Adette fumbled with her keys while Derek stood awkwardly, his hands in his pockets and his cap drawn so low over his eyes that she could barely see his face. Her guess was that he was embarrassed at a girl taking him into her home and trying to provide for him.
The door swung open and Derek tried not to inspect her house too openly. It was far from what he had expected. There was a long, sterile white hallway that had three doors on each side and one door at the end. Instantly, he found himself inexplicably drawn to the door at the end of the hallway.
As if reading his mind, Adette cleared her throat and said, “Best not to try the door at the end of the hall. It’s locked.”
Derek blushed and looked away. Adette, seemingly oblivious to this, opened one of the doors, revealing a lounge. The furniture was stylish and modern; everything seemed almost unnaturally clean and neat, like those ads for houses you see in magazines. “You wait here while I sort out the shower,” she instructed, then simply walked away and left him to it.
She sure trusts people an awful lot, he mused as he perched uneasily on the very edge of one of her chairs, slightly worried he’d make it dirty. An environment like this didn’t seem like it was meant to be lived in. Who exactly takes people off the streets, lets them into her house while she is evidently completely alone, sits them down in her lounge and leaves them to it? What does she want from me?
Adette abruptly appeared in the doorway, announcing, “Your shower is ready,” before disappearing again. He started, shaken from his thoughts, but when he turned his head towards the doorway she was gone. Taking a deep breath to settle his nerves, he stood up and walked out into the hallway.
The hallway was empty, but one door had been left ajar. He uneasily put his hand on the door handle, but then paused, his eyes drifting to the door at the end of the hallway. Curiosity burned in the pit of his stomach. He was seconds from investigating it when once again, Adette reappeared.
“Alright there, Derek?” she asked, a slight edge of amusement in her tone showing she knew exactly what he had been thinking of. He jumped.
“Y-yeah, fine. I was just… thinking,” he mumbled, hastily stumbling into the bathroom and closing the door.
Her bathroom was surprisingly ordinary. An average sized shower stood in the corner of the room, an average sized toilet in the other. An average cabinet, an average mirror, average floor tiles, average walls, average everything. A neatly folded white towel was on the floor beside a neatly folded set of clothes. He stripped and stepped into the shower. “Hello, master,” it greeted. He just about pissed himself.
“Please input order,” the robot voice demanded. Only now did he notice the glowing green buttons that covered the shower’s right wall. “Jesus Christ,” he muttered under his breath, attempting to slow his heart rate to its normal pace. Upon inspection of the buttons, he discovered that he couldn’t understand the symbols on them. He decided the one with squiggly lines looked promising and jabbed it; big mistake.
The water gushed on at full blast at a temperature so high that he yelped, falling out of the shower with an unceremonious thump. He swore loudly multiple times before he remembered he was in someone else’s house and collected himself.
“Uh.. shower robot thingy… activate usual shower temperature mode… please?” he muttered uncertainly.
“Activating pre-set shower mode,” the shower announced smoothly. He breathed a sigh of relief and stepped forward only to find the water instead freezing cold. Once again he found himself yelping and falling out of the shower “God damn it, is she hot blooded?” he grumbled under his breath.
A timid knock on the door drew his attention.
“Everything okay in there?” came Adette’s voice, sounding as though she were half amused and half concerned.
“Yeah, fine, everything’s fine!” he replied quickly, getting to his feet.
“Okay well, call me if you need anything,” Adette said, the disbelief written all over her tone.
He exhaled as he heard her footsteps leading off down the hallway. “Why couldn’t she just have a normal shower?” he complained under his breath to himself.
“Normal shower mode activated,” the robot voice replied. The wall that was covered in buttons flipped, revealing a normal tap handle to adjust temperature.
“Jesus, how much spare time does this chick have?” he groaned, but was secretly relieved. He managed to shower in peace upon that discovery.
At last he emerged from the bathroom, his hair damp and smelling of shampoo, his skin scrubbed of dirt, wearing clean clothes, and feeling nothing like himself.
“Well don’t you clean up good?” Adette said without a hint of sarcasm. “I can stand to be near you without feeling like I’m going to hurl now.”
“Right… well… thanks,” he said hesitantly, blushing and staring at the ground.
“No problem at all! But now that I’ve showered you, I simply have no choice but to feed you,” she smiled.
“Hey, wait a sec-“
But it was too late, she had already disappeared into the kitchen.
