part 1:https://hive.blog/writers/@restcity/shower-boy-a-short-story-part-1

Later, when I headed over to William’s house, I felt great. Now I’m just as cool as them. I thought. I have skins like William and Akiema and Rose, and I’m not just the kid with the annoying little sister and no game skins.

I found that Rose was already at Williams’. Perfect. I’d let her know what I did too.

As soon as we got on the game, I saw my character wearing his cool blue ninja suit in the game for the second time that day.

“Woah!” William and Rose choroused as they stared at my cool new Hero suit.

“Hacks! You have hacks!” Rose yelled as her eyebrows slanted in anger. “That isn’t a real skin, I’ve never seen that before.”

“Yeah it is. It just got released in the shop today,” I told her. “take a look at the Sunken Heroes store for yourselves.”

William went to the Object Shop tab and saw the same ninja skin I had on my character.

“No way you bought that today. When did you buy it? 12:00 a.m.?” William asked sarcastically.

“On the dot.” I told him.

“What!? Okay, spill the beans. How’d you get this skin, and what were you talking about in your text messages earlier?” he asked me.

“Well, you see-my parents weren’t just gonna hand me a credit card to buy a skin, so-”

“So you stole their credit card?” he asked me, unbelieving.

“Nope. I borrowed my grandma’s.” I said smiling. “Without her permission.”

“Uh-” sputtered Rose, flabbergasted.

“And that’s not all I bought!” I said before either of them could say anything else. I went to the ‘skin’ tab in my game screen and scrolled through the five skins I’d managed to buy, along with other Sunken Weapons and Sunken pets I’d bought in packs.

“Do your parents know about this?” Rose asked.

“Nope.” I hated that question. It made me slightly scared deep down, thinking about what they were gonna do once they found out. IF they found out.

William’s mouth stayed open. “You're gonna die dude. You're dead meat once your parents get a load a’ this.” he said, the reflection of my new skin reflecting in his eyes.

“Chill dude, I’m gonna return it to grandma sometime today. Grandma’s mellow, she won’t hardly punish me.” I told him, a little of my grandma’s accent was lilted in the ‘hardly’.

“Yo, you gotta buy me the Flower Power skin.” said Rose.

“Uh-uh! Why should I?” I asked her.

“Because I’m your friend and you basically have a credit card! C’mon dude please?”

“I thought your mom was getting you that skin.” I stalled, hoping the server would hurry up and connect us to a game already.

“I lied to sound cool. Please.” Rose begged sadly. I gave in. After all, I knew how it felt to badly wanna be like everyone else, and now Rose was the only one of my friends who didn’t own a single skin.

After I sent Sunken-bucks to Rose’s account for her to get that Flower skin, we played for a few hours until she announced she had to bounce.

“My parents have to go to this bank to set up an account for me and my sisters. What a way to spend a saturday.” she said glumly.

We all jumped when we heard a car horn outside. We ran to the front hall and looked outside.

Right in front of William’s house was a smooth, black, shiny limousine that stretched about 30 feet. It had silver letters across the doors that read ‘bestlimo’.

This was beyond the levels of William’s belief. “Woah. They must have the wrong address. MOM!? DID YOU BUY A LIMO!?” he yelled across the house. “NO! WHY?” she yelled back. “COME LOOK!” was all he said next.

“Nah man. That’s my limo.” I told him. Maybe I was flexing a tad. But so what? I (temporarily) had money. Why not use it?

“I didn’t know you had cash like that.” Rose said to me.

“This wasn’t bought with your Nanna’s credit card right?” William asked me, looking very nervous.

“No. I didn’t buy a limo with my Nanna’s credit card. You crazy?” I asked him. “I rented one with my Nanna’s credit card online.”

He turned back to the car, a bald man getting out and coming to the door. “You’re gonna die. Your parents will have your head after this.”

“Look, I got it covered.” I told him. Nothing’s going to happen to me. I’ve just got to give it back to her by tonight, when she leaves.” I told him. “Now how about we enjoy the day while I’ve got a freaking limo to my disposal?”

That’s when William’s mom came over. She saw the bald man at the door and opened it. “Hello?” she said, her face painted with confusion.

“Yes I’m Mr. Smith. I’ve been paid in advance this morning for an all-day-ride for a Mr. Anderson. He’s here right?” he looked inside William’s house, as if expecting ‘Mr. Anderson’ to be right behind William’s mom.

