Pawsitively Improvised

Misery's Company

Chapter 12

It had only taken Kira an hour to get her fill of her grandfather. Too bad he had plans to stick around for a while. It was all under the guise of helping her settle in. She wasn’t the least bit fooled, however. His real purpose? To woo the ladies, of course.

It was bad enough that Renaldo was frisky, but now she had to deal with her grandfather’s perverted antics too. He was going to be a horrible influence on her fur baby. She just knew it.

To make matters worse, she had been relegated to the couch. Even though it was a sleeper sofa, it wasn’t her bed. She had willingly given that up for him to use. Unfortunately, it was more for her sanity than his comfort. The old fart preferred to sleep in the buff regardless of where he was at. She had to argue with him over the use of the sofa too. He put up a good fight, but she won in the end. It helped her motivation to imagine having to walk out of the bedroom to that sight every day. Once he left, though she was replacing the bed sheets. No way was she going to be able to use it knowing his wrinkled rear end had been occupying the space.

A full body shudder ran through her with the thought. She had been lying wide awake staring at the ceiling while fuming. Loud snores poured out of the bedroom door. Between her grandfather and Renaldo, she’d be lucky to get any sleep.

She glanced at the screen on her phone as the current time cast a glow in the dark. There was no way she was suffering by herself tonight. She brought up Crystal’s number before compiling her text.

‘I hate you.’

It was short, sweet, and embodied her current irritation. She knew her cousin wouldn’t believe her for one single minute.

‘What did I do now?’

‘Grandpa’s visiting.’

‘WHAT? When did he show up?’

‘He was here when I got home. Surprise!’

‘That’s weird. No one’s called from home yet.’

‘Same here. Total radio silence.’

‘How long is he staying?’

‘He didn’t give me a time limit. He is, however, currently occupying my bed.’

‘At least he’s not getting into trouble. Why is he in your bed?’

She could have done the nice thing and simply explained, but where’s the fun in that? Tip toeing to the bedroom, Kira made sure that the camera was set to live. On a particularly horrendous snore, she pressed the button. She made an error in judgement, however. When the flash lit up the room, causing him to roll away from her, taking the covers with him. His saggy bottom faced her in all its aged glory as he reached back to scratch it.

She nearly dropped her phone as she slapped a hand across her mouth to contain the startled scream. Backing out of the room, she retreated to the safety of the couch. Staring at her screen in horror, she couldn’t shake the image from her brain. There was only one thing she could do at that point. ‘Send.’

Her shoulders shook in quiet laughter as she waited for the response. Kira’s mind raced with all the possible reactions Crystal would have upon opening the message. She almost felt bad knowing her cousin would no doubt share the short video with her husband, Casey.

‘What in the holy glowing old ass is that?’

‘Did you know grandpa prefers to sleep in the nude?’

‘NO!’

‘Well, you do now.’

‘I DIDN’T WANT TO SEE THAT! My poor eyes!’

‘You’re welcome. We’ll see you guys tomorrow.’

‘Wait. WHAT!’

‘I’m not going to suffer alone.’

‘I’m going to have nightmares now. I hate you.’

‘I love you guys too.’

She felt accomplished in her task for the night. Although now she was having a hard time holding back her laughter. It was true what they said, Misery really does love company. At least hers was enjoying it. She smiled when her phone buzzed again. Certain it was Crystal, she opened it up only to find herself completely confused.

‘Goodnight Kira.’

The number wasn’t one she recognized at all. She would have written it off entirely as a wrong number, but clearly the person knew her. An unsettling feeling fell over her as she stared at the screen. Who on earth was texting her? There was only one way to find out.

‘Who is this and how did you get this number?’

‘It’s Jude. Crystal gave it to me earlier. I asked her for it before I left.’

She no longer felt any guilt over the text she had sent. If anything, an old full moon was mild in comparison to what was deserved. She was going to get her revenge in the morning. She was pulled back from her thoughts when a new message came in.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Why would I be doing anything but going to sleep right now? You did tell me goodnight after all.’

‘Oh. Ok then.’

Now she felt a little bad about being short with him. Yes, he had asked Crystal for her number, but she didn’t have to give it to him. That wasn’t his fault.

‘Sorry. I wasn’t trying to be mean. I can’t fall asleep with all the snoring.’

‘I can’t sleep either. I’m excited to begin decorating for tomorrow. If I didn’t know my mom would kill me for the noise, I would already be working on it. Snoring? Who’s snoring?’

‘I didn’t know you liked to decorate.’

‘I’m a complicated man, Kira. You shouldn’t make assumptions based off looks. I have depth you know. Who’s snoring?’

She could have ended his curiosity with a few simple words. Where was the fun in that though? A heady giggle slipped out as she sent her text. He was quicker in his response than Crystal had been.

‘What the hell! Why would you send that?’

‘Information sir. Information.’

He had nothing to say after that. Which was fine as her eyes began to drift and a yawn left her. She was sufficiently exhausted now and couldn’t wait for what chaos the next day would bring.