Tiny Tim полностью

As expected, I was able to enjoy my Pizza without any interference. At least until my phone rang, because my grandmother was calling me. I answered the call without taking my eyes from the monitors, or taking all of my attention from the report I was writing.

“Hi Granny!” I greeted her with my best impression of a happy person.

“Hello, my darling. Happy Birthday!” she chirped in an especially cheerful voice.

“Thank you, Granny! So, how are you? Haven’t heard from you in a while. You gonna be back for Thanksgiving?”

“Of course, we will. This time we’re thinking of staying all the way ‘till Christmas. You won’t be bothered by sharing a bathroom with me again, right?” she asked mirthfully, with a lightly expectant undertone.

“Don’t think that’s gonna be a problem.” I proclaimed with confidence, knowing I’d be long gone by Thanksgiving.

“Oh? No regrets after running into me half naked?”

“You didn’t seem as traumatized as Ava was when it happened to her. I think you could manage if that happened again. Of course, if you get nightmares from seeing me in the buff, I’ll at least consider buying myself some pajama bottoms!” I smirked. Was I flirting with my Grandma? I don’t know. Maybe I shouldn’t have had that conversation while concentrating on something else.

“So, pumpkin, did you get something nice for your birthday?” she asked, probably checking whether the family remembered.

“I have. A nice new monitor for my PC.” I answered, not mentioning that I had purchased it myself. A nice but sadly expensive ultrawide monitor without curvature. The curved ones are awesome for gaming, but morph any straight horizontal lines, so creating layouts and designs was near impossible on them for me. Even without the curve, the damn thing had cost me $600.

“That sounds nice. But somehow that also sounds like something work related again. Did you at least get a nice cake?” she asked, almost dropping the pretense of not just checking on our relationship progress.

“I got a tasty treat, yes.” It wasn’t even a real lie. The pizza and the muffin were tasty, I just didn’t tell her that I had ordered them. And the muffin was also cute, really. They even stuck a little candle in it.

“That is nice, pumpkin. Well, I guess we’ll see each other next week then. Enjoy the weekend, and don’t work so much! Bye!”

No sense in complaining to her and causing problems for me. If she had any actual interest in fixing this family, she wouldn’t have waited almost an entire year before checking on our progress. I was dead set on packing my shit and leaving this house the following day. Telling Grandma the truth at that moment would only have caused her to call her children. And then they would have been in the way, trying to argue with me while I tried to pack my car. I also had work to finish that was more important than whining about my birthday.

When, by Ten PM, there was still nobody home, I started packing. I won’t lie, it felt weird. I had been looking forward to leaving for months, but always expected to live there with Tess one day. Now I had doubts. Not about moving out, or living alone, but rather about the family not throwing a fit and ruining this for me just for shits and giggles. I just kept telling myself, if they couldn’t even be bothered to remember my birthdays, they won’t miss me either. Realizing my entire life fit into two moving boxes and a sports bag weirded me out more, though. Apart from my computer and laptop, I only had clothes and a few toiletries to pack.

The next morning, I carried my computer, gaming chair, and the two moving boxes with my clothes to my Jeep and made the drive to my new home. When I parked, I saw Paul walking out of the building.

“Good morning!” he greeted me with a big grin.

“Morning. What’s up? This almost looks like you waited for me.”

“I did.” His grin widened. “Just wanted to be there when the realization hit. Let me help you carry your stuff in.”

I didn’t really know what he meant, but accepted his offer. After we had placed my meager possessions in the living room, he looked at me expectantly.

“What?” I asked, a little weirded out by his expression.

“Still not getting it? Try unpacking your clothes.”

I opened the box, took a few shirts out, and froze as the realization hit me.

“And THERE it is.” He shouted out. “Finally realized you’re an idiot.”

I had a bed and a desk, but that was it. There was nothing to put the clothes away in this apartment.