Elly fixed her hair in the mirror, hoping that this much-anticipated meeting with Lola would go smoothly. With St. Louis humidity, you never quite knew what to expect. A line of sweat dripped down her forehead. It was probably time to turn the air on. It didn’t help that she was wearing a mustard-yellow pencil dress with a lacy white cardigan, belted at the waist. If she had her way, she would have her venue meeting with Lola Plumb wearing only shorts and a tank top. Hastily, she grabbed a couple of bobby pins and firmly pinned everything to the back of her head. Gold curls leapt out from her head at random. That was the look now, messy was in. Bohemian chic. Right? She thought maybe she had read that somewhere. Dabbing on some lip gloss, she headed out to the kitchen. She let out a yelp when she saw the hulking silhouette in her kitchen.
Dennis turned around, his hair a tangled mess, a coffee cup in one hand and a scone in the other. “Oh. Hey. Sorry I scared you.”
“Yeah, I’m still getting used to you being here.” It sounded meaner than Elly meant. She bit her tongue.
“Coffee?” he asked. The dark bruises under his eyes were getting worse.
He wasn’t sleeping, Elly knew that. It had been a month since he had moved in with her, since that first time he played World of MageCraft all night, and every night since. Elly leaned wearily against the counter. Dennis had taken over her life. Socks, boxers, and shirts littered the floor. The sink was always full of dirty dishes, and food seemed to disappear overnight. Elly’s grocery bill had tripled, along with her electricity bill. The TV blared constantly—a randy mix of MTV and the Spike network. Dennis talked all night long, via his headphone, to his friends in Japan about his quests. Elly’s dreams had started being invaded by neighboring horde alliances, paladins, and stealth nerfs, whatever those were. Walking into her apartment, Elly was assaulted by a variety of smells: old burritos, expired sandwich meat that had been left out, body odor, and one aroma that could only be described as “cheesy feet.” The bathroom was…. Elly shook her head. She couldn’t even talk about it. Every effort to talk to Dennis ended with him saying quickly, “Well, I better get back to my game.” Elly found herself drifting, unsure of where this was going, unwilling to bring it up. And she couldn’t bring it up with Keith, because he stubbornly stood by the suggestion that Elly get the DNA test. He couldn’t see that everyone in Dennis’s life had pushed him away, and that Elly wouldn’t be that person.
Dennis let out a loud burp and put his coffee cup on Elly’s antique coffee table. She swiftly picked it up. “Coaster,” she mumbled.
“It’s just a table,” he grumbled back.
In that moment, Elly missed Cadbury. He might poop inside occasionally, but at least he didn’t leave coffee rings on her table. “I’m heading out,” she announced. “I’m meeting Lola Plumb at her wedding venue today.”
Dennis gave a sigh. “You’re so lucky. She’s so flipping hot. I saw her in Maxim last year … oh man.” Elly gave him a warning look. “What I meant was, oh man, she should not degrade herself in that way.”
Ah, so there was a sense of humor in there somewhere, thought Elly. Maybe she wouldn’t murder him after all. “I have to run. Would you mind maybe … doing the dishes?”
Dennis shrugged. “Maybe. Ahora’s getting on later, so I need to be there for that. Or I might stop by the new store.” Of course he would. Dennis had developed a serious obsession with Snarky Teenager, and had taken to trailing her around like a puppy dog. Elly allowed her to use him for manual labor only because it occasionally awarded her a few hours of blissful silence, just her and her many scented candles.
“Great. Well, I’ll see ya later.”
“Enjoy your bread and circuses!” crowed Dennis. There was a minute of awkward silence.
“Uh … yeah,” said Elly. She closed the door behind her.
It jerked open again. Dennis leaned his head out. “Your hair looks weird. I just thought I should tell you.”
“Thanks,” snapped Elly.
Dennis looked hurt. “Uh, the dress looks nice, though.”