Lesson 29- Don't touch things that aren't yours, even if they're shiny.
A humming sound? No, that isn’t right. A rumbling? No, that isn’t quite right either. It’s more of a… Purring. Is the creature purring? Cautiously, I peer into the hole. I still can’t see anything, but nothing comes out to grab me either.
“Are… Are you hungry?” I ask nervously. The purring sound gets louder.
“Oh… Well… I don’t have anything else for you right now. But if you like I can probably give more empty bottles tomorrow, leftovers too if we have them.” I offer before I can even think about it. What am I doing? Promising to feed the thing? I haven’t finished mentally yelling at myself when there’s movement from the hole in the ground. A shadowy limb emerges. There’s a light clinking sound and the shadow retreats again leaving behind something shiny.
“Is… Is that for me?” I ask warily. The purring starts up again.
“Oh.. Okay. Thanks.” I scramble forward and grab the shiny thing. It’s a coin. But not a normal coin. I can only describe it as a pirate coin. Like the exact kind of coin you would expect to see pirates killing each other for in a movie. It’s gold and very shiny with some kind of symbol engraved on it. I can’t really tell what. I don’t have a pocket, so I slip the coin into my bra.
“Right… Well I want to finish mopping the floor. Is it alright if I close the trap door now? I don’t want to slip and fall down into… Your room. Hey if you live here, I guess that makes us housemates, yeah?” I randomly add. Okay, I think I’m rambling. I hold my breath waiting for the creature to respond. It continues to purr loudly, then in a slow movement, it reaches out, grabs the trap door and pulls it closed over itself. The room falls silent again.
“Well… Alright then.” I mutter to myself, then I pull myself to my feet and finish mopping, because what else am I going to do?
Once the place is cleaned to perfection, I carefully return the non-slip mats back to their places and head back to my room. I change into comfortable pyjamas and spend a few minutes staring at the shiny coin. I should put it away, but something about it makes me want to keep it close. Eventually I get tired and want to go to sleep. So I shrug, place the coin under my pillow, close my eyes and pass out.
This time, I wake up to a loud knock on my door. Torin usually knocks firmly, but not quite so aggressively. I hop out of bed and see who it is. Kyle, I should have known. He thrusts a plate of pancakes covered in syrup into my arms.
“Here. You need breakfast food occasionally too.” He grumbles. The pancakes look and smell amazing. I beam a smile at him.
“Thanks Kyle, you’re a sweetheart.” I tell him enthusiastically. His response is an expression of disgust. But underneath it I can see that his cheeks are blushing just slightly pink. Ooh, he’s embarrassed. I can’t resist the desire to tease him.
“I mean it. Not just a sweetheart, you’re a total catch. One hundred percent husband material. You should totally get married, you would be great at it. I can picture it now, you and your lovely wife, you bringing her breakfast in bed. It would be adorable. Oh, but first you need a wedding. I’ll be your best man obviously, I could be the maid of honour too and just take on both roles, unless Torin wants to get involved? Wait, I bet he could be the officiant. That would be hilarious. Now you just need a bride. We should see if Laura wants to volunteer.” I smirk at him as Kyle turns increasingly red in the face. He looks completely flustered and his mouth is hanging open like he wants to say something but can’t find the words.
“We should see if Laura wants to volunteer for what?” Laura’s cheerful voice rings down the hallway. I peer out the doorway to see her coming in through the back door. For half a second I’m horrified that I’ve messed up and completely humiliated Kyle, but her curiosity seems genuine. She must have only caught my last few words.
“We should see if you want to volunteer to keep me company at some point. We have to have a night off eventually, right? We could have a girls night. We could get drunk and then watch a movie or something. I mean, I sleep right next to an actual bar, we wouldn’t even have to stumble home drunk, it’s perfect.” I tell her with an excess of enthusiasm. At first I was just making a random suggestion to distract from my near screw up with Kyle, but now I’m actually keen on the idea. Laura absolutely lights up as she rushes down the hallway. She practically elbows Kyle out of the way.
“Really? You would want to do that? I’d love to! I was hoping we could be friends, but I wasn’t sure if you wanted that after I cast that spell to trap you here and everything. Some people tell me that I can be a little much, I’ve been trying to give you a bit of space.” She says all in one breath. I smile at her.
“I think I’d like to be friends with you. Plus I could definitely use a little girl talk.” I add. Okay, actually the girl talk is for her. I need to work out if she’s aware of Kyle’s interest in her. And maybe a little bit for me. I haven’t really done the whole girl’s night thing before. I’ve always had my brother around, and then when I moved out on my own I was so focussed on earning enough to make ends meet that I didn’t even think about making friends and socialising. It might be nice to have a friend who understands what it’s like to have satan start redecorating inside your uterus every few weeks.
While I talk to Laura about potential girl’s night activities, Kyle subtly sneaks away, but he only makes it a few steps before Laura stops him.
“Oh wait, Kyle. If we have a girl’s night, would you make us a snack? Something with chocolate? You don’t have to, we could buy something. But it wouldn’t be as good. Pretty please?” Laura bats her eyelashes at him and I can practically see his soul leave his body. Kyle grunts out a sound that Laura seems to take as some kind of agreement because she squeals excitedly and claps her hands happily as Kyle retreats to his safe haven, the kitchen. Laura takes a seat on the recliner in my room while I sit on the bed and happily eat my pancakes, nodding along as she continues talking about this girl’s night that I came up with on a whim. She’s already planning to figure out the schedule. Apparently every night usually Laura or I will be working, but Catcher, who I have yet to meet, is a part time worker here who can cover for a night. I get the impression that Laura is a bit of a workaholic. I’m fairly sure that she’s here every day. I mean, so am I. But that’s different. I have no intention of working every night. That’s for sure. I think I’m meant to have tomorrow night off actually based on the discussion Torin and I had when I gave him my bank details. I don’t know what I’ll actually DO all night. Hang out in the bar I guess? More online shopping? Damn, I’m becoming a shut in. At least I can talk to people at the bar, right?
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