Of course in the end, life continues on as normal, the mundane, eating at the cafeteria, saving money, and a new partner—
"Woah the pizza here is tasty right Cael~?" Evelyn—No Eve said as she sat beside me, I imagined she'd be rather upset of losing her position as team leader but it seems like she's passed that point
"Ya sure? Bet my ass I could cook better then the ones you get here" His voice sounded quite irritating one could say, a comma haircut paired with a taper fade, quite short
"You'd cook it for us Jeremy?" Evelyn asked her while patting his back, like he was an old friend,
"HeH, as long as you provide the ingredients I'll cook up anything ya want."
"Ya hear that Cael~?—Cael?"
"Huh? Yeah, sure sure let's go! Whenever you like"
"It's fine right Jeremy?"
"Of course." he said with a beaming smile, one full of friendliness, an extroverted chill person who could get along with everyone, I still remembered our first meeting.
"Nice to meet 'cha the names Jeremy hope we get along." with a big smile and a huge grin, that was my first impression of him. Extroverted, Loud, Fit, the exact opposite of me, yet we got a long quite well.
"You like War Thunder dude? It's a fun game, you should definitely try it"
I thought he was a nice and cool guy, and truth to be told he was until…
"CAN YOU EVEN FUCKING PLAY YOU FUCKING NIG(After much thought the author has decided to let the readers imagine what sort of curses he gave.)"
He was a rather… excited person. full of energy… yes full of energy indeed, he was blunt but also understanding in his own way, he never asked anything about my past or that incident with Evelyn's. I really thought he was a good person.
Of course that was until a few weeks ago, when we were eating what the cafeteria called, Special Pizza, it was just full of cheese. It was just the 2 of us at the time, Eve went home early to deal with some things.
"Ya know Cael, you're an interesting guy." Jeremy said, starting a conversation
Crunch
Munch Munch
"lz htast so?" (Is that so?)
"You always check the door when someone comes in. Every single time. Most people here don't bother"
"I see?"
Munch Munch
He went silent again as he ate the Pizza in silence, then he spoke again.
"You also always sit facing the exit."
"Uh huh." For a second I froze, as I didn't even notice I did that.
"Oh? you didn't notice? Well don't think much about it" He said again as he looked at me for a moment before continuing eating his Pizza, I had stopped munching my Pizza.
System, does he have any mind reading abilities.
[No.] It went before going to [2]
Does he have any super powers from fiction.
[No.] It went before going to [1]
"You're dozing off again?" He said giving me a smile.
What? Does he know???
[Yes and No] it went before going to [0]
"Were you thinking about me?"
"No? No!?! No no no, why'd you think that way?"
"Just instincts."
Yeah… he's scarily accurate, and for someone like me, a human with a limited google, this was something scary, if he finds out and reports it to the security team….
Shiver
I don't want to think about it…
"Right~ let's go tomorrow then?" Evelyn said as she stood up, ready to throw away the paper plate.
"Alright, see you lots then, I'm gonna grind War Thunder again."
"You're skipping work again?"
"We have no work today, it was done by another team."
"Oh~? Then should we make the Pizza today?"
"Sure, you can just come to my house, just remember to buy the ingredients." He said before he stood up and left.
"Hey Eve."
"Yeah?"
"Doesn't he feel scary?"
"Oh? Nah, he's always like that~ just incredibly perceptive. Sometimes I wonder if that's his talent, anyways~ let's go grab the ingredients now~" Eve said as she took my hand and we left work.
—A random Meijer supermarket.
"We're buying Mozzarella right?"
"The cheap one?"
"Hmmm.. I mean I want to but Jeremy's the one cooking, he'd probably get mad if we bought the cheap one"
"There's a difference of 5 dollars… I could buy large loaded fries at checkers."
"Ehhh, what'd you think?"
System? It went silent, I mean obviously, it was a weird system, sometimes it works sometimes it just go silent.
