***Thanks for reviews on 17, I hope I get even more on 18! Here we go, and
I know most people are expecting a big Garret/Jordan talk, but I can't feel
it happening right now, but it might...sometime soon...thanks!***
CHAPTER 18:
((Nigel's apartment, 11:45 am.))
~~Jordan~~
"I swear Nigel, if your dog tries to use me as a pillow while I'm sleeping..." I glanced up at him as we were riding the elevator up to his floor.
"Well, I haven't gotten to bring any other girls home to him lately, so we'll have to find out how he reacts."
"Still working on that case of that kid?"
"Yeah, in the free time I've got. I think Garret's getting kinda sick of me doing it though..."
"He said anything to you?" I smiled at him as the elevator doors slid open.
He stepped off first. "No, but I can tell, everytime he catches me running some different test or something...he kinda gives me one of those looks that he has." He reached into his coat to find his keys.
"I've seen plenty of those looks before, he's just being Garret." I heard the impatient scratching and whining coming from the other side of the door.
"You're going to have to excuse the mess Luv, but I haven't been around to clean much this last week..." He turned the key in the lock and opened the door. "Just don't touch anything that looks dirty, and you'll be alright."
I stepped inside, and looked around at the room. "It isn't THAT bad Nige..."
He shut the door behind him. "When you can tell how old your takeout is by what junk-mail's sitting next to it, it's bad."
"Well, it passes the Jordan standard of cleanliness, so welcome to the club." I sat down on his couch, and came face to face with a very sleepy, very fat, feline laying sprawled on the back of the couch.
"Oh, that's Rodger. Don't mind him...he sleeps there whenever I'm home...while I'm gone however..." He threw his coat down on the counter dividing the kitchen and the hallway, then opened up his fridge. "Want anything?"
"What does Rodger do while you're gone Nige?" I laughed at him, then nodded. "Got any water?"
"You're in luck Jordan, I just restocked." He grabbed two bottles of water, and shut the fridge, then walked back over to the couch. "And Rodger?"
"Yes Nigel, Rodger."
"He throws lavish parties for all the cats in the damn neighborhood, makes a mess of my clothes, shreds my couch, then they're all gone as soon as I open my front door." He looked over at Rudy, who was still standing by the front door, staring at it expectantly.
"I think he wants something." I looked over at the door. "I think he wants to go on a walk."
"Oh no. You said it." He glanced back at me. "Now you're in trouble."
I didn't quite understand what he meant by "trouble" until I found myself getting jumped on, barked at, and slobbered over by a now very excited bulldog puppy. "Alright! I'll walk you! Calm down!" The restatment of the word "walk" just proceeded to excite Rudy even more, until he was racing back and forth from the couch to the door, as fast as his little stubby bulldog legs would carry him.
"Here, you'll need this." Nigel leaned over and grabbed his leash, which I noticed was covered in various chew marks. He handed it to me, then nodded. "The park?"
"Sounds good to me." I stood up off the couch, then quickly attached the leash to Rudy's collar, and nearly got dragged off my feet to the door. "Damn he's strong!"
"I know, he hasn't quite learned to 'heel' yet. I need to take him back to obidience school." He grabbed a bag full of dog treats, and opened the door. "Shall we?"
"As long as he doesn't take me down the stairs, I'll be fine!" I held on tightly as Rudy took off down the hall towards the elevator, me trailing behind him.
Nigel only shook his head and laughed. "He's not that mean Jordan!"
~~Garret~~
"Why do I get myself into this..." I muttered to myself as I drove along the backstreets of Boston, attempting to avoid the midday traffic that plagued the city like wildfire plagues the California canyons. "Can't people just NOT drive right now?" I slowly came to a stop at a red light, and I glanced down at my arm, which had stopped bleeding, finally. There were still dozens of glass shards sticking out, but I didn't want to even try to pull them out, now that the adrenaline in my system had returned to a normal level. As the light changed to green, I made a left hand turn, and was promptly greeted by the view of a traffic accident blocking all 3 lanes of the street. I was about to yell something to myself, when my phone rang.
"This is Macy." I fumbled with it, putting it on my shoulder so I could still drive with my good hand.
"Garret? It's Lily."
I sighed. "What Lily?"
"I wanted to tell you that, Renee just stopped by, and she wants you to call her as soon as you can."
"Alright. Anything else?" I thought to myself Great...Renee wants me to call her...this should be fun.
