Slipping into the unknown

My arm

Gee and I waltzed into our apartment complex, swinging our clasped hands back and forth in an extremely unnecessary way. As cheesy as it is, our heads tilted left to right as our hands moved back and forth. If anyone were to have seen me doing this alone, I'd be extremely embarrassed, but with Gee and Frank I don't care what people think; as long as it's about me. (The best of us can find happiness in misery.)

Once reaching the hallway to our apartments, my stomach began to tingle at the thought of seeing Duke again. And, of course, the date that will be occurring later.

"So...the date?" When asking, I hoped he would get the hint that I wanted-no needed to know more about it.

He sighed as he looked down to his feet, "How on earth can I say no to you?" A small smile etched itself onto his face as he shifted his gaze from his feet to my eyes. "Well," my heart began to flutter at the thought of what he could possibly say to me at this point-and he hasn't even started. "it's going to be fairly small; not fancy at all. Now, I can't say if we're going places or if we did where we would go, but I can say you will love it. At least we hope you will; not that there's any chance you won't. As long as you're fine with some cheesiness and flattery."

I could sense some nervousness in his voice, if you could call it that, and tried to end it immediately. "As long as it Gouda, that's fine." I snapped my head towards his face to see his reaction; I was not disappointed at all. He groaned and rolled his eyes, acting as if it was the worst joke ever. I was trying to contain my laughter, only a few slips of chuckles escaping me. He looked down at my face and shook his head as if he were saying no to something. I don't think he realized I saw it, but I saw the genuine smile on his face once he looked away.

After still not hearing any chuckling or laughter of any sort, I acted hurt. "WOW. I am so hurt- not even a chuckled." Gee and I giggles slightly at that, as I put on my 'white girl voice'. "You know- I just came here for a good time and I'm honestly feeling sooooo attacked right now. Liiike I can't even show how hurt I am because I'm just, so, hurt by it."

He then took this as an offer to do a horrible surfer dude accent. "Wooah man, chillax bro. You need to like- calm down before anyone sees you this hurt; it will hurt your rep maaaan." At the end of speaking, he even used his free hand to do the classic surfer-dude hand movement, consisting of his pinky and thumb out, and shaking his wrist from side to side.

We both stopped walking, being right outside Gee's door, and turned to each other. If anyone were to be looking at us in this moment, it would be blatantly obvious that we were holding in extreme amounts of laughter. And within 10 seconds of just looking at each other, we did burst out into a fit of giggles and laughter.

Once the harsh laughter started to die down, I spoke in between my breaths, "I should get Duke from Pete soon. I've missed him all day."

He nodded and smiled at me then. "That's valid. Kinda hurt that you weren't as desperate to see me during the day buuuut....." He glanced off dramatically in the distance then, causing me to roll my eyes.

"Mhmm, totally. As if you would know if I was waiting to see you and Frank all day. Not saying I was or wasn't-but Duke is my baby. Mi amore. My shield from the darkness. And I can cuddle him throughout the night."

"We can cuddle you through the night too, you know?" Gee smirked at me then. Almost as if it's my first instinct, I rolled my eyes and hit him lightly in the arm. Being his overdramatic self, he acted super hurt.

"OOOOOOOOOWW! oww babbyyyyy not my arm! Anything but my aaaaaaarm. Take my money-take my keys- anything but y poor, innocent, arm!"

After about three more minutes of laughing and mocking each other, I finally let Gee go into his shared apartment as I headed over to Pete's. Even walking towards the flat, I could hear ruckuss happening inside. Outside the door, it was understandably louder. I grinned and chuckled under my breath at the thought of what could possibly be happening inside.

I made a quick plan in my head to knock on the door, and hide in front of his neighbors door that was unusually farther back than the others. Once knocking on the door in a pattern of three- of course the one trademarked by Sheldon Lee Cooper- and bolted as I hear loud footsteps approaching the door.

"Hello?" Hearing that voice call out, I was shocked. It sounded like Patrick, but I think all the laughing I've been doing today is messing with the oxygen levels in my bloodstream- if that's even possible. "Hey hey, anyone there? Or not there? Are you just a poltergeist that likes torturing people by knocking on peoples' doors?"

I took that as my opportunity to make my presence known. "ooooOOOOooooh. It is I, the ghost of dog owners past-here to pick up the black cotton ball with legs. He is still here. Right?" I kept myself hidden behind the wall, waiting to here his reaction.

"Uh...he is still here....