GLaDOS and Me

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

All too soon, the tow company called and told him they'd arrived, so Wheatley drunkenly peeled himself off the couch and stumbled outside, rubbing at his eyes and wishing he'd taken his loafers off, because even though the lady's house had been wonderfully warm, they were still sopping wet. He blearily paid the tow truck driver whatever sum he'd come up with and got into his car, barely even noticing how cold it was. He was in far too much need of another dose of cold medication.

Wheatley's commute on a good day was roughly an hour and a half, and today was apparently not a good day. The good news was, his car worked fine. The bad news was, the traffic was so bad it didn't matter if his car worked, because he could have walked faster on this road than he was driving. And the worse news was, he really needed to use the facilities, as it were, and he was still a good hour away from home if the traffic got moving anytime soon. He bit his lip and tried not to think about it. It was going to be a very long drive. Or roll, he supposed, since he hadn't done any actual driving in at least twenty minutes, only tapped on the gas and let his car drift to a stop every now and then. He turned up the radio and clenched his thighs together as best he could.

Two hours later he finally ended up in his driveway, and once he took care of his more urgent problem he turned his attention to figuring out which auto shop had not gouged him terribly the last time he'd needed something. His stomach rumbled insistently all the while and his nose would not stop dripping, not to mention he could hardly see through the cloud of dried water on his glasses, so finally he gave up and got on those things instead. Besides. He could puzzle out which shop it'd been while he was eating, he'd be more coherent on the phone if his nose wasn't plugged, and he couldn't see the phone numbers anyway.

He managed to make himself a pair of fried eggs without setting off the smoke alarm or burning the toast, and after downing a good amount of cold medicine and clearing off his specs, he happily munched on that while again perusing the phone numbers. He soon found the one he was looking for and dialled them after he'd finished eating, and they pencilled him in for late afternoon, which he was quite pleased about. Now he had time for a nap.

He drank a glass of orange juice and swallowed some more cold medicine for good measure, though he thought that he might've taken too much by now, and sure enough by the time he'd brushed his teeth and changed out of his still wet clothes he was thoroughly dizzy. Oh well. He'd sleep it off.

He sprawled out on the couch, since he much preferred it to his bed for napping purposes, and lay back to thoroughly enjoy the warm sun on his face filtering through his front window. Ahhh yes, this was going to be a lovely nap.

When his alarm went off, he stretched contentedly and sat up, rubbing his face. He felt very refreshed, though if truth be told he was still a bit lightheaded, and he retrieved his other pair of loafers from the front closet and put them on. He whistled as he headed out to his car, swinging the key ring around on his finger and wondering why everything was so fuzzy, because he distinctly remembered cleaning his glasses before breakfast. It was only after his keys went flying off his finger and there were no glasses on his face to clear off did he realise his mistake, but he only laughed and headed back inside. Happily, he had forgotten to lock the door again, so he didn't need to dig around half-blindly in the snow to find his wayward keys.

He actually made it to his appointment on time and watched through a murky glass window in a cold, white-painted brick waiting room with some dirty diplomas from some auto school or another as the mechanics went over his car. After about an hour or so they told him that his car was fine, except that the wheels needed realigned, and he nodded and told them to go ahead.