SoRiku: Technical Difficulties

Technical Difficulties

My parents always get on my case about my love life. They say that they "want grandchildren" and that I'm "not getting any younger" and such. They don't understand that I'm happy here, just being myself. They try to push me towards girls. Not any girls, all girls. They'll say: "who've you known the longest?" I'll answer: "Riku, of course." They sigh, annoyed, and try again. "And then?" They'll ask. "Tidus," is my immediate answer, "or Wakka. I'm not sure who came first…" My dad usually gives up then, but my mother persists. "You're a good, honest boy, Sora," she says, "so tell me; who did you meet after that?" Of course, she just has to guilt-trip me with the whole 'good and honest' thing, so I have no choice but to tell the truth. "Selphi," I sigh, exasperated, because I know what will come next. What had come next. "Why Selphi's such a nice girl," she says, "why don't you asker her on a date?"
I sigh again. I seem to be doing that a lot, lately. "Mom, I don't like Selphi like that; we play-fight on the beach, but that's all. We're just friends," my mom gives me a disapproving look. I get it quite often, now. Ever since I turned seventeen my parents want me to "find a nice girl" as they say.
"Well then what about Kairi?" She says. "She's one of your best friends! She's very pretty and seems to like you, so – "
"No, mom. I don't want to go out with Kairi. I have no romantic feelings for any girls on Destiny Islands. I've known all of them since childhood, and childhood friends they shall stay! Get off my case, already!" I cross my arms angrily and see the concerned look on my mother's face. "Please?"
She looks down sadly for a second, and then crosses the living room to put a hand on my shoulder.
"Alright, sweetie," she says understandingly. I smile, relieved. I'm about to open my mouth to thank her, "but I can't speak for your father!" Mom then leaps away with the energy of a toddler in the direction my father stalked off. As soon as she is out of sight I bound up to my room, closing the door quietly and hoping that no one knows where I am. Although it's a stupid thought, since my room is of course the first place anyone would look when trying to find someone, especially me. I spot movement in the closet and flinch, hoping it's not a mouse. Upon further examination, aka a flash of blonde, I see that it's my brother Roxas.
"What are you doing in my room, Roxas?" I ask as nonchalantly as I can manage. I hear him cough, embarrassed, and soon after he emerges from the bowels of my closet with a hand behind his back.
"Oh, man, I'm caught," he says guiltily, "I was in there to borrow a shirt, but I couldn't find it. I didn't expect you to escape mom and dad so quickly," he edges to my door slowly, keeping that one hand casually behind his back. I squint suspiciously at said hand, but he doesn't seem to notice. He's now very close to me, and I brace myself to pounce on him to get whatever he's taken back. Roxas leans in to my ear and whispers "but I did find this," with that he leaps back and whips out an airsol can of silly string and pushes the trigger, covering me in the wet, slimy goo.
"Augh! Roxas; stop that! By all that is Moogle, I'm going to kill you!" I try to leap on my younger brother to confiscate his evil device, but all I get is a spray in the eyes. "Ow!" I scream, falling on my bed, clawing the pink crud off of my eyelids. I hear the sound of an empty airsol can and when I deem it safe to open my eyes I do, seeing fluffy silly string all over my room, but most of it on me. "That hurt, you jerk," I spit, annoyed.
"Yeah, sorry about that," Roxas laughs, obviously not sorry at all, "but I really had to. You know me and silly string; I just can't help myself!" I scowl and blow some of my brown hair out of my eyes just to see it flop back to its original position.
"Alright, you've had your fun. Now get out," I whine, really not enjoying this day. Roxas smiles devilishly and leaves without saying another word. I sit pouting for a few more seconds before pulling silly string out of my hair and off my clothes. I have it all rolled up in a ball before my dad enters my room. He takes one glance at my room and gives me a concerned look. "Roxas," I explain, and he nods understandingly. My dad then sits down on my bed beside me. We sit in silence for a bit as I keep picking little pink bits off whenever I find them. Eventually he speaks.
