Chapter 6: Ringing Hot Chocolate
The next morning...
"...Boss...your...cellphone's...ringing...," Caitlin murmured.
Boss opened one eye and looked over at the clock from where he was lying on the bed. It was about three thirty in the morning. He groaned as he stood up and walked over to the dresser. Boss answered it and muttered, "H...he...hello?"
"You just wake up?" Mike asked.
"...Yes...it's three thirty..."
"Wow, then I must never sleep. I'm waiting to go walking. You might wanna bring a coat or something since it's snowing..."
"It is?"
"Yup. How about this? I come on over to the clubhouse and wait for you there since it's sorta cold out here."
"Sure, I suppose..."
"Alright, be waiting for me." Boss then heard the click of Mike hanging up his cellphone. He put away his cellphone and bent down next to Caitlin.
"CC, we're gonna go on walking right now."
Caitlin opened her sapphire eyes and murmured, "Akay, whatever... Just be back by eight or so..."
Boss kissed her on the cheek. He got up off of his knees and walked out of the bedroom. Boss got his coat off of a hook next to the front door and put it on. He sat down at the table and looked toward the door.
About a minute later, he heard a knock on the door. Boss remarked, "C'mon in."
Mike walked in through the door. He glanced around in the darkness. "You don't have the light on, you know, right?"
Boss shrugged. "I didn't feel like turning it on."
Mike shrugged, too, as he walked over. He sat across from him at the table. "So aren't you going to make me something like a glass of tea or hot chocolate?"
"Sure, whatever..." Boss stood up from the table and walked into the kitchen. "He doesn't know what he's about to have... I cook so bad..." He got out the hot cocoa mix and made a few servings. Boss took it back out into the main room and set a cup on the table for himself and his guest.
"Thank you." Mike took a sip, and his chocolate brown eyes pierced the darkness as they went immediately wide. He coughed. "Um, very good..."
Boss took a sip of his hot cocoa. "Ya know, it ain't that bad..."
"Um, yeah..." Mike coughed again. "It's very...good..."
"I have to say, but CC's is better."
"Really? Cough! I would have never known..." Mike blinked as he took another sip. "Very, very, er, good..."
Boss nodded. He heard Bossy begin a long wail. "Crap... Hold on, I'm gonna check on Bossy real quick." He got up from the table and walked back into the bedroom.
Mike watched Boss walk into the bedroom and close the door. Once the door closed, he muttered, "Oh my God, that's the worse crap I've had this week..." He took another glance to the door. Mike reached into his coat pocket and took out a small, white capsule. He crushed it in his paw and put the coarse powder into Boss's hot cocoa. Mike sighed as he leaned back.
Boss walked back into the room. "Sorry 'bout that," Boss apologized as he sat back down at the table. He took a sip of his hot cocoa. "...Hmm... It's starting to go cold." Boss downed it quickly and set the cup back down on the table. "Hmm... I thought hot chocolate was supposed to wake you up..." He yawned and closed his eyes. "Is yours alright?"
Mike shrugged. "I'm not exactly thirsty..." He tapped his fingers on the table in front of him. "...Are you alright?"
Boss opened up his eyes. "Oh, sorry... I'm just tired still..."
Mike nodded. "Alright, I suppose. If you're not..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Mike watched as Boss closed his eyes and fell to the ground. He waited for a moment to see what happened, but he realized Boss had fallen completely back to sleep. Mike glanced around the room and looked at the time. It was about four.
"Alright, I've got plenty of time to get out of here..."
Later...
Caitlin glanced at the time. It was about nine thirty now, and some of the Ham-Hams should have been there any minute then. She sighed as she stood next to Bossy's play pen alone.
"I thought he said he'd be back by now for sure... He wasn't home until this time yesterday, but that's because he went shopping..."
She walked over to the table where the two cups of hot chocolate had been left. Caitlin looked at both cups. One was almost completely full, and the other was completely empty. She walked into the kitchen with the cups. Caitlin saw the pot of hot cocoa sitting next to the stove. She poured the cup and the pot out into the sink.
"I wonder what's going on around here?" she whispered to herself as she set the cups and pot in the dishwasher. Caitlin walked back into the main room and sat down at the table. She saw all of the excess wrapping paper from when Boss was wrapping gifts last night and had shoved them under the large tree. "I guess I should begin wrapping my gift..."