"So I was thinking purple paint," Caitlyn holds up the brightly coloured paint proudly.
Jason wrinkles his nose. "Won't the birds like a more natural tone?"
"Well, Jason, maybe the birds happen to enjoy a spot of mauve," Caitlyn huffs, dropping the tin in a pile of glitter, sending it scattering across the floor. "Sorry for trying to help!"
"Alright, geez," Jason rolls his eyes. "I just want this birdhouse to be perfect, you know?"
"I know," Caitlyn sighs, patting his shoulder.
"Thanks for offering to help, though!" Jason smiles gratefully at her.
"No problem," Caitlyn returns the grin. There is just something about him that makes her insides go all mushy. Not just because he's cute and he complimented her style over Tess's and he's a good kisser, but because he doesn't try to be likeable. He just is. She giggles internally at the sincere look of concentration on his face as he taps the last nails into his birdhouse. All of a sudden, she notices something that's not quite right.
"Jason, you're leaning in the glue!" she exclaims, backing away from the workbench.
"Huh?" Jason looks at her, before looking at his sticky sleeve in mild surprise. "Oh!"
He tries to pull away, only to find that the elbow to the cuff of his shirt has become permanently fixed to the wooden surface. Desperately, he looks to Caitlyn. "Help!" he squeaks.
Stifling her laughter, Caitlyn walks over and inspects the damage. "Well, I think your going to have to take it off!"
"My arm?" Jason gasps.
"No, silly, your shirt!" Caitlyn starts to undo the buttons down his chest, blushing slightly. Once they have all popped open, Jason starts to wriggle out of it, shrugging the shirt off his shoulders. He feels himself being freed, and twirls out of the shirt with a flourish, standing proudly in his tank top, hands on hips.
Unfortunately, his flailing arms connected with the bucket of glue in the progress, sending it toppling to the ground and splashing the sticky liquid all over the floor.
Caitlyn cries out in disgust, jumping backwards. She isn't fast enough. Her sneakers slip in the glue, and for a split second she looks like one of those cartoon figures running on air but not going anywhere. The only thing she can do is try and reach for the nearest thing to steady herself with, which just so happens to be Jason, who is totally unprepared for it. She latches on to his arm before she crashes to the floor, dragging him down with her.
"Ew!" Caitlyn screeches, feeling the glue seeping through her clothes. For a moment she has forgotten that Jason is perched conspicuously half on top of her, half in the glue beside her.
"Uh, Caitlyn?" Jason whispers, and she turns her head look at him.
The anger in her eyes evaporates as she realises how close his face is to hers. Her eyes flutter closed as his breath tingles across her skin. But the reality of the sticky situation interrupts her momentous dream state as Jason rolls off her, straight into the rest of the glue, before slowly getting to his feet and taking her hand to pull her up.
"Sorry," he mumbles sheepishly, looking at the ground.
Caitlyn opens her mouth to retort in a mixture of embarrassment and annoyance, but decides against it when she realises how positively ridiculous they must look, covered in glue and glitter and who knows what else was on the floor. And so instead she just starts to laugh.
"C'mere, big guy," she chuckles, giving him a quick hug, grinning as she feels his arms slide around her torso to return the embrace. But her elation turns to confusion when after a few awkward seconds, Jason still doesn't release her.
"Okay, Jason, you can let go now," Caitlyn mumbles in polite bemusement.
"I… I can't!" Jason tries unsuccessfully to disguise the panic in his voice.
"What?" Caitlyn furrows her eyebrows and tries to pull away and look at him. Except she can't. All she achieves is a stinging sensation in her face as she tries to pry it away from Jason's tank top. She tries to take a step back, but finds that her feet won't even lift off the ground. Her stomach drops when it hits her that she is literally stuck to Jason.
"Jason?" she asks, sickly sweet. "What kind of glue is this?"
"I think the label said Monster Glue?" Jason eyes the bucket inquisitively. "It's got a warning on it, but I can't quite read what it says."
Caitlyn takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. "Oh."
After a few more moments, she still hasn't spoken. Tentatively, Jason tries to break the silence. "Caitlyn, are you okay?"
"Well, let's recap, shall we? I'm glued to you, and the floor, and we can't move a freakin' inch. Yeah, Jason, I'm fantastic!" Caitlyn snarls.
"You're being sarcastic, aren't you?" Jason sighs.
"Duh!" Caitlyn shrieks. "Jason, what the heck are we going to do?"
"How am I supposed to know?" Jason shrugs, and Caitlyn winces as a few strands of hair are plucked from her scalp in the process.
"What in the world is going on in here?" A voice exclaims from behind them.
Jason tries to turn around to face the speaker, but Caitlyn yelps in pain and he freezes, apologising profusely.
"I come down here to find the missing couple, and this is what I find?" Mitchie's cheerful face appears into Caitlyn's line of sight.
"Trust me, this is anything but what it looks like," Caitlyn grimaces.
"Yeah, I accidently spilt glue on the floor and then we fell in it and then somehow we ended up like this," Jason pipes up.
Mitchie looks from Jason, to Caitlyn, to the glittering goop they're covered in, and to the overturned bucket, before bursting into fits of laughter.
"It's not funny!' They yell at the same time. Caitlyn glares at Mitchie, who is clutching at her stomach as tears rolls down her face, before she hears a snort above her head.
"Jason, you'd better not be laughing," she scowls.
"I'm not!" he squeaks in a voice that clearly indicates that he is, in fact, laughing.
"Oh, lighten up, Caitlyn. You'd be laughing if it was anyone else but you," Mitchie sniggers, wiping her eyes.
"Oh yes, hardy-har-har, look at the idiots who got themselves glued together," Caitlyn snipes, before realising what she just said and cracking a small smile. "I guess that is kinda funny…"
"Geez, Mitchie, how long does it take to… BAHAHAHAHA!" Another obnoxious voice that seems to find the whole situation highly amusing emanates from the door.
"Shut up, Shane! We're not allowed to laugh!" Jason scolds, cringing as he turns to frown at him.
"Okay, I think this has gone far enough! Does anyone have any idea how to separate us?" Caitlyn huffs, irritated that she's been humiliated in front of not only Mitchie, but now Shane too.
"I'll go see if I can get some cooking oil and some soap from my mom," Mitchie giggles, walking away just as a click and a flash comes from Shane's direction.
"Oh man, this is going to be so great when it goes up on our MySpace…"
I was listening to the song I'm Sticking With You by The Velvet Underground and couldn't get this idea of my head. It's not my best, I know, but it makes me lol.
I felt like doing something light-hearted after H&H and before I get stuck into my new story. *coughshamelessplugcoughgolookatthemplznowcough*
Reviews are not required, but much appreciated.