Phoenix (the intro part 2)

Throughout the rest of the morning Phoenix pleasantly found himself in a steady regression to his former demeanor. He felt much more able to tune out the distractions of his wandering thoughts and focus more intently on his work.
After a few hours of intensive studying in his office Phoenix was surprised by a knock at his door. When he looked up he found a tall slender man in his mid-twenties standing in a black suit and red tie. The man stood in his office doorway smiling and holding out a set of car keys.
“Oh hey Will! Sorry, I completely forgot it was Tuesday.” Phoenix said leaning back in his chair and stretching his arms.
“No worries. We’re still on for lunch though right?” Will inquired jingling his keys up higher towards his face.
“Yeah, definitely. Where are we going?” Phoenix rose from his desk and walked to the wall where his suit coat was hanging from a hook.
“How does Panera sound?”
“Yeah we can go to Panera again. Haha.” Phoenix replied sarcastically as Will turned to walk down the hall toward the exit to the west parking lot. Phoenix rarely ever picked where they would eat on their Tuesday lunches, and recently Will had been choosing the café at Panera more and more. “What about someplace who’s main product isn’t bread?”
“What’s wrong with bread?” Will asked as the biochip in his arm signaled his black Mercedes to unlock its doors. “People have been eating it for thousands of years! It’s great stuff, it’s got everything you need in a neat little loaf.”
“DESTINATION PLEASE” the car chimed in a female voice as yet another face appeared on the screen before Will.
“The nearest Panera Bakery with a café, please.” as Will responded the automatic seatbelts came across from the sides and secured them in place.
“DESTINATION ACCEPTED. PANERA BAKERY. ESTIMATED TIME OF ARRIVAL: ONE O’ NINE PM.” the Mercedes carefully backed itself out of the parking space and began its journey.

“So what’s been up with you lately Emerson? You seem to have been a little off.” Will inquired of Phoenix, still trying to swallow the mouthful of sandwich he had just been working on.
“You know, Summer said the same thing to me this morning. Or last night. Or whatever the hell it was.” phoenix replied after swallowing his bite.
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. I just haven’t been getting any sleep. The nightmares have still been keeping me up.”
“I thought you saw that Dr. Andrews guy. Wasn’t he supposed to help you?” Will reached for his blackberry iced tea.
“Anderson. And yeah I suppose he prescribed me these little blue gel caps, I think he called them Prozium or something.”
“Have you been taking them? And I think you’re thinking of Prozac.” Will suggested, taking another bite of his sandwich.
“It’s not Prozac, I’m pretty sure it was Prozium. Anyway I haven’t been taking them until today. But just the one pill is making it a lot easier to work.”
“That’s good! You should take them if it helps you work. Matheson has been getting worried about your performance.”
“Of course. He’s worried about my performance and not me. And why’s our boss talking about me to other employees?” Phoenix chuckled and took a sip of his peach iced tea.
“Phoenix, it’s fairly common knowledge that everyone in the firm’s been getting a bit worried about you. But as long as you’re taking those pills and things get better everything should be fine.” Will shrugged waving his sandwich that sent a small piece of meat flying onto the arm of the burly man at the table next to them. The man glared at him as Will mouthed sorry to him.
“Yeah I suppose” Phoenix sighed, pretending not to notice the meat incident. “My biochip’s been a little itchy recently too.”
“You should probably go get that checked out. Those things attach themselves to your nerves so they can link up with your nervous system you know. If there’s a problem with it, it can seriously mess you up.” Will gestured at his left arm where his biochip was located. “That’s why they implant them so early, so your system has time to grow around it and integrate with it.”
Phoenix morosely looked at his own left arm. “I didn’t get my biochip until I was seventeen.”
Will coughed and put his hand to his face to block the potential airborne food. “Jesus Christ! were your parents hippies or something?”
“Oh no, nothing like that. I had some sort of cellular disorder. They tried to implant it earlier but my body kept rejecting it and getting infected. So they put me on this series of medications for about 8 years until my body finally accepted it.” Phoenix explained.
“Holy cow! How did you pay for anything, how did you get into school?” Will pressed as he took another sip of tea.
“They gave me a wristband. It had my basic account information and what have you in it, but I wasn’t allowed to go very far from my parents, you know incase someone tried to steal it or anything. I don’t know what they would have done if I had turned eighteen and not had an implant. I probably would have been sent to one of those reservations they talk about.” Phoenix chuckled.
“Oh you mean those sovereign reserves or whatever they’re calling them? I don’t think they even exist. I’ve never seen one. Or ever heard of someone going to one. I think it’s just a scare tactic the media’s making up to try to get us to think we could do better without the government or civilized society.” Will finished the last bite of his sandwich and motioned his head toward the door. “Should probably get back, I’ve got a two thirty appointment with Mr. Dawkins.”
“I thought you lost that one.” Phoenix finished his sandwich and they began to walk to the door, cups in hand.
“That’s the beauty of appeals my friend.” Will took another sip. “You can keep milking it and milking it until the old bastard dies of old age.” They both laughed and returned to the car.