"Now you're back living in the basement." My best friend, Chance Park, says. He's eyeing the pile of dirty boxes stored by mom in the basement for years. Mostly, old clothes, Christmas decors, books, shoes and other stuff.

"When things come easy, I'm going to find a big place to live, and put up a big studio and an office."

That's my initial plan. A place where we can work full time together, in creating video contents, doing editing works, selling merchandise and other stuff without distractions.

"You have a lot of cleaning to do here, dude." Riggs Ryan, my other best friend, swipes the dusty table with his forefinger.

"We." I toss a box on the floor, making all the dust fly. "I asked you to come, so you can help me with the cleaning."

"Seriously? I just had a bath." Chance complains, waving his arms to get rid of the flying dust. "I thought we're going to film for your YouTube channel."

Chance and Riggs are both jobless in this pandemic. As my best friends, they volunteer to help me on my YouTube channel to make it big.

"Not today. I need to tidy this first. I don't want to sleep in the living room anymore, with Sakura lying on my face."

Sakura is my sister, Brooke's cat. Just like her owner, Sakura has a bad temper and has her own world.

"She scratched my leg when I entered the house." Chance shows us the two thin lines of red marks on his leg. "I thought she was being so sweet, rubbing her body against my leg. What a traitor! She opened her claws and suddenly attacked me."

"She thinks your leg is a scratching post." Riggs laughs aloud.

Chance and Riggs have been my best friends since middle school. We were classmates in a public school, and after class, we saw each other in an arcade to play video games. That's how our friendship started. They witnessed my struggles in school being a victim of bullying and helped me gain confidence. They also defended me from the bullies.

Chance Park is half Asian, half American. His family was religious. He grew up decent, well-mannered and a good Christian boy. He used to sing in church on Sundays, with his sweet angelic voice. But what he really loves is singing pop songs and dancing to hip-hop music.

We were inseparable after we graduated high school. We took the same degree, Computer Science during university and graduated at the same time. Afterwards, we worked in the same advertising company in New York, creating videos and making content for different clients.

Riggs is a civil engineer. He stayed in Maryland after university to help his dad's construction business. Unfortunately, the pandemic affected their business, forcing them to shut down.

"I can't believe that after four years in New York, we're back here. It feels like we're newly graduated again." Chance starts mopping the floor, getting rid of a hard stain.

"If not for the pandemic, you wouldn't be back here." Riggs says, pushing the boxes to the corner of the room.

"It has nothing to do with the pandemic."

Riggs turned to me, his face apologetic. "Sorry, dude, for being insensitive. I totally forgot."

"It's okay. Don't worry about it."

Working in New York was more exciting than when I met Sasha. We worked in a team and eventually became lovers. We were together for a year until a promotion ruined our relationship. All of us thought I would get the promotion of being the head of the Marketing Department until the fucking maniac CEO announced Sasha.

Being her boyfriend, I was ecstatic about her success and did not give a damn about my chance because I loved her. I even organized her celebration and filled her new office with flowers until.... I found out the truth.

She dated the CEO and spent the night with him, to favor her against me for the promotion. For heaven's sake, the man is even married with five kids.

All my love and respect for her shattered into a million pieces. At once, I ended our relationship. After three months, I could not bear working in the company that I lost respect for, so I resigned. Just in time, Covid-19 virus cases surged in New York and the country is under lockdown.

Being a loyal friend, Chance also resigned and came back with me here in Maryland. He believes in me, and offers his help in achieving my dream, to start off YouTube, then produce films/movies someday.

"I'll do the vacuum." Riggs volunteers, getting hold of the vacuum cleaner.

"Do you have some rags and cleaning spray?" Chance looks around the room.

"Yeah, they're in that paper bag. I bought them this morning."

"So, you went to the supermarket? Is it true that people are fighting for toilet rolls?" Riggs pushes the vacuum cleaner under the bed.

"Yeah," my mouth twists in a humourless smile, "Mom got into an argument just for a pack of toilet rolls, making me embarrassed. Roxanne was there and saw the incident."

"Don't be. She has done more embarrassing things than us." Riggs chuckles aloud.

"She was ballsy and tough as a kid. I'm sure she has changed now." Chance says in defense of Roxanne.

"Probably. But she looks really pretty now, with a super desirable body. Right dude?" Riggs asks me.

Roxanne always has a million dollar face. A pair of expressive big brown eyes, a thin pointed nose, plump lips and pronounced cheekbones.

"I can't really tell. She was wearing a huge sweater."

"Too bad. I swear dude, that girl is a head turner. She's always at Pro-Gym, every morning." Riggs stops the vacuum cleaner and sits on the floor. Aside from being so goofy, he's also a big talker. He can talk about anything all day.

"That new gym in the corner?" Chance asks. "It's pandemic. Are they still open?"

"Yeah, but they're limiting the number of people inside. You want to check it out?"

"Sure. I need to build these muscles." Chance flexes his biceps. "Let's hit that gym tomorrow morning."

"Sure. They have a one day free trial. But we need to sign up for membership if we want to continue."

"No problem. We'll do the free trial and forget the membership." Chance chuckles wickedly. "I don't have a job now man, I can't afford it."

Our topic about Roxanne died easily, but she remains in my mind. She looked different when I saw her this morning. It was like seeing her for the first time. She bloomed into a grown up woman.

I remember meeting Roxanne for the first time. She was 13, and I was 16. It happened ten years ago. It was a cold snowy morning in the last week of November. I woke up late because I played video games till two in the morning.

"Get up, Grayson. Hurry!" Mom was upset to see me still in bed. "I can't drive you to school. The car broke down again. Go with Julia in her new friend's car."

"Okay, I'll be ready in ten minutes."

"Make it two. Her friend has already arrived and is waiting outside. Her mom is driving, so don't embarrass our family." Mom glared at me, a warning that if I'd mess up with her, I would not receive an allowance for a week.

"Two minutes! That's just enough to pee, mom."

"Then don't pee!"

I did not take a bath, I just changed clothes and sprayed tons of cologne all over my body. Julia and Brooke got so mad at me when I joined them at the breakfast table.

"What is that smell?" Brooke gagged and ran to the sink to throw up.

"What smell?" I asked innocently.

"Your cologne stinks!" Julia's eyes grew big with anger.

"Is that dad's old cologne?" Brooke asked.

"So?" I shrugged my shoulders and settled at the six seater round dining table. The breakfast was special, because it was Julia's 14th birthday. Pancakes with yoghurt and fruits, crispy bacon, fried eggs and Krispy Kreme donuts, a favorite she recently developed.

"You scumbag, that's seven years ago when dad left us. You're not coming with us! And you're not eating any of my donuts either."

"Yes, I am." I gave her my nicest smile and made a big bite of her precious Krispy Kreme donut.

I met Roxanne for the first time when we got out of the house. She was holding a balloon and a banner, written Happy 14th birthday, my new bff, Julia. She stood frozen in our front yard, shivering. Her lips turned purple. An enormous chunk of snow laid on top of her beanie. She was standing there for about fifteen minutes, waiting for Julia to come out.

It was a funny sight that I can't get over every time I see her. But one thing I learned about her, she's a very loyal, loving friend. The badass Roxanne in school? It's just a show.

___

The following morning, I was with Riggs and Chance in the gym. We worked out and filmed some videos the whole morning.

"Hey dude, did Roxanne come here earlier?"

I heard Riggs ask the receptionist.

"You mean Roxanne Vergara? She cancelled her membership yesterday. She said she's not coming back until she gets a new job. It really sucks losing a job during a pandemic."