Boyd groans at himself, he feels so pathetic for signing himself up online for the contest where he can earn quite some money if he wins. He has to game and defeat everyone to win the prize, it’s actually really pathetic but he doesn’t care. Because pathetic is currently the only way that fits his description perfectly.
Boyd recently became a college dropout who is helping take care of his siblings and having two part-times jobs, which are getting quite boring. Through those two jobs he did save a lot of money and he would like to use that money to at least travel once in his life. He figured out that he needs quite some more money before he can make that happen though, so that’s why he entered the contest.
But who knows, maybe he must be stuck in Canada forever he doesn’t know. He decides to quickly log out from the site and maybe check later tonight for more information.
After logging out of the website and closing the internet browser Boyd spins around on his chair, before realizing one thing. He doesn’t know jack shit about online gaming, as he never has been a fan of it much. Maybe he should look for someone that’s good in online gaming and is close to him, so they can play the contest for him. Maybe he will find some extra rules and whatnot online and maybe he can practice a few times. It didn’t sound like a hard game; it was a game called ‘Rocket league’ which was something with soccer and cars.
As Boyd is still spinning on his chair, he notices the time on the clock, letting himself abruptly stop the spinning as it is time to leave the home to pick up his little sister from the day care. He grabs his keys before he heads out of the house, locking the door after him. He looks up slightly and sees it’s sunny outside, so he decides to walk to the day care of his sister. Which luckily isn’t that far away from their house, just a ten minutes’ walk.
Both his parents are currently very busy with their jobs, his dad because of the new promotion – as a junior partner of the law firm he works at. His mother is busy because she has a manuscript to finish for a big play that’s coming up. To be honest Boyd always thought his mother was way too busy with her work rather than her family, he doesn’t understand why she has three kids. It may be his father’s wish to have three kids and his mother just went along with it to keep him satisfied. He doesn’t even remember his mother being there a lot when he was younger. After school it was always the nanny and then his father would be home and once in a blue moon his mother would be home before he went to bed. Because of that he never had a good bond with his mother, but lately because his father is so busy, they barely had time together too. He hasn’t even been able to tell both his parents that he has dropped out of college.
Instead of going to college every morning, Boyd goes to one of the two part-time jobs he has been working on ever since his summer break – his working days get reduced to one evening a week for a few hours at a time after the summer break. Now he has a part-time job at a publishing company, and he goes there three days a week, with changing hours, but he always starts in the morning.
Next to that job he has a job at a small diner Bakelicious, where he is working full days on the weekend, since they serve lunch and dinner, he can make 8 hours each day there as a waiter. Which means that next to a paycheck, he gets tips every first of the month.
His tips are always spent on himself and doing something fun. Usually he ends up spending his tips on an outing with his siblings. With his pay checks he always pays his bills and spend what he needs to spend, may it be groceries or clothes he always has a limit he can spend on those things every month. All the other money he has left goes into his savings, for when he needs it to escape everything.
Lately Boyd has the feeling as if that moment is coming closer and closer, because he is not feeling like himself lately. He has that nagging feeling that something is missing in his life, or that something is out of place and he can’t grasp what that thing is, making him feel confused a lot.
He is also struggling a lot with his sexuality lately, as he has been confused about it a lot. Seeing as he never has had any serious and real relationship but only a few short ones with girls he doesn’t know why he is doubting. Since a few weeks he has been doubting whether he likes girls or that he in fact likes guys, especially after the encounter he had at publishing ready with this young new male writer he hasn’t been quite sure how he should be feeling. After that encounter he has caught himself staring at males a bit too often, especially at his barista job.
Everything together makes the feeling of something being awry only worse, and he can’t seem to accept it yet that he’s feeling all those confusions, because what if it’s only a phase because it has only been happening since a few weeks. Yet he thinks it won’t be the worst idea to escape everything and get to know himself better.
Boyd is so lost in his own thoughts that he doesn’t notice the person in front of him and they collide, getting Boyd out of his own thoughts, noticing that he has already arrived at the day-care location of his sister. Boyd looks at the person he has collided with and sees that the male is giving him an angry glare, Boyd is happy that the man didn’t fall and is still standing.
“I am very sorry, sir.” Boyd says immediately once he seems the glare is getting angrier.
“Watch where you’re walking boy, you better be happy I wasn’t holding a cup of coffee or anything else. Because if that was the case it would have cost you a lot.” The male says.
Before Boyd can utter a reply at the male, he hears his little sister scream his name, so he looks at the direction it’s coming from and he sees that his sister is running his way. Once she has arrived, she hugs him tightly.
Boyd looks up and sees the male is still standing there, shaking his head slightly and having a disapproved look on his face.
“I’m very sorry. I’d like to make it up to you sir. If you come to Bakelicious this weekend, you’ll get a free coffee and baked good on the house. Just make sure to ask for Boyd and I’ll be helping you then.”
The male doesn’t reply, only giving a slight nod with his head before he walks away, Boyd follows him slightly and sees he’s walking towards two little girls, who are probably his daughters. He feels a tug on his hand and looks in that direction, seeing his sister.
