The Experiment 2: The Journey

Flurry

"Isn't it too awkward that we are living right next door to neighbors who turn out to be actual hardcore fans? And Mindy's over 50, oh my gods!" Dei said, her hands flying to her mouth as she sat on the stool by the kitchen counter.

"Yea, it's a bit awkward," RJ said, touching the back of his neck while he stood in front of her. He glanced at Dei and saw her staring at the floor with her hand over her mouth and a mortified look on her face.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Babe..." she whispered, looking up at him. "Was I too loud the past few days?"

"What do you mean?" he asked, his eyebrows raised as he sat on the stool next to her.

Dei glared at him. "You very well know what I mean, Richard Jay."

He stared at her and laughed. It started as a small chuckle that gradually turned into a full blown fit of laughter as he watched her distressed face. "Babe," he said, still snickering. He held her face with both his hands and stared at her. "You're seriously worried about that?"

"Yes, RJ," she said through gritted teeth, "I am."

He laughed again, not letting go of her face and she struggled to move away, annoyed that he was laughing at her.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry babe," he said, still laughing as he pulled her by the waist and let her lean her back against him instead. She still tried to break away so he held both her arms and crossed them over her stomach firmly with his hands to keep her in place. She huffed an angry sigh. "Babe, we're a married couple. Whatever we do inside our unit is none of their business. Besides the walls here are thick, there's no chance that they can hear you... even though you're loud."

"I am?" she asked, biting her lip and looking totally embarrassed.

"Uhmmm... sometimes." He laughed heartily and kissed her cheek.

"You can be a jerk sometimes, you know that?" she said grumpily.

"I'm sorry," he said again and he turned her around so she was facing him. He kept his hands on her waist and pulled her closer and then kissed the frown on her forehead. "I didn't mean to laugh, Dei, but you're too funny the way you're so concerned about that."

"It's not funny, RJ," she said coldly and RJ glanced at her, surprised.

"Hey..." he said, nudging her chin with his hand. "I'm sorry. You're right. I was being a jerk. But I hope you would stop being concerned about that. Like I said, we're a married couple. What we're doing is normal. And we're in New York, babe," he said, hugging her.

Dei let out a huge sigh.

"I'm sorry," he said again, now really feeling like a total jerk for laughing at her.

"Fine," she muttered.

"You haven't eaten anything since lunch, have you?" he asked.

"I grabbed a sandwich while waiting for Julia at the hospital earlier," she said, not looking at him.

"Let's eat then," he whispered. "I brought you some breadsticks... from Olive Garden."

Dei looked up at him and slowly smiled. "Thanks. And I'm sorry I wasn't able to cook dinner like I promised," she said.

"That's fine, we'll eat outside," he replied, smiling at her.

"You sound relieved," she said.

RJ just smiled. "Go and change into something a bit more warm babe, it's now about 2 degrees Celsius outside. I have a feeling it's gonna snow soon."