one
It was an unremarkable Tuesday.
Just another boring day in a very long line of extremely boring days.
Ozzie Silverman had been working in his home office since eight o’clock this morning, taking calls and answering emails from frantic clients who couldn’t get their devices to work properly. It was a lot of instructing them to turn said devices off and back on again, reminding them that the gear icon was for settings, and getting their printers connected, the first step of which was usually reminding them that the printer needed to be on in order to function.
Over and over and over again.
Turn on printer, restart computer, turn printer on, adjust brightness in settings, and oh, look, another case of turning the printer on before trying to print a document.
The monotony of IT support was torturous, and he was greatly looking forward to his lunch break.
His stomach growled so loudly that he was afraid the clients on the other side of the line would hear it. He finished up with a woman who insisted she’d deleted her internet when all she haddone was remove the desktop shortcut for her browser, and was delighted to see it was almost time to escape.
His brother, Derrick, would be here any minute with lunch and hopefully some snacks.
Since Ozzie had started working from home, his brother would swing by at least once a week to eat and catch up. They’d been best friends for all their lives, and they could chat about anything and everything. It was a time just for the two of them, and honestly, these visits were the extent of Ozzie’s social life.
Even when he’d worked in a physical office building, Ozzie hadn’t been very friendly with his coworkers. His disposition was naturally a bit sour, his social anxiety was awful, and he’d be much happier at home, getting smoked out on his couch while watching cartoons.
Dating had never been his strong suit, not even a little, and he could count the dates he’d been on with just two hands. His nerves had always been a hindrance, and his self-esteem wasn’t exactly great either. That had been an issue since middle school thanks to an often one-sided battle with his weight.
It was never-ending.
He’d eat because he was stressed or anxious, but then he’d get more anxious and upset because of his weight and keep eating, and the cycle continued on and on.
Even now as an adult, he was short, broad, too thick, and when thinking of his body hair, his immediate thought for comparison was a Chia pet. He kept himself clean-shaven because that was at least one area of fuzz he could control, and his dark wavy hair was cropped in a short cut with a few pieces just long enough to curl around his ears.
He wasn’t unhandsome.
Just…
Ordinary.
An average guy with an average job having an absolutely unremarkable life.
Who was currently stuck on the phone with a sweet old man who wanted to share every single inconvenience he’d experienced since birth.
Ozzie was desperately trying to wrap up the call which he assumed would end up as a bitch session about teenagers and texting, and he found himself zoning out. He wished he could be anywhere else. He wanted an adventure, some sort of glorious quest—not to listen to this man drone on about the time he bought yogurt and it was already expired.
Yes.
So exciting.
Wow, what a thrill.
When the doorbell rang, Ozzie hopped up from his chair and hurried down the hall to answer it. “Of course, Mr. Louis, times were definitely much simpler then, and it’s such a shame they wouldn’t take back that yogurt even after you’d eaten it,” he agreed with a grimace as he pulled the front door open to let his brother in. He pointed at his headset and rolled his eyes, gesturing for Derrick to come in.
Derrick was a big guy too, but he had the height to help carry it. He resembled a lumberjack with a big beard and a penchant for plaid. His arms were full of Tupperware, a coat Ozzie had forgotten over at Derrick’s place, and a fast-food bag. He rolled his eyes back when he saw Ozzie was still on the phone, hurrying inside so he could set everything down on the kitchen table.
“Yes, sir,” Ozzie said obediently, listening to the old man continue to ramble away. “I understand, sir.”
Derrick tapped his watch.
“Yes, sir. Now could—” Ozzie cringed as the gentleman interrupted him again. He shrugged helplessly at Derrick and pointed at his headset.
As loudly as he could, Derrick barked and whined like a dog.
