Every Which Way

Chapter 30- Mole Rat

"There's no blown-up pictures of me looking ridiculously good on your walls. I would say I'm relieved, but it makes me a little disappointed. Also, it smells like nail polish in here."

"That's because I'm in the middle of painting my nails." I went back to sit at my desk with the pink polish. I had only painted two nails on one hand.

Declan came over to sit next to me on the bench. "You want to help me paint my right hand?" I asked.

"You're a lefty?"

"Mhm, I always mess up painting my left hand."

"I guess I could try," He shrugged. I don't know what he had in mind by coming here tonight, but I'm sure it wasn't to paint my nails. Props to him for being a trooper though.

"This brand doesn't name their polish," I mumbled as I finished the last finger and passed the brush to Declan for my other hand. "What should we name it?"

He studied the bottle for a moment and brought my hand up to inspect my colored nails. He took a deep breath in consideration. "Mole rat."

"I was thinking something cute like Ballet Shoes or Blushing Rose."

"That's boring and unseasoned. I like mole rat better. Hey, when these dry, I can draw some buck teeth and whiskers on one nail."

"Don't you dare," I said through a laugh I was trying to hold back. He was smiling with half his mouth before he focused his concentration on my nails. "What'd you do today?" I asked.

"My dad's back."

"Oh. That's good, right?"

"I thought so at first, but he's been acting distant," he said as held my hand up closer to his face. "Like more so than usual."

"Have you talked to him about it?"

"Yeah but all he does is brush it off. He just says that work is taking all his energy and then he'll lock himself in his room."

"Hm. Do you think Julie knows what's going on?"

"If she does, she's not telling me a thing. I asked her about it once and she got all cagey."

"That's not suspicious," I said sarcastically.

"Ahh, I'm not too concerned about it. If it's that important he'll have to tell me sometime, right?"

"Right," I said, but I was already thinking of scenarios in my head. What if he was laid off his job? What if he has another family in a different country? What if he went bankrupt?

"Alright I'm done." He said, giving me my hand back.

We both looked down to inspect his work. We both looked up at each other. "Wow," I said. "They look really bad."

"I know," He replied immediately, almost cutting me off.

——————————

I woke up the next morning confused out of my mind. I didn't remember when I fell asleep.

Then my bed was moving. It was moving up and down at a steady rate like it was breathing.

I looked up and found Declan's chest right under me. One arm was wrapped around me while he had his other arm folded under his head.

It slowly came back to me. I remember finishing my nails on my own while we talked more. Then I might have fallen asleep after we put on a movie. He wasn't supposed to stay the night though, I guess he fell asleep too.