It was close to about 4:30 in the morning, by the time Adam made it to her front doorstep.
She opened the door to find him standing there with a black and white cat in his arms, his hair slightly disheveled, as if he'd just rolled out of bed, and with a hopeful look on his face.
"Hey." She chuckled, reaching a hand out to the cat, which was met with a quick sniff over before she could pet him. "Who's this?"
"Oh, this is Buddy." He answered with a small grin and a shrug. "I don't know, he seems to like it."
"It's cute." She chuckled, petting him once more before Adam set him down.
"Thanks." He chuckled. "I've got his things in the car, with some of my stuff, but…
"...Buuut, you were hoping for your ice cream first?" She finished for him, still amused.
"Pleeeeaase? I'm dying." He pleaded, half jokingly
"A deal is a deal." She laughed. "Come on…."
—
She led him into her little kitchen, where she went straight for the freezer to grab the promised ice cream carton and began hunting around for a clean bowl.
"Thank yooouu." He grabbed the carton and started his own little search. "Spoon?"
"In that drawer, there." She glanced up briefly before moving onto a new cupboard. "Let me just get you a….." She trailed off, giggling a little to herself when she looked back up to find that he had already started on the carton. "I can find you a bowl, you know?"
"Mmm, what for?" He asked between spoonfuls.
"Fair enough." She laughed. "Do you want me to go get your things, while you…"
"No, I can get it myself." He insisted. "Seriously, you've done enough for me already. I owe you one."
"You do not, and you're welcome."
"Mmm, beg to differ, but I'm also too hungry to argue with you, so…"
"Right." She laughed. "...well, there's more in the freezer you can help yourself to, it's just not all Rocky Road."
He whined slightly at that. "...alright, we'll see what happens."
"Sorry…" She smiled, sympathetically, back at him.
"No, it's okay."
"I'll buy you some more a little later, when the stores open.
He couldn't help but perk his head up at the offer, as he was starting to get down to having to scrape the sides of the carton.
He hated the idea of imposing on her…...but god, was he craving it.
He was hating himself for it, though simultaneously trying to justify it with at least he wasn't chucking his guts up every five minutes anymore…..at least he hadn't been for a while, now.
"Really?" God, that sounded pathetic.
"Of course I can, I'm just glad to see you feeling a little bit better.
"Well, I appreciate it." He was still grinning at the thought of it as he glanced around for where to set the now empty carton.
"I'll take that." She offered.
"Thanks." He turned his attention back down to buddy, who was still very cautiously sniffing out his new surroundings, though still not venturing too far away from him.
"Well, I should probably go bring his stuff in, anyway." He admitted with a chuckle. "Last thing you need is him pissing on your carpet or something."
"I'll give you a hand." She chuckled.
"Alright. Now, I've got one extra bedroom, besides mine, that's all yours if you wanna set your stuff up in there. I'll even bring you some extra pillows and blankets, if you need them." She offered as they were bringing the last couple bags in.
"Mandy, I told you I'm not trying to impose. Really, the couch is good enough." He insisted, kicking back on it and making himself comfortable
"Adam, I'm not making a pregnant person sleep on the couch." She insisted.
"Well, you wouldn't be since I suggested it, now would you?"
"Please just take the bedroom." She sighed. "Alright? I have a bad time when I fall asleep on that couch. Trust me, you'll be much more comfortable."
"Alright, well, right now, the couch is closer to the kitchen…" He pointed out.
"I thought it was Specifically Rocky Road you were craving." She teased, recalling his own words from over the phone.
"Yeah, well you also said that was all you have." He pointed out, so I guess I'll just have to make do."
"Just until the stores open." She chuckled. "In the meantime, what's mine is yours.
"Mmm, I might have to take you up on that." He sighed, getting back up off the couch to go scope out the freezer for himself.
"Knock yourself out."
When Amanda returned, she was equal parts satisfied that he had apparently found something that would suffice until he had more of his Rocky Road and amused at his choice to settle for some of the chocolate ice cream that was there and a jar of peanut butter.
"It was calling to me, alright? Leave me alone." He laughed, taking another bite of the peanut butter.
"I didn't say anything." She chuckled. "...anyway, I set the room up as promised, whenever you wanna take your stuff in there." She smiled again when she noticed that Buddy had parked himself comfortably up on the top of the couch cushion, just above Adam's head. "...and I'm taking it that Buddy will be a lot happier sleeping in the bed too, so I laid out an extra little blanket on one side for him too. You can adjust it to however his liking is."
"..and I'm taking it you've done more than enough." He gave Buddy a little head scratch. "...but we will take you up on that a little later."
"Right." She smirked. "I give it an hour, tops before you start to believe me about that couch."
"Alright, bet." He laughed.
Amanda rolled her eyes, still in amused disbelief. "Whatever you say, I'm not gonna argue with a pregnant person either." She chuckled. "I'll be in my room, if you need me."
"Good deal." He laughed. "Night."
"Good night." She chuckled.
Later that morning, Amanda was the first to awaken to what sounded like the scratching of a cat's claws against a door.
Curious, she stepped out of bed and wandered straight down the hallway and towards the living room where she expected Adam to be, if nothing else, just to prove his point, perhaps.
She stopped about halfway there, however, and took a second look towards the door to the bedroom she had prepared for him.
It was shut, but not all the way, as if he had intended to leave it open just enough that the cat could easily get out and back in if he needed to and it had gotten pushed shut just enough that he'd ended up trapped anyway.
Amused by the idea, she just laughed quietly to herself as she shook her head and carefully began to crack the door open.
The scratching stopped almost immediately and Buddy came darting out, making her jump just a little.
She was just about to shut it, about halfway again, when a half asleep Adam began to stir just a little, lifting his head up just enough to notice her before letting it sink back into the pillow.
Still just as sleepily, he also put his hand up, indicating what looked to Amanda like a peace sign until he muttered.
"Two…...I made it two hours on that couch." Followed by a faint chuckle.
"Right." She laughed. "Good for you, I'll...buy you an extra Rocky Road carton when I go out today."
"Thank you…" He muttered, followed by a yawn and an even more mumbled, "Very Rockstar."
She giggled quietly to herself over it and whispered back, "You're welcome."
And with that he just turned over and passed right back out.
