“Don’t make me punch you.”
“Just one quick question, because I think this is important moving forward. Did she also find completion?”
“Yes,” I drag out.
“Good job, my man.” He pats me on the shoulder as I take a seat. “That’s a lot of elements to work with. A brick wall, rain, having to hold her up vertically and finding the right angle to dry hump while creating sufficient friction to get her off. Honestly, you should get an award this morning.”
“Yeah, my reward was her.”
Rupert clutches his chest. “Aww, mate, that was…that was so sweet.”
I drag my hand over my forehead, feeling the irritation and uncertainty but also the excitement. “I like her. I see myself with her. And all I want to do is help.”
“Is that why you dragged me here this morning?”
I nod. “I want to clear out the storage room for her. I think Kitty was supposed to do it.”
“Didn’t she already?”
“There’s a second storage room.”
“Where?” Rupert asks.
“Over here.” I get off my chair and nod for him to follow. Tea in hand, jumper draped over his shoulders, he follows me to the hallway where I stop in front of a door on the left.
“What’s in there?” Rupert asks.
“No idea.”
“Then how do you know how to clean it out?”
“I don’t, but I could at least pull things from it and sort them.” I reach for the handle and open the door to a room full of boxes.
“Huh, that doesn’t look too hard,” Rupert says, leaning in and turning on a light.
The dark space illuminates as a light from above shines singularly down on one individual that I’m pretty sure was not invited to take up residence.
“Mouse!” Rupert screeches, the decibel making my ears bleed. “There’s a fucking mouse!”
He hops on my back just as the mouse scurries down from a box and right in between my legs, shooting out toward the main space.
“Holy fuck!” I yell, backing up into the wall and slamming him against it.
“Bloody hell,” he grunts, only for the mouse to scurry toward us, juke out, and turn around.
It’s just enough to send Rupert into an all-out frenzy. He begins running and screaming, his jumper flying off into the nether regions of the closet, a distant memory now.
“Ahhhhhh! Ahhhhhh! Ahhhhhh!” He pauses, catches his breath, looks around, and then…“Ahhhhhh! Ahhhhhh! Ahhhhhh! Demon mouse! It’s trying to eat my shoelaces.”
“It’s not even near—oh fuck,” I say, leaping up as he scurries down the hallway toward the back door.
“It’s attacking us.” Rupert clings to my side, trying to jump up on my body again and use me as a ladder.
I slam him into the wall once more, shaking him from me, and say, “Stop screaming, you’re scaring it.”
“It’s scaring me!” he yells.
“We need to get it out of here.”
