Back home, Stephen stepped into the shower. The warm water immediatey washed the sweat from his face and body as he applied a dab of aloe lilly shampoo to his hair. When the steam began condensing on the shower doors, Stephen used his finger to trace his depiction of Lisa. Lisa was one of the managers at the store. Her brown shoulder length hair was always so smooth and shiny. Her face exuded customer service which she expressed so casually, hands in her pockets.

After the shower, Stephen lowered the bottom half of the faux blinds, looking at his reflection in the mirror through the milky white light of dawn. Like clockwork at 6AM, the floor boards in his dad’s room began to creak. Stephen quit daydreaming and productively pinched films of plastic out of each eye and placed them in storage.

“Hey bud,” Stephen’s dad said, heading toward the kitchen to make coffee.

“Hey dad,” Stephen replied. He walked into his room, leaving the door open a crack, and fell fast asleep.