Sharp As Cheddar

Chapter 2: Adding A New Member

By the time Sherman trudged down to the main lobby with his and Romeo’s bags, Jeremy had untangled himself from Romeo and was now bothering some poor old woman and her dog. 

“Is that a rat? I think it’s a rat. It’s a cute rat. May I hold your rat for you ma’am while you gather your things?”

Bristling the woman tipped her head back and stared up icily at his eager face. In the snobbiest voice known to man she bit out, “This is a purebred Chinese Crested Hairless. He cost me $5,000 and he is certainly NOT A RAT!” 

His green eyes glittered with glee, as he shot her a charming grin, “So can I hold your hairless rat then?”

“CHINESE CRESTED HAIRLESS!”

“Yes, your rat. Can I hold it? It’s so cute with its giant buggy eyes. I just want to squeeze it to death!”

Horrified, the woman backed away slowly. While clutching the trembling pink skinned dog in the crook of her arm, she raised her pale pink bag defensively, ready to strike if he got too near. 

“You. Stay. Away. From. My. Baby.”, she half shouted. 

“I. Just. Want. To. Cuddle. Your. Pet. Chinese. Hairless. Rat.” Jeremy said slowly and loudly, believing that the reason to her denying him the luxury of playing with her rat was that she was just a bit slow and on the brink of mental retardation.

The old lady stamped her heel covered feet and screamed, “NO!!!! HE IS NOT A RAT!!”

Eyes widening in surprise, he glanced around the room before calmly whispering, “Ma’am please calm down. You are causing a scene and you’re becoming a public disturbance. Now, if you could find it in your heart to let me hold your rat, I would greatly appreciate it.” 

Letting out a crazed shriek, she took off in the opposite direction. Anything is better than facing this idiot, she thought, as she pumped her feet up and down as fast as her heels would let her. Then looking over her shoulder, she noticed that the blonde boy, that had called her precious Boozy a rat, was charging after her like a bull in a rodeo who had just seen a red cloth. He had a wild look in his emerald eyes and his light blonde hair was bouncing up and down as he ran. 

“I JUST WANNA HOLD IT FOR A SECOND! LEMME HOLD YOUR RAT!”

“NOOOOOOOOOOOO!” her voice echoed off the walls as she disappeared around the corner, the dog in her arms yelping out his fear and discomfort, unaware that he was the core of this mess.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chuckling, Sherman walked up to Romeo, Mike, Sinbad, and Chris. “Poor woman. She should have just let Jer hold her dog.”

Sinbad laughed, “Poor Jeremy, actually. You know how disappointed he will be when he doesn’t get to hold that thing.”

“Poor us, because we will have to deal with the pouting child,” muttered Christopher.

Romeo smirked. “Actually, you’ll be the one dealing with him so poor you.” 

Grimacing, Chris bent down and grabbed his black bags, then with the most sour look on his face, he stalked off, while yelling over his shoulder, “You’ll take care of my expenses won’t ya Mike?”

Before Mike could respond, a loud “Thanks!” was heard as the hotel doors closed after Chris.

Grumbling about how Chris was selfishly taking advantage of his wealth, Mike turned towards his friends, only to find them all giving him hopeful puppy-dog eyes.

“You..you guys aren’t serious right?” 

Their pleading eyes seemed to grow larger as their bottom lips jutted out into pouts. Freaked out that they were doing this at the same time, Mike let out a nervous laugh.