It was mid-afternoon when Derek gave up on his half-hearted attempts at sleep, and Adette decided it was probably a wise decision to bring him something to eat. She walked in with some heated up leftover soup.
“Thanks,” he muttered, still half asleep. As she neared him, her foot caught on the carpet and she spilled hot soup all over him. “God damn it, that fucking burns!” he yelled angrily. “Can’t you watch your bloody step?”
“I’m sorry,” Adette flustered apologetically, hurriedly trying to clean up the soup she’d spilt on him. Fortunately, it had only been hot enough to lightly scald him.
“No, I’m sorry,” he sighed wearily, “I’m just so god damn pissed off trying to get off this crack.”
“It’s fine, I understand.”
Once he was cleaned up, Adette disappeared to get him something else to eat. She returned a large bowl of trail mix and sat down next to him, putting the bowl between them as a “help yourself” gesture.
“So, don’t you have a job or something like that?” Derek asked, raising an eyebrow. “I might be a crackhead but I can still work out it’s a weekday.”
Adette giggled a little. “I make a living selling my robots. They sell for quite a bit and I come up with new ideas all the time. I just think of would be useful to me and make it for everyone else.”
Derek nodded. “Must get pretty lonely, being shut up in your house all the time slaving over some robot shit. Is that why you adopted yourself a homeless crackhead?”
Adette laughed. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it were part of the subconscious reason, in all honesty.”
There was another pause.
“Hey, when you said that your robot thingy made the highest pitched tone you’d ever heard it make when you walked past me… wouldn’t your tone be even more high pitched?”
Adette raised an eyebrow. “What would make you say that?”
“You took in a homeless crackhead, let him use your shower, fed him, clothed him, gave him a place to sleep, helped him with his crack addiction and even mopped up his puke. How exactly does that not make you a good person?”
Adette gazed out the window, her eyes clouding over. “There is a lot more to true goodness of heart than external acts of kindness. Many fail to realize this.”
“Seems pretty internal to me, not external.”
“What?”
“Well, we seem to be really close already, which is pretty fucked up if you ask me, but whatever. Doesn’t that make it internal?”
Once again, Adette laughed. “You’re funny, Derek.”
“I’m not making jokes.”
“Yeah, that’s why it’s funny.”
More silence stretched between them.
“Don’t you need something to keep your mind off crack?” Adette supposed aloud.
“What? Where the hell did that come from?”
“It helps to keep your mind off crack if you keep busy. Can’t have you being irritable all the time, you hurt my feelings earlier,” she said with a dramatic sniff.
“What am I meant to do, take up ballet?” he mocked her sarcastically.
“You could help me with my robots. I’ve been needing an extra hand.”
“Aha! I have unveiled your motive! You just want an assistant for your robot shit!” he exclaimed triumphantly.
“Well, if you’re not keen, I guess ballet is always an option…”
“Fuck that, I’ll help you with your robots.”
