One Step at a Time

Well, here it is, the start of my first fic. It took probably three or four days just to get this one little chapter out, but starting is always the hardest part. Once I get going and in a flow I should be able to produce better, longer, and quicker chapters.

Here\'s hoping it\'s not a complete train wreck. Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated.

= = =

“I tell you, I can’t stand these hot summer days anymore!” Nick blurted out as a customer left the store and the dry, hot air shot in.

“It’s not hot.” Jake replied. He was leaning against the counter resting his head on his hand as he glanced at a magazine from the shelf. “It’s only ninety-eight out.” He added.

“There’s something wrong with you, man. I can understand being able to take the heat, but it’s nearly a hundred and you’re not breaking a sweat. And you’re wearing jeans too, what the hell?”

That was Nick, all right. He would find one thing to rant about and pick at it all day. Despite that he was still a good friend of Jake’s, even though they didn’t hang out much outside of work they made the day more bearable by playing off each other. He was right, though. Jake could handle the heat better than anyone he knew, but it was late in summer and soon it would be Jake’s turn to harass Nick when he wears a short sleeve shirt in the winter while he was bundled up in three layers of clothing.

“Shorts suck, that’s why I wear these.” Nick just sat back and shook his head at Jake’s odd mannerisms. “Well, anyway, it’s noon. I’m going to take my lunch now. Want me to bring anything back for you?” Nick shook his head again and Jake was on his way.

Right next door to where Jake worked was a sandwich place where he usually ate if he was actually hungry. And every day he entered he was greeted the same way. “Hi, Jake!” It was Alice, one of the girls that worked there. She was a cute brunette with blonde highlights and a sunny disposition. The two of them had only known each other for a few months, but had grown fairly close. Jake had actually wanted to ask her out a few times, but always got to nervous to bring it up, then she started seeing somebody and he pushed the notion to the far reaches of him mind. As he did many other things. “What will you be having?”

“Turkey and ham, the usual.” He said dryly. Despite knowing each other for a while he was still shy around her and it was no secret to Alice, even though Jake thought he hid it well. “And a coke.” He added, almost forgetting.

Jake watched as she punched in the order and noticed her glance up at him a couple times between keystrokes. “So, it’s Friday. Have any plans tonight?”

“No, no, as usual. I’m tired anyway, so I’m just going to sleep straight until noon tomorrow.” Answering while thumbing through his wallet for the total that was flashing on the monitor.

“Well, you should go out sometime. Every time I ask you seem to give me the same response. And your change… you number is twenty-five.” She handed him a receipt with a smile and he nodded in return. Jake motioned to a nearby booth and plopped down next to the window. He immediately commenced his nervous habit or fidgeting with the receipt as he started out the window. The exact same thing he did every time he had waited for his, unless he came with Nick or happened to catch Alice when she was on a break too.

“Twenty-five!” Alice called out a few moments later. Even though she knew who the order belonged to she would call the number, but every since Jake pointed that out to her in only continued and she couldn’t help giggling when he would roll his eyes at her. As Jake reached for his lunch she pulled it back abruptly, “But seriously, see about going out sometime. You need to get out there and have fun. Meet someone, get married, and have kids. Lots and lots of kids.”

“I think you’re kind of skipping ahead there.” Playfully taking his food by force. “We’ll see, though. See you next week.” They waved their goodbyes and he went on his way.

***

It was later that night after work sitting at his computer desk with the chaos of a dismembered DVD player covering it. It had stopped working earlier that week and like everything else that broke, he took it apart just to see if there was anything obviously wrong with it before scraping it for a new one. In this case, nothing. Some dust and a little gunk in the disc tray gears, but that was it. Still, as part of the fun of it, he put it back together and took it out to the garage and placed it back in the box it came in.

“Scrap” was perhaps the wrong word for it. Anything that was confirmed to be broken was never thrown out, but kept under his workbench just in case anything could be used later. The bad pack rat trait that his parents and grandparents had, and now apparently he had. He stepped out of the garage and onto the grass, stretching his back and cracking his neck as he looked up to the sky as some of the first stars were showing their faces. Not long after he heard the phone ringing and rushed inside to catch it before the machine did.

“Hello? Oh, hey Will. No, nothing. I was just outside for a bit. You?” A few moments of silence passed as he was listening to the response. “Oh really? No, I don’t have plans later… bowling? I don’t know… I guess. What time? Ok, see you then.”

He hung up and threw himself back in the chair covering his eyes with his arm. Will was a good eight years older than Jake, but they met by chance when he was in high school and oddly became friends. They tended to be opposites in every way, but still managed to be close. Even stranger was that keeping friends wasn’t one of his strong points, so Jake was the victim of his random outings quite often, a lot of the time to places that he wouldn’t even consider going to otherwise. In a case like tonight he would have declined his invitation, but it was only to bowling. He wasn’t a fan, but it couldn’t be that bad he thought.