"She saw the nice trail of blood you left all over the morgue...and the piece of glass you left on the countertop." She paused for a second. "Where are you?"
"Not where you want me to be, that's for sure." I knew she was going to say something about going and getting my arm stitched up, so I just waited for her to say it.
"Garret, you need to get your arm looked at. Are you driving?"
"If you call sitting in accident traffic wasting gas driving, then yes, I am driving." I sighed.
"You shouldn't be driving with one hand."
"I know that Lily. I also shouldn't be on a cell phone while driving, but, I'm doing that too."
I heard her sigh on the other end.
"What now?" I shifted my car into park and turned it off. I obviously wasn't going anywhere for a while.
"Just call Renee. She's mad."
"I figured as much. I'll call her right now."
"Alright, goodbye Garret."
"Bye Lily." I pressed the end button on my phone, then set it on the passenger seat next to me. I didn't want to talk to anyone else, the pain in my arm was starting to come back, and I was already angry enough.
Unfortunately, I didn't get that option. My phone rang again, and I had to supress the urge I had to throw it out the window. I grabbed it, hit the answer button, and growled my name into the phone.
"Macy."
"Well, guess who's in some deep crap today...our resident psychopath..."
"What do you want Renee?"
"What? No hello? No how are you?"
I rolled my eyes. "If you start off talking about crap and psychopaths, then no, I'm not saying hello."
"Well, if you walked into a morgue and saw trails of blood, glass shards everywhere, and a very stunned staff all pointing at your office, where there is a VERY stunned shrink, I can start off with psychopath."
"Fine. What do you want?" I leaned my head on the steering wheel and sighed.
"I was wondering, if you were busy for lunch. But now, I'm wondering if you're still sane."
"I'm fine Renee."
"You haven't been to the hospital." I heard her sigh on the other line.
"So?"
"I saw all the blood, and with the way Lily was throwing a damn panic attack, you'd think your arm was missing."
"It's not, it's sitting right here. I picked it up off the floor after it fell off."
She laughed. "Alright then. Sounds good."
"No, I'm fine...for now, I should go get it checked out later, but who cares. Although..."
"Although what Garret?"
"It would be nice to have someone take all this glass out, instead of me sitting at my kitchen sink and doing it myself."
"Got food at your kitchen sink?"
"Yeah." I looked up at the traffic ahead of me, which was starting to crawl again. "Can you be there in twenty minutes?"
"I'm game. I'm just going to watch though, you're the one who's great with a scapel. See you in twenty."
"Bye Renee." I quickly pressed the end button, then thought to myself. Wait...you just invited Renee over to your house?!
~~Jordan~~ By the time we had done a few laps through the park, Rudy had exhausted himself. He promptly found the nearest shaded patch of grass, dragged us both to it, then collapsed onto the ground, rolling happily on it.
"He's got alot of energy huh?" Nigel handed me a waterbottle, which he had intelligently brought with us.
"He sure does. No wonder it looks like you've been exercising lately!" I took the water from him, and took a sip. "Thanks."
"You really think so?" Nigel sat down on the grass next to me and Rudy, and started to stratch the nearly sleeping bulldog behind the ears.
"Yeah, I do think so. I wish I had one of these things...he's great!" She motioned towards the other dog owners who were running with their animals. "Look at all those people!"
He nodded. "That's how I normally am, but only for about a lap or so..." Rudy quickly laid his head onto my knee, and let out a long snort.
"He likes me." I glanced up at Nigel, who was smiling at me.
"That's another reason he's great. Unconditional love. Tons of it."
I leaned down and gave him a kiss on the nose, which only prompted another round of snorting. "He's so cute."
Nigel laid on his back and stared up at the tree above him. "Yeah, he's perfect. I'm lucky I found him. He's been there for me...but not as much as you guys have."
"What are you talking about Nige?"
"I'm talking about you, Jordan."
"When am I there for you? It seems like it's the other way around."
"Lately, yes Luv, but we're all just bulldog puppies. We keep giving it and giving it."
I looked down at Rudy, then over to Nigel. "I can see the resemblance already."
"Hey! I thought you said I was losing weight." He sat up on one elbow.
"I never said that. I said you were exercising." I smiled at him. "Thanks Nigel."
"No problem Jordan. You don't have to ask."
"I know. I guess we are all just like bulldog puppies."
