Taking a look around his kitchen and living room Luca can't help but cringe. They really should get to cleaning this place after last night. Used dishes and tableware were stacked on the counter and he couldn't find a reason why. They had invested in a dishwasher. But why if no one was putting anything in there?
"Ey, Street!" Luca all but shouts across the room to make sure his half-asleep friend actually reacts and is conscious.
"I' m up" he gets as a response coupled with a hearty yawn and an unruly hand gesture.
"I am taking Duke for his walk. Can you take care of the stacks of plates and run the dishwasher? Coffee is ready." Luca suggests and makes sure that Street is actually sitting upright; then he opens the door for the happy lab.
Street leans back against the sofa with his eyes closed for a little while longer before slowly getting up. They had a lot of fun with their friends last night, but it was definitely too early to be awake already after that.
He slowly shuffles over to the kitchen and tries to fit all plates, glasses, and other utensils into the devilish machine. Never ever will everything fit in there and he absolutely hates Tetris, although he suspects it might help with this task.
A little while later, with a hot, black coffee in hand, he admires his handy work. Cups and plates are all in and to his own surprise even the pot fit. Why hadn't he thought of putting that thing over the glasses before?
Now for the last step: soap, or whatever was supposed to go in that thing.
He opens the cupboard where they usually keep the small cubes for the machine, but the box is empty. He frowns. Was he supposed to get the new detergent?
Getting up again his eyes fall onto the dish soap on the counter next to the sink.
"Okay, the fluid version it is then."
Street turns on the dishwasher and checks the blinking run time, hears the water starting, and decides to take a cold shower to wake himself up. The coffee barely made a dent.
When Luca returns from the long and exhausting walk, he sees Street sitting outside on their picnic table.
While closing the gate he calls him out "How often do I need to explain that the tabletop is not for sitting. We have a bench for that." Something in Streets expression lets him falter in his next step and then his eyes focus on the glass of their terrasse door.
"Is that foam?" he presses out with a hint of shock in his voice.
Judging by the almost painful-looking grimace of shame on Streets face and the apologetic hand gesture Luca knew it was by no means intentional.
"Apparently the hand dish detergent is not appropriate for use in a dishwasher."
His friend sounded defeated, and Luca was speechless. His head was going 100 miles an hour. What were they supposed to do now? Give up and let the foam take over the house?
"Don't worry too much. I already called Chris and the water is turned off. Her idea." Street starts talking and pulls Luca back to the present. "She is on her way to help… I am really sorry." He finishes his apology with wide eyes and a pat on Luca's shoulder.
Behind them, Luca hears the gate opening and when he turns his head, he spots Chris walking in, pushing her sunglasses up on her head.
As soon as Chris looks in the direction of the terrace door, she starts laughing but quickly grows serious again. "How long was the machine running? That's a lot of foam!"
The guys recognize the serious tone of her voice and Luca turns questioningly to Street, who just cringes again.
"I don't know, I put everything in, pushed the button, and headed for a shower. Half an hour, maybe?" Street recounts his actions, his voice tinged with guilt.
"Okay," Chris claps and rubs her hands trying to get their attention, "We should empty out the dishwasher, if the soapy water dries down in there it's dead." She glances about the garden and zeroes in on the leaf blower in the back corner. She has no idea why the guys even have that thing, but right now it could help at least getting a path cleared to the dishwasher and sink.
"Street get the leaf blower and Luca you should bring Duke over to Timo's house. He doesn't need to be here for this." Chris starts giving out assignments and the guys spring into action without a question. Chris smiles to herself and thinks that they should listen to her more often.
About five minutes later Street finally managed to get the leaf blower working, it helps to plug the thing in, and Chris sends them off into the kitchen area to start getting rid of the foam obstructing the dishwasher. She really hopes they listened to her tip of using salt, vinegar, or oil to help break up the bubbles faster, but she also prays they won't use oil on the floor. The ground is slippery enough as it is.
Her own way leads her to the bathroom to get as many towels as she can find and trying to prevent herself from slipping and falling to the floor. Luca and Street already did that, she heard the curses.
When she arrives in the kitchen Chris sees the damage the slip in the foam did. Both guys are drenched but they managed to open the dishwasher and are emptying out the tableware.
"Next step is getting all the foam out and we should put salt or vinegar into the detergent compartment to neutralize the dish soap." Chris continues in her instructions while grabbing three bowls and passing them out.
She puts a towel down and starts working on getting all the bubbles out together with the guys. She knows every other surface in the kitchen and living room probably needs a good scrub down too but the most important task, for now, is trying to save this appliance.
After all the foam in the kitchen and living room is cleared out and Street has finished scrubbing the inside of the dishwasher Chris grabs the vinegar again and generously pours it into the machine.
As she moves to close the washer she must've managed to find the one remaining slippery spot and in seconds finds herself on her butt staring up at the ceiling.
Street turns to the kitchen hearing the sudden thud and when he spots Chris on the floor he can't help but start laughing.
"Stop it. The next time you can try solving your household disaster yourself!" Chris exclaims irritated and hurries to the bathroom to change. Before closing the door she shouts "Start the longest program the machine has so that everything hopefully gets cleaned!"
Street rolls his eyes but does as he is being told.
Luca leans at the counter and observes expectantly. Both of them listen to the water streaming into the dishwasher and stare at the red numbers in the display. No error message, just the sound of a functioning dishwasher.
As they exchange, a celebratory high five Chris walks back into the room.
"Looks like I can leave now and you can clean up the rest of this foam party yourself."
As she is closing the front door she can hear one last comment from Street:
"For a real party we were missing a couple of girls in bikinis or white tops!" and loud laughter from Luca.
She shakes her head chuckling softly.
Typical.