Luke left the capsule late at night and went straight to bed. Can’t say he felt tired or anything, but still managed to sleep for 8 straight hours. Which was how much a human being should normally sleep. Satisfied with the humble accomplishment he took a shower, shaved and even took care of his sociopath-like hairstyle. Since your appearance did not affect the in-game appearance anymore, the sudden concern for his own appearance indicated intentions unrelated to diving back into the capsule any-time soon.

Indeed. Luke decided to make a few stops outside. As any other high-level quest or adventure with high casualty rate and demand for time, he needed to get ready before it starts.

If we take a standard working weekday, using busy Luke as an example, his day would consist of – Sleep, eat, work, eat, work, sleep. Simply taking away all the sleep was not an option at all. Thus he decided to combine the two remaining parts of that back-breakingly busy life of his. Like a two-for-one sale. Luke smiled at himself in the mirror – no doubt excessively satisfied with the surprisingly average idea. Features soon twisted into a frown and the suddenly grumpy fellow walked off and wrote down a note to remind himself to never do that again. For the sake of his own mental health.

Moving on, today’s schedule would involve - eat, annoy innocent hard-working individuals and finish his weekly quota. Maybe barely escape with his teeth intact. A busy day before an exciting event. Considering that if things go well, he won’t be free for at least two straight days, Luke needed to free up that schedule of his.

He dressed casually. Blue skinny jeans, a white long-sleeve shirt – buttoned up only half way. And a black t-shirt underneath. Amazing sense of style – thought nobody ever. Except Luke, of course, judging by that confident gait of his. It wasn’t often that he could “dress-up” like that either and today the weather seemed just perfect for the occasion. Warm enough for there to be no need for a jacked and cool enough for two layers of clothing.

Destination? Downtown - at least 6 blocks away from his apartment. Considering that he visited quite a few spots over the course of his employment – Luke had to travel far. There was no need to take the risk and end up with any unwelcome and “unexpected” injuries or accidents.

A neat little out-door café. Not too costly, calm. Mostly female personnel – a lesser chance of getting his legs broken or anything of the sort. Time for action.

Luke awkwardly ordered a cup of green tea, 6 different buns and todays’ breakfast – bacon and eggs. Original. He decided to make sure he’s not in some American neighborhood later.

This needy customer made sure that his tea, together with the buns - would be brought in after his main course of bacon and eggs was finished.

Thus with no hurry in sight, he ate away with little worry, observing the waitresses and the guests. Slowly, yet unnoticeably sinking into melancholy. He still felt uncomfortable outside of his quiet little sanctuary. Like he was somehow out of place, like he didn’t belong. As if he was in some giant scheme, with everyone being in it and him being the target. Everyone but him - in their own little world, behind some glass, while Luke was left on the other side. Observing, alone. Sometimes they’d look back at him – more often with disdain than curiosity. Classifying him as the strange one instead of themselves. A natural train of thought.

This seemed like a nice little place though. Everyone was lost in their own little thing, busy in that hectic life of theirs. Until they needed to order. Seemingly, the staff also looked like an “ok” bunch of people. Feigned interest and politeness, sure. But it was much worse in other places. This almost made him feel bad about causing trouble. A job was a job though. Nothing personal as his classmates used to say while stuffing his things into a garbage can. Seemed quite personal to Luke, though, considering that only his belongings would receive such attention.

With the breakfast course finished, Luke waited for the remainder of his order while looking at the mobile phone. 10 minutes. That’s how long he had to wait until it arrived. Not too long, normally he wouldn’t care. He was working now though, thus he was forced to be picky. Forced, that’s the excuse he enjoyed using. Circumstances forced his hand, with him having barely anything to do with it. A liberating thought.

During his younger days, Luke experienced an overabundance of attention directed at him and grew up with a strange habit. A habit of putting on a show like everyone was watching him, as if he was constantly under scrutiny or at the very least – paid attention to. It would prove somewhat useful in this particular situation. Though in most cases it just received the “weird eye”, quite reasonably so. It was quite hard to say if Luke was just used to acting like he was at the center of attention, or simply always tried to end up there without even realizing it, to fill up the void. Or satisfy an out of control ego.