TO BE CONTINUED
***THANKS FOR READING, TALK TO YOU ALL LATER, NEXT CHAPTER LOTS OF GARRET. LOTS OF GARRET. AND JORDAN.***
CHAPTER 18:
((Nigel's apartment, 11:45 am.))
~~Jordan~~
"I swear Nigel, if your dog tries to use me as a pillow while I'm sleeping..." I glanced up at him as we were riding the elevator up to his floor.
"Well, I haven't gotten to bring any other girls home to him lately, so we'll have to find out how he reacts."
"Still working on that case of that kid?"
"Yeah, in the free time I've got. I think Garret's getting kinda sick of me doing it though..."
"He said anything to you?" I smiled at him as the elevator doors slid open.
He stepped off first. "No, but I can tell, everytime he catches me running some different test or something...he kinda gives me one of those looks that he has." He reached into his coat to find his keys.
"I've seen plenty of those looks before, he's just being Garret." I heard the impatient scratching and whining coming from the other side of the door.
"You're going to have to excuse the mess Luv, but I haven't been around to clean much this last week..." He turned the key in the lock and opened the door. "Just don't touch anything that looks dirty, and you'll be alright."
I stepped inside, and looked around at the room. "It isn't THAT bad Nige..."
He shut the door behind him. "When you can tell how old your takeout is by what junk-mail's sitting next to it, it's bad."
"Well, it passes the Jordan standard of cleanliness, so welcome to the club." I sat down on his couch, and came face to face with a very sleepy, very fat, feline laying sprawled on the back of the couch.
"Oh, that's Rodger. Don't mind him...he sleeps there whenever I'm home...while I'm gone however..." He threw his coat down on the counter dividing the kitchen and the hallway, then opened up his fridge. "Want anything?"
"What does Rodger do while you're gone Nige?" I laughed at him, then nodded. "Got any water?"
"You're in luck Jordan, I just restocked." He grabbed two bottles of water, and shut the fridge, then walked back over to the couch. "And Rodger?"
"Yes Nigel, Rodger."
"He throws lavish parties for all the cats in the damn neighborhood, makes a mess of my clothes, shreds my couch, then they're all gone as soon as I open my front door." He looked over at Rudy, who was still standing by the front door, staring at it expectantly.
"I think he wants something." I looked over at the door. "I think he wants to go on a walk."
"Oh no. You said it." He glanced back at me. "Now you're in trouble."
I didn't quite understand what he meant by "trouble" until I found myself getting jumped on, barked at, and slobbered over by a now very excited bulldog puppy. "Alright! I'll walk you! Calm down!" The restatment of the word "walk" just proceeded to excite Rudy even more, until he was racing back and forth from the couch to the door, as fast as his little stubby bulldog legs would carry him.
"Here, you'll need this." Nigel leaned over and grabbed his leash, which I noticed was covered in various chew marks. He handed it to me, then nodded. "The park?"
"Sounds good to me." I stood up off the couch, then quickly attached the leash to Rudy's collar, and nearly got dragged off my feet to the door. "Damn he's strong!"
"I know, he hasn't quite learned to 'heel' yet. I need to take him back to obidience school." He grabbed a bag full of dog treats, and opened the door. "Shall we?"
"As long as he doesn't take me down the stairs, I'll be fine!" I held on tightly as Rudy took off down the hall towards the elevator, me trailing behind him.
Nigel only shook his head and laughed. "He's not that mean Jordan!"
~~Garret~~
"Why do I get myself into this..." I muttered to myself as I drove along the backstreets of Boston, attempting to avoid the midday traffic that plagued the city like wildfire plagues the California canyons. "Can't people just NOT drive right now?" I slowly came to a stop at a red light, and I glanced down at my arm, which had stopped bleeding, finally. There were still dozens of glass shards sticking out, but I didn't want to even try to pull them out, now that the adrenaline in my system had returned to a normal level. As the light changed to green, I made a left hand turn, and was promptly greeted by the view of a traffic accident blocking all 3 lanes of the street. I was about to yell something to myself, when my phone rang.
"This is Macy." I fumbled with it, putting it on my shoulder so I could still drive with my good hand.
"Garret? It's Lily."
I sighed. "What Lily?"
"I wanted to tell you that, Renee just stopped by, and she wants you to call her as soon as you can."
"Alright. Anything else?" I thought to myself Great...Renee wants me to call her...this should be fun.
"She saw the nice trail of blood you left all over the morgue...and the piece of glass you left on the countertop." She paused for a second. "Where are you?"
