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Alston and Cedric were walking up a humid apartment staircase carrying coolers and bags. Aged teal wallpaper was streaked with drops of water slowly flowing upwards where they would seep through the cracks of the white ceiling trim. Condensation in the carpeting would occasionally collect to large enough orbs that they would let go of the deep burgundy carpeting and plip up to the stucco ceiling. Flickering fluorescent lights buzzed, illuminating the hall of doors on this floor of the Canada Moist Talker Dormitories.
“Do you remember which dorm they live in?” Spliff grunted out. Walking beside him, just as slowly, Alston Cervesa was squirming under his peacoat. It was warm, and a great coat for the rain, but now it was obviously getting too hot. Also squirming was Hops, Alston’s ferret. Hops small face peaked out of Alston’s collar, now eager to climb up onto his shoulder now that the rain wasn’t coming down.
“They told me they lived in the Spit room, which I believe could be any of these. We would be wise to keep an eye out.” It was that kind of serious talk, the use of words that were so interesting to Cedric. Talking with Alston was a show. A real concert of an experience. It was so surprising that his charisma came from being a business figurehead and not entertainment, but it was so easy for Cedric to just be struck by Alstons smile time and time again. It wasn’t long until Alston convinced Spliff to move out of the Dormitories. Many of the Canada Moist Talkers had opted to live outside these lodgings, finding empty buildings to claim and fill with decorations, furniture, and other things. Alston lived in a penthouse, Fish lived in a home for the elderly, but the Teen Squad lived here in the Dormitories. Dorm 51-17, with a curve of wadded pieces of gum stuck in a half-circle around the first “1,” made an impression. The door was labelled “SPIT.” This was what Alston and Cedric were expecting. Alston knocked on the door, and it opened to Jesús, and sounds of CV and York yelling over a video game.
“AAAHHHHH DORK I’M GOING TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO BEAT YOUR CHEAP TRICKS ANY SECOND NOW AND WHEN YOU DO YOU’LL-”
‘Hey guys! Come on in! How was the weather outside? I heard it was really bad but we can’t see when it’s really dark out eh?”
“CV if you can’t beat a strat I googled 3 minutes ago you don’t deserve to win. Just look up how to beat it or-”
“Well,” Alston chuckled, “We’d never miss Burger Night!” Hops scrambled around his shoulders and made a wild leap onto Jesús. Jesús caught Hops, of course, and the ferret quickly rested on the back of his neck, atop his shoulders. Alston threw his coat on a coat rack, and Cedric took off the poncho he had been wearing and tossed it to Alston, who hung it up as well. The common space of the dorm was small for five people, but a countertop and set of cabinets divided the kitchen. A small slit allowed both the audio and the visual to reach through both. Almost like a television, but with just one channel: heated teen gamers.
“Hey Ced, I got this. Just throw the ingredients on the counter and I’ll get it started.” Before Cedric could ask if Alston was, in fact, sure that he wanted to make all five specialty burgers on his own, Alston had produced an apron and started putting it on to cover his very casual dress shirt, waistcoat, and ascot. Cedric wrung out the hem of his Temperate Sea Monkeys band t-shirt into the kitchen sink and walked into the arena that was the common space. Cedric fell into the couch with York and CV. CV had his head in his hands, and York was grinning looking at him.
“Ok York. I need a five minute break and I’ll be back to knock you back to the bottom of the scoreboard.”
“Oh just take the L dude, Sephiroth just came out. You can’t expect to master him immediately.” York chirped back. CV just stood up, raw from losing in the realm of video games, and sulked over to the kitchen. Jesús nestled into an armchair, watching Hops who was trying to climb into the pouch of his hoodie. Spliff took the moment for what it was, now that York was able to realize that he was here.
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“How’s your Siesta been going dude?”
York kept a grip on his controller, but smiled at the opportunity of the answer. “It’s been great! I’m set to take a vacation to Hawai’i tomorrow. I wanted to fit in one last burger night first!”
“Hey that’s pretty cool! Excited to see your Moms again?”
“Yeah, I miss them more than I thought I would.”
“Hey you should show off those new Uke skills. Bring the one I gave you and don't worry about breaking it I have a ton of those things”
“Oh I should go pack that!” Typical Moist Talker. All heart, wants to be thoughtful, but needs a push to be sentimental.
York dashed off to his room, leaving Cedric to joke with Jesús about Hops. Meanwhile, Alston and CV were talking business in the kitchen. Alston had just finished unpacking everything. The pans, the ingredients, and the utensils.
“How many new subs this week Vapor?”
“300. It’s a 40% increase from last month.” CV leaned against the refrigerator, arms crossed.
“So what’s your new angle?” Alston asked, placing a pan on the stove element and setting it to medium heat.
“I took a break from Flortnite, and now I’m learning all the dances I missed.”
“What will you do when you learn all the dances?” Alston questioned as he began grinding cuts of beef into a bowl; later spicing them as CV mused over an answer.
“I have about a week to figure out, but I could always try to beat all the Dlance Dlance Rlevolution games.”
The patties hit the pan, sizzling and hissing to punctuate CV’s conclusion. Alston just turned and smiled. “That’s a good projection my boy. Spliff would think highly of such foresight! Oh, and do you like pickles on your burger?”
“Yeah, and I hope you remembered a pineapple ring for York.”
“Oh I never come to an event unprepared.”