“Can’t.I don’t have my knitting with me.”He snorted at his lame joke.“Seriously, man.We have a reputation to uphold, and that will.Not.Cut.It.”
“Sit in it.”Then I held up my hand.“Wait.On second thought, do not sit in it.We’ll just stick it in the corner of my room.”
Taco didn’t take the bait, but Dalton did.The gingerly way he lowered himself into the chair, as if it were Audrey from that movieLittle Shop of Horrorsand the massive yellow flowers covering every square inch were going to devour him, cracked me up.Then he sat all the way back and pulled the lever to raise the footrest.
“Oh fuck, Cash.”Dalton glanced up at me.“Why do you even bother with a bed?”He settled his ass deeper in the chair and sighed again.
“Really?”Taco asked, his tone skeptical.“That comfortable?”
“I’m calling dibs on this chair every time we playCOD,” Dalton answered.
“Nah, we’ll save the argument.If I play some creative Tetris, I think I can fit it in my bedroom.”
“That’s evil, man,” Dalton complained as he heaved himself out of my recliner.“Dangle the most comfortable chair in the world in front of us then jerk it away?Stone-cold.”
I chuckled at his theatrics.“I managed to take my bed apart, so the only big stuff left to do is pack out the mattress and box spring.We should probably load that up first.”
A few minutes later, everything I owned was loaded into our respective vehicles and my tiny house was spotless, thanks to the guys doing me a solid and helping me with the final cleaning in the living room and the bedroom.The last task was to drop off the key with my landlord, who insisted on a walk-through of the place.
From his disgusted “harrumphs” as he discovered spotless appliances, pristine fixtures, and not a speck of dirt on the floors, my landlord couldn’t have made his disappointment in finding no reason to withhold my deposit more obvious.Dally hung with me during the inspection.When my landlord tried to say the smear he’d left on the side of the tub was going to require a professional cleaner, Dally cleared his throat, drawing the man’s attention to my massive lineman friend.A subtle shake of Dally’s head, along with pointed looks from both of us in the direction of my landlord’s sooty fingertip, and he “magnanimously” offered to waive that fee.
I left with a check for my deposit and zero glances in my rearview mirror as I followed Dally over to my new place.
It took even less time to move in.If I put my dresser and TV in the closet, I could fit both my bed and my recliner in my room.But somehow my “great-grandma’s furniture” remained downstairs, joining the three other recliners in the living room.I stifled a grin when Dalton insisted on setting it directly in front of the massive TV set up on a fancy wrought-iron stand.
“You do know whenever I’m around, that chair is mine, right?”I asked, and I wasn’t messing with him.
“Yeah, sure, Cash.But when you’re not around, I call dibs.”
“All right, I need to know what the fuss is about,” Taco said as he made his way over to the chair.
Dalton slid in beneath him, keeping him from trying it out.“I don’t think so, bro.After the way you made fun of it at Cash’s old place, it’ll probably take a bite out of your ass if you try to sit in it.”At Taco’s incredulous stare, he added, “I’m doing you a favor.Trust me.”
“You sure you aren’t on the kick-blockingteam?”Taco asked.
Dalton’s shrug was unapologetic.“We learn how to block kicks so ours don’t get blocked.It’s common sense.”
I laughed at their antics, a wave of happiness washing over me at being a part of a team again.Over the past six months of living alone, I’d forgotten how much fun it could be to have roommates.
“Yeah, well, while we wait for the pizza I ordered, I’m going to kick back inmychair.”I nodded at Dalton to vacate the recliner.“Not sorry, dude,” I added with a laugh when I caught his pout.
I’d picked up a case of beer and loaded it in my ride before my new roommates arrived to help with the full move.It had been covered up with clothes, linens, books, dishes, and whatever else I’d packed.Their excitement when they’d uncovered it made it worth the price of admission.Then on the drive over to my new place, I’d put in an order for pizza from Stromboli’s, the team’s pizzeria of choice.It was the least I could do as a thank-you to my new roommates.
“You bought us a case of beer and ordered pizza?”Taco asked with a grin.“You got a storage unit or something that we need to move tomorrow?”
I snort-laughed at his implication.“Sorry, dude.After today I’m only in the rotation for meal prep with the rest of you.”
“Well, that’s a damn shame.”
The chiming of the front doorbell stopped Taco’s lament in mid-whine.I hopped up and answered the door, paying for the mountain of pies I’d ordered and carrying them into the kitchen where I found Dally polishing off what was left of a sandwich.
“I bought dinner.”
“I heard.But after all that lifting, I needed a snack.”Dally smirked as he downed what was left of his beer, crushed the can on one beefy hand, and tossed it in the trash.
“I see you also got a head start on that case I bought,” I said as I opened large boxes of assorted pizzas in the middle of the kitchen table.
“Needed to wash down my sandwich with something.”His unspoken “duh” was loud.
