How Bob became Disillusioned:

For an entire summer, people kept telling Bob that Staci had a secret crush on him. After weeks of disbelief and chalking it up to rumors in the mill, it came to his attention that maybe they were right. Maybe Staci really did have a crush on him. The signs were certainly there. They always hung out in the same groups together. She always talked to him and seemed to enjoy his company, smiling a lot and discussing about things they were both interested in. “Maybe everyone was right,” he thought. After a few days of coming to terms with this revelation, he noticed that they were both invited to the same party on his internet feed and she had stated she was going. Bob took this as a sign and RSVP’d to the party as well.

“That will be the night that I make my move.”

The night arrived and Bob came dressed to impress. Nothing too glamorous or special, but just enough of a power ensemble that he felt he could take on Galactus himself. He entered the house to the party and was immediately struck by a exiting visitor’s elbow in the stomach. The visitor gave an apologetic, “What the fuck, bro?” as he passed Bob and left the porch with a drunken swagger. Bob took a moment against the wall to compose himself and then proceeded to the kitchen, where his friends would surely be. Bob hugged the walls through the hallway and made his way to the kitchen. A glorious cheer emerged from near the sink as his friends toasted his arrival with a bottle of silver tequila. “Bob!” They screamed as he pushed his way next to them. “Hey guys” Bob yelled between the blaring music and the ocean of people walking through the small kitchen, “Have you seen Staci around?” The group expelled a simultaneous “Oooooh!” as Bob began to turn red.

“You going to finally make your move, Bob?”

“I hope to, Jake”

“C’mon dude, you’ve totally got this. Staci’s totally into you.”

“Yeah, that’s what I keep hearing. But really, have you seen her around?”

“I saw her mingling around with other people. I know she’s here.”

“Any other guys you think?”

“Maybe. It has been a while since the rumor went around, Bob.”

“Yeah, I know. I finally got some balls.”

“YEAH, BOB’S GOT BALLS!” They cheered as more shots were poured, then drank. Bob received a toasting glass and he raised it high as his friends followed suit.

“To me achieving happiness,” Bob yelled. His friends cheered and they all finished their drinks with clanging glasses hitting the sink. Bob thanked his friends and he began to push his way through the crowds in search of Staci. He ventured all around the house with no luck. He thought maybe she had went to the backyard where others were mingling and headed towards the front door to loop around to the back.

Bob began to think of how he would break the question to her. He began to imagin that it’d go successfully and that he’d take her home, watch movies, pass out with her, and then begin their new lives together. He kept thinking about the subtle things of her he’d already grown to adore and her beauty he’d always admired. He pushed past a couple of people near the entrance and finally emerged outside, the heat from the house oozing out as a steam cloud behind him. He walked down the stairs and began to run around the corner of the house when he heard a soft moan coming from the unlit side. He froze, trying to verifying what the sounds were.

Sex noises.

He smiled and imagined if things went his way tonight that he could be doing something very similar. He began to jog past the shadowy couple when the girl began to speak in a very noticeable tone.

“Keep going, don’t stop…”

Bob froze again in mid-stride. He’d known that voice. He heard the couple begin to notice his presence and he turned to face their dark forms, contorted together in a hodgepodge of intimacy. He knew who it was but didn’t want to ask. He didn’t want to know. Maybe Staci got sick and left. Maybe she met up with some of her girlfriends and went to another party. Maybe this wasn’t her.

“Uh…Staci?” Bob sheepishly questioned to the unknown couple.

“Oh god,” the girl exhaled. The girl didn’t move but the man looked up and quickly asserted a quick reaction to Bob’s presence.

“What the fuck, bro?” yelled the man curled with the woman. But before Bob could answer he felt a grazing blow to his forehead that swung him around to face the other direction. He heard the bottle crash as it hit the pavement nearby, but not before his body quickly fell to the wet grass. He could feel the warmth of his blood course across his head and into the ground as the couple scrambled around and deserted the scene. Bob laid there for a moment hoping that he was paralyzed from the neck down but like all wishes, this one didn’t take.

He got up, blood still trickling down from his face, and headed for the kitchen once more. As Bob moved through the crowd, people made a point to get out of his way once they saw he was bleeding. He found his friends again and they crazily asked what happened.

“Staci was being ‘occupied’ by another guy.”

“Are you serious? Are you okay?”

“Jake. Do you see my current disposition? The guy did this to me.”

“Why? What in the hell did you do?”

“I caught them beside the house playing ‘Charades’ and realized it was Staci.”

“Dude. I am so sorry.”

“Yeah, me too.”

Bob proceeded to get utterly inebriated to the point of passing out under the kitchen table as the party continued well on into the night. As he laid there, his wallet and keys were stolen by a random party-goer and he discovered marker doodles all across his face when he awoke the next morning. He got up, removed his blood-stained shirt, discarded it against the floor, and left the house to walk next door to ask for a ride home.

And that is how Bob became Disillusioned.