Nobody Really Knows

“Hang on a second, Cy. You’ve frozen again” Drew’s cute English accent blared out of my tinny laptop speakers.

“Aw! I thought the whole point of video chatting is being able to see each other move? Hence the word video! Otherwise it would be photo chatting” I lightly complained as we waited for the program to sort itself out and start functioning properly again. “Actually, photo chatting would be awesome! That could be the new latest thing! We totally need to make this, Drew and become millionaires from the idea!”

“They already have that, Shane. It’s called Snapchat, you can get it for free on the App Store. I downloaded it yesterday” even without the aid of the now streaming camera feed I would have known Drew was smirking when he said that.

“Damn! I was getting ready to bullshit some statistics on Dragon’s Den…” I threw my arms in the air in defeat.

The world is stealing idea’s out of my brain and going back in time to make it look like they’re their own. How rude. I need to be able to passcode lock my thoughts or something… now there’s a concept! I would have gone off completely into my own little dream world had the front door not been slammed, making me jump.

“Hey, Shane!” Kier called out to me as he strode into the apartment, trying to juggle several bags in his hands unsuccessfully. Luke – who had been reading a book in the armchair in the corner – saw that Kier was going to drop the bags up the floor any second now and stood up to help him. We didn’t want a repeat of last time when six pints of milk went up the carpet because the carrier handle snapped.

After the bags were all safely on the counter, my red-fringed friend bounced over to me and noticed the webcam light was lit up on my laptop, signalling a web call.

“Who you talking to, Cy?”

“Drew” I replied happily before starting to laugh out loud as Drew started pulling duck faces at the camera. “Wooly, that really not all that attractive!” I added on the end, louder so that the microphone
would pick up the noise.

“Millions of selfie-loving Facebookers and Tweeters can’t be wrong!” he yelled out indignantly, this time loud enough that I could hear him talk without the need for microphone.

As I started to laugh Kier just looked at me as if I was crazy.

“Is Drew in the other room?” Kier asked, bemused and disbelieving. “What is the point of Skyping each other when you’re less than 10 metres away?”

“Because apparently normal communication is “too mainstream” now” Laurence answered for me as he emerged from his and Kier’s room – a chocolate chip cookie clutched in his hand.

“The internet’s the future, Bevvers!” Drew exclaimed loud enough that we all heard him actually speaking rather than through the speakers. Kier just raised his eyebrows at me as the laptop parroted what Drew had just said but a couple of seconds later.

“Well that’s some real hi-tech equipment you got there. You’re what? A room away and you’ve got lag time on your audio. Congrats, guys” Laurence teased us. I just huffed in response before reaching out and snagging the cookie out of his hand.

“Hey! That’s mine!” he cried as I started munching on it.

“Was yours, Bevs. WAS yours” I clarified and smirked when I heard Drew’s cry from the other room.

“Laur has cookies?! And you weren’t going to share it with me, Cy? I am hurt!” he called dramatically. I turned my attention back to the laptop screen in time to see Drew’s small figure jump up and run off to the side of the screen; leaving me staring at the wall of our room. Within a couple of seconds though he was back in my sight again. This time he wasn’t virtual though and he was running towards me and more importantly Laurence’s MY cookie.

“No, Wooly! Mine!” I huffed out as the blonde haired boy jumped on me and pinned me down on the couch.

“Aw but Shaneeeee!” he drug out saying my name making himself sound like a whiny child. “You know how much I love cookies!”

“I also know how hyper you get after sugar. I mean, you’re hyper enough already. I am not fuelling THAT fire” I countered while purposefully looking at the way Drew had me pinned on the couch.
He just shrugged and ripped a bit off of the remaining half of the cookie I had in my hand. Before I could react he shoved it in his mouth and grinned at me like a madman… Then he realised that he had stolen something precious to me and jumped off before he could become a DEADman.

“Oh you’re going down, Drew!” I leapt off the couch after him and pounced on his retreating form, tackling him to the carpet. Soon enough it turned into a full out tickling war. Yes, tickling. I could never seriously hurt Drew, but tickling him is hilarious. He has such sensitive skin and sense of touch it sends him crazy. We lay spread out on the floor tickling each other while Luke, Laurence and Kier just watched us - their expressions caught between amused and worried.

“This is punishment for eating my cookie!” I told the squirming and laughing Drew underneath me.

“I would just like to point out that it was in fact MY cookie in the first place!” Laurence interjected but we both chose to ignore him. He should know that if he brings cookies near us he will lose them.
As we continued to playfully wrestle on the floor Luke lost interest and went back to reading again while Kier and Laurence continued to just look at us.

After a few seconds of contemplation Laurence turned to Kier.

“What the hell is wrong with them?” he asked seriously.

Kier took one more glance at us before turning to the taller man and answering truthfully.

“Nobody really knows…”