—
"Oh? You bought the expensive ones eh? Anyhow welcome to my humble apartment, it ain't much but it's something." Jeremy said as he welcomed us with a big smile.
"Of courseee, the stuff you cook always tastes great"
"HeH, cheap or expensive I'll turn it into a 5 star Michelin Meal."
One glance at his apartment, and it looks rather.. average? It's clean. tidy, the living room had a pretty old looking couch with a cheap TV, a few dumbbells here and there, and a tank model of a?
"Oh that? that's a replica of a Tiger 1 Tank" He said with a big smile, one could tell he really likes those tanks as we placed our stuff at his living room and went to his kitchen
"Huh…" I muttered out of confusion
"What?"
"This was not what I expected…"
"I know right??? I had the same reaction when I first came here." Eve chimed in happily, as if telling heh, see??? I'm not the only one who was shock. when Eve said he was a good cook, I expected him to have high end cooking gear with all sorts of spices and equipment's yet…
"Isn't that a 20 Dollar Kitchen Knife?"
"So?"
"And those are plastic cutting boards." And a scratched countertop that didn't look like it was meticulously maintained.
"Bah. A good cook doesn't need good equipment's, You just need skills, Watch. You guys can wait at the living room." He said as he spun his cheap kitchen knife into a circle. That definitely needed some skills…
"Why are you grating the cheese yourself?" I asked, out of curiosity I had look into the kitchen
Jeremy looked at me like I had committed a crime worthy of death.
"Pre-shredded cheese."
"What about it?"
"It contains anti-caking agents."
"..."
"It melts worse."
"..."
"It also tastes worse."
"..."
"You've never cooked before have you?"
Later…
"Why are you weighing the flour?"
"Consistency."
"Does it really have to be perfect???"
"The difference between a good cook and a bad cook is that one follows vibes."
He pointed at himself.
"And one follows math."
Eve immediately pointed at him.
"He's lying. He eyeballs half his recipes."
"Shut up."
"…"
"You're also mixing the dough yourself???"
"It's better"
And 3 hours later…
"Holy Fuck?!?!?"
"Eat."
Crunch
The crust cracked. Not hard. Not soft. Somehow both.
The cheese stretched. The sauce tasted sweet first before turning slightly acidic. The pepperoni was crisp around the edges.
...
"Holy shit." That was the only thing I could mutter, I could somehow see Eve trying her best to hold her laughter.
"Well Of course it's good, we spent 20 dollars for the ingredients." I muttered. if we only bought the cheap stuffs it would only be—
"No we didn't."
"What?"
"We spent twenty dollars on ingredients. I spent three hours fixing your mistakes."
"What mistakes?"
Jeremy stared at me.
"Everything."
"..."
"Pre-shredded cheese."
"..."
"Cold dough."
"..."
"Store sauce."
"..."
"Anyways eat up, the Pizza's gonna get cold, also would you guys want to drink anything?"
"I'll have a zero sugar coke please." Evelyn said as Jeremy nodded and looked at me.
"Then, a Pepsi." I said before he disappeared into his kitchen again, at the same time Eve looked at me like I comitted a crime.
"Why pepsi?"
"Cheaper."
"Here's your Zero sugar Coke and Pepsi" He said as he placed 2 glasses infront of us, before he drank himself some water
"I'm only cheating on my meal, not my drink" He said and we soon ate what felt like a Pizza made in heaven.
—
"Hol'up need to grab something from my room" he said as he opened one of the unassumingly ordinary looking door.
Creakkkkk
It sounded old, the hinge was creaking but.
"What the fuck?"
Three Monitors. THREE MONITORS not two with a massive desk stretched across the wall, cables neatly bundled underneath, a mechanical keyboard, flight stick, throttle. A pair of racing pedals. A VR headset hanging from a stand.
Then Shelves. Entire shelves. Tank models. Big tanks. Small tanks. Modern tanks. World War Two tanks. A tank made entirely out of smaller tanks.
