"You've got to be kidding me!" I screamed into the sky, semi-sarcastically.

This was supposed to be my vacation. I was currently in Destin, Florida. The place I was staying was my mom's old college beach house, probably the farthest place I could vacation away from home, there was no way he should have been here.

"Kidding you!? No, you're kidding me!" Tyson Haynes, my best friend of 5 years yelled back at me.

I swear Tyson was everywhere, at school, work, home, and now on my vacation. I must be cursed. It's not that I hated him or anything, if we're being honest it was the exact opposite. I loved him, I had for a while, even when we only knew each other as Vik, and Jazz—our screen names. I just needed to get away for a bit to process my feelings, but he was making things difficult as usual. What were the odds he followed me to my vacation? Maybe we were too similar for our own good.

"Whatever, just stay on your side of the fence," I said, motioning to the white wooden fence that surrounded my beach house.

"As if I'd ever want to be on yours," he said playfully. Acting offended, he picked up his bags, and quickly retreated into his own villa.

I pulled the key to my beach house out of my pocket, and unlocked the door in front of me, awaiting the serenity it would bring me.

Once getting inside, I explored. I had never been here before, I just knew of the location, my mom said it would be a good idea before I went off to college this fall. I think she was completely right, after finding the living room, I practically melted onto the couch. I closed my eyes with the intent to fall asleep, but my phone buzzed to pull me back into reality.

Tyson was staying next door, there was no way I would be able to ignore his texts, I mean, I didn't even have to check my phone to know it was him. It was always him. Sometimes he could be just as mature as a child, and at 21 years old, I expected a little more. Regardless, I sat up, and reached for my phone which I had sat on a coffee table in front of me.

'Dude, are you going to play Quale tonight? Or do something else? I know this is a vacation but games have always been a better escape'

Tyson's text held the truth, gaming had always been my escape. It had been my everything for the longest time, heck, it's even how I met him. I pondered my response for a bit, and decided to leave him on read for the moment. What was the worst thing that could happen?

I laid back down on the couch and drifted off to sleep. Heh, no I didn't, unfortunately right before that was possible, there was banging at my door.

"Tyson, I'm napping, go away," I yelled.

"Well at least text me back before you nap. Manners Levi, manners," he responded, still knocking on the door.

I picked my phone up because I knew how stubborn Tyson was, and quickly responded to his earlier text, 'maybe'.

"Thanks!" he yelled from outside.

Silence resumed, I could tell he had left. He had never been quiet in his life, at least not in the time that I've known him. As I tried to enjoy my silence and sleep, my mind was racing with thoughts. A nap wasn't on the table right now, so instead I got up, and decided to find something to eat for dinner. I checked the cabinets and pulled out a cup of noodles, god knows how long that had been in there. I didn't care though, ramen was ramen, and I was feeling lazy, so I just added water to the cup without bothering to read the instructions or measure. I set the microwave on for two minutes, but it felt like no time had passed at all by the time it was done.

I ate my noodles in silence—something I was still unused to. I thought about the previous year, me visiting my dad, getting accepted into college, meeting Tyson and all of his friends. There was one thing bugging me, with the three weeks I had spent with Tyson, I never found out if he likes guys or not. I felt like my life was the ultimate cliffhanger, I was always stuck in the dark and wanting more.

After eating I decided I would play a bit of Quake, the game that had always kept me out of trouble. It was an open-world fantasy game, virtual reality as well. The goal was to reach the top of a tower with 100 floors and save the princess, although the game was practically as old as I was, and I had been playing since I was small, I'd never managed to win.

I loaded into the game with my classic character, Vik, an elven warrior. I didn't have goals to win right now, so I didn't enter the tower, but instead walked around outside fighting small creatures to gain experience, and items. After about 15 minutes, I was starting to get really into it, I had managed to complete my daily tasks and gain two levels.

"What're you doing?" the most familiar voice asked.