William’s Mom blocked his view by leaving the door opened to a crack and standing in the way of that crack. “Mr. Anderson…?” she said, bewildered. “Mr. An… wait.” she turned to me. “Anthuny, this limo’s here for you?” she asked me.

Knowing the only person in her house with the last name Anderson was me, she had the right to be confused beyond measure. She was probably thinking: How in the heck did this kid end up with a limousine!?

“Yep it’s for me. My dad ordered it to come here.” I lied. “He was gonna take me to Pie King’s, then found out he had work today and said he’d send a limo here to come bring me to the restaurant. I was expecting this.”

Before you get on me about lying, half of that was true. My dad did find out he had to work this saturday and had to skip taking me to Pie King’s, and I did expect a limo to come over here.

“So your dad is just gonna let you go to Pie King’s… by yourself?” William’s Mom stared at me, beyond confusion.

“Yeah. Well, he said I could ask William if he wanted to come.” It was easier to lie by staring at William’s face rather than his Mom’s.

Now this was a smart move since William’s older sister Jackie worked there, so William’s over-overprotective mom would feel safe with us being there by ourselves.

It was a moment before William’s Mom said “...Oh….kay you guys can go. Just, William-” and that’s when I stopped listening, since whenever his mother says ‘just William’ she means to give him a list of rules that could take an hour for her to get through.

There was a ‘sitting’ side and a ‘entertainment’ side of the limo. You know what the seating side had. But the entertainment side had neon blue lights and a mounted TV on the ceiling just above the windows, and I started to get lost in whatever was playing on it.

William met me inside the back of the awesome limo. Mr. Smith had explained there were cans of Fanta in one of the little compartments on the entertainment side of the limo, so as soon as William got in I tossed him one.

As soon as William stepped in, a smile overtook his face. “Woah, this is nice.”

“I know. Man. enjoy it.” I said happily. I spread my arms out wide over the top of the puffy limo booth seats, Feeling relaxed.

“So, how much did the all day pass cost?” William asked me.

“About $400.” I told him honestly.

William gasped. “That is a LOT of money.”

“I know,” I laughed nervously. “But I’ve always wanted to ride in a limo, and I thought, well, now that I’ve got a credit card, I might as well live the dream for a little while.”

“It’s your grandma’s credit card. Don’t let this get to your head.” William told me.

“I know man,” I told him annoyed. “I know.”

We soon got to Pie King’s, and I announced I’d cover for our meal.

“So you’ll be waiting for us outside?” I asked Mr. Smith. William was already at the entrance to Pie King’s. Once I assured him I’d be paying for our meal, he was beyond excited and rushed to the menu to see what mini pies he’d devour first.

“Yes I will. You’ve rented the all day pass didn’t you?” Mr. Smith said.

I could tell he had asked that question rhetorically, but I answered yes anyway. Then I walked in Pie King’s to go get some mini pies of my own from the best pie making place in town.

Pie King’s was not only the best pie making place in town, but even in the state, maybe the country, no joke. They made all types of pies, from classic apple pie to remarkable coconut cream pies that could be the momentous that changes your bad day into a good week.

I stared at the menu in awe, amazed that this place made over 100 different types of pies. Even though they made over one-hundred pie flavors, they didn’t make all 107 pies everyday, as that would be way too many different pies, and some might be out of style depending on the season. They always had a rotating menu with different pie flavors each time, and if one or two pies were particularly popular last menu, they brought them back in the next menu.

They made regular sized pies, but the mini pies they made were cheap and really good. Big enough to be a nice snack but small enough so that you don’t have to share with your siblings. It was like heaven on earth, if heaven was a die-hard pie fan.

Let’s see: on regular days I would just grab my favorite, lemon meringue, but today was special, And on special days I would treat myself to a good ole’ sweet potato pie. But today they weren't on the menu. Still, I wanted to get something special. I had money, the skin I’ve been wanting forever, in the game I loved (with additional newer skins I never thought in my wildest dreams I'd get!), and right now, I had a freaking limo outside in my name, waiting for me to come back outside and tell it where I'd like to go, which could be anywhere in the world with my all day pass.

I decided to try something new. I knew I hadn’t tried all the pie flavors in this place, and today was a good day to try something different. Especially when I had the money to try as many as I liked.

I scanned all the pies they had in their glass shelves. I looked around for the pie that looked the weirdest to me and picked it.

“I’m getting a Pecan Pie.” I told William.

“Okay.” he said barely listening. He’s eyes were sweeping the menu in search of a pie like a hawk searching the sky for unsuspecting prey. I knew which pie he was looking for, as gross as it was.

TO BE CONTINUED