"Not where you want me to be, that's for sure." I knew she was going to say something about going and getting my arm stitched up, so I just waited for her to say it.
"Garret, you need to get your arm looked at. Are you driving?"
"If you call sitting in accident traffic wasting gas driving, then yes, I am driving." I sighed.
"You shouldn't be driving with one hand."
"I know that Lily. I also shouldn't be on a cell phone while driving, but, I'm doing that too."
I heard her sigh on the other end.
"What now?" I shifted my car into park and turned it off. I obviously wasn't going anywhere for a while.
"Just call Renee. She's mad."
"I figured as much. I'll call her right now."
"Alright, goodbye Garret."
"Bye Lily." I pressed the end button on my phone, then set it on the passenger seat next to me. I didn't want to talk to anyone else, the pain in my arm was starting to come back, and I was already angry enough.
Unfortunately, I didn't get that option. My phone rang again, and I had to supress the urge I had to throw it out the window. I grabbed it, hit the answer button, and growled my name into the phone.
"Macy."
"Well, guess who's in some deep crap today...our resident psychopath..."
"What do you want Renee?"
"What? No hello? No how are you?"
I rolled my eyes. "If you start off talking about crap and psychopaths, then no, I'm not saying hello."
"Well, if you walked into a morgue and saw trails of blood, glass shards everywhere, and a very stunned staff all pointing at your office, where there is a VERY stunned shrink, I can start off with psychopath."
"Fine. What do you want?" I leaned my head on the steering wheel and sighed.
"I was wondering, if you were busy for lunch. But now, I'm wondering if you're still sane."
"I'm fine Renee."
"You haven't been to the hospital." I heard her sigh on the other line.
"So?"
"I saw all the blood, and with the way Lily was throwing a damn panic attack, you'd think your arm was missing."
"It's not, it's sitting right here. I picked it up off the floor after it fell off."
She laughed. "Alright then. Sounds good."
"No, I'm fine...for now, I should go get it checked out later, but who cares. Although..."
"Although what Garret?"
"It would be nice to have someone take all this glass out, instead of me sitting at my kitchen sink and doing it myself."
"Got food at your kitchen sink?"
"Yeah." I looked up at the traffic ahead of me, which was starting to crawl again. "Can you be there in twenty minutes?"
"I'm game. I'm just going to watch though, you're the one who's great with a scapel. See you in twenty."
"Bye Renee." I quickly pressed the end button, then thought to myself. Wait...you just invited Renee over to your house?!
~~Jordan~~ By the time we had done a few laps through the park, Rudy had exhausted himself. He promptly found the nearest shaded patch of grass, dragged us both to it, then collapsed onto the ground, rolling happily on it.
"He's got alot of energy huh?" Nigel handed me a waterbottle, which he had intelligently brought with us.
"He sure does. No wonder it looks like you've been exercising lately!" I took the water from him, and took a sip. "Thanks."
"You really think so?" Nigel sat down on the grass next to me and Rudy, and started to stratch the nearly sleeping bulldog behind the ears.
"Yeah, I do think so. I wish I had one of these things...he's great!" She motioned towards the other dog owners who were running with their animals. "Look at all those people!"
He nodded. "That's how I normally am, but only for about a lap or so..." Rudy quickly laid his head onto my knee, and let out a long snort.
"He likes me." I glanced up at Nigel, who was smiling at me.
"That's another reason he's great. Unconditional love. Tons of it."
I leaned down and gave him a kiss on the nose, which only prompted another round of snorting. "He's so cute."
Nigel laid on his back and stared up at the tree above him. "Yeah, he's perfect. I'm lucky I found him. He's been there for me...but not as much as you guys have."
"What are you talking about Nige?"
"I'm talking about you, Jordan."
"When am I there for you? It seems like it's the other way around."
"Lately, yes Luv, but we're all just bulldog puppies. We keep giving it and giving it."
I looked down at Rudy, then over to Nigel. "I can see the resemblance already."
"Hey! I thought you said I was losing weight." He sat up on one elbow.
"I never said that. I said you were exercising." I smiled at him. "Thanks Nigel."
"No problem Jordan. You don't have to ask."
"I know. I guess we are all just like bulldog puppies."
TO BE CONTINUED
***THANKS FOR READING, TALK TO YOU ALL LATER, NEXT CHAPTER LOTS OF GARRET. LOTS OF GARRET. AND JORDAN.***