Goodnight Moon

4- I Don't Want You Anywhere

“You ate my food!” I shriek.

“No, I didn’t,” Lake laughs from across the kitchen.

“Yes you did!” I demand. “I had two boxes of Cheese-Its but now there’s only one and I know for a fact that I didn’t eat them.”

“Seriously, calm down,” He sighs. “It’s really not that big of a deal. It’s not like you’re hurting for money. You can just go buy some more Cheese-Its.”

“I take my food very seriously,” I inform him. It’s Tuesday evening and I have had it up to my ears in Lake Quincy. Taking my food is a completely new low though and I have no idea why I’m not just kicking him out of my house right now. “So don’t mess with my food.”

“How am I supposed to know if it’s yours or not?” Lake asks exasperatedly.

“That’s easy,” I chirp, grabbing some microwave popcorn from the pantry and peeling off the flimsy plastic wrapper. “If you didn’t pay for it then it’s mine.”

He laughs and rolls his eyes at me. “How do you care so much about food? It’s seriously ridiculous.”

“Max! Dinner!” I call to my puppy who is upstairs sleeping. He went to sleep while I was doing my homework and I didn’t want to interrupt his nap to have him come downstairs with me until it was dinner time and now it is. “I don’t need to explain myself to you.”

Max barks at Lake just once as he passes him to get to his food bowl and then starts munching on his dog food.

“It was just a question. No need to get your panties in a bunch,” Lake says.

The microwave beeps, telling me that my popcorn is ready, so I take it out and pour it all into a large bowl and then I grab a pop from the fridge. “My panties aren’t bunched, I’m just saying that I love food for reasons that don’t need explained to you.”

“Are you having popcorn for dinner?” He wonders curiously as I sit at the table and wait for Max to be done eating. I would go sit in the living room and turn the TV on while I wait, but sometimes, he freaks out when I leave him while he’s eating. I don’t know why, but when I can, I just sit here and wait for him to finish eating.

“I am,” I confirm. “Is that an issue?”

“Nope, it’s just really weird,” He decides.

“Well Tuesdays are special days and it’s one of the bonuses of living alone so I don’t need your judgment,” I huff, checking the time on the cable box under the TV. It’s 7:56. I gasp because I didn’t realize that it was so late. “Max! Max, hurry!” I squeal, running into the living room with Max on my tail. I plop down on the couch with my popcorn and soda and turn the TV on with the remote that’s sitting on the white coffee table that actually looks like of like a box. Luckily, it’s already on the right channel so I don’t have to worry about that. I grab my favorite throw blanket and Max cuddles up to my side as the minutes count down.

“So what’s going on now?” Lake asks, following me into the living room.

“Seriously, there are a bazillion rooms in this house. Go find another one,” I snap at him.

He sits down on the other end of my huge couch. “But bugging you is way too much fun to pass up.”

“Okay, well tonight is a new episode of Supernatural and it’s a Tuesday ritual of mine. So if you mess this up, I pray for your sake that you’re a light sleeper,” I threaten him. The beginning credits start so I turn on the surround sound and start watching the show.

“You are obsessed with the stupidest things,” He informs me. It’s Supernatural time now, though, so I just ignore him. “So you’re ignoring me now?” He catches on quickly. When I don’t respond, he laughs and leans forward. “I can still sit here and bug the shit out of you, you know.”