“Hey Lily, I’m sorry for ignoring you. Are you ready to go?” He says as he is picking her up.
Lily nods at him and he grabs her bag from her as she holds it out to him, slinging it over his shoulder.
“Let’s go then” Boyd says and starts walking.
While walking back home, Lily keeps talking about what she did at the daycare today. For a three-year-old, she sure does love talking and it’s hard to get her to stop talking. She does sometimes still struggle with words and forming sentences, but for a kid her age she talks very good. It makes Boyd very happy to see her so animated about things – so carefree and happy without any worry. She always talks happily about what she did at day-care but also if it’s one of her own fantasy stories.
“Bo?” Lilly says, she sometimes shortens Boyd his name to Bo, most of the time when she wants something from him. “Lilly wants pancakes.”
“Do you Lily?”
Boyd feels her nodding against his neck and decides that it wouldn’t hurt to make a small stop at the supermarket to the ingredients for pancakes and prepare them at home.
“Then we will eat pancakes.”
“Yay, pancakes for Lily, Bo and Connor.” Lily says.
Connor is the 14-year-old brother of Boyd and Lily, he’s a high school student. He usually is arriving home around the time Boyd gets back from picking up Lily from day-care. It’s good that Conner is home that early because that means that the three of them can eat together.
Boyd makes his way towards the supermarket, Lily still on his back – she is slightly swinging her legs along his steps, kicking her legs softly against him from time to time.
“Lily wants to walk” she murmurs as they are nearly at the supermarket.
“Lily, you can walk soon. Once we are in the supermarket you can walk.”
Boyd feels her head nod against his back and continues walking towards the supermarket. When they reach the supermarket, Boyd lets Lily down and she holds out her hand towards him. He takes her hand and grabs basket with his free hand. They walk straight towards the milk section of the supermarket and Boyd grabs a carton of milk and puts it in the basket. He and Lily starts walking again to grab all the other ingredients. When they have the milk, eggs, flour and syrup for the pancakes they walk around for a few other things like; drinks, candy and cookies. When Boyd has grabbed everything, he starts taking Lily towards the cash register. While putting everything on the cash register Lily helps Boyd by handing him stuff.
After everything is paid and bagged Boyd picks up Lily again and they start making their way home.
When Boyd and Lily gets home, he puts her down and she immediately takes off her coat and shoes and runs towards the kitchen. Boyd laughs slightly and puts the bag down, taking off his jacket and shoes before following his sister towards the kitchen. When entering the kitchen Boyd sees Lily up on a chair already at the counter. Boyd places the bag on the counter and starts grabbing the utensils he needs to make the pancakes.
Boyd puts the ingredients in a bowl and moves Lily closer to him and the bowl so she can help mix the ingredients. While mixing the batter he hears a door open and he notices that Lily hears it too, because she tries to get off the chair. Boyd helps her and when her feet hit the ground, she runs towards the hall.
“Connor.” Boyd hears Lily scream before a crashing sound.
After the crashing sound Boyd hears Connor curse, after a few more curses Connor and Lily come walking into the kitchen. Boyd shakes his head slightly at his brother, Connor knows that Boyd dislikes the cursing which is why he did it before entering the room, even though he knows he shouldn’t do it front of his sister.
“Hey Boyd,” Connor says. “Are those pancakes you are making?”
“Hi Connor, yes, you’re right, it’s pancakes I’m making. Lily wanted to eat pancakes.”
Connor starts grabbing us plates and drinks, putting them down on the kitchen table instead of sitting down and waiting for Boyd to do all the work. Connor also makes sure there is maple syrup on the table and some butter for their pancakes.
“Lilly, let’s get you dressed in something else before you get all messy.” Connor says.
Lily climbs off the chair she has been sitting on since she came back from greeting Connor in the hallway. She takes Connor’s hand and the two disappear towards Lilly her bedroom to get changed. While they are away Boyd finishes making the pancakes and stacks them on 3 plates. While he does so, he hears the front door opening, frowning a little at the sound. No one is supposed to be coming home for another hour or so. Boyd makes sure the stove is off before he walks towards the hallway, surprised when he sees his father Isaac standing there.
“Mmh do I smell pancakes? Are there some left for me?” His father says with a grin on his face.
“Of course, dad, there are pancakes for you left.”
“That’s good,” his father says as he takes off his coat. “Also, Boyd, I would like to talk with you after we finish eating.”
Boyd nods at his father before walking back towards the kitchen, his thoughts are mixed as he wonders whether he should be afraid or not for the talk with his father. Usually their father is an easy man, if you don’t cross his boundaries. Boyd sees that Lily and Connor are already patiently waiting at the kitchen table when he enters the room. He makes sure to grab another plate and when he places it down onto the table their father walks in.
“Papa.” Lily screams when she sees her father.
“Hello my little princess.”
Their father smiles at the three of them before he sits down with them on the dining table, as soon as Boyd sits down Lily attacks her pancakes. Resulting in the other three to chuckle slightly at her action, she just glares at them while she keeps eating.
“How come you home so early pa?” Connor asks.
“Well, it was a very boring day today. Wasn’t much to do so I finished work pretty early and then I decided to go home and spend some time with my kids.”
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