"There's one more thing," he prompts, scratching the back of his neck. He looks like he regrets getting it all for me, despite his smile.
When I dig around again, my hand appears with--"Pepper spray!" I laugh. "Everybody around here is awfully worried about crime considering the crime rate is less than one percent."
He chuckles. "It's your first time living alone. Just want you to feel safe."
"I love it."
"You love pepper spray?" he teases.
"I love these gifts. Thank you, Carlin." I lean over for a hug before bounding to the kitchen to put the picture of us on the fridge, laughing at the magnet again. "Wanna split a cream pie?"
"Hell yeah. You're lucky any are left--I almost ate them all myself."
I snag a couple of napkins and head back into the living room, dropping the pepper spray into my purse on the way. When I plop down next to him, he hands me the bag to choose which one I want. They smell incredible. I pick the fattest one and tear it in half, giving him one.
I hold my half up. "Cheers!"
He taps his to mine with a laugh, and we take our bites.
We both groan like animals. My eyes roll back in my head.
"Damn, I was right. I should have kept them all," he says before taking another huge bite.
"You really should have."
He laughs. "Man, I feel like I never see you anymore."
"I know. I've been so busy working on the house and stuff."
"Oh yeah, with Coach," he says, amused. "How's that going?"
"Terrible," I answer on a chuckle. "I had no idea how busted my cute little house is."
"Like,so busted.I wish I knew how to help. I can't fix shit."
"Me neither, but by the power of YouTube, I have hope."
"Let me know if you need extra hands, so long as Coach doesn't mind teaching me too."
"Group lessons. I love it."
"Hey, I'll take what I can get, since your schedule's so full these days. Maybe you and I can do a movie night or something," he suggests.
"Good idea. Maybe on a Tuesday or Thursday night?"
"Sounds good, but I get to pick. How about…Blue Eye Samurai? It's not a movie, it's an animated show, but more mainstream than, like,One Piece. OrFrieren? You'd love that one, very chill, pretty. You can get your toes wet with anime."
"It's a date," I say before realizing it might sound wrong. "Erm, you know--"
Amused, he says, "It's all good. Speaking of, is it a regular thing or does he show up when something breaks?"
I laugh. "Well, he found all this stuff that needed fixing that I had no idea was broken, so he doesn't have to wait for things to break--there's plenty to do. You know the deal--I don't have money to pay him, so I've been cooking him dinner on the nights he's free. It's a decent trade I figure after hearing about some supposedly gross burritos he eats for dinner every night."
Carlin laughs. "Dude, they're so gross. So is he actually helpful or does he just eat your food?"
"You know Grey. He's somehow good at everything. Except making burritos that taste good I guess."
A chuckle, smaller this time. He asks delicately, "So are you two like…a thing?"
