Yet another day that Pogan holed himself up in his room. Director Staedler allowed me to take the day off, having the Jonathan from yesterday take my place temporarily. I dressed out of my usual suit and into jeans and a tanktop, burgundy sneakers and my old, camoflauge bandana. I waited by his cot, sitting in various positions, waiting to take orders as soon as he woke up.
It was maybe ten o' clock. He turned to see me lying on my back, legs waving stupidly in the air. I looked at him upside-down.
"Oh, hey."
"Havin' fun there?" I snickered and turned back to a normal sitting position.
"Just patiently waiting to serve." He gave me a confused look. "Yeah, the director let me take a day off to hang out with you. So here I am."
He chuckled, "You really are a nervous wreck."
"What can I say? I worry about my Biggums just as much as I worry about Ava or Danny or even Desmond," I grinned. He gave a weak grin back, then sat up.
"Then, my first order of business: take your gas mask off. It creeps me the hell out, like you're from some messed-up video game." I obediently took the mask off, taking in a gulp of unfiltered air. "Better?"
"Unfiltered air: tastes delicious," I joked. Another chuckle; it's better than nothing, to be honest.
"Next: come here. And take that bandana off." He patted the spot next to him on the cot. I crawled over and did as he said. He started playing with my long hair, holding a lock above my upper lip. "Damn, didn't you get a full body wax? They missed your mustache."
"Shut up, you WISH you had a mustache like mine!" I stroked the hair, making duck lips under it. He dropped the act and laughed, kind of weak and tired, but I still took it. He ran his fingers through my hair, surprised at the smoothness. He styled it into a bunch of styles, his favorite being the one parted straight to the back and the hair separated onto my shoulders.
"Don't ask me why I'm so hypnotized by your hair."
"Why are you so hypnotized by my hair?"
"It's like... Long, dark chocolate strands. And it flows so freely." He worked to separate the hair as cleanly as possible. "And I can see these little curls that the hairdresser missed." He switched to playing with the curls. "It's like baby curls."
"That's what my mom frikin' calls them, that's scary."
"They're so cute and little!"
"Ah, shaddap."
"No."
"As your commanding leader, I--"
"--am on a day off and can't tell Scout Pogan what to do." He was right.
"Dammit."
"As a matter of fact, YOU'RE taking orders from ME, soooo... What else can I make you do~?" Now I'm a little scared. He twirled the baby curls one-handedly as he thought. It was a long, dreadful silence. So long, that my anxiety was setting in like this was a dire situation. I kept having to reassure myself that everything was fine. That still didn't stop my heart from racing. "Okay, how about... No, no, no." Another silence set in, and I could feel my blood pressure rising drastically. "Uh... No. Not that..."
"Pogan, get on with it before I pass out. You're legitimately making me nervous," I said, trying to stay calm. He suddenly snapped his fingers.
"I got it!" he said happily. "Sing me 'What A Wonderful World'?" I squinted, working to remember the lyrics, but nothing came to mind but the line, "What a wonderful world." I couldn't even remember the tune, until Pogan started humming it. Like a switch, the lyrics swam into my memory instantaneously.
"I see trees of green, red roses, too. I see them bloom, for me and you. And I think to myself, what a wonderful world. I see skies of blue, and clouds of white. The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night. And I think to myself, what a wonderful world. The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky. Are also on the faces, of people going by. I see friends shaking hands. Saying, 'How do you do?' They're really saying, 'I love you.' I hear babies cryin', I watch them grow. They'll learn much more, than I'll ever know. And I think to myself, what a wonderful world. Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world." I glanced over at him.
"You got a pretty good voice," he smiled. A blush crept onto my face, and I rested my head on his shoulder.
"Shaddap. I am a commanding leader."
"And a good singer."
"Nope, just a commanding leader."
"Do I have to make you agree with me?" This caught me off-guard, but I decided not to show it and stick out my tongue teasingly.
BOOM!
