Couch Surfer

Two Hours to Spare

ALEX:

We were on a pod swing, David one side and me the other, we swung, sharing the joint I had liberated from Lynn's contraband safe. She wouldn't mind, she confiscated off some little shit-head in the town-centre. We're feeling a buzz, I can't stop smiling. If you close your eyes on the swings, your body tickles as the motions change. It always makes me giggle. "Why are you laughing?" David asked, chuckling himself.
"Shut your eyes." I say.
"What?"
"Just shut your eyes and keep swinging, it's fun." I tell him, he does shut his eyes and keeps on swinging. "Can you feel that?" I ask. He begins to laugh. "What is that?"
"It feels funny, doesn't it?"
"It tickles!" He laughs more, pointing his feet, he takes another puff before reaching round and handing it to me, I take a drag myself. "How did you know I'd be up for a... little recreation, anyway?" He asked, blowing smoke out from his nostrils and turning around to face me, licking his lips but the lick turns into a bite. I pull a face. "Eh, I guess you just seem like the kinda guy to be chill with it. You don't do heavier stuff though, do you, because we don't have any of that."
"No, don't worry, I don't do that stuff."
"Good, stuff fucks you up. I used to know a girl who done heroin."
"Used to know?"
"Yeah, not because she died or anything, nah we just lost contact when I left college. Who knows though, probably dead now..."
"Don't think about that, think about literally anything else."
"Like what? At this point, I don't even know what's going on anymore, I'm just rolling with it."
"I mean, I can relate, the other day, I didn't know any of this was going to happen, but now I'm on the swings outside a grubby tower block smoking a joint with a very odd girl."
"Odd?" I say, raising my eyebrows.
"I like odd, never boring."
"Well, don't want to let you down but I can be very boring."
"So can I." He said. We sat in silence. We were just trying to fill up the two hours until Lynn came home. She was bringing her girlfriend Sophie back too for a movie and pizza night. I don't know how David would react to Lynn being gay, but he seemed pretty chill, and if he wasn't, he could always fuck off to someone else's flat and bug them. I flicked ash from the joint and watch it drift away in the wind like a blown dandelion puff. Make a wish. David takes it from my hands and has another drag. "I shouldn't be doing this." He said.
"Neither should I..." I say, laying down back into the pod swing, head next to Davids lap. He looks down at me and places the joint between my lips. I take the finishing puffs and stub it out, discarding it on the floor. I blow out the remaining smoke and David breaths it in deeply. "But, I can imagine that it's been a stressful week for the both of us, why not relax?" I say, shutting my eyes. I feel Davids weight move about as he turns around and lays down too. "I could go to sleep like this..." I sigh.
"Me too... should we?"
"What?"
"Have a little nap, right now."
"Way ahead of you..." I say.

DAVID:

Hungry. I sit up. We really did take a nap on the pod swing. Alex is stirring. "Hey..." She mumbles, getting up too. "Should we get something to eat?" She asks.
"Yeah, I'm really fancying McDonald's. Chicken nuggets. Twenty of them." I say.
"Great idea, let's go to the car, dinner won't be 'til seven anyway."
"Good!"

We sit in Alex's car, eating nuggets greedily, I haven't had nuggets in ages. We're not talking to each other, we were way too engrossed in the deep fried, crispy goodness that was satiating our stomachs. Sweet 'n' sour sauce. I notice Alex looking at me a little intensely. "What's up?" I ask suspiciously.
"It's just... nothing that's all." She says.
"No, you were going to say something, say it"
"I just can't really believe that I've let a stranger into my home, and nothing's gone wrong yet. With my luck, you should have murdered me by now."
"Luck? I don't really believe in luck. It's too passive, things happen for a reason."
"Well, you have to admit, something's are going to happen regardless of which decision you make. Sometimes there's no reason why a thing should have happened to you."
"Look, we just got stoned in a park together, we're not qualified to be asking such... existential questions."
"Eh, I'm pretty sure most philosophers were stoned at one point."
"Just eat your nuggets Socrates." I say, she grins at me, her big brown bambi eyes. There it is again. That little feeling. I was beginning to like this girl, at first, I had found her quite cold, but some warmth was coming through. "What's the time?" She asked, I check my watch. "Half three."
"Oh, Lynn should be back soon, she's bringing back her girlfriend." She said, watching me.
"Oh, Lynn's got a girlfriend, cool, what's her name?"
"Sophie, they met at a gig in Southend seven months ago and it turned out she only lives in Stanford so she often stays round."
"Cool, does Sophie know about the whole 'me' situation?"
"Pretty sure Lynn will give her the rundown."

LYNN:

"Yeah we've got a random guy living with us." I say, Sophie looks at me from across the kitchen dining table. "Seriously?" Sophie said, raised eyebrows. I smile awkwardly. "Well, yeah, see the thing is, it wasn't my idea, Alex let him stay."
"Wow, does she know him or something?"
"Not exactly, no, but we both think he looks familiar."
"Looks familiar... what, like passed him in the street or saw him at a restaurant?"
"Well, we don't know, maybe a restaurant?"
"Where are they, anyway?"
"I don't know, I have no clue - wait, I hear the door going." I say, getting up, Sophie stayed behind in the kitchen. David and Alex walk through the door, laughing. I cross my arms, I could smell the weed on them. "Where have you two been then?" I ask. Alex's face falls flat. "Oh, out."
"Out, doing what?"
"We went shopping, then we had some nuggets."
"What else?"
"Nothing mum." Alex said sarcastically.
"Well explain to me why my safe was open and there was a joint missing."
"I don't know."
"Don't lie to me Alex, I don't care if you went off and smoked some, just make sure you close the safe properly, someone could have broken in with the front door lock being broken. I'm not supposed to have that stuff."
"Yeah, sorry, me and David went down to the swings and had some."
"Invite me next time, as it is my weed."
"Not really, you confiscated it off some kid at town centre."
"Hey, finders keepers man, I'm only preventing a young mind from being shrivelled up by brain cell killing marijuanas." I say, raising my eyebrows. "Well, I'm gonna get changed into pyjamas, take my makeup off and put my hair up." Alex said, walking to her room. Sophie comes out of the kitchen. "Sorry, I was just doing something..." She said, trailing off as she noticed David. "Oh, hi... Lynn's right, you look uncannily familiar." She said.
"Everyone says that, which is funny, because I'm a completely average and ordinary guy." He chuckled awkwardly and a moment of silence fell, I clap my hands. "Well, I just have to go get some stuff from my car, I'll be back in a few minutes." I say, before I leave.