Anthony Stoneking

You can't help but smile when you read Anthony's text, saying he's just outside the apartment building and will be up to see you shortly. You can't believe that your very best friend is going to be your roommate for the foreseeable future.

You and Anthony Stoneking go back years, having first met in the fifth grade. You had skipped third and fourth grade, meaning Anthony is a couple of years older than you, but that never mattered. You two were always the weird, nerdy social outcasts, though it could be argued that Anthony was even more of a dweeb than you.

He was the scrawniest, shortest kid in class, so much so that you were afraid he'd crumble into dust if you so much as coughed in his general direction. This, combined with his crippling social ineptitude and horribly nasally voice, made him an easy target for bullying, earning him the embarrassing and uncreative nickname of "pipsqueak". But you didn't become friends with him out of pity. The two of you were genuinely inseparable.

That was, until, he moved away right out of middle school. It was horrible... Even though you kept in touch online, it always felt like a piece of you had left with him.

That was several years ago. You had just moved to El Diamante, California a few days ago, and when it turned out he lived in the area and wanted to be your roommate, you couldn't be happier.

You wonder to yourself what he looks like nowadays. Perhaps he's a little taller. Perhaps he filled out a bit. Perhaps-

A knock on the door interrupts your thoughts. That must be Anthony! You practically sprint to the door and open it, coming face-to-face with a man's muscular, wall-like chest concealed by a T-shirt bearing the Weyland-Yutani Corporation logo.

"Sup, dork?" greets a deep, baritone voice in a playfully teasing manner. "Long time, no see."