"Wake the fuck up, will you?"
"What?" John, still half asleep, did not immediately understand who was shaking him awake. "Carrie?" he squinted, his eyes adjusting to the unpleasant light of morning. "What are you doing here?"
"Why are you still sleeping, anyway?" she answered his question with another question, an annoying habit of hers that he had not missed in the last few months. "It's not the fucking weekend. Shouldn't you be at fucking work? It's ten o' fucking clock."
"Ten o'clock on my day off between consulting jobs," John answered, still waking up. He took a look at her. She was in a t-shirt which he recognized as previously having been one of his, a pair of cutoffs short enough that the pockets were visible, and a pair of flip-flops.
Yep, definitely Carrie,
he thought
Still hot, still a fucking bitch
. "I was planning on sleeping in, but since you have so kindly dropped by unannounced, what can I do for you, dear?"
She made a frustrated noise and crossed her arms. "I came to get my stuff, asshole, remember?"
"Ah," said John, "weren't you going to do that like a week ago? Forgive me if I'm not really dressed for company." He got up, found a t-shirt and put it on. He considered that plus his boxers a sufficient level of "dressed" for his current company.
"Yeah, you were busy," Carrie had a look of supreme irritation on his face that caused John to try to recall the night in question.
Oh, yeah,
he thought.
That "second date" with Riley.
"Sorry if I wasn't here when you came over, must have just missed you."
"Oh, you were here," Carrie said, her eyes shooting death rays at him.
Ah, shit, I knew I should have closed the curtains.
He almost said "Sorry you saw me buttfucking a trans girl," but decided against it.
"Anyway I want my shit back and I don't know what you did with it," Carrie said, saving John the trouble of pretending to be sorry for the show.
"Ok, I don't know what stuff you are talking about, but if it's not visible, then it's probably in the gym. I don't think I threw anything away, so if it's not here you probably lost it."
"Gym? You mean the junk room? The one that's full of junk?" She was not amused.
"Yeah," John said, managing to not be annoyed about this quibbling over terminology. "Where all the junk is. And probably your shit. So why don't you go look through the junk room?"
"Fine," Carrie said. "And put on some pants. I don't need to see your cock hanging out while we're putting stuff in my car."
"I was unaware I was necessary in this process," John said, and, deciding he could sacrifice the one day off for the sake of not having to deal with another fight, added, "but ok. Can I make some coffee first? I kind of just woke up."
Carrie rolled her eyes at this and left the room. John watched her go for a second.
She may have her problems, but that ass was not one of them.
John put on some pants, set the coffee maker, and retreated from the loud rustling noises emanating from the junk room to his sanctuary, the bathroom. He did have to piss but having completed that in relatively short order, he waited out the coffee maker by messing with his phone. Messages from both Riley and Liam. Riley:
free tonight?
not anymore
you're taking me out for drinks
this day already sucks ass, I need alcohol and π
Liam:
hey daddy
want to netflix and chill?
that means fuck, btw
What's a man to do
thought John. He decided to rank the two "invitations" by urgency. He replied to Riley first:
I'll bring my best eggplant
Then to Liam:
I'm not THAT old
busy at the moment, surprise visit from the ex π€¬
Riley unsurprisingly did not answer immediately, but Liam did:
maybe I can scare her aware with my gay cooties π¦
John laughed, but the coffee maker's beep reminded him he needed to get off his ass at some point.
I highly recommend against this strategy
He removed himself, reluctantly, from the bathroom. This time on his way back to the kitchen, he noticed a box, empty save for a few knickknacks he vaguely recognized from around the house, with "Carrie's shit" scribbled on one side.
At least she won't be going home entirely empty-handed.
When he got to the kitchen, he poured himself a mug of coffee, and then, considering the ramifications of standing here enjoying himself while Carrie dug through boxes of junk, poured a second cup for her, and brought both with him to the junk room.
"Coffee?" he offered. Carrie had taken the liberty of emptying multiple boxes that had previously been perfectly fine containing long-forgotten items accumulated over months and years, and strewing those items all over the floor.
She took the mug, one he realized only now was hers, from his hands. "Well, I found my yoga mat, but I don't know where everything else is. It's all just piles of your shit."
You're welcome for the coffee,
he thought. "You mean my exercise mat?"
"For all the Yoga you do?" Carrie said sarcastically. She took a sip of coffee.
"I use it for other stuff," he said. She was annoying but also annoyingly cute. "But if you want it, it's yours. That mug is also yours, I think."
"Eh," she said, her stance softening visibly a bit, "I have lots of mugs and you probably need extras with all the girls you bring over here. Gotta give them at least a cup of coffee before you kick them out on their pretty little asses."
"And you don't need extras for all your new boyfriends?"
She made a little "humph" noise. "Anyway, I was going to ask for that couch back since I bought it but now you can keep it." She left unsaid but John inferred the "because I saw you fucking a girl in the ass on it."