The Monster Under the Bed || Kickthestickz

Man, I Love that Apple Shampoo

The engine of the car stutters to a stop and Pj rubs the backs of his knuckles hard into his sleepy eyes. My heart is racing in my chest. "I don't think I can go in," I say, flicking the sleeves of my t-shirt.

"It's your own house!" Pj laughs. The sound was loud and shocked me when it came from his mouth.

We had been quiet all the way here. He was worrying about something I could tell he was but he was trying to act as if everything was normal. The quietness of the journey was somewhat nice though even if it did give me too much time to overthink about too many things. It had been somewhat comforting whizzing through the countryside with the radio fizzing in and out of connection and Pj's hand resting gently on my knee when it wasn't changing through the gears.

"Shall we go in then? Don't want to be sitting on the doorstep all weekend." Pj unbuckles his seatbelt, pulls open his car door and stands out on the pavement. Reluctantly, I do the same.

We make our path up the driveway and stand in front of the door. It isn't that I don't want to see my mother it's just that I'm nervous. She's never met Pj before. What if she thinks he's too loud or too cocky or too confident? I mean he is totally all of those things but I love each one of them because they're a part of him. What if she doesn't?

Before my thoughts go any further Pj slams his finger onto the doorbell. I watch him as he pulls out his phone from his back pocket and reads a message which must have just come through to him. The worried look appears onto his face. Or maybe it's more a look of hurt. He blinks quickly a couple of time before showing his phone back deep into his pocket and placing an almost-too-big smile back onto his face.

The creak of the floorboards in the hallway sound through the door and Pj moves himself closer to me, wrapping an arm lightly around my waist.

The door flings open revealing my mother's shocked face behind it. She exclaims, "Oh, Chris! I didn't know you were coming home," (she pulls me into a suffocating hug where I struggle to get air into and back out of my lungs,) "Oh! And who's this. He is very handsome. You both look so tired. Here, here, come in and I'll make you both a huge mug of tea."

I look beside me at Pj's face, attempting to gage his reaction. He is grinning, his eyes wrinkled up in only what I can assume is happiness. A little bit of my nerves fly out of my chest as we both step through the threshold into the hallway and follow my mother through the house.

*

"My goodness, you are tall aren't you, Pj." I hear my mum say as I walk back into the living room after emptying my bladder from the third mug of tea that has been poured down my throat today. I squish myself into the armchair Pj is sitting in, making him wiggle himself about attempting to make enough room for us both as I fling my legs over his.

"You know, Chris, darling, there are plenty of other seating options for you. You do not have to sit directly on top of Pj's lap," Mum remarks. I roll my eyes at the comment. "Unfortunately, boys, I have to work tonight so I'm going to have to hurry off in a couple of minutes. I won't be back until morning; I'm on the night shift."

"That's okay, mum. We can find our own food. Right, Peej?"

"Oh yeah. That'll be fine, Mrs Kendall. I hope you have a nice night at work." Pj smiles as my mum grabs the bags containing her uniform and her car keys from the basket on the bookshelf near the door. She shouts a fleeting goodbye before the door slams shut behind her.

*

After an hour and a half flicking through the TV Channels (the only TVs we have at school are in the common rooms and I never manage to find the remote to put on the programs I would like to watch) we walk through to the kitchen in search of some food.