My cellphone rang out insistently. How was it that I could be bored for hours upon hours, but the time I *do* get called, it's when I'm already in the middle of something? I paused the game I was playing, setting my controller down and tilting the face of my phone up to see who was calling. The screen displayed a picture of a white brunette girl, clad in a skimpy bikini and floral print sarong. Her eyes were hidden behind a pair of novelty fluorescent green sun-glasses (the kind with horizontal slats), and she smiled wide as she held a bottle of tequila aloft. The bottom of the screen displayed simple block text reading "KATIE".
I sighed and pulled the phone off the table and leaned back. I held the phone and paused for a moment, wondering if I really wanted to give up my lovely Saturday afternoon to deal with whatever nonsense Katie would be dragging me into. She was the hottest girl I knew (and had been for years), but she would constantly meddle with everybody and take them for granted. She wasn't all bad, she was just bossy like that.
I felt the phone buzz in my hand. I tore myself away from my thoughts and brought the phone to my ear.
"Hey Katie."
"Hey Nick! Thank god you answered, everybody else is flaking out on me! I need you to go pick up something for me and bring it back to my place."
I rolled my eyes and slumped in my chair... here we go again. "I'm doing fine Katie, thanks for asking. I'm glad I have friends that really care about me. You know, a lot of people these days say that our generation is selfish, but it's people like you that prove them wrong."
"Ugh, you're such an ass, Nick." I couldn't tell how much of the disappointment in her voice was for real and how much was playing along with my sarcasm. I rolled on anyway.
"You know it. Seriously though, you can't take care of your errands yourself?"
"Well *first* off, fuck you. And secondly, it's a new easychair. I don't have room for it in my car, and you have a truck, so *you* do the math."
"What, they don't have a delivery service at wherever you got it from?"
"I'm not made of money, Nick."
"Says the girl with the new chair."
She let out an exasperated sigh "god, are you going to help me out or not?"
I frowned to myself... maybe I was being too much of an asshole. It's not like I was doing anything so special... why not help out a friend? "Sorry, sorry... don't worry, I'll pick it up for you."
After getting the location of the store from her, I ended the call, grabbed my keys, and got on my way.
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45 minutes and a lot of grunting later, I stood at the door of her house. I cursed myself for answering the phone. Then I cursed myself again for agreeing to help Katie out for free. I don't know what her new chair was made of, but bricks and anvils were high on the list. I set the box down, sighing with relief as I set the weight down. Christ, it was heavy. I rang the doorbell. From deep inside the house, I heard her yell. "Come on innnn!!!"
I turned the knob, pushed the door wide open. I grabbed the box and hobbled as I tried to bring it inside. I somehow managed to close the door behind me. I stopped to catch my breath, and then shouted out to the apparently empty house. "Katie? It's Nick! Where do you want your stupid, heavy-as-shit, and probably ugly chair!?!?"
"Over here! In the master bedroom!" She called out from the direction of where I knew her master bedroom to be. I stood silent for a few moments before realizing that she wasn't even going to help me take it down to her room. I just couldn't believe her sometimes.
I hoisted the box up and trudged down the hallway to her bedroom, grumbling. I turned the corner, seeing the door to her room open just a crack. I nudged the door open with my shoulder, and carried the box into her room. It took me a few seconds to fully process the scene before my eyes.