"I… I suppose not. Are you serious? I can just use…" The idea was rather shocking. He was familiar with the equipment, and probably safer than an inspector would be.
Still, the trust was blinding.
"Of course! What do I care? I'll stick around and help for a few. Then you can just have my keys." The only man shrugged, standing from his worn office chair with a severe lack of elegance.
He waddled around the desk, and clasped Eli on the shoulder. He walked them over to a tabletop, covered in pencils and used documents from classes. Mr. Vaughn pushed all the project briefs aside, and gestured to the table.
He was smiling giddily, being just a hairs length shorter than Eli, he looked less like the teacher in the situation. If it weren't for the grey hair and stuffy beard, he'd have thought a curious child was staring at him.
"Well, go on! I know you've got some kind of plan. What is it now? You know, I think you started teaching me at some point." He nodded to a blank paperset, and sent occasional glances at the bag on his back, as if expecting something.
Eli scratched the back of his head, and placated him with a laugh.
"Ah… well, I have a deadline… uhm, it's really complicated. I haven't got any plans." He shakily admitted.
"Haven't got any- Haven't got any plans!?" Mr. Vaughn's cheeks were red with childish indignation, "Are you insane! You seem to have forgotten what I taught you, after all…" He tutted, shaking his head.
"You can't begin-"
"You can't begin until you know how to begin. Yes. I know." Eli sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose, "But this project was just so sudden, I need to get to work right away. I only have a month, alright?"
Vaughn muttered for a second, before his eyes gaped. He glanced at the wall at the far end of the shop. Just above the wall was a banner that had been there all year. The inspiration for Dogbot. The upcoming winter Aspiring Sidekick Exposé.
Vaughn quickly nodded at Eli, and turned to the desk with renewed vigor.
"Let's get this plan done, then." He clasped Eli's shoulder.
"Ah-... well I was thinking quadraped… it has to be small. Not too small… a rodent, almost. Uhh, it needs good support… a jaw hinge to bite. Lightweight for sure." Eli muttered, drawing all sorts of barely legible nonsense.
Vaughn however, had a serious way about him. He was listening quietly, eyes occasionally wandering to the shop equipment as Eli ranted.
"...and powerful actuators, I want speed. What do you think?"
"Well, kid. I think you temper your damn expectations. But… yeah, we can probably at least get something functional." Mr. Vaughn waved him off.
"Now, I'll draw some schematics, and give it a good thought. I said we'd get to it today, but that was before someone came in without a plan! Go home, for now, kid." Vaughn nodded, patting him on the back a few times before running over to his desk like a giddy schoolgirl.
Eli had no clue the oaf of a man could move so fast.
Eli walked out the door with a wide, toothy grin. He left the scribbling teacher behind him, and was hopeful what he had thought was a guaranteed death in a month's time was now but a blip in his life.
Before his thoughts could wander to that scary oncoming event, however, something much, much scarier appeared before him.
"Well! You have time to talk to a teacher, but not me? I really can't understand where you get off." Tiffany shook her head, her hair bouncing as she went.
"Tiff. I'm sorry about that, I didn't think something so minor would bother you. Listen, some serious stuff has been going on for me recently, so I was just busy thinking." Eli had been dreading this moment.
Contrary to his mental visions of this interaction, however, Tiffany wandered over to his side, and threw an arm around his shoulder
"Oh. Why didn't you say so? I was worried." She was about a head taller, making the scene almost shameful. Fortunately for Eli, his mental resilience was recently sent through the roof. He got to enjoy the moment instead.
"Ever thought about playing basketball?" He asked, mindlessly.
"What?"
"No, sorry-... thanks for understanding. It's been pretty rough for me. I don't think I've processed it yet, I'll probably have a heart attack sometime this week." Eli laughed humorlessly.
They walked for a few more moments. It was closer to sundown now.
Did she wait outside that whole time…?
"Get a life, Tiffany." He sighed.
"Eh-? What the hell! That's not nice at all." She shoved him back, and shook her head, bewildered, "You've been saying insane things all day. And I only spoke to you a few times."
Soon enough, the bus came and went, and they parted ways with a hug that lasted much longer than Tiffany seemed to expect.
But he needed it. Who wasn't willing to be selfish occasionally?
The walk home was lonely and cold, per usual. So too were the people, accosting him a record low of two times, one needing money for which he had none to spare. None at all, in fact. The other to sign a petition, fortunately for him stating he was a minor got him out of that one.
The lobby of his apartment was ever unfeeling, the stairs ever dim and permanently damp. The door was ever chipped of paint and nearly lacked its numbered adornment.
His father, ever inebriated, greeted his vision with his unconscious form. He barely batted an eye as he journeyed past the living room. He hadn't stepped foot inside since his father started drinking.
He didn't miss it. He almost thanked his father, for giving him a reason not to enter. Not to see the pictures of what was once a happy family.
It was easier to deal with pain when you forget there was a time it wasn't around. If it was always there, was it really even a pain?
He dropped his back on the plush, light-blue carpet of his cramped room.
"We're happy, right Dogbot?"
He stared at the empty corner of his room. An empty pile of tools lie atop a patch of carpet stained with oil.
"Oh. Right."