Abi watched Eric and Keith sit on the couch from the kitchen. They sat on the far ends of the couch, as far away from each other as they could. She let out an annoyed sigh. So it was time for this again? For seven years, she’d watched them play with each other’s feelings and break each other’s hearts over and over, when would it end? She wasn’t sure how things were between them before she came along, but when she’d met them, she had asked if they were a couple and they couldn’t agree on that. Which was quite a yikes. They’d been in this relationship limbo ever since.

Eric went out of his way to meet other people now, he’d never done that before. Did it mean he was done with Keith? Was he looking for someone new? Had Keith realised that? How would he react if he did?

She tried not to insert herself in their relationship too much, the last time she did that was the catalyst of how things are now. She should’ve stayed out of it. 

She’d considered their suggestion of finding a hobby. It would be nice to have something to do other than look at screens when they weren’t planning a robbery. Eric was looking for that too, now. Didn’t seem like Keith was, but he seemed content with how he spent his time. 

What could she do? What would she like? A physical activity? Anything artsy? She didn’t want to leave the house too much; risky. Going on hikes wouldn’t be for her. Reading? No, reading gave her a headache. Watching anime was more TV, which defeated the purpose of finding something other than that. She knew ‘finger painting’ had been a joke, but something artistic did seem like a good option. If only she had a single creative bone in her body.

She sighed. She didn’t know. She could go into town and look around for something there, since she could use a break from the tension here, anyway.

Abi entered the pharmacy, pulled a number and waited in line. She didn’t like the medical smell of the place.

Her number was called and she approached the counter. The pharmacist greeted her with a smile.

She smiled back a bit and said, “Prescription for Abigail Jones?”

He typed on the computer. He rubbed his chin, then nodded. “One moment.” He walked away.

He came back a minute later with a couple of small boxes of pills. He put a sticker on it and handed it to her. “Here you go.”

Abi took them. “Thank you.” She turned around and went back outside. She checked the label on the box to be sure, the box was different again. 

Estrogen, okay it was correct.

She went on her way home, through the shopping centre. She was reminded of the suggestion of a hobby again. She could take a look around.

There was a game store. Video games defeated the no-screen purpose.

An arts and crafts store. No, she decided against that.

A bookstore, also no.

A garden centre. Huh, she hadn’t considered that. She could care for plants. But that wouldn’t take up that much time. Or she could take a step further and begin gardening.

An aquarium store. Caring for an aquarium could be cool. But same as plants, that was mostly to look pretty. Other than keeping it clean and feeding the fish, what could she do with it? Buy more stuff, she guessed. But they always only paid in cash, if she constantly bought things and only ever gave cash, people might get suspicious.

How about a pet in general? Like a cat or a dog? That would take a lot of time. But should she risk putting an innocent animal in danger? Their lifestyle wasn’t the safest. And what if something ever happened to them, who would care for it?

She exited the shopping centre and continued on her way home.

“Wanna meet up at the library today? We don’t only have to meet during writing group hours.”

Eric read the text from Ben. He smiled. He did want to leave the house for a bit.

“Sure, I’ll see you there,” he texted back. He grabbed his jacket and called out to the house, “I’m going out for a bit!”

“Okay,” Keith called back.

Eric opened the door and went on his way to the library.

He walked in but didn’t see Ben anywhere. He sat at the table in their usual spot and got his phone out, then hung his jacket over the back of his chair. 

He’d been enjoying hanging out with Ben, it was nice to have this bubbly ray of sunshine in his life. Keith and Abi were fun too, but they always had a darker, pessimistic tone to them, which matched Eric’s own. He liked having a more optimistic presence around.

He saw Ben walk in with his black messenger bag over his shoulder. He smiled at Eric when they made eye contact. He hurried to come sit next to him.“Hi.”

Eric leaned on the table and gave a smile back. “Hey. Did you have anything in mind that you want to do?”

Ben pulled his laptop out and set it down on the table. “I thought it’d be fun to start outlining one of your stories.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yeah. I have a bit of a writer’s block, so helping you would be nice for a change of pace.”

Eric chuckled. “Sure.”

“Do you have something on your phone you could use? We could use my laptop, too.”

“Uh.” Eric thought about it. He couldn’t think of any apps he had on his phone that he could use for this. “Your laptop’s better.”

“Alright.” Ben opened a program, it looked like a corkboard. One file was opened, it had a bunch of little cards on it, colour-coded and placed in a certain order. “This is the outline for the thing I’m working on.” He opened a new file. “I like to put all the ideas I have for scenes on a card each, then figure out the order of everything and how it’s connected after that. Kinda, puking up all your ideas onto the board and worrying about how it makes sense later.”

Eric laughed. “How elegant.”

“There’s nothing elegant about the writing process.”

Eric put his hands up in defeat. “Okay, professor, keep teaching me how to write.”

Ben stuck his tongue out to him. 

Eric leaned closer. “You even look like a professor with your glasses and that bag, all you need is a necktie.”

Ben raised a flirty brow. “Would you like that?”

Eric put a hand on his chest. “Well, I don’t go to college, but I’m pretty sure professor-student relations are quite taboo.”

“So what? If we both want it, then that’s our business.”

Eric pushed their shoulders together with a hum and a smirk. “How about you keep teaching me for now?”

Ben grinned back. “If that’s what you want.” He turned back to his laptop. “What idea do you want to go with?”

“Let’s do the one with the demons.”

“Hell yeah. Any ideas for scenes?”

“I had this one scene in my head with one of them running into the other after years. And of course the big reveal. Several of them.”

Ben pushed his laptop to Eric. “Go ahead and puke them up.”

Eric typed his ideas. Meanwhile, he thought of something he was curious about. “Why do you write?”

Ben shrugged. “I like the escapism.”

“How did you get into it?”

“When I was a kid, I always made up stories. It was comforting.”

“Comforting for what?”

Ben tensed up and looked away. “I was lonely,” he said, barely audible.

Eric hummed with a frown. “I was, too.”

Ben smiled a little. Eric smiled back. He returned to the laptop. He liked working on this together with someone, especially someone as cute as him. He wasn’t sure where this would go, this friendship, but he’d like to find out.