This is my hastily written entry for the Love The One(s) You're With contest. It's a bit shorter than most of my previous work, though hopefully just as well received. Win or lose, I sincerely hope all of you are doing well during this troublesome moment in history. Stay safe, and I hope you enjoy!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Did you try smacking the router?" Wyatt asked, earning an eye roll as I tried a different streaming service. Like the first, this one showed a loss of network connection.
"This isn't the fucking Russian Space Station," I replied, hoping my ginger roommate understood the reference. If he did, he made no mention. "I've already tried resetting it twice. If that doesn't fix the Wi-Fi then it's out on their end, not ours."
"Great," he replied, sighing as he picked up his phone to preoccupy himself. "It's bad enough we haven't been able to leave this place for the last six weeks, apart from the occasional grocery run."
"Don't forget the testing," I add, turning the TV off in frustration.
"Felix, do you really thing standing in line at the campus clinic, six feet apart mind you, really counts as socializing?"
I smirk but have nothing else to add. The governor had closed down the schools weeks ago, around the same time as the mandatory quarantine order. Since then the pair of us had spent almost all of our time in this tiny apartment, and though we understood and appreciated the need for the lockdown, there was only so much a person could do to keep himself entertained for this long in isolation. Severing the Wi-Fi certainly wasn't going to help with that.
Fortunately for my roommate and I, our university was exceptionally generous during the current pandemic, at least for its students. For one, the apartment we shared was technically leased by the school itself, the rent paid upfront as part of our tuition. Since our jobs were effectively on hold, not having to pay rent gave us one less thing to stress over. Second, they had finally been able to offer free testing for all students, or at least the ones that remained on campus. Wyatt and I had just gotten cleared two days ago, which gave us some peace of mind but didn't really change the fact that we were more or less still stuck in our apartment building for the foreseeable future.
"Should I call the landlord and see if they know anything?" Wyatt asks, already suspecting as I do that the landlord won't have any answers, if he even answers the call at all. It was almost nine o-clock in the evening, still early for us but probably closer to bedtime for our aging building supervisor. I nod, unsure of what else to do. Under normal circumstances the two of us would simply head down to one of the local bars and have a drink. But COVID19 had seen that 'normal' wouldn't be a familiar concept for quite a while, and while certain measures were being taken to end the lockdown, bars probably wouldn't be high on that list of priorities. With nowhere to go and nothing else to do, the thought of going a night without Wi-Fi didn't sound all that pleasant.
"The signal in this place sucks balls," Wyatt continued, staring at his phone in frustration. "I'm gonna step out to the balcony to see if that helps."
I stand as he does, adding that I'd join him for some fresh air. While we hadn't truly appreciated the balcony during our first months in the apartment, the lockdown had given us a new outlook. It was the only outdoor space we could go without feeling the stares of judgment fall upon us, even if we did wear masks whenever we left the building.
As I step through the screened door and onto the stained oak of our perch, I hear familiar voices to my left. We turn to find our neighbors have ventured outdoors as well, and though I can only hear one side of the conversation, it would appear Annie has already had the same idea of calling the landlord. I listen as the green-eyed blonde speaks calmly into her phone, the annoyance on her face tactfully not translated in her voice.
"Yes sir, I understand....did they say how long it might be?....mmhmm, I totally understand....okay, thank's Mister Wheeler." She notices our presence as she hangs up the phone, our balconies right next to one another, the gap between our railing barely two feet of separation.
"Let me guess, he has no clue when the Wi-Fi will be back on?" I ask, guessing correctly.
Annie nods. She's wearing a black halter top and jeans, both of which show off her slender curves. I keep my eyes on hers, however, trying to keep my interest in her body as subtle as possible. Of all the issues with lockdown, arguably the worst was the lack of contact I'd had with the opposite sex. I was single, as was Wyatt, and by now we were practically growing our virginity back. Still, I knew when to show my respect, hormones be damned.
"No clue at all. I'm pretty sure he didn't even know the internet was down until I called. He's probably sitting at the table with one of his sudoku puzzles or something."
"Not only that, he's probably cursing at our generation as we speak," says a new voice. Annie's equally blonde but blue-eyed roommate has joined her now, stepping onto their balcony in her denim skirt and t-shirt, carrying a beer in each hand. "Telling one of his cats about how we can't live without internet and how back in his day they had to go to the library."
"Fuck, I'd love to go to the library and check out a book," I add, genuinely envious of the idea. I'd finished my modest backlog of unread books a few weeks ago.
"It's just tough times," Annie continues, shrugging as she puts away her phone. She looks at me now as she takes her beer from her roommate. "How are you two doing?"
"Can't complain. You?" Wyatt answers, though I know he's done quite a lot of complaining.
"Just bored," says Brittany, taking a sip of her drink.
"At least you have alcohol," I say.
"Barely. We're down to our last bit, actually."
"We've got plenty," says Wyatt. He's not wrong, having bought two cases of beer during our last grocery run.
"Well why don't you fellas grab a drink and come out to join us?" suggests Annie. "Not like there's anything else to do."
Wyatt gives me a glance, and I have no objections. There were certainly worse ways to spend an evening than chatting over drinks with two gorgeous young women. I excuse myself briefly to grab a pair of cold bottles from the fridge, laughing at the irony of the brand name as I add a lime wedge to both. Stepping back outdoors, I can hear that my roommate is already making a fool of himself, trying to connect his phone to the wireless speaker and failing miserably. I give him a hand, getting the music flowing as I hand over his beer.
"Social distance cheers," says Brittany, holding her drink high. "To all you cool cats and kittens!"
"For fucks sake," I mutter, smirking as I hold up my bottle. There's no chinking of glass, both parties minding the six-foot guideline as we take our sips.
"You know what I miss?" Wyatt asks. "Drinking games."
"What, like beer pong?" Brittany asks.
