We were done in the late afternoon, and none of us were in a good mood.
Under the guise of politeness, I walked to the back of our group, leaving Cove and Mattie to walk around the car and letting me and Ani slide right in behind Jack to sit by the window that actually worked.
Cove and Ranch, who’d slept most of the drive, climbed in behind Mattie unknowingly. I watched out of the corner of my eye as he grabbed the handle and attempted to roll the window down. When it didn’t roll down after a few rotations, he frowned, shooting me a confused glance. I pretended to ignore him.
With a quick check around to make sure no one was watching, he lightly rested his fingertips on the glass. He must have done something magical as the window started rolling down on its own. I crossed my arms and turned away to stare out the window. That was completely unfair.
The car was silent for a few minutes as we all took stock of our thoughts.
Jack was the first to break the silence, catching sight of the rolled-down window in his rearview mirror. “You managed to get that working? I thought it hadn’t worked for years,” he said, awed.
“Worked first try,” Cove lied as he avoided eye contact.
“I wonder…” Jack trailed off as he thought. He pulled himself back together and said, “You all can stay with me for the night.” His tone didn’t make room for any arguments, but we didn’t have any. It’s not like Cove or I had useable money.
He shifted to watch Mattie’s face. “If that’s alright?”
Mattie’s cheeks puffed as she huffed a breath of air. Not taking her eyes from off the road, she answered, “I told my parents I was staying with a friend.”
Taking that as permission, Jack continued, “I have a meeting in a couple of hours. I can drop you off at the apartment or anywhere else while I’m gone?”
Mattie answered before we had a chance to think about it. “We’ll wait at the apartment.”
Well, it was what I was going to suggest anyway. If this was the meeting I thought it was, it would be best for the inevitable confrontation between Jack and us to happen outside of prying ears, regardless of what we decided to tell him.
Jack nodded, his grip tightening around the wheel nervously.
Cove bit his lip, then asked, “...could we stop somewhere for some clothes first?”
I stifled a laugh. He’d been stuck in the same dirty clothes for a few days already, but it was all his own fault. My clothes all would have been too small. He certainly wouldn’t be making fun of the backpack now.
Jack parked in a covered space outside of a five or six-story building, popping the trunk while we freed ourselves from the death trap that was his car. Cove waited off to the side as Mattie and I grabbed our packs, slinging them over our shoulders.
Jack led us to an elevator in the breezeway, pressing a button for the 5th floor. Mattie lingered in the elevator doorway, her backpack at risk of getting caught. Cove grabbed her wrist and gently tugged her inwards, letting the elevator door clang shut behind her. The elevator shuddered, and Mattie jumped as it moved.
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She angled herself to look at the controls. “So the number corresponds to the floor? What about basements? What’s the star for?”
“The star means it’s a ground-level floor, a floor you can leave the building from. Underground levels start the counting with B1, increasing the further you get away from the ground floor.”
Her hand cinched on her backpack, and she nodded sagely, her troubles momentarily forgotten.
As the elevator groaned to a stop, Mattie shot panicked glances in our direction, relaxing as our expressions told her this was normal. The doors dinged open, and Jack gently guided Mattie out of the elevator, letting a hand trail behind him to hold the door for Cove, the cats, and me.
At his door, he hesitated, looking at the cats. “I don’t have any litter boxes.”
Cove smiled mysteriously. “They’ll be fine.”
Jack looked dubious but unlocked his door all the same, flicking on the light by the corner. “Leave your shoes by the door, please.” He said, catching Mattie, who’d been about to run through the whole apartment. Awed, she returned, flinging her shoes off to turn eagerly to Jack for a tour.
He obliged willingly, paying extra attention to point out the various appliances and their uses. Cove and I trudged along behind, paying polite attention but doing as all people do and judging Jack's life choices while making a note of the bathroom—the essential things.
His dining area was to the immediate right of the entryway, with a high-seated table large enough for six people. A plain black-framed mountain print was centered on the far wall, lit by a basic chandelier. To the left was the cooking area of the kitchen, with the fridge next to the door and black cabinets lining the wall until they stopped in a hallway. Directly across from the entry door was the living room area, with the TV to the right, faced by two catty-cornered couches, one of which proudly required anyone wanting to step out on the patio to have to walk around or climb over.
Down the hallway on the left was a sparse guest bedroom containing a ‘desk’ with two shoe shelves with a piece of white-painted plywood set between them to hold the run-down but still working laptop.
On the other side of the small hallway was a decently-sized bathroom, complete with a separate tub and a glass-walled shower.
Mattie was quick to ask about the purpose of a shower. “It’s a shower,” Jack explained, “most people use it instead of a bath.” He opened one of the glass doors to demonstrate its use. Mattie shoved her hand underneath the spray, turning it this way and that as she marveled at the feeling. He let it run for a few more seconds before turning it off.
Cove and I meandered back to the living room area to wait as Jack started to explain the other features of a modern bathroom, such as the sink and a toilet. The master bedroom was on a small hallway on the opposite side, nearly mirroring the guest side perfectly, except the master bedroom was about a foot wider and had a connecting door between the bathroom and the bedroom.
He pulled three towels out of the bathrooms, shoving one each in our arms. “I have a bunch of movies we can watch after you shower.” he looked pointedly at Cove, who hadn’t had the chance to change in days because he thought bringing a backpack was useless.
I fought hard to keep a smirk from escaping. He’d already been tortured enough by the lack of supplies, and I shouldn’t keep rubbing it in for camaraderie’s sake, if nothing else.
Cove’s face darkened as he saw my face.
Jack’s eyes caught on our backpacks. “Mattie, you can take the guest bedroom. I figure the guys will be fine on the two couches.”
He turned back to Cove. “You don’t have a backpack? Do you need to borrow some clothes?”
Mattie and I both stifled a laugh this time, turning them into awkward and obvious coughs instead. Cove’s ears turned slightly pink.
“He lost it!” Mattie said with a little eye roll.
Jack looked confused.
“That would be great, thank you,” Cove deflected.
Still looking slightly baffled, Jack drifted into his bedroom, motioning for Cove to follow as they pulled out clothes.
Mattie and I exchanged glances, both deciding in an instant to steal the showers before Cove and Jack finished. She power walked in the direction of the guest bathroom, and I slipped quietly into the master, feeling smug once again as the door locked behind me. I felt a little guilty once the smugness died down, but not enough to do anything about it. I thanked any and every god I could think of that we’d ended up in a world with hot water, clean clothes, and real toilets.
There was a brief interlude of commotion that drifted through the door as Jack flatly told Cove he wasn’t allowed to sit on or touch anything until he was clean.
When I exited, furiously rubbing my hair dry with the thin towel, Jack and Mattie were crouched over by the T.V., already putting in DVD into the player. I could hear the dull whine of the pipes as the water pounded into the guest bathroom.
Ranch and Ani had already made their homes on one of the couches, giving themselves bathes of their own. I plopped down onto the door-facing couch in an uncharacteristically cheerful mood as Mattie and Jack dropped down onto the other couch, ready to watch whatever they’d put in.
The familiar-looking bright and colorful characters and scenery of the cartoon they’d picked flashed across the screen as I burrowed deeper into the couch, ready to relax.
I was about to drift off when the title screen popped up and instead ended up choking on my own spit. That’s why the characters looked familiar–they were watching an animated version of Heirs.