The Watch – Part 120:

The next morning, I woke up stress free. I didn’t have to worry about anything except relaxing for the entire day. I was back to my normal-self.

‘You’re looking perkier today,’ Amy said, mirroring my smile. We were sitting at the dining room table, having our breakfast. I made sure that I remembered that Amy was in the next room so I made sure that I knocked on the bathroom door before entering. I think that was one of the reasons why Amy was in a good mood, although I can assume that the majority was down to not having to worry about complex paradoxes or anything of the sort. I was having two pieces of toast with far too much jam on and a nice, refreshing glass of apple juice, and Amy had a bowl of cereal with so much milk I wondered if there were any cornflakes in there at all.

‘Thanks,’ I said, ‘and to you, too.’

‘Oh, and thanks for spawning in some pyjamas, a toothbrush, a towel, and other stuff,’ Amy said.

‘It didn’t even cross my mind that you didn’t have any stuff,’ I admitted.

‘Neither did I think of it,’ Amy agreed. ‘We were just so tired and full of pizza that I just wanted to lie down, and that’s it. So thank you, again.’

‘You don’t have to thank me, you know.’

‘I know,’ she said. ‘But I did, and therefore you must accept it.’

‘Fine,’ I said jokingly resistant.

Amy moved onto to the subject of today, ‘so, how’re we going to organise this paintball session today. I mean, we need to make sure if everyone is free today.’

‘Tom’ll be free,’ I said matter-of-factly. ‘He won’t be doing much over the summer holidays unless it involves playing games or watching films.

‘And what does he do when he’s not doing that?’ Amy asked curiously.

‘Go out and about. But even then he only leaves the house when he’s invited out. Sometimes he goes out to drag me out with him, but since he’s not here yet, I’m pretty sure he’s sitting at home playing the latest game or watching the newest episode of something,’ I explained. ‘So in other words, he’s free.’

‘Then you can phone him to explain what we’re planning and invite him over, and I know someone that might be available to come with us so that we will have a good team of four. I’m really excited that we’re doing this, mainly because you’re doing it.’

‘I will admit that this isn’t something I would normally do.’

‘And that means it’s going to be fun. Now,’ Amy stood up and took her bowl and my plate and glass into the kitchen, ‘I’m going to finish getting ready. You make the phone call to Tom and once I’m ready, I’ll make the phone call to my friend and we can all meet up at about ten-ish, which is,’ she looked at the clock on the wall, ‘about an hour and a half away from now.’ She then noticed that I was smiling and watching her act all excited. ‘What?’ she asked.

‘I’ve only just noticed how hypnotising you look when excited,’ I said, which took her completely by surprise. It took me by surprise slightly as well.

Amy stared at me as if she was contemplating something before saying, ‘and you have no idea how uncharacteristic that sentence was for you.’ In a way I was expecting that answer. ‘But,’ she said, stepping forward and lightly pecked me on the lips, ‘that’s a good sign.’ I couldn’t help but smile as she spun around on the balls of her heels and headed upstairs. I watched until she disappeared going onto the landing before I made my way towards the phone. Dialling Tom’s number, his phone rang two times before Tom picked it up.

‘Sebastian,’ he said. He sounded tired as if he spent a good portion of last night playing a game and only getting a couple of hours sleep, something that he’s rather used to after repeating the same routine for many years. ‘What can I help you with today?’

‘Well, hopefully, win a game of paintball,’ I said.

‘Wait, hang on,’ Tom said, trying to process the words that I just said. I could hear him making sure he was fully awake by slapping himself on the cheek. ‘Did you just say paintball?’

‘I did.’

‘You are asking me to go paintballing with you?’ he asked.

‘Not just me,’ I said, explaining that there would be four of us, including Amy and her friend.’

‘When are we meeting?’ he asked.

‘Ten-ish,’ I said.

‘That gives me about…’ he said, looking at the nearest clock he could, which could be anywhere knowing his room, ‘just under an hour and a half from now. Ok, I’ll be there.’

 ‘Awesome,’ I said.

‘And we are definitely going paintballing. I mean, you are definitely going paintballing. This isn’t some kind of joke or anything.’ He had to ask giving that he knows how my mind works.

‘Yes, we are definitely going paintballing.’

‘Blimey,’ he said. ‘If I knew that you having a girlfriend would seriously push your boundaries, I would have tried harder,’ he chuckled.

‘See you soon,’ I said.

‘At ten, yeah?’

‘Yes, ten.’

‘And we’re definitely going paintballing?’

‘See you soon, Tom,’ I said. I understand as to why he is struggling to believe. I know that he’ll be expecting it to be a complete ruse the entire time he’s walking to mine, but I’m quite proud of myself that it actually wasn’t.

‘Bye,’ he said before putting down the phone.

‘Right,’ I said to myself, clapping my hands together, ‘he’ll go back to sleep for an hour, Amy will phone her friend when she’s ready, and that leaves me to, I guess, sort out the money and all that stuff.’ I headed into the living room, grabbed my bag and took out my wallet, opened it up and tipped out all the coins and notes that I had inside onto the table.

‘What the heck was that?’ Amy said coming down the stairs. She saw me counting my money, ‘oh, right, yes, I forgot about sorting out the cost’ she said before turning around once more and picking up the phone.

We spent the time waiting for Amy’s friend, Alex, and my friend, Tom, to arrive, by counting out the necessary money we needed. This included, the entrance fee, the price for a certain amount of paintballs – we are planning to get 1,000 at a time, so that way we won’t keep running out so often, and, as Amy pointed out, the equipment is included with the entrance fee, so that’s rather handy.

Tom was the first to arrive, followed shortly by Alex. I’ve seen Amy hang out with Alex during college as she was a part of the social group. She had bright red, shoulder length hair and a tattoo on her shoulder of a purple and pink butterfly right next to a white tank-top, which was followed by those designer jeans that had deliberate rips in the knees. She was chewing some gum that she was blowing into a huge bubble and popped the moment that I had opened the door.

‘Hey,’ she said casually.

‘Hi,’ I said. She didn’t wait for me to step aside, instead she just stepped forward and expected me to stand aside. At least it wasn’t that one friend of Amy’s who I feel doesn’t like me very much, who I can’t remember her name at the moment.

‘So, is everyone ready?’ Amy said. All four of us, Tom, Alex, Amy and I, were standing in the living room, waiting for when it was time to head out.

‘I’m ready whenever everyone else is,’ Tom said. I couldn’t help notice that he was masking some nerves with his excitement. That’s very unlike him. He’s never nervous when it comes to this sort of thing. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, I don’t know, but it was certainly something that I noticed, so it couldn’t have been nothing.

‘Right, then,’ Amy said, bouncing on the tips of her toes, ‘let’s roll out.’

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thanks for reading

Antony Hudson

(TonyHadNouns)