"Playing Quale? What's it look like?" I responded, feeling quite pleased with my sarcasm.

"Looks like you're not including me. How rude, I'm hurt," Tyson said as he leaned against a tree behind me.

He was playing as Jazz, his mage character, one that I had many memories of.

"I was enjoying some quality alone time on my summer vacation," I said.

"Would it be quality time if it didn't include me?"

He had a point, "I was enjoying some silent alone time," I said, changing my sentence from earlier.

"It's summer, who wants to be alone?"

"Me?"

"No you don't, I know you, why don't you come over to my place and watch a movie," Tyson said energetically.

You know if he wasn't right next door to me, I would have found the invitation awfully romantic, but I could tell he was being lazy and didn't want to walk to my place.

"What if I say no?" I inquired.

"You wouldn't dare," Tyson said as he logged off the game, he disappeared from in front of me.

Man, he was so annoying sometimes, but he was right, I was going to take his invitation.

~~~

I knocked on Tyson's door twice.

"Come in," he said in a sing-song voice from inside.

I felt oddly nervous as I reached for the door handle, but I twisted the knob and walked in.

The place smelt like a combination of popcorn, and other perfumes, one oddly familiar, I assume this belonged to Sayrn, one of Tyson's friends.

"Well this is cute," I said motioning to the room. The place was a lot more decorated than the beach house I was staying in. There were signs on the walls, carpets on the tile floor, and even decorative pillows on the couch.

"I know right, I would love to take the credit, but alas, this is Sayrn's work."

I walked over to the counter where Tyson was sitting eating a bowl of popcorn, I assumed he made it for the movie, but he had almost managed to eat the entire thing by himself.

"So...?" I said, trying to break the awkward silence that was quickly engulfing us.

"You're the guest, you pick the movie," Tyson said and immediately went back to eating his popcorn, paying no attention to me.

I sighed, sometimes he was a pain in the ass, but he was my pain.

I walked over to his TV and started browsing all the movies that were downloaded, not a shock that every streaming service was installed. Sayrn didn't do anything cheap, they were loaded.

I honestly didn't know what to watch.

"Tyson, come pick the movie, I don't want to," I said, setting the remote back down on the desk near the couch.

"I don't want to pick it either," he said walking over to me, bringing his bowl with him.

All hail the popcorn bowl.

He sat down on the couch right next to me and reached for the remote, he scrolled through the options for no more than a minute before he decided he was done with it too.

"There's too many options," he said, but then his face lit up.

He had an idea.

He quickly dug his phone out of his pocket, "Siri, pick me a movie," he said into his phone.

Oh god, I hoped Siri was on my side.

"Alright, here's what I found on the web, Jaws (1975)," he read aloud.

That wasn't too bad of a movie.

"That's a good one," I said enthusiastically.

"Isn't it about a whale?"

Oh my god, this guy bro. I hoped he was joking.

"No, Tyson, it's about a shark, that's why it's called Jaws," I said slowly, I had to make sure he could comprehend my words.

"Sharks are scary," he said, asking Siri to find another movie, except this time he specified. He asked for kids' movies.

Any chance of this being the night I confessed was finally blown away by the fact that he literally searched 'Shrek' into the search bar.

I sighed, and laid back onto the couch, getting ready to enjoy the movie, but within five minutes of turning the lights off, and turning the movie on, Tyson was laying on my shoulder, asleep, snoring. Not to mention drooling. I grabbed the blanket on my end of the couch, and laid it over him, it was the least I could do. I pushed a stray piece of his curly hair out of his face, and he opened his eyes and grinned back at me.

This was going to be one hell of a summer. 

Hey guys! As the chapter states this is a bonus! Not related to the main story plot in any way! It's a contest entry for  TeenFiction's contest "Almost Perfect Getaway"
I really hope you enjoyed! As always don't forget to let me know what you think!

- K. Rae <3

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