STRIS Bits

Stop

Rain was coming down hard on LA, as the water kept accumulating everywhere. Forecast said it'd be raining for a couple of hours but it had been going pretty strong since the early morning hours. Thunderstorms and heavy flooding were happening all over the city.

Chris and the ladies were trapped in the house since their morning and afternoon appointments moved to the following day for flooding precautions. On top of all this, an hour before the clock hit noon, the power went out. So, they pretty much gave up on the idea of doing anything productive!

For her it wasn't such a bad thing since she had a companion, who now had the perfect excuse for not making it back home early. Because of a long night and heavy activity until the wee hours of the morning, Street was still snoring away peacefully while the ladies handled house duties. However, once the power was shut they didn't have much to do. They continued with cloths, mops and brooms, but that was soon finished. Lunch was ready and the house was spotless!

The cloudy and rainy Saturday afternoon didn't inspire for anything except TV binge watching... if they had any electricity! Not to mention the lack of Internet promised a boring afternoon as heavy thunder were still heard int he distance.

"So...what do we do now?" one of the ladies asked once the cleaning was done

"I have no idea." Chris said frustrated

"Let's play STOP" another one of the guests said

"Hey!" a sleepy Street said as he opened the door of the bedroom and rubbed his eyes. He stepped unto the common room and turned to Chris "Babe, you turned off the fan?"

"No, power's out!" She said as they shared a soft kiss

"Rain, huh?" he asked with his eyes half closed

"Yup...since early." Chris added

"And thunder!" one of the ladies added

"You want lunch? We finished it just before power went out" Chris offered

"No, maybe later. Some water will do." he said as he sat next to her by the edge of the couch

"We're playing STOP. Want in?" she said

"Stop? What's that?" he asked puzzled

"It's a classic game. You make a table, divide it into categories, then someone recites the alphabet silently until another person said stops, then everyone has to fill each column with a word that begins with the letter the person thought of when they were stopped." Chris explained

"Uum...ok? Sounds interesting." Street said taking a seat close to her

"Let's start with the categories: Name, Last Name, Thing, Animal, Place, Food, Car." said one of the ladies

"Don't forget Color, Store and Total. You get 10 points for perfect answer, 5 if somebody writes the same answer and 0 for wrong or undone. You add all them up and write the final in total. At the end of the game you add all the totals to see who won." one of the ladies added

"Hey! English only!" Chris said followed by loud whining

"Yeah, gringo here needs it in English, please!" Street said pointing at himself, as the ladies giggled

After everyone got ready, tables were made, refreshments were gathered and everyone picked their place in the room, it was time to play.

"I" yelled the one that was reciting the alphabet in silence

"Alright, go, go!" called Chris, as everyone attacked their paper.

Everyone went at it, writing like crazy...except Street. He couldn't help but to stare at Chris. He was so thankful of the past weeks! He was still in awe that after so many years he could finally hug her and kiss her and call her his. How sleeping now was something he actually didn't look forward to when entering a bedroom, be it hers or his. How work has suddenly become better, more fulfilling. It was just-

"STOP!"

"Woah!" he said as he snapped back

"Street, you have 20 seconds to finish!" Chris said as she shook her head, "Hurry your ass up!"

"Damn!" he said as he took a look at his empty paper

He jotted down as many words as he could come up with until the lady yelled "STOP!" and everyone placed their pencils down.

"Name" called Chris

And so they went...category by category. Some with ridiculous answers like 'ice' as food, and 'igloo' for place. The participants soon engulfed in laughter as they played on, reliving their school days, at times arguing like children.

"P" called Chris. "Go!"

They went at it again, rushing to write as fast as they could. This time, Street was determined not to act a fool like in the first round, where he merely got 10 out of 90 possible points. This time he had to do a better job! So, he moved from spot, making sure to avoid Chris altogether.

As he was writing 'porcupine' in the category of animal, he felt something up against his shoulder. When he looked up he got frustrated when he saw Chris accommodating her head against it, while getting comfortable next to him.

"Hey!" he complained

"What?" she snapped

"You're trying to distract me!" he complained as he felt her hand rub the side of his thigh

"Hey! Quit it!" he complained as she giggled and the ladies laughed

"You think we didn't notice your stares?" one of them said between the noise

"Stop staring at me, Street! It's creepy!" she complained embarrassingly

"Stop being so beautiful, then!" he snapped

The ladies turned the noise into ambulance sirens as the romance was felt throughout the room. Uuuuuuuuuuhhhh

"That is so corny, Jim!" she said landing a soft kiss on his right dimple, while the ladies giggled

"He drooled all over the floor!" said one pointing to the spot where he had been sitting, while the others erupted in laughter

"That's not funny!" he complained over the noise

"Duh uuuuhhh" mocked Chris joining the laughs

"You know what!? C'mere!" he said placing the paper and pencil aside and grabbing her as he pulled her on top of him

She settled sideways on his lap as they began to exchange kisses, among the loud noises of the ladies and the classic noise ambulance siren of love.

"STOP!" called one of the ladies

Chris immediately pulled away "What?" then in one motion climbed off Street, grabbed her paper and began writing furiously. Street did the same, as he rescued his pencil and paper. He managed to complete at least three more categories before hearing the dreaded STOP again.

They began calling each category, one by one. After some minutes...

"THING!" yelled one of the ladies

"PENIS!" yelled one, as the others acted surprised. Between laughs some covered their mouths, others grabbed cushions, others shook their head...

"And I thought the one who had the best night was Chris!"

"Hey!" Chris snapped giggling

"She did!" added Street with full on dimple action, as now the laughter was much louder

"Do not flatter yourself!" Chris immediately snapped, pointing a guilty finger