Chapter Seven
"Dinner last night was just wonderful," Celia said in an airy voice as she stared at Mike with a dreamful look.
"I know, and I knew you would," Mike said, giving her the same look as the two spoke at the front desk at Monsters, Inc.
Jimmy stood close and tried not to gag at the two lovers. He loved his best friend, Mike, and was glad that he was happy. However, the romantic stuff made him want to barf, and he just couldn't relate.
Mike had told his friend the same story last night about the dinner, only in his casual tone. This new version of the story was too lovey dovey for the fur ball, and Jimmy was tempted to make an escape.
"It was also a good celebration for your new home," Celia said. "Right, Sully?"
"Hm?" Jimmy turned to the couple. Celia was watching and waiting for him to react, as Mike dazed upon the girl. "Oh, yeah. It's exciting." He wondered if Mike was more excited about getting a girlfriend than getting a new place, but he wouldn't know since he had never experienced love.
"Are you two adjusting?" Celia asked as she glanced from Jimmy to Mike, talking to both of them now and not just the green ball of romance.
"It's great!" Mike instantly replied as he jumped up with a glee. "No following our parents' rules anymore. Complete independence, and nobody to cause a hassle.
Jimmy couldn't agree with what this friend just said, but he was the only one that knew of Lettuce Fingers. He had to come up with a way for Mike to believe him before he was completely sucked into all the love and mushy auras.
"Wow, maybe I could come visit you two," Celia suggested, which gave Jimmy a huge shock in his chest.
Jimmy knew that if Mike had Celia over, the two would be all over each other, and he would end up being the third wheel.
"That's not a bad idea," Mike answered. "Right, Sul?"
Jimmy didn't want to say anything hurtful, and could only let out some slight stammers. He was lucky enough for Mike to interrupt him, demanding they get to the cafeteria, or they would be in trouble for not clocking in on time for their shift.
Mike jolted down the hall as he went on about how they needed to make sure the table was neat and clean, with Jimmy right behind him.
Jimmy immediately knew that Mike subconsciously remembered the horrible messages they found on the table from before. It startled him to think of them entering the room to find something wrong. The fluffy guy grew apprehensive.
As Jimmy stopped in his tracks, he did his best to use his words to keep his friend from going into the cafeteria. "Woe, what if somebody is up to something, like last time?"
Mike slowed down before stopping completely, and turning to his friend with a muddled look on his face. "What do you mean?"
Jimmy tried not to sigh in frustration. Come on, Mike, don't pretend it didn't happen. "We found horrible messages on the table. Somebody is awfully after us. Like in the apartment, when–"
"Wait, what?" Mike interrupted. "You mean you still think there was something in our home? You're crazy." He nudged his friend in a friendly way, and began to continue ahead, but got stopped as he felt Jimmy grab his arm.
"Mike."
Mike felt startled and gasped at his friend's grip. "Sully, what are you doing?"
"What if it's somebody who works at the company?"
Mike didn't know what to say. He did accept that it could be a possibility that somebody was playing a prank on them early, but he couldn't come across the idea of somebody stocking them and trying to make their lives miserable. "Like who?"
"Wait." Jimmy shifted in front of his friend, and glanced at the cafeteria door that was just ten feet away. He felt it was all he could do to protect Mike, and snuck over to get a peek. "Maybe somebody is already in there doing something," he whispered.
Mike didn't argue, and followed his friend's lead as they took a look at the empty cafeteria. There was nothing to be found, not even words written on the neat counter.
Jimmy, however, was not convinced. He quietly entered the room and checked every corner.
Mike was beginning to think that his friend looked like a human child searching for a monster in the closet. He felt annoyed. "Sully, nobody's here." Come on, we gotta punch in!"
Jimmy had nowhere else to check, so he went along with Mike and got ready for the day. Cooking took a while, but it was easy with no interruptions.
Jimmy was grateful that nothing had happened yet, but deep down he at least wished something popped up for proof.
Mike was feeling a little uneasy as he worked on the stew. Seeing his friend act strangely was making him worry, and wondered if maybe it wasn't such a good idea to get a place with him. He kept it to himself, though, and refused to have a conversation, pretending to be busy.
Jimmy felt apprehensive, even after a quarter of their shift was finished, and still had a couple more hours until lunch time. Not only that, but it felt weird to not talk to Mike.
As Mike started boiling another pot of water, Jimmy thought that maybe he had upset his friend. Perhaps he was beginning to believe him and feared being in the building. Either way, Jimmy had to make things right. "Hey, Mike?"
The green monster turned to him softly. He seemed tired as if he hadn't gotten much sleep, but Jimmy was sure Mike was the happiest monster in the world to have a girlfriend and an apartment.
Still, something was wrong, so Jimmy continued. "I think that-" he stopped when he saw a shadow near the cabinet where they kept all the pots and pans.
He instantly felt a sense of sorrow, and when he saw a figure turn to him, heard a strong ringing sound. It only lasted a few seconds before he saw the familiar finger sprout out from the shadows.
Jimmy's next natural instinct was to go for the fire alarm, and set it off immediately. He ignored the sound of the alarm, and the nagging coming from Mike behind him.
Jimmy was only focused on the secret figure that disappeared, and became completely obvious to the chaos of the other employees freaking out, and the fire monsters coming to the rescue.
Mike could only stare in shock at the scene, as the fire monsters went to check on the employees, making sure that nobody was injured. It all sent by so fast yet so slow.
The green monster only thought about how this would be a step down for him, and remembered the times in his life other monsters had told him he didn't belong on the scare floor or wasn't scary enough.
Sully ruined it, Mike thought as he saw his boss, Mr. Waternoose, enter the scene.
"Alright everyone, leave the building at once," the manager said.
Mike was finally able to move, and barely even noticed Jimmy was by his side. What he did notice, however, was that the fire department depending everyone to go to the hospital for health inspection.