I Am Not Uptight!

Daniel part 9

Josh didn’t end up joining them for breakfast. He “had to go for a run,” he said, because it was part of his routine. Daniel didn’t push him further to eat with them—the poor guy had had enough chaos for the morning.

“He speaks so little,” Jane said when Josh had left, “but he seems like an okay guy. Kind of like Wells but not as scary. Like that introverted kid in class who has a stoic face and has one or two friends.”

Gary shrugged after he took a few gulps of coffee. “He cooks good food, so he’s a very good guy in my vocabulary. I’ll be his friend.”

“He does seem pretty reserved,” Daniel replied. “He barely shared anything when we went to the market.’

“You should talk to him again, Daniel. You’re good at that stuff,” Jane suggested.

“Talking?”

“Empathizing.”

“Huh,” Daniel let out as he thoughtfully nodded. Just then, his phone chimed once more. He discretely checked who the message came from before putting the device back into his pocket.

“Besides,” Gary added, pointing a fork at him, “you’re the only one who doesn’t have anything to do because you’re jobless.”

Crass, but slightly true. “I’m a writer,” Daniel stated, but Gary's mind remained unchanged.

“That’s what I said,” he said, earning him an elbow nudge from Jane. “How is your book anyway? You know stories don’t write themselves.”

“Gary,” Jane sighed.

Again, crass, but true. “I'm working on it,” Daniel groaned as he stood. “In fact, I’m going to work on it the entire day. I’ll be so busy that I won’t have time to do the dishes, so you should do them yourself, Gary.”

“Mmmhmm,” Gary hummed with a knowing smile. Daniel narrowed his eyes at him then carried his plate to the kitchen. “I’ll do the dishes,” Gary called out after him, “but we all know you’re just fooling yourself!”

Daniel responded by giving him the finger as he passed by the kitchen to get to the stairs. Gary only chuckled at his reaction, then he heard Jane telling Gary off as he disappeared up to the second floor.

The man wasn’t wrong to assume that Daniel won’t get any work done. Daniel had had an overwhelming writer’s block that seemed to stretch on for months and months. Nevertheless, the taunting made him even more determined to finish—at least—a chapter. So, he went into his room, sat on his work desk, and turned on his laptop. He cracked his knuckles and stretched his back. He already had so many ideas on his post-it notes. He just had to type them out.

He stared at the screen and placed his fingers on the keyboard, willing himself to begin, but the mess of papers beside his laptop kept invading his attention. He let out a sigh and neatly stacked them up to the side, but then he noticed the books on the floor.

“You shouldn’t be there,” he said, getting off his seat to place them back in the shelf. On the way back to his work station, he noticed the pile of clothes by his bed.

That day, he didn’t type one word for his book.