Work was lame and the game was on. Charlie climbed the steps to the apartment. Kath would be studying all night for her History midterm so the living room (aka the TV) would be all his for the evening.
However, when he opened the door he got a nice big surprise. Instead of throwing his keys on the kitchen table that should have been there, when he automatically threw them, they landed on the floor where the table should have been.
Charlie looked up, confused. Then his eyes grew wide. He was pretty sure the kitchen table was in the living room. Well, he supposed underneath the string of probably every blanket they had in the apartment was the living room furniture plus the table and chairs from the kitchen. “What the?” Charlie said. He dropped his wallet on the counter and headed over. Everything was covered with blankets. They were draped from the top of the couch over a chair. Then they were draped from the chair to the table, then from the table they covered the top of the TV, and then draped back over the armchair in the corner, back around. Every piece of furniture was submerged beneath the sea of blankets.
The TV was on, but it was low, and the blankets muffled the sound a bit. He knocked on the top of the table. “Enter!” Kath said. She sounded cheery and happy he was home to witness her masterpiece. He knocked again. “I said come in!” Her voice was sing-songish and he knew there was no coaxing her out. He had to go in.
He dropped to the floor and army crawled under it all. “Welcome to our new home!” Kath said, kissing his cheek. Her textbook and what he guessed was a study guide and notes were strewn about the floor underneath and she had a pencil behind her ear and a highlighter in her hand. Behind her was a mountain of junk food. A six pack of bottled Dr. Pepper, a can of Sour Cream and Onion Pringles, a bag of Sunchips, a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips, a bag of marshmallows, a bag of graham crackers, and a few bottles of water. “It’s our new fort! Do you like it?”
“I’d like it better if it wasn’t covering the TV,” Charlie said.
“Well then how would I be able to watch it?” Kath asked. “Sometimes you’re not very smart, Charles.”
Charlie snorted. “How long is this going to be up?”
Kath looked alarmed, like he’d just said a very bad word. “All night,” she said like he should’ve known this for a thousand years.
“Well, can I watch the game?”
“Of course you can!” Kath said and then she gave him the remote and went back to her studying.
Charlie started to crawl back out of the fort, but Kath quickly added, “But don’t move those blankets.” Then she smiled.
For the next hour and a half Charlie finished the game and Kath studied. But when it was over and she felt prepared they laid in the fort as the sun went down. The flashlight/lantern that Kath had been using for their light went out and so she pulled her backup flashlight out of her book bag and they told scary stories, shining the flashlight under their chins to give them an eerie look.
But soon the stories just came out silly instead of scary and pretty soon they were laughing so hard under the blankets that they had to come out just the catch their breath. Then they were suddenly aware of how hot it was underneath all those blankets.
“I seem to remember forts being a lot bigger when I was a kid,” Kath laughed.
“That’s because you were a lot smaller,” Charlie replied.
“You know what would be good right now,” Kath said excitedly. “S’mores!” Charlie nodded in agreement. “Too bad we don’t have a real campfire. Maybe I can radiate some heat from my flashlight. She crawled back under the fort and tried resting a marshmallow on top of the flashlight but surely it wouldn’t work.
“Give me one minute,” Charlie said grabbing the marshmallows, chocolate chips, and graham crackers. He quickly went to the kitchen and prepared some S’mores and then presented them to her like she was a radiant queen.
“Viola!” he chimed. “S’mores fresh from the microwave.”
“You are a god,” Kath purred. “Really, you’re getting lucky tonight.”
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