Southern Hospitality Ch. 01

That and the sheer number of beautiful women willing and in fact, eager to spend time with him made his would be bullies somewhat jealous of him. If only they knew his situation. His life was the friend zone. They all loved him. Just not like that.
At eighteen now Ash couldn't really say he'd ever had a real girlfriend. He'd certainly never been intimate with a girl. The limits of his real world experience being the various times he'd seen his friends in their pyjamas and underwear during sleepovers and after parties. It was something, but it left him sorely lacking companionship.
Ash blew air out between his lips and shook his head. "Whatever. It's done now. Hopefully she knows the basics?" he asked, voice hopeful as he started to eat again.
His mother eyed him with no short amount of skepticism.
After he had eaten and helped to clear the table he made his way upstairs to his retreat, enjoying the familiar drone of his computer as it hummed into life, his screens alighting with cinematic images as it loaded up. It may not have been real, but the comfort he found in his games, internet and the online communities within gave him peace and satisfaction.
He had been sat at his PC for no more than ten minutes, just catching up with his subscriptions on YouTube when his phone buzzed. He didn't think anything of it, guessing it was one of the girls in their Facebook group chat dropping a line or posting a link and scooped up his phone, unlocking it and peering at the dim screen.
"Hey is this Ash?"
He paused eying the message, glancing between the message and the video on his screen. He didn't recognise the number, but a growing sense of dread gave him a clue as to who it would be.
"Hey, yeah, is this Laura?"
"Yes. My laptop won't turn on."
Ashley let out a groan and drooped his head. His worst nightmares realised, he glanced at the clock, it hadn't even been fifteen minutes and already here he was. Tech support.
"Is it plugged in at the wall?"
"It's wireless."
On the bright side he might be able to get some funny screencaps from this, he could give a couple of his online friends a laugh. On the downside though there was a very real chance that this was his life now.