Methis Delis POV
I do not think I have ever laughed this hard in my entire life. Did Xander really think that he would look good on a dancing machine? He was swinging his legs aimlessly and he definitely did not know what to do with his arms. His score on the game currently was 1,059 Pts. You might think this is an impressive number but when you consider the fact that his 12-year-old opponent was on 5,559 Pts, you just had to feel sorry for Xander. Xander’s young opponent wasn’t putting enough force into his efforts. He played the game like a child who was bored of playing one easy level over and over again meanwhile Xander played like his life depended on it.
We were currently at a dance club where me and Xander had agreed to spend our day off after he had made both of us report sick to school.
After yesterday’s class, we both went our separate ways and I headed back home. I was so scared that I was going to have that dream again that I took more sleeping medications. I phoned Xander before I went to bed and expressed my concerns about my dreams. After we talked for about an hour, I was finally at ease and I slept without the dream though with the help of the meds. I woke up sore, wondering why I had not thought of the surrogate incident all those four years after it had happened. Why was I thinking about it now? There had to be an explanation for it all. I felt inside me that something was wrong, something was about to happen and whether I was going to find that something pleasant or unpleasant was left up for debate in my head.
Xander had shown up in the café where I ate breakfast even before I showed up and ordered bacon and hot chocolate for the both of us. Even though it was the exact same breakfast I had had the day before that tasted tasteless, the fact that Xander was here with me and, as his manner was, cracking all sorts of wrong and right jokes, the breakfast felt merry to me and I just then realized how I had let Xander become a big part of my life up to the point where his presence and absence was capable of altering my mood.
After breakfast, Xander suggested a ruse – we call in sick today and then after we are given leave for today, we go far from the part of city we were both used to and have some fun in the parts we were not so used to. It sounded sore to me at first but after a little nudge in the right direction by Xander, I accepted wholeheartedly, hoping for a new experience and some adventure along the way. We called in sick. First Xander, and after thirty minutes, me so nothing suspicious be traced. We had blamed the sickness on exhaustion and since we were both on the same project, it was more believable and we were even apologised to for being overworked.
We booked a cab and took a long drive to the outskirt of the city from where we began our exploration. We visited many sites from a bar to a random restaurant that was medieval themed with waiters dressed and knights and noblemen and women. We visited a large temple that was a usual tourist attraction that we had no idea even existed. During the visit, the tour guide taught us that it was said that the supernatural usually happen here and it has been derelict for a very long time but that they have been seeing strange things on their CCTV cameras recently and some local theologist has speculated that there is a revival of whatever force that used to live here. I had heard a fair share of supernatural tales to last me a lifetime during my surrogacy year. I was not ready to listen to one again.
Now we were currently at a dance club where Xander was getting roasted by a 12-year-old kid. The game ended with Xander at 2,001 Pts and the boy on 7,899 Pts.
“You are not a very bad dancer, mate,” the boy said after the game ended, extending a hand out for Xander to shake.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, loud mouth. I only let you off so you don’t cry.” Xander shook the boy’s hand.
The boy smiled and responded. “Didn’t seem like that, stiff legs.” He ran off after his banter leaving Xander calling after him and pondering the name.
Xander turned around and saw me holding my hand to my mouth. “You better not laugh, Methis,” he warned. That was all it took to get me laughing like a hyena.
I stumbled over and held my stomach. When I got up, talking was very hard to do but I managed to do it. “He called you stiff legs.”
“Yeah, you better not repeat it.” Xander could not help but laugh as well. “But were my legs stuff?”
“They were as stiff as an iron used to hold up a bridge.”
“You really didn’t have to put it that way.”
We both laughed on our way out. As I got out of the club, I jaywalked by accident. That was when I heard a loud hunk and a black SUV skidded to a stop just inches away from me. Xander rushed in in time to push me away. He balled the car but with its tinted glasses there was no way to tell who was in it so we moved on.
We went to a few more places before evening came. When evening came, it was time for us to head home. As we made a walk towards the bus stop, I noticed that Xander was no longer focused on whatever it was we were doing or whatever it was that we were talking about.
“Xander, what is the problem?” I asked.
“Have you done anything of recent that might anger anybody?” he asked.
I stopped walking for sometime and looked up at him. It was an odd question to ask especially given the occasion that we just concluded and entire day filled with fun. “I don’t understand. What is it? Why the sudden question?” I asked him.
“Have you?” he insisted on his questions. It was not hard to tell if he was joking. His face betrayed no emotion of laughter.
“No,” I responded. “You need to tell me what is going on, Xander. Are we in trouble?” I asked.
“I might. You might. We might.” He looked around slyly then turned back to me. “That black car. Do you remember it?” he asked.