Toby woke up the next morning at around 11. As he sat up, the book he had been reading fell to the floor. Guess I fell asleep while reading again, He thought to himself. He flopped back onto his bed and reached for his phone. Normally, Toby expected to only see notifications from the game he played, and maybe a text from his dad reminding him what chores he needed to do during the day. Instead, he saw that he had a couple of texts from Marc.

     Opening up the messages, Toby read the messages in order:

     Marc: Hey, we still hanging out today?

     Marc: Its cool if you don’t want to though.

     Marc: Hello?

     Toby checked the time Marc sent these messages, and saw that it had been over an hour ago. He quickly responded, hoping that Marc wouldn’t be irritated that it had taken him so long to reply.

     Toby: Sorry. I was asleep. Yeah, I’m still ok to hang out.

     After hitting the send button, he stood up and stretched, his back popping loudly. He really wasn’t too sure about hanging out with Marc, as it had been loud and crowded last time he was there, but he also didn’t want to push Marc away. He seemed like a genuinely nice person. Toby couldn’t see himself opening up to Marc about a lot of things, but he could see themselves hanging out and maybe playing video games.

     Toby left his phone on his bed as he went downstairs to grab some food. He saw a note on the coffee pot that read: “We missed you at dinner! I left a plate in the fridge for you for when you get hungry!- Tom”. When he opened the fridge, he found a plate that had a generous portion of lasagna on it, as well as a large piece of garlic bread. Grabbing the garlic bread, as well as the coffee creamer, Toby closed the fridge and poured himself a cup of coffee. There was no way he could get through the day without coffee.

     Just as he got back to his room, he heard his phone’s text notification go off.

     Marc: No worries! I was just worried I somehow had the wrong number. You can come over whenever you want to.

     Toby: I’ll start walking over in about 10 minutes. I’m still half asleep.

     He put his phone back on his bed, then quickly got dressed. He wondered if he should bring anything with him. Grabbing his backpack, he emptied it of his school stuff and put his book in it, along with a notebook and his tablet. Toby left a quick note to his dad before leaving, letting him know where he went. If his dad came home while he was gone, he would probably panic, since Toby almost never left the house on weekends.

     The walk to Marc’s was quick, and as Toby approached the house, he felt anxious. He quietly knocked on the door, and it took several seconds before it was opened by a grumpy looking Jake who just walked away after opening the door. Toby closed the door after entering and just stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do. He should have asked Jake where Marc was. Two minutes of awkwardly standing there passed before Marc finally walked into the room. When he saw Toby he grinned, then frowned.

     “How long have you been standing here?” He asked.

     Toby shrugged before saying “Not long. Jake let me in and he looked angry so it seemed safe to stay here.”

     “Next time you can just come to my room, or the kitchen. Jake’s just grumpy because he got an email from one of the author’s he edits for. They always miss their deadlines.” Marc said, leading Toby through the house to his room. When he opened it, he motioned for Toby to come in as well. Marc threw a large bean bag at him, then plopped down on the floor. “ You gonna sit or you gonna stand there all day?” He asked in a teasing way.

     Toby sat down on the bean bag stiffly. This was already turning out to be way more awkward then he wanted it to. He was worried that Marc was going to decide that he was too weird and would start avoiding him at school, and then Marcy would also start avoiding him and he’d be back to being a friendless loser.

     While he was worrying, Marc started to get a game set up on the tv in front of them. Toby was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn’t hear Marc when he asked him if he’d played this game before.

     “Hello, earth to Toby, you in there?” Marc said, waving his hand in front of his face.

     “Huh? Oh, Yeah… um, what did you ask?” Toby said, feeling his face heat up in embarrassment.

     “I just asked if you’ve ever played this game before? Its kinda old.” Toby looked down at the controller that Marc must have put in his hand at some point, instantly recognizing it as the same game system he had played a lot when he was younger.

     “Yeah, I used to spend hours playing games on this thing!”

     “Great! Then I won’t need to take it easy on you!”

     The pair quickly became absorbed with trying to beat each other on the game. Before Toby realized it, several hours had passed. Finally taking a break, they wandered into Marc’s kitchen. Jake was seated at the island with a laptop in front of him, typing furiously, and glaring at the screen. As they looked over the pantry trying to decide what snacks they wanted, Marc’s phone rang. When he looked at the screen he frowned at it before answering.

     “What?” Toby tried not to look confused at the way Marc answered his phone. Up until now, he didn’t know that Marc had any other emotions besides happy. Toby did look up though when he heard Marc make a frustrated noise. Marc noticed Toby’s reaction, and he motioned for Toby to stay here and look for snacks as he started to walk out of the kitchen into the next room.

     Toby stood there, awkwardly looking at the pantry for a minute when he heard Jake suddenly stand up. He looked up and watched as Jake poured himself a cup of coffee.

     Noticing he was being watched, Jake looked at Toby, then asked “Want some? Cups are up there, and there should be creamer in the fridge if you want it.” Toby nodded, going to where Jake pointed, then pouring himself before going to the fridge. After he made his coffee the way he liked, he took a long sip, then smiled. The entire time, Jake was watching him, sizing him up.

     “Sorry about how I answered the door, by the way. One of my authors decided to miss their deadline, again.” Toby nodded, acknowledging Jake’s apology. “You’re a quiet one, aren’t you?” Toby only shrugged in response to this question before drinking more of his coffee.

     Marc came back into the room, running a hand through his hair as he placed his phone into his pocket. Toby looked up at him with raised eyebrows, silently asking if everything was ok. Marc shook his head, before turning towards Jake.

     “We’re going to have visitors in around 20 minutes.”

     Jake took a sip of his coffee, nodding. Toby wasn’t sure what Marc meant, but he didn’t sound happy, and the frown that was now on Jake’s face told him whoever was coming over wasn’t friendly.

     “I could go? If you need me to?” Toby asked, not really sure He or Marc wanted him to be here for when the unfriendly visitors will be arriving.

    “Oh, yeah. Sure. Um… see you Monday at school?” Marc asked, trying not to sound nervous. Toby nodded, then went to the sink where he rinsed his coffee cup out.

     Grabbing his backpack from Marc’s room, he waved goodbye as he walked out the front door. Just as he was nearing the end of the street, he turned to see a car pulling into the driveway.