Hudson’s eyes narrow. “How do you know this?”
I shrug. “The internet.”
“And nothing else… They won’t puke this back up. Will they?” He grabs the two pieces of lettuce from my outstretched hands, but I don’t miss the nervousness written over his face.
My goodness, it’s two tiny guinea pigs. What is he afraid of? They aren’t face eaters.
“I promise, Hudson. Cupcake and Ginny won’t even pay attention to you once the lettuce is in the cage.” Once they smell the lettuce coming through the bedroom door, all bets are off.
He takes two steps toward the bedroom. “Just drop it in and nothing else?”
“Yes. I promise. Simple. They are easy creatures.” Little poop machines but easy to care for poop machines. “When you’re done, do you want to play Dragons Reborn?”
Hudson admitted he’s never played the popular video game, and I promised Aspen I would convert him sometime soon. There’s no time like the present time.
He passes the door for my bedroom and the guinea pigs squeal louder, annoyed their favorite treat has been delayed. “We’re not going to Aspen’s place to watch the latestSupernaturalepisode?”
I laugh harder this time. Sometimes I forget Hudson is relatively new. He hasn’t been around the block a couple of times. “No. I love my friends, but four to six hours for Sunday breakfast is about what I can handle for one day.”
Again, I love my friends. Meeting Aspen at work and accepting the invite for the very first Sunday breakfast was the best decision of my life. I don’t know if I would have made it in the city so long without such an awesome friend group as they’ve become.
But the truth of the matter is they are mega exhausting at times. They get together all the time. And they talk and talk and talk. About nothing. And lots of boys. They shop and talk. Eat and talk. Watch TV and talk. Sometimes I want to sit and watch an episode ofGame of Throneswithout any commentary. Sometimes I sit quietly in my living room without any commentary. It’s noiseless.
The guinea pig squeaking cuts off mid-sound, signaling Hudson dropped the lettuce in the cage. Nothing but food could gain a guinea pig’s interest so intensely.
“Amanda, come look at this!”
Less than three long strides separate me from the bedroom, and when I get there Hudson is leaned over the cage, his mouth hanging open as he watches the guinea pigs scarf the lettuce. “They’re cute, aren’t they?” I ask getting closer to the cage.
Cupcake steals a piece of lettuce from Ginny and runs under her hammock with it. Hudson chuckles. It’s not hearty or even loud and full, but it’s a start. I have no idea why Hudson is so anti-animal. Maybe he was bitten by a dog or something as a child.
“They’re okay,” he says moving away from the cage. “Now what about this video game? Do I get to shoot people?”
“No shooting.” I step away from the bedroom and Hudson follows. “But you do get a sword. And you can blow stuff up.”
“It sounds like my kind of game.”
A former military guy wants to blow shit up in a video game world… Seems legit.
At least Hudson and Finn got along well for the short amount of time they were together today. Hudson can be overwhelming, but it didn’t take more than five minutes before the guys were discussing their favorite comic books and video games. I guess some topics transcend boundaries.
I haven’t played Dragons Reborn on the brand-new Xbox Finn bought everyone this fall as a wedding gift. He’s confused on how wedding gifts work, but I wasn’t about to turn my nose up at the gift. This is the perfect opportunity to set it up.
“Can I get you something to drink? A snack?”
It’s weird having Hudson here at times. We just met but he’s living in my apartment. We’ve fallen into a roommate situation. Normally I’d spend a significant amount of time analyzing every part of our nonexistent relationship, but most of my energy is being spent trying not to suffer multiple daily panic attacks over the shooting. It takes a lot of mental imbalance and delusion to pretend I didn’t witness someone get shot and now there’s a special body guard stationed in my place to keep me safe. My denial meter is strong. The least I can do is get him chips.
“What are you doing?”I yell at Hudson while his character hides in a small opening of the cave we’re exploring.
We’re surrounded by digital video game skeletons and he’s hiding in the corner! A former SEAL! A few of the skeletons shoot arrows in my direction and I’m forced to dodge behind another section of the cave. It leaves my back exposed.
“I’m getting into formation.” Hudson leans on the couch, totally calm as he’s about to get us both massacred.
“What do you mean formation? There is no formation. It is just you and me.”
Hudson scoffs. “How do you want to do it?”
My character leans to the side so I get a better view of the skeleton spawner creating monsters set on a vengeful mission to kill us. Two more baby skeletons pop out of the box, aging immediately as time clicks away. If we don’t do something soon, we won’t make it out of this alive and I’m carrying my good sword. I refuse to lose it to a skeleton in a cave in the middle of a damn spruce forest.