One of the monitor displayed War Thunder. Another had what looked like thirty tabs discussing armor penetration values. The third was somehow a spreadsheet.
"Jeremy."
"Yeah?"
"How much did this room cost?"
"Which part?"
"The room?"
He looked around and scratch his chin for a moment before saying
"Six Grand?" With the most innocent sounding fucking voice.
"YOU LIVE LIKE A HOMELESS MAN"
"A man's got his priorities straight."
"YOUR COUCH LOOKS OLDER THAN ME "
"It's comfy"
"YOU HAVE A 20 DOLLAR KNIFE"
"It get's shit done."
"Why—?"
And in the most dignified and most flat tone every, he calmly said. "War Thunder." with the most solemn look, the most serious face ever. Ahhh. I see, he was one of th—
"HAHAHAHA—" Eve's laughter from the living room, somehow I feel like I could see her on the floor holding her stomach…
"See? she gets it."
"No I don't!" She said between her laughs
As he rummaged through his drawer, my eyes landed on what looked like a leather notebook partially opened, as curiosity took over me and I slipped a glance. It read
Evelyn = Loves Mushroom, Likes Coke (Zero Sugar Only), definitely loves Scuba, owns 17 SCBA helmet probably more.
Cael = Checks Exits, Hates sitting with his back exposed, Watches reflection, Doesn't seem to notice his own habits
Randy =—
Thud
"It's not a good idea to peak at someone's diary y'know" With a smile, his usual smile, yet right now it looked incredibly unsettling.
"Why do you have this?"
"Hobby"
"That's creepy."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"No"
"Y—"
"Skill Issue."
"Eh people have their own hobbies you know Cael" Eve said as she had stood up infront of the door
"Anyways, wanna play Mario Kart?"
—
"JEREMY WHY ARE YOU TARGETING ME?!?!?" Eve's scream could be heard frantic, annoyed.
"Potential Threat."
"I'M AT 7TH PLACE, CAEL'S LITERALLY 6TH"
"Your good, he's not."
"HEY—"
In the end I got 1st place once, Eve got it 6 times and Jeremy… 13 times.
"Alright we're gonna head out now~" Eve said as I also bowed, it was already 23.00PM
"Bus 17 already left. The next one's in twenty-three minutes."
"..."
"It's raining in twenty-seven."
"..."
"The shortcut near Franklin Street is closed."
"..."
"Just stay the night"
—
In the end Eve apparently took Jeremy's bed because she was a woman
"That's sexist."
"It's called manners."
"Fair enough."
"Also, why are you covering her ears with those noise isolating ear ph—"
He was no longer listening to me.
Click Click
"GET HIS TRACKS"
"…"
"Sorry…"
And 3 seconds later
"GET HIS FUCKING TRACK YOU PIECE OF SCHEI—"
Ah. There it is, committing war crimes left and right.
Thud
A leather notebook landed on my lap
"You were curious right? Read it." He said without sparing a glance towards me.
"…"
Evelyn = Loves Mushroom, Likes Coke (Zero Sugar Only), definitely loves Scuba, owns 17 SCBA helmet probably more. Doesn't know how to say no.
Cael = Checks Exits, Hates sitting with his back exposed, Watches reflection, Doesn't seem to notice his own habits. Look tired 24/7 Needs better sleep Schedule.
Randy = Says he hates cats, definitely likes it. Doesn't talk about his Ex-Wife.
Amanda = Caffeine Addict. Very Empathetic, Emotional.
There were many more, and suddenly the room felt just a little quieter. They weren't blackmails. Just. Observations.
"Hey why do you even write things like this?"
"Humans are forgetful creatures. I do to. I hate forgetting things."
"…" Maybe he wasn't creepy. Maybe he was just Observ—
"LEFT LEFT LEFT SHOOOTTTT—BOOOOMMM—YOU FUCKING STUPID ST—"