Chapter 7: taking it in stride

"Well, just because I'm providing room for four doesn't mean we have to do so uncomfortably," Jason said at the landing where his apartment lay. He set her bag down on the floor and pulled out a keychain, and selected a key and slid it into the lock.

"hey, I've been chained in a welded shut box underwater with a giant shark and a killer squid under a six-foot layer of ice. I think I can handle sleeping in an apartment for 2 days," she said. Then realizing she may have insulted him, added, "Not that there's anything WRONG with living in an apartment, I just meant-"
"I know, don't worry about it," he said, grinning. "Okay, here we are." He turned the key in the lock and opened the door. Inside it was dark, with the only light coming from the dim light bulb in the main hallway.

"Outside, this building may look shabby," he said, walking into the darkness. The dogs followed him in. "But my pad…is tricked…out." He flipped on a light switch, and Kim gasped.

The apartment looked as if it was too big to fit in the building. The front door was situated in the center of the wall of the main room. Inside, on the right side of the room, was a curved couch that looked as if you would just sink into it and never be able to find your way out. Sitting in front of it was a huge plasma tv, which was taller than Kim. Right next to it was a huge stereo system, built directly into the wall. She could see three doors sitting on the far end of the room, probably leading to the bedrooms and bathroom. Closer to them, a small section of the room which was obviously the kitchen, had a 4-foot high wall separating it from the rest of the room, but the rest of the space between the top of the small wall and the ceiling was empty, so you could look right into the room from the kitchen. The room and kitchen were lit by a dozen soft hazily glowing indentations in the ceiling, the sort you'd expect to see in a hospital suite, but they had a gentle, warming feel. The center of the room was completely empty, for some reason. The floor was soft, red, and cushy, and the walls…the walls blew her mind.

The walls were covered with the most incredible wallpaper she had ever seen. It was painted black, with thousands of small white dots all over them, with occasional red and blue ones, even the ceiling. The overall effect was like looking into deep space.

"Wow…" she said in utter amazement, unable to think of any other response. Slowly, she stepped into the room.

"Hey, hey!" he said. "Shoes off please, I just had the rugs cleaned!" then he grinned, and walked over to the kitchen area.

Kim took her shoes off and sank into the couch, which was so soft she felt she was on a cloud.

"Can I get you anything to eat or drink?" Jason called from the kitchen. His voice snapped Kim out of her reverie.

"Hey, I thought you preferred to not have all that luxury stuff," she said.

"Yeah, well," he said, coming back into the room with two large glasses filled with a dark fizzy liquid. "Some things are just too nice to pass up. When I first got this apartment, it was in terrible condition. But I fixed it up, and now look at it." He offered her a glass.

"Its amazing," she said, taking the glass. "What is this?"

"Um…you feeling okay?" he said, looking at her. "Its called soda. You do know what soda is, right?"

"Oh, right," she said sheepishly, and took a sip. Out of nowhere, the tan greyhound leapt up onto the couch and settled down on her, front paws and head resting on her lap. He looked up at her with big ga-ga eyes. Kim was startled for a moment, then laughed and stroked his head.

Jason sighed. "He does that to everyone. It means he likes you," he got up and grabbed a remote from the table. "You like music?"

"Yeah," Kim said. "What's his name?"

"Sabin," Jason replied. "the other one is Doc. Doc!" the black dog trotted into the room from the kitchen.

"Oh, sorry guys, I forgot to feed you!" Jason said, putting down the remote and going back into the kitchen. Immediately, Sabin leapt out of Kim's lap, knocking her drink out of her hand and on to the carpet, spilling soda everywhere.

"Ah!" she yelped, startled. She ran into the kitchen after Jason, who had just put two bowls of dog food on the linoleum floor. "Jason, I'm sorry, I spilled soda all over your carpet!"

"Sabin knocked it over?" he asked, taking out the towels and stain remover.

"Yeah…" she said sheepishly.

"No big deal. He does it to me all the time," he said, glancing over at the two dogs, who were practically inhaling their food. He walked into the main room and cleaned up the mess while Kim stood uncomfortably in the kitchen.

"There, all clean," he said, taking the cleaning stuff back into the kitchen and throwing away the dirty paper towels and replacing the stain remover and towels to their proper places.

"I'm sorry," Kim said again.

"I told you, its no big deal," he said. "Anyways, its almost 10. Bout time we turned in. Your room is the one on the left," he said, pointing to the door. "I keep it maintained, just in case I have guests. This is the first time its been used. That room is connected to the bathroom, feel free to take a shower if you need to." With that, he ushered the dogs into his room. "I'm shutting the lights down at 10:30, so just don't be up past then."

"Thanks again for this," she said. "I owe you big time for this."

"No, you don't," he insisted, opening the door to her room. It looked rather comfortable, with an over sized bed, a small beside table with a lamp, a bureau on the other side of the bed, and a bookcase resting in the corner. There was also a door connecting the room to the bathroom.

"I'll, uh, leave you to your privacy then," he said, setting her bag down on the bed. "just give a call if you need anything." With that, he shut the door.

Kim spent a few moments walking around in the room, then grabbed her bag and went into the bathroom.

The bathroom practically sparkled. The sink was marble, the sink shined silver, and the tub was huge, taking up most of the room. Its rim just barely came up to Kim's waist. The shower stall sat next to it, the non-transparent glass sparkling. Another door, presumably holding a closet, stood on her right.

"Guess he likes to keep things pretty clean around here," she said quietly to herself. The tub looked verrrry inviting. She decided to take a bath instead of a shower, she was very sweaty after the night's events.

She stripped down, the turned on the faucet. Water poured out, cascading into the pool. Kim also noticed the small jet holes in the sides and bottom of the tub. Apparently, it was also a Jacuzzi.

"nice," she said. A few minutes later, the tub was full of hot water, and she turned off the faucet. Slowly, she stepped into the tub, and the jets immediately turned on.

She sat there, in bliss, before starting to wash herself. After a few minutes, she heard a knock at the door.

"Kim?" Jason said through the door. "I heard you turning on the water, thought you might need a towel and washcloth. Can I come in?"

Quickly, Kim submerged herself deeper in the water, the bubbles from the jet concealing most of her body. "Yes, I suppose," she said, nervously, unsure of what would happen next. It was like Ron had said, she didn't know him that well.

The doorknob turned, and opened. Jason walked in, one hand covering his eyes, the other holding a towel and washcloth. "Well, just to make sure," he said, stepping in. "I'll just put them down on the counter here…" he missed the counter by a good 2 feet, and tripped over the small carpet placed at the door. He yelled, trying to grab something. Unfortunately, he grabbed the closet door handle, which swung open suddenly, spilling dozens of towels and other linen right on top of his head. Kim giggled.

"Well, that obviously solves the towel problem," Jason said, his voice muffled from underneath the towels. "Just leave them there, I'll clean them up when you're done." He got up, shaking off towels that hung from his head. His hand still covering his eyes, he set the original towel and washcloth down on the floor, and slowly turned around to walk out. He tripped again, falling out of the room, trying to grab something, and once again grabbed the doorknob. As he fell out of the room, the door swung shut behind him, and she heard a muffled "thud" from outside. She giggled again, then grabbed the washcloth and began pampering herself.

"I think I'm going to enjoy this weekend," she thought dreamily, her mind lost in the wonderful feel of the Jacuzzi and her thoughts about Jason.