Dave wanted

tea

. The pot had a cup left. He poured it into the mug then added hot water. Tea with hot water added never actually hit like a hot tea. But he'd rather take a watered down hot-ish tea than a cold one. This was not to say that Dave didn't enjoy iced tea. He did. But this was neither iced nor hot tea.

Things in the middle became neglected. The

average

becomes drowned out. Dave was incredibly average. Didn't think his family could ever love him for this reason. He'd tried accentuating features about himself. Tried being more

eccentric

. His family paid more attention to him. At first this excited him. All he had to do was act like this new Dave and the love and attention would pour in.

After some time the acting became arduous. He felt suffocated. Locked into a life he never actually wanted. A life he had definitely asked for. One of his old friends he connected to at a deeper level once told Dave, "just be yourself. Stop acting like this. They'll understand." Dave knew his friend was right. But he never brought it all into action. Instead he ran away. Without a word. This felt easier than communicating with his family. Finding a random town and working as a fry cook felt easier. Becoming roommates with the underachieving coworker felt easier.

He still thought one day he might return to his old life. There was no due date for it. After he'd cleared his mind he would go back. He could do that right? On the most silent of nights he'd stare at the wall in the dark red glow. Count the years that had passed. The age that his kids would be. What they would look like now. And he'd know that the family he had left was no more. If he were to return they would have moved on. One rule Dave had was never looking his past life up on social media. Instead he kept his distance from him old school. Like estranged dads would do before the 

internet

.

Max never asked about his past life. Dave felt comfortable with the idea of telling Max. He had considered it. Maybe the lack of pressure imposed by his cheerful roommate allowed him to not feel the need to hide his secrets. The two of them could live together for decades without talking about it. Dave would be okay with that. He could also tell Max everything that happened tomorrow. That would be okay too.

When that girl came up to him to ask about his eggs, he remembered how he'd learned to make eggs. His wife. Ex-wife.