"Hi. This is Bill from SNS Logistics. Calling to let you know that your delivery from Furniture Express is on its way, We're about... oh 30 minutes out."
"Oh, great. I'll be there. Thank you." Jessica replied, grabbing her purse from her desk. Her new townhouse was about only about 15 minutes from work. She took the elevator down to the third floor and poked her head Abby's office.
Abby held up a finger. She was finishing a call with a client. "Yeah, that's fantastic! I will have my assistant send over the new contracts. So happy that y'all have decided to increase your business lines with us. Yep, you too. Call me anytime! Great, thanks." She said, hanging up the phone.
"Hey, babe, what's up?"
"Makeout couch is on the way." Jessica smiled. I
"Oh yay!" Abby smiled. "I'll come by after work to see it, is that cool?"
"Yeah," Jessica, beamed.
"Oh, I think I have something for you too." Abby said, "I got a delivery notification from Shein."
"Oh," Jessica said, excited and nervous at the same time. "Sounds fun!"
Jessica got to her car and drove towards her house. On her way out, she realized she needed to pee a little bit. But she wanted to make sure she got home before the delivery, so she decided to wait. By the time she got home, she was practically bursting. She rushed into the bathroom. As she was finishing up, she heard the doorbell ring and a moment later, a knock on the door.
"Coming!" She shouted, not sure if they would be able to hear her through the closed doors. She quickly washed and dried her hands and walked out. On her way, she dragged the chair back to its permanent location and moved the coffee table to make plenty of room for the couch. She opened the front door and looked out. The delivery truck was idling loudly at the end of her driveway. One of the delivery guys was just climbing into the passenger seat and slamming the door.
"Hey!" She waved, hoping they hadn't decided to leave, but they couldn't hear her over the thrum of the loud diesel engine. "Wait, I'm here!" She waved. But the truck shuddered as the transmission dropped into gear and it vroomed off down the street. Then Jessica saw a large wooden crate sitting at the front of her driveway, just in front of the garage.
"Ah, shit." She said. She'd just assumed that they would deliver and bring it inside. But maybe that wasn't the deal. She went over and looked at the crate. It was made of plywood and lumber. She tried pulling on the top and even put her weight in to see if she could lift it at all. "Damn." She muttered, it would take tools and muscles to get it open and the couch inside. "Urgh." She groaned.
Jessica pulled up her phone and called Matthew's number. It rang once and then dropped to voicemail. She hung up and started to write a text.
He texted first. 'What's up?'
'They delivered my couch, but they just left it on the driveway. I was home and everything!' Jessica wrote back and sent a picture of the crate.
Matthew sent back an upside down smiley face. 'I'm on my way to work out with Jimmy. We'll swing by after and take care of it. Cool?'
'Yeah, thank you.' She texted, relieved.
She texted Abby too to tell her the story. Abby thought it was pretty funny.
Jessica went inside and set up her laptop at the kitchen table to finish her work day, trying not to stew about the couch situation.
Matthew and Jimmy showed up about 5:45.. They were both wearing gym clothes and Jimmy had a backwards facing Mets hat. Jimmy got some tools out of his truck and they had the crate disassembled and the couch moved inside without much trouble.
This time Jimmy directed all of his flirtatious energy towards Jessica. "Man, this is a comfy looking couch." He said, feeling the cushions after they'd put the legs on and flipped it over.
"Yeah!" Jessica said happily. "Abby helped me pick it out. She said, I needed a good-" She caught herself before she said '
makeout couch'
"-comfy couch, for like... watching movies."
"Yeah, chilling out, watching Netflix." Jimmy winked her."
"Exactly." Jessica agreed. She gave them both a hug and insisted that they take some cash to buy dinner. I they tried to refuse, but she insisted. "No, you guys came all the way over here just to help. At least, let me give you some money for beer and wings or whatever."
"Alright," Matt relented taking the money.
"You should come with us." Jimmy offered.
"Oh," Jessica said, actually, kind of tempted. "Actually, Abby's gonna come by. She wants to see the new couch and stuff."
"Oh yeah. Abby, tell her. Jimmy said 'hi'." Jimmy said with a wink and nod.
"Okay, that's enough." Matt said flatly, ushering Jimmy towards the door.
"Good to see you again. Jess! I hope you have fun with the new couch!" Jimmy smiled.
"Dude, Matt said giving him a little shove.
Jessica just laughed.
Immature boys
, she thought.
Abby texted that she was on her way and offered to pick up dinner from a bakery/cafe that specialized in soup and sandwiches. Jessica asked for a bowl of tortilla soup and a side salad. Abby showed up shortly later with a bag of food, a couple parcels from Shein and a bottle of wine. They got out their dinners and poured two glasses of wine. They laughed and gossiped about work colleagues. Jessica told her about Jimmy's flirting that he said, 'Hi'. Which gave Abby a good laugh.
After they ate, Abby went over to sit on the couch and stretch out to lay and test it in all ways. "Ooh, it's even more comfy than I imagined and there's plenty of room for two. Come here." She said, holding out her arms for Jessica to lay down beside her. "See two people can lay side by side and make out."
Jessica wiggled out of her arms and giggled.
Abby flipped over and gave a couple bounces on the couch. "Oh yeah, that'll do."
Jessica laughed. "What's that?" She said, seeing something poking out from behind the couch. She picked it up, a well worn Mets cap with a folded bill. "I think this is Jimmy's." She said turning it in her hands "He must have dropped it when they flipped the couch over."
"Oh, you know what that is?" Abby asked.
"A baseball hat?" Jessica said, looking it over.
"It's a 'leave behind'!" Abby giggled
"A what?"
"He left it so you'd have to call him and he could come pick it up and see you again."
"No," Jessica said, shaking her head. I'm sure it was an accident."
"If you say so." Abby said, playfully.
Jessica held it out and took a picture and texted it to Matthew. 'Found this behind the couch. I think maybe it's Jimmy's?'
'Yeah.' Matt texted back. 'He wants to know if he can come grab it tomorrow.'
'Text me his number and I'll get it to him.' Jessica replied, wanting to control the situation with Abby's theory in the back of her head.
He replied with: 'Cool' and a contact card. 'Gave him yours too, says he'll text you if he can come by tomorrow.'
'K' Jessica texted back. "Matthew says Jimmy might come grab it tomorrow." She informed Abby.