And the show was on. Luke lifted the teacup to his lips. Took a sip. Stopped, and with furrowed brows glared at the poor inanimate object. Obviously, he was dissatisfied with something. Luke placed the teacup back from whence it came – directed his attention at the buns instead. Moved them around. Once, twice. Thrice for good measure. Furrowed his brows again.

Luckily, by now the waitress noticed his act and walked right into it. Today was Luke’s lucky day. It was almost heartwarming to find out that someone was actually paying attention to him, even if they got paid for it.

 “Excuse me, is something wrong?” – She asked politely, giving Luke a reproachful look.

Over the years Luke realized that he’s only comfortable with other people, when the feeling of superiority is present. When he finds himself in a better position or is somehow leading the conversation. Since Luke was socially awkward, he could only feel so while being angry, mean or simply rude with the barest of justification for it. Of course, it’s not like he actually felt superior in any way. More like he forgot the inferiority complex of his. Luke simply forgets his awkwardness when he’s in the “cold-blooded, rude bastard” mindset.

“Yes, there is” – He shifted the teacup towards the waitress – “What is this?”

She raised one eyebrow – “A cup of green tea sir”

Funny. Guess it will turn into a battle of wits. The t-shirt worn underneath clung to his suddenly sweaty back.

“Yes, but I ordered black tea” – Luke replied curtly, while continuously staring at the poor victim.

“Sir, I’m positively sure you asked for green tea” – The waitress replied after a few seconds of fidgeting, shaken by such an insignificant issue.

Good, the conversation was going into a cliché argument, one which Luke practiced quite a bit. Inside his head, mostly. At least a hundred times. He felt prepared for this.

“No, I always order black tea. I doubt this was an exception. But if only it were the tea, I wouldn’t have bothered. Look here” – Luke continued, tapping his finger near the plate of buns – “I also ordered 2 cinnamon buns, two with strawberry filling, one with caramel and one with raspberry. Do you see any buns with raspberry filling?” – A barely visible smirk. He got her.

The waitress looked at the plate, at her notebook, at the plate again. She was lost.

“B-but sir, I don’t see it written down in my notebook…the raspberry bun I mean” – She fidgeted.

Attempts at finding an excuse, an escape. Luke was familiar with that mindset. He got an easier mark. She was obviously new, not used to the job. Not used to troublesome, frustrated and always unhappy customers like Luke. He won.

It went down quite easily after that, the shift manager came over. After a brief discussion, the waitress apologized to Luke and he got his second part of the meal for free. Didn’t make him feel like a better person. On the contrary. Situations like this usually served as ignition, starting a never-ending self-pity marathon inside his head.

But the usual thought-process was interrupted by a sudden disturbance. Didn’t this happen before, somewhere?

Quite randomly, a girl sat down on the opposite side of the table and Luke froze up with his mouth wide open, a bun held merely an inch away from it. Though he wasn’t frozen due to her beauty, which nobody would have held against him. In fact, it was due to the completely unexpected turn of events. When things didn’t go as planned, Luke always felt lost and was slow to react.

Don’t get him wrong though, she was beautiful. Medium length dark hair, light make-up, delicate features. Probably in her twenties. She had a knack at stylish clothing as well, but these days it wasn’t an uncommon feature. Everyone liked to be “stylish and modern”. Everyone wanted to attract attention. And nobody wanted to be excluded from social circles because of a poor impression.

Something seemed off though. There were plenty types of beautiful. Refined beauty, cold beauty and a number of others. Frankly - Luke wasn’t too knowledgeable on that topic, nor did it occupy much of his thinking time. He was pretty sure though, that this particular girl could and would be considered as an insane beauty. Not that her beauty itself was insane - or how eye-catching and alluring it seemed. Oh no - she herself seemed slightly insane. A weird glimmer in the eye that somehow signaled every nerve in Luke’s body to stay away. Dangerous. Especially since she was quite to his liking. Just his type to say the least. Slim, dark and a little gloomy. Just enough to steer those thoughts towards more relatable topics.

