Your friend Greg

A mousy-looking face with a toothy grin stared directly at you. Your friend Greg stood at the door, uncomfortably shifting on account of the endless level of energy he always seemed to possess.

"What's up Doug!" Greg punched your shoulder playfully -- you'd known each other for years, and he had been your best friend up until the start of high school, when he took a second seat to Ashley's domineering attitude and influx of hormones.

Regardless, you two were like peas in a pod as your mother and Greg's mom, Dianne, had been college roommates. You'd noticed that Dianne had become especially close to Lisa after your father passed away; she had been at every one of your birthdays, most of your school sporting events, hell, even family dinners were prone to being crashed by her and Greg.

Moving to the side of the door to allow Greg sight into your house, you responded.

"Not much, man. How was your day today? You wanna come in and play some videogames?"

Still energetically moving around, Greg looked down at the cement step that he had been teetering on, before speaking, albeit whilst looking directly at the ground.

"Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to come over to my house? My mom is making some dinner and she had wanted to invite you and Lisa."

You pursed your lips, trying to think of any random events that would prevent you and your mother from going over.

"Yeah, that'd be great! It's been a while, actually. How is your mom, anyways?"

"Ah, you know. Same old, same old. Work's been stressing her a bit, and she's been talking about not having time for anything. She's missed you guys, though, which is why she came up with the bright idea." Greg brought his hands up into air quotes to emphasize the last bit - this dinner was to his chagrin, apparently.

"Well, I'll get ready and text my mom. What time should we be over?"

Greg looked back up at you - for a second, you swore you could see a bit of wetness in his eye, as if a tear was forming. Wiping away at his face, he resumed his toothy grin.

"Actually, I was wondering if you wanted to come over now, I just got the new fBox069 and wanted to kick your ass on Call of Futy."

"You are absolute trash at any CoF game and you know it. Yeah, sure, just hold on one sec." Turning around and leaving the door open, you raced up the stairs to throw on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. Grabbing your phone, you texted Lisa as well.

"Mom, Greg just came by and wanted to invite us for dinner. I said yes but lmk if you've got something else planned"

Immediately, your phone pinged with a notification from her.

"Sounds wonderful. Haven't seen Dianne in a while! I'll meet you there late, at the office for a while, unfortunately."

Walking back downstairs, Greg had remained in the same spot, still moving back and forth, antsy as ever waiting for you. You closed the door behind you, while Greg looked at you expectantly.

"You take forever, dude." Greg punched your shoulder again, before hoisting his oversized backpack over his shoulder and taking off, content to move after the five minutes of stillness. "C'mon, my mom is making cookies!"