"Sora, I think you know our – your mother and my – position on your future," dad stops to clear his throat, obviously uncomfortable. I conclude that my mom forced him to talk to me, "that we'd like you to settle down with a nice, wholesome girl and start a family. You're going to be done school soon and we'd really like you to be happy and know what you're doing when you graduate."
I think this is his way of caring, but it doesn't really compute with my brain, so I get angry. "What if I want to go to college after high school? Did you two never even think of that?" I'm trying to keep my voice low, but I really don't want to talk about this.
"Son, if that's what you want to do, all you have to do is tell us. We won't stop you from getting a higher education," there is an awkward pause. "Is that what you want to do?"
I sigh and raspberry. "No, it's not," I concede, "I want to be a waiter. No schooling is needed for that." My father nods curtly.
"Then you'll need a fine girl to settle down with, may be someone older who's ready for a steady relationship herself. You're mature for your age, Sora, I think you could hold down a job and a girlfriend easily. Move out of this house and get on with your life. It may not seem like it, but the world is so different when you're an adult. Even on little old Destiny Islands there's so much more to do and see. Every day I learn something, but if you don't get out there and live you won't have those opportunities. I just want the best for my kids."
I smile reluctantly. "Thanks dad. I know you're just looking out for me, but don't you think that there's an ulterior motive as well?" His eyes widen in innocence, forcing me to explain it to him. "Since Roxas has no interest in girls whatsoever, I'm your last chance to have grandchildren, right?" Dad laughs and claps my back with his big hand.
"See, Sora; you can figure out any problem if you just put your mind to it! Now," he hushes his voice, "see if you can get your mother off of both of our backs." This time I laugh. A giggle that Roxas often calls 'girly'. Stupid younger brother with his stupid…..stupidness!
Dad leaves my room still chuckling. I let out a long breath and fall backwards onto my bed, having been completely purged of pink goo. My eyes close and I just breathe deeply for about five minutes, enjoying the glow of the sun through my window.
My phone vibrates in the pocket of my cargo pants and I pull it out, checking my messages. It says 'One New Message. From: RIKU'. Smiling, I hit the 'read' button and do just that. The message is short. It says "call me". Who am I to refuse? I press the green button and put the phone to my ear, hearing it ringing.
"You got my message fast," the silver-haired teen on the other end says, "how was your day?"
"How was my day?" I repeat, "you saw me three hours ago at school. You couldn't have asked me this tomorrow morning?" I hear Riku chuckle and presume he's shaking his head. "It was exhausting, if you must know," I finally reply. "My parents are still on my case about getting in a serious relationship and having children. My mom resorted to guilt-tripping me again, you know?"
"Doesn't she do that every day?" He replies, still laughing quietly.
"Well, yes…but it's still just as annoying!"
"Alright, alright, fine; it's annoying," sometimes Riku knows when to quit while he's ahead.
"Thanks," I say softly, "but then Roxas snuck into my room and sprayed me with silly string!" At this, Riku busts out laughing. I have to hold the phone away from my ear to protect my eardrums. "It's not funny!" I exclaim, making him laugh harder. "He got it in my eyes!" This gets the boy to calm down. He slowly resorts to a normal volume.
"Are you okay?" Riku finally asks, sounding truly concerned.
"Yeah," I say, "but it's still not funny." I hear a snort from the other end. Eager to change the subject I ask: "how was your day?"
"Oh, it was normal. I came home, did my Calculus homework and then watched some TV. Now I'm talking to you. Not at all as exciting as your afternoon," traces of that chuckle were creeping into Riku's voice again. I pout.
"It's because you don't have an annoying younger brother to mess with you," I say.
"Yeah, thank Moogle for that," is the reply I receive.
I hear my name being called from outside my door. Roxas tells me that mom wants to talk to me downstairs again. He's chuckling, too, which means that I'm in for round three.
"I have to go, Riku. See you tomorrow," I say, getting up.
"Alright fine," the boy pouts, "see you tomorrow. I love you."
"I love you too," I hang up and head downstairs, putting my phone back in my pocket and bracing myself for the future.