.”  Toby laughed at his friend.  “What are we doing tonight?”

“Don’t know.  What do you have in mind?”  Gary asked him

“That’s why I asked you.  I’m sure there are movies playing somewhere.  We can go find a concert to go to.  Bowling.  All those healthy, drug free activities... ”

“Oh, stop making it sound so gay.”  Gary admonished him.  “We just know how to stay out of trouble.  What our parents don’t know – won’t hurt them.  We don’t need to drink to get in major shit.”

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