All in all, the whole situation made him feel terribly uncomfortable. So much that he slightly shifted in his chair, without closing his mouth or moving the bun out of the way. Might have something to do with a combined effect of never having intimate relations with females and rarely conversing with people he didn’t know. And rarely was putting it mildly, considering Luke’s extra narrow social-circle.

“What the fuck?” – She finally said, after a short pause. Arms crossed, an angry, cold even, glare. That and quite a strange way to start a conversation. This won’t go well.

Surprisingly - Luke could feel himself getting more and more confused and lost as how to react in this particular development. He never had a conversation like this before. Everything was crumbling around him. At the very least, he managed to close his mouth – though the bun? He forgot about it.

“You think I haven’t noticed you following me around? First that bakery across the street. Then the mall. The shoe store. And now even here? 6 blocks away?” – She continued, steadily flaring up, leaning closer towards Luke. This was getting out of hand, multiple unfriendly stares were directed towards him. Unpleasant memories rising.

“How much more fucking obvious can you get? Grow some balls already! Can’t even say hi to a neighbor, but stalking me all over the city doesn’t seem as hard? Seriously!?” – The monologue was getting way out of hand.

Neighbor? Luke suddenly looked more closely at this over-bearing female. Sure, she wasn’t dressed all in black this time, but it was surely her. This loud-mouthed, one-sided decision making torturer. His neighbor, with whom he never even exchanged a greeting. Maybe a short glance at each other, sure. Nothing beyond that, though. It’s true that they usually left their apartments at the same times, but it was all a strange coincidence. Yet it turned into a huge misunderstanding and was blown out of all proportions.

Also, Luke noticed that he was still holding the bun. Thus he finally placed it down on the table. About damn time.

“If I find you following me around again, I swear, I’ll call the cops on you. Creep!”  - With a shout, she finally ended the monologue. Got up, gave him another angry glance and stormed off.

Luke was reminded of a song he liked, thus decided to listen to it once back home. Considering how everyone else glared at him now, as if looking at some sort of a stalker, maybe even public enemy number or something. Leaving as soon as possible seemed like a great idea.

Even though she was the one who made a huge scene and threw around baseless accusations. Waving around flawed conclusions like some flag. Luke was still the one who gathered all the resentment from everyone. Even though he wasn’t at fault. Even though he didn’t do anything wrong.

The bun was really good though. Which was probably why he had the nerve to finish it, without paying much heed to all the stares. Not saying he didn’t mind – on the contrary, disliking the situation would be a gentle way to describe it. He was used to such developments, yet hated them all the same. Some things don’t change.

An unpleasant burning sensation down in his very gut. If you believed strong enough that it’s in the stomach – food helped keep it on the down low. Thus the bun was just at the right time, at the right place.

******

What a day.

Luke returned home soon after, stopping at a few shops to vent on the way. His weekly quota was almost done, thus he could own spend the rest of his time in Alternative Reality. All that needed to be done now - was get some sleep and he was ready for adventure. If that dungeon was actually explored, it would serve as quite the punch to the teeth, though. Topping on the cake, so to speak. A fruity, gelatin filled cheese cake – the sort he absolutely despised.

As Luke climbed up the stairs towards his apartment, another unwelcome development awaited him. Seems like it was forming a trend. If life keeps at it - avoiding going outside all together sounds like a possible development.

Both neighbors returned home at basically the same time by the looks of it. Another coincidence. But only Luke knew as much.

“Creep” – Was all she said, before hiding in her own apartment. Ending this one-sided day with a one-sided statement. What a day indeed.

He really wanted to listen to that song though.

“But I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo…” – He mumbled under his nose.