Here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy it and your thoughts are always appreciated! :)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

June 20th, 2017

Dylan took a bite of his baloney and cheese sandwich looking through his social media feed in the McDonalds breakroom.

His mind kept going back to last night.

What Julia said.

"A job shouldn't be something that gives you joy. If you don't have a serious point of view of your career, you can never have a stable lifestyle. It doesn't work like that. It always has been that way."

The way she looked at him when he said he was a youtuber;

Disgusted,

Appalled,

Like he was stupid,

He couldn't get it out of his head.

Was being a youtuber holding him back?

No one wants to start a life with someone who doesn't have a stable lifestyle.

It's always been like that.

Dylan sighed.

Suddenly, Kevin and Samantha walked in laughing, holding their lunches.

"And that's how I proposed to her!"

"Kevin, no way that happened!!"

"It did I'm serious!"

Sam stopped laughing as soon as she saw Dylan sitting quietly by himself.

"You okay, Dill?"

He looked at her, "Yeah, I'll get over it."

Dylan told them earlier that the date didn't work out.

They were very supportive and he was thankful for that.

Kevin patted his back, "That's the spirit. You're too good for her."

"No, she was too good for me. You should've seen her. She was acting as if the whole world was wrapped around her finger," he rolled his eyes, "Whatever. I'm over her. A pretty face is all she was."

Samantha leaned back in her chair, "Most of them are...," she glanced at Dylan, "Anyways, let's look at the positives; you're turning 26 tomorrow!"

Dylan was caught off guard.

He totally forgot about his birthday!

All this girl drama clouded it from his memory.

How did Sam remember though?

"$h!t, I totally forgot about it.."

"What are you going to do to celebrate?" Kevin asked.

"I have no idea actually...maybe just stay home?"

The girl gasped, "No way, Dill. Your birthday is only once a year; you gotta at least do something!"

Kevin added, "Yeah, Sam and I can take you somewhere so we can all hang."

"No no, it's alright. I can't ask you guys to do that.."

Sam grabbed his arms, "Oh come on, party pooper. We want to do this because we're your friends! And also to get your head out of your—,"

Dylan cut her off with a laugh, "Fine fine, let's do something. I mean, I need to really get out of the house.."

"Yes!" Kevin and Sam both cheered, high fiving each other across the table.

The young man shook his head at the two. They were both wild, but he did appreciate them. He was glad to have found some people that wanted to spend time with him and would put up with his annoying attitude.

He smiled.

The door swung open.

"What's all this shouting in here?!"

It was the manager. Again.

Kevin answered, "Sorry, sir. We're just having a little bit of fun."

"Fun? There's no fun at work, only business."

Where have I heard that before, Dylan thought sarcastically.

Samantha stepped in front of the manager, her hands on her hips, "Hey, cut it out, Dave. We get you're the boss but you don't have to be a tyrant."

Dave was taken back but close his eyes and huffed, "Ms. Redding, this is my job. I have to make sure you people are behaving properly."

"We aren't two year olds. We can handle ourselves."

"But-,"

"You do not have to babysit us, so I recommend you back off or we can settle this outside."

Sam peered into his soul and Dave stepped back, "Alright alright! Just...get back to work in 15 minutes, you all."

And with that, he was gone.

Sam sighed, turning back around to the other boys, "Well that's over with."

Kevin and Dylan just stared at her in amazement.

The girl laughed, "What?"

Dylan replied, "How...are you able to do that?"

"Ah, well...Dave and I have history together, sadly."

"Oh?"

She didn't go further with it and sat down, "I'm starving!"

Kevin agreed, "Me too."

They all began to eat in silence for a while.

"So Kev, I overheard that you were engaged..?" Dylan began, trying to make sure he had all the right information.

The muscular man beamed, "Ah yes! Her name is Angela. She's loving, brillant, and drop dead gorgeous! I proposed to her in last November and we're getting married in early August."

"Wow, that's awesome! How did you propose?"

Sam started to giggle, looking into Kevin's direction.

He began to laugh too, "Well, it's a funny story. Ang and I were on walk and I was getting ready to propose until I stepped into some dog $h!t. So as I was on one knee holding out the ring to her, I was also holding my nose waiting for her to say yes."

He laughed a little bit and sighed, "We had to turn back after that and find a puddle or a leaf or something to clean off my shoe in the meantime. If you know me at all, I hate ruining my shoes."

Dylan chuckled, "I get you, man," he looked at the other with a smirk, "How about you, Sam? Got anyone on your mind?"

The girl shrugged at him, "Not really.. I've had 'a man crush' here and there, but not anyone that I'd want to date."

Kevin nodded, "Soo, what's your type of guy?"

Samantha thought for a moment, "I don't know. Someone who shares my interests. Someone who can laugh with me. Someone who likes to have fun...that will want to go on adventures. Someone who will love me as much as I'd love him," she slowly got quiet, "but yeah, that'd definitely be the priorities."

She looked down at her hoagie and took a bite.

Kevin and Dylan made eyes contact and took a bite of their food as well.