Locked Out Pt. 2

I’m standing outside his house, about to wring the doorbell when it occurs to me that I may be making a total ass out of myself. At least it’s familiar territory for me. I will myself to push the doorbell. Inside the house I hear the jingle of his doorbell and then nothing. Ten full seconds of nothing. I start to turn away from the door and towards the street when I hear the thud of footsteps on the stairs. The door in front of me opens to reveal a tall, lanky man with a head of dark brown hair that’s mostly obscured by a Boston Red Sox baseball cap. He smiles when he sees me.

“Leah? What’s up?” he asks as he takes in my appearance.

“Oh. Hi. So, funny story. I kind of, umm…locked myself out of my apartment. Without my wallet or my phone,” I say, adding, lamely, “And I don’t have anywhere to go. I was wondering if I could hang out here for a while until I can get back into my house.”

“Oh I’ve done that before. Luckily Mark was upstairs and I called him and he let me in. But I felt like a total idiot. And he made fun of me for a week. So come on in. Small jokes only, I promise.”

“Thank you Thank you Thank you,” I say stepping past him in the open doorway. He follows behind me into his living room and then leads me down the hall to his bedroom.

His TV is on and I see a soccer match televised from England on, Arsenal vs. Liverpool. He flips the TV off as I enter and offers me a seat on his bed while he plops down in his desk chair.

“Oh no, don’t turn it off. I love Arsenal. And I haven’t watched soccer in forever. We don’t get any of the sports channels because Kim won’t pay for organized running,” I say.

He flips the TV back on and we watch in silence, riveted to the frenzied play that develops with each passing minute. I’m completely in focus on the game. Which is why I let out an almighty shriek when something large and torpedo-like catapults into my lap. I look down to find a ball of black fur curling itself up in my lap.

“Oh god, Hugo. You just scared the life out of me. And not all of us have extras,” I say as Hugo stares up at me with his bright green eyes and lets out a contented purr.

I scratch Hugo’s stomach and he rolls over to get the full effect of it, as Jake tries to steady himself from the peals of laughter he’s broken into.

“Oh shut up,” I say and throw a pillow at him.

He dodges the pillow and looks like he’s going to throw it back at me before I hold up Hugo as a defense to the pillow onslaught. Hugo meows at me and I put him back down and begin scratching his belly some more. He purrs and looks up at me contentedly.

A sudden a wave of tiredness rushes over me and I let out a gigantic yawn that echoes through my whole body. I can see Jake peering at me through my half-closed eyes.

“You look tired,” he states.

“Well I feel like I’m going to fall asleep on your floor in a moment if I don’t take a nap. Would you mind if I stole your couch?” I ask, standing up to go to the family room. Hugo meows at me in anger, the emotion coming across very clearly.

“You can steal my bed but not the couch. Lex will be home at 3 from his soccer practice and will demand on watching all the shows he’s Tivoed the past week and Eric gets into a snit when he can’t play his music while he’s cooking,” he says.

“No, no. It’s cool. I don’t have to nap,” I reply, mortified at the thought of sleeping in his bed.

“I insist. Seriously. I’ve got to run an errand anyway. You nap with Hugo, he’ll love that and when I get back I can just use my laptop. I have some work to do anyway,” he answers.

“But it’s your bed and I don’t want to steal in case you were going to use it,” I say meekly.

“For what? Storming the beach at Normandy? Take it. I’ll be back in like an hour and a half,” he says as he pulls on a fleece and grabs his keys, before adding in a softer tone, “Please?”

“Alright,” I say nodding, “but wake me up when you get back so you don’t have to experience the Leah Snore-a-thon in person.”

“Got it. No Snore-a-thon. Now sleep.”

I nod and lay down as he opens the door and walks out, closing it quietly behind him. I curl up on the bed on top of his comforter and Hugo assumes a position snuggled up against my stomach and I drift off to sleep.

To be continued…