#Author's Note: Sorry it's taken so long! Hopefully this will be worth it. So this mini-sode will have a few parts (2 or 3, don't know yet). I hope you guys like it! :-)
Minisode 2: The Heat's Broke and We're Cold (Part 1)
November 9, 1975
"Son of a bitch!" Chucky tears the thermostat off the wall and chucks it at the floor.
"Piece o' shit!"
Scowling, he wraps his coat tighter around himself as he goes into the kitchen. His vision is blurred by the "smoke" of his own breath.
"Monday?!" Eddie says, on the phone with their landlord Bruce. "But it's only Wednesday! We been freezin' our asses off in here since yesterday!"
"Hey, I'm sorry! But you guys ain't the only ones with broken heaters! You're the fifth person to call me today alone and Manson's Heating and Cooling is booked up!"
"Don't you dare expect rent this month, asshole!" Chucky yells.
"Was that Ray?!"
Chucky snatches the receiver from Eddie's hands. "Yeah, it's Ray! We- are- cold, goddamn it!"
"Look, I'm gonna tell you what I just told Caputo. You are not the only ones with broken heaters, Manson's Heating and Cooling is booked! So the earliest they can come out is Monday- there's nothin' I can do, my hands are tied!"
Chuck slams the receiver.
"Yeah, I'll show you tied hands alright."
Eddi is shivering from head to toe. "I don't think I can stand another night like this Chucky. There's gotta be somethin' we can do."
After a moment, a light bulb suddenly goes off in Chucky's head. He gets back on the phone.
"Who you callin'?"
"Tiff."
Dial tone, dial tone...
"Hello?"
"Hey, Tiff."
"Hi Chucky!"
"Honey, listen. Our heat's broken. It's freezin' over here."
Tiffany gasps. "Oh no! My poor little honeybun! Is there anything I can do?"
"Well... me and Eddie were actually sorta wondering if we could stay over at your place for a while. It would only be for a few days, our landlord says the repairman would be here Monday."
"Hell no!" Michelle snaps, repulsed. "I'm not letting that jerk stay here!"
"But they're cold!" Tiffany pleads. "They're freezing, Michelle!"
"Well so are the hobo's and the street peddlers, but you don't see me openin' my doors to them!" She pauses for a moment, aware of how horrible that sounds.
"I mean I would if I could...well I'll open my home to a hobo before I open it to him!"
"Michelle," Tiffany says patiently. "Chucky's my boyfriend."
"As I've been painfully aware for the past what, 6 months now?"
"But Eddie's cold too! You don't want him to freeze, do you?"
Michelle groans. Now why did she have to go and play the ex-boyfriend-who-I-still-care-about card?
"Why can't they just get a space heater? Or go to a hotel?"
"A hotel?!" Chucky repeats, scandalized. "I hate, hate, hate hotels! They stink! I don't wanna sleep in the same bed where some horny freak got jerked off by some prostitute!"
Tiffany looks back at Michelle to see her response. Michelle lets out another groan.
"Fine."
Tiffany gasps with excitement. "Really?! Chucky! She said yes!"
"But there are going to be rules!" Michelle says firmly to the receiver, pointing at it like it's Chucky and Eddie themselves.
"Ahhhhh," Eddie moans with relief the moment he steps inside Michelle and Tiffany's. Compared to his and Chucky's place, it's like a sauna in here.
"Thanks again, Shelly."
Tiffany greets Chucky with a kiss.
"This'll be fun!" she gushes. "Now we can spend even more time together!"
Chucky forces a smile. Oh great...
"When I wake up, you'll be here! When I go to sleep, you'll be here..."
"Oh God," Michelle says. "Tiffany please stop before I change my mind, hmm?"
She walks into the livingroom and the others follow.
"Alright, one of you guys can take the couch and the other can have either the loveseat or the floor."
"The couch is mine," Chucky says immediately.
"Well shit Chucky," Eddie says. "That ain't fair. What if I wanted the couch?"
"Well I need the couch Eddie, I'm taller than you. My legs are longer. I can't sleep on that little thing."
"Bullshit! You're what, two inches taller, maybe?"
Chucky narrows his eyes. "So what, you wanna fight for it?"
"Nuh-uh!" Michelle snaps, jumping between them. "There will be no fighting in my house! Now, why don't you two just arm wrestle or play rock paper scissors or somethin'? 'Cuz either way you ain't messin' up my livingroom set."
"I don't like rock paper scissors," Eddie says. "Chucky cheats."
"Liar! I do not!"
"You do to! Every time you shoot, like if I was to show rock and you show scissors, you change your hand to paper at the last second and think I don't notice!"
"When the fuck did I ever do that?!"
"Last week!"
"Alright, ya know what?" Michelle goes into her pants pocket and takes out a quarter. "Coin toss. Hmm? How 'bout that? And I'll do it so nobody cheats."
She tosses the coin in the air.
"Heads!" Chucky yells as it falls.
"Sorry Chucky," Michelle says. "It's tails."
"Yes!" Eddie says.
"Yeah yeah, okay whatever," Chucky says. "Not like I'll be here much anyway...me and Tiff got plenty o' dates to go on, don't we honey?"
"Sure do, honeybun." They kiss, which makes Michelle and Eddie feel awkward. Michelle rolls her eyes.
This is gonna be a long 5 days, isn't it?