Dropping The Ball
an excerpt

Adam held the slice of pizza up at eye level, peering at it closely. He twisted his hand, examining it from all sides.

He glanced over it once more, took a bite, chewed, swallowed, and sighed.

“You know you’ve been in school too long,” he muttered, dropping the piece back onto his plate. “When you’re completely sick of pizza.”

“You’re crazy, dude,” Eric, seated across from him at the kitchen table, shook his head as he wiped grease from his mouth. “Pizza’s delicious.”

“For breakfast?”

“Anytime.”

“For the third day in a row?”

“Forever.”

Adam leaned back in his chair. “The same pizza?”

“You’re the one who didn’t wanna go grocery shopping,” Eric shrugged, before taking another bite.

“Yeah, because I thought we would go tomorrow or something, not next month.”

“It’s the thirty-first, tomorrow is the first. We’ll go then. Quit being such a baby about it.”

“I am not being a baby, I’m being a starving student,” Adam sighed, leaning his head against one hand and picking off a pepperoni. “I am in a constant state of no food-itude, dude.”

“You know what they say. Objects in whine tend to stay in whine,” Eric grinned, pushing Adam’s plate forward. “Unless acted upon by an outside force.”

“Shut up.”

“Where’s Ben?”

“Bed. Still. Bastard,” Adam muttered, tearing off a piece of crust. He popped it into his mouth, chewing for a while before going on. “His first class isn’t until twelve I think on Thursdays.”

“Jesus I hate-wait, what time is it now?”

“Quarter to ten.”

“Shit, I gotta go,” he jumped to his feet, grabbing his messenger bag from the floor and tossing the strap over one shoulder. “Dude. Wish me luck! It’s my first day of cla-hasses!”

Adam groaned as Eric grabbed another slice of pizza. “And you’re excited about it?”

“I am so excited,” he pumped a fist into the air. “I get to shape the minds of future generations!”

“You mean you get to bore apathetic, freshman non-majors who would rather be anywhere but sitting in front of you, because your advisor had better things to do.”

“Hey, I think they’ll prefer my lab to their lectures.”

“Keep telling yourself that.”

“Thanks, I will,” Eric grinned, patting Adam on the shoulder as he headed for the door. “Eat your pizza, you’ll thank me later!”

“Not fucking likely!”