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CHAPTER TWENTY: SPIDER
LIVING WITH A person is a very intimate experience. It's getting a glimpse into someone's private world, a place that few are allowed into. It's learning what they do and don't like, and who they are when no one else is around. It's being able to hear them laugh, and cry, and moan, and sigh, and snore, and curse. It's knowing the way they eat, the way they sleep, the way they dress. Living with someone is being able to see who they really are, and it is a privilege, but sometimes, it can also be a curse.
"Oh my fucking god!" Val screeched, running into the living room.
"What? What?" Anthony asked, sitting up. His eyes were wide and his heart was pounding. "What's wrong?" He had been sitting on the couch watching TV while slowly drifting off to sleep, when she came running in.
It had only been a few days since Val moved in, and he was already being reminded of all the little things he forgot about her. Like how she liked her eggs scrambled, not sunny-side up, how she hated when people wore shoes inside, and how she liked the thermostat set on 65°. Those were little things that had little to no effect on him, but there were also bigger things. Things that did have an effect. For example, he'd forgotten just how terrified she was of bugs.
"There's a fucking spider!" she yelled, pointing down the hall. "Oh my God, kill it, please kill it, holy shit-"
"Okay, okay, calm down." Anthony sighed, his head tipping back. He ran a hand down his face and let out a deep breath.
Of course the only time she wants to talk to me is when she wants me to kill something.
He would never deal with cockroaches, ever, but spiders weren't that big of a deal to him.
"Where is it?" he asked, his tone tired.
"In the bathroom!" she answered, her voice cracking.
He nodded, stood up, and stretched, his shirt lifting up a bit and showing a sliver of skin. He turned and walked down the hall, not noticing Val's eyes follow him.
He reached the bathroom and pushed the door open. His eyes scanned the room, and initially, he found nothing.
"Val," he said, poking his head out the door. "Are you sure it's in here?"
"Yes!" she exclaimed, her voice still filled with fear. "It was on the wall."
"There's nothing- oh," he started, but stopped when he saw it. There, sitting on the wall beside the shower, was a very small black spider. "Found it."
"Then fucking kill it!"
"It's like the size of a grain of salt," he pointed, squinting his eyes.
"Anthony, I swear to god if you don't kill it right now-" She went on for a couple more moments, throwing in some not so nice insults in Spanish and Italian, until he just tuned her out.
