I looked in the mirror for the nineteenth time, wondering if at least this outfit was okay or not. To think of it, this is the first time since as long as I can remember that I have stared in the mirror so many times. The knitted sweater and the trousers were the clothes so far that I thought would work out. Also, I did not think much about my appearance when visiting Mason’s house for the first time. Ok, maybe I thought about whether I looked decent enough or not back then.

Jones was looking at me again and again when I was sipping my coffee. I raised my eyebrows at him when we both made eye contact.

"Wondering, why are you looking different today than usual?” Jones looked at me from head to toe and asked, “Is it a date?”

I nearly choked on my coffee.

“Hey, Chris, be careful there. You can’t ruin the sweater, alright?” He rubbed my back in an up-and-down motion. “It’s lovely, I hope whoever that person is just falls for you at first sight.”

I gave Jones a look as if I was shooting him daggers. I was not able to utter a single word to him due to my choking. Well,  I had faith that at least now he got the message to stop spouting nonsense.

“Easy there, buddy.” He brought me some water and sat next to me. “I am sure you will be fine. This is not your first date, right?”

“It’s NOT a DATE!” I said, finally catching my breath.

He slouched on his chair and said, “Oh well, oh well, I thought it was not your first date.”

Is my roommate deaf? I did not know that.

“It’s not a date. I am visiting a friend’s house.” I told him.

He looked at me. I looked at him.

He tilted his head and said, "Look, Chris, don’t shy away from me about discussing your dating life.” He put his elbows on the table and said, “I am willing to share about my dating life with you too.”

“I don’t have a dating life.” I told him. This time, I carefully sip my coffee to make sure I don’t choke again. I almost choked before too last week, no choking again this week, not a whole month. No, wait a year. No, I would probably, for a lifetime,  love that.

He looked amused, “Here I thought a sweet guy like you are taken.”

I gave Jones a bewildered look.                        

I sighed, not wasting my time here. “I am visiting a friend’s house, don’t know when I will be back today.”

He said, “A friend? Who?”

I got up from the chair and put my coffee cup in the sink.

“Hey, don’t do that.” He whined.

“It’s none of your concern.”

“It is, you are my friend.”

I began to walk out of the apartment, saying, “See you later, Jones.”

As I closed the main door, I heard him shouting, saying to tell him everything later. I will think of that later.

Michael had shared his address with me the moment he got off the bus. It was not that far from the stop he had gotten off, just 15 minutes of walking away from the stop. I glanced at my messaging app. I had messaged Adam about the last night call incident. He had texted back that his team would look into it and asked me to be wary of my surroundings. My ear's pain faded last night, as I had drifted in sleep on the bedroom floor. How come the bedroom floor felt more comfy and not bed itself did, is still a mystery to me.

~~

If I was not feeling nervous about visiting Michael’s house before, I certainly am now. While sitting in the bus, I told myself countless times that I was just there to say hello to him and his dog, nothing more. While glancing between my phone and around me to get the location, I realized he lived away from skyscraper areas. This part of the city's people had more of its own houses than apartments.

The house I was standing in front of had a spacious yard fenced properly, and one portion had a shed for parking, or was it a garage? It was a two-story house, and its windows sill had some plant pots attached to them. It was his house, according to the address. I walked towards the house, through the stoned path that led to the porch of the house. There were some more plants hanging from the roof. Some chairs were kept in a random direction.

I stared at the ring button for like 1 minute or more, my feet were shuffling while I was trying my best to stand still. The passersby on the footpath must be thinking I am some suspicious person, so I finally gave in and pressed the button. It did not take another second, and I was already hearing thudding voices that were becoming louder and louder. And then, it stopped, and Click, the door opened.

“WOOF”

Michael was standing in front of me, huffing.

“Hi Ho-”

"Mic, don’t go around sprinting like that in the house, you will break the floor one day.”

I saw someone passing behind Michael, the person was holding some books. He stopped in mid-way and glanced at me.

“Oh, you must be Mic’s friend, I am Cole, Michael’s grandfather.”

"Hello, sir, it’s nice to see you.” I hoped that I did actually sound pleasant when talking to him.

He squinted his eyes, "Oh, please don’t, It makes me feel like I am in school being a daunting teacher.”

“WOOF”

“Call me Cole.” He said this while readjusting the books he was holding.

“Ok Cole.” I told him.

The brown dog was wagging his tail frantically and trying to come near me.

I bent down and began petting his head, he did not mind it, so I continued. Also, I had a feeling that during that time Michael was motioning something to Cole, so he disappeared somewhere inside the house with his books. I was quite curious about the books he was holding, but given the fact that I already had some books that I wanted to read.

"Hey, you should come inside,” Michael signaled to the dog to move away from the front door. “So this Brownie, as I had mentioned before.”

“Yes, and he is so adorable.”

"Yes, and a nuisance too, for your kind information.” Michael said.

I raised my eyebrows.

“Really, I am not joking, Chris.” He put his arm around my shoulder and said, “Don’t just stand, come in.”

I looked around. It was a bright day today, most of the light was coming from outside, lighting the living room. There were some dog toys scattered around on the wooden floor. Brownie happened to be taking up the middle part of a large gray sofa. Michael took his arm off my shoulder and asked me to  take a seat, while walking to the kitchen.

I looked at the two empty single person sofas and then looked at Brownie. He wagged his tail and looked into my eyes. Was he staring into my soul? I read somewhere that our eyes were a window to our soul. Was it true?

Michael came after some time, from the kitchen  with some snacks and looked at me and his dog. I was sitting next to the dog on the other side of a large gray sofa. He sighed and kept the snacks on the table. Brownie got up from his seat and decided to claim the snacks for himself.

"No, no, not for you.” Michael motioned for him to stop. “Chips are not for dogs.”

Brownie whined. Michael took out a chicken’s toy from his pocket and showed it to the dog. “WOOF”

He threw it another direction, and off the dog went to fetch it. He smiled and sat next to me.

“Finally, so do you want to play some games after snacking?” He asked me.

“Yeah.” I told him while munching on the chips.  “What games do you have, though?”

“Nitro Racing, Dragon Ball Xenoverse”

I nodded, not saying anything, mostly eating.

“WOOF” I turned my direction towards the sound, Brownie was playing the toy.

“It’s his favourite toy.” Michael said.

“How is he a nuisance?” I asked him.

He looked around the room, and so did, Right, I forgot about the mess on the floor.

“Brownie is a tiny furball of energy.” He said it in slightly lower volume. “And has sharp ears.”

“He loves you,” I told him.

Michael nodded and leaned on the sofa. “Yes, I do too.”

I asked him, “How has college been for you so far?”

“It’s been fine, not exactly good, though.” He said, while staring at the ceiling or was he staring there and not spacing out?

“Is everything alright?” I asked him with concern.

“I've just been stressed out. You know college stuff and all.” He straightened up and adjusted his hair. “But basketball and hanging out with you AND all the other guys feels refreshing.” He gluped and stiffened for a moment, but was smiling again.

“Well, that’s a good thing to hear.” I slumped on the coach. “Mason agreed with the one-day hike thing in the forest after our exams.”

He looked at me and tapped my shoulders, "Well, That’s amazing. Steph is already into this, though I am not sure about Clara.” He gleamed even more than before.

“I am sure Steph will convince her to join somehow.” I told him while relaxing in his couch, it was quite comfy, no wonder Brownie took the middle seat.

 He gave me a quizzical look.