Back to bed again

Laura washing the dishes while Dan stood to one side, drying them with a rough bath towel.

"I forgot to ask," Dan mused as he finished the last fork and set it aside. "When do you start?"

Laura smiled and dried her hands after carefully pouring the leftover spaghetti into a gallon freezer bag. "I start on Friday. Tony said I could shadow Yevette for the day. He said I really shouldn't have too much trouble doing the job," she said as she ran the empty cookware under the sink.

"Another card game tonight?" Dan asked with a smile as he went over to the air mattress.

"For a bit," Laura agreed. "Oh, would you mind trying the radio? I got it for three dollars but forgot we don't have a window. It might be impossible to get a good signal."

Dan nodded and messed around with the radio after getting the playing cards. He sat at the table while his mother finished the dishes. It a lot of adjustment, but he was able to get two stations to come in clearly. "Well, we can have classical music or the National Radio Service," he reported with a sigh.

"Just leave on the classical music channel. It'll be nice background noise while we play."

Dan and Laura were well into their first game of poker when a knock came at the door. "I can get it," Laura said, as she rose from the stool. She pressed on the small of her back, pushing out her chest. "Oh, these stools are not all that comfortable," she said with a sigh.

"Hello again," Amanda greeted as Laura opened the door. She peeked her head into the apartment and presented an oval dish of cookies. "I managed to keep my girlfriends from stealing all of them. Since you helped, take the rest. If I eat them, I'll get fat."

"Nonsense," Laura argued. "You could probably eat three plates full before you showed a single roll. Thank you for sharing," she said with a bright smile.

"It's what neighbors do. Uh... incidentally, you guys are right next to Tammy. Has there been any problems? I heard she got back earlier today."

"No, why?" Dan asked with a frown as he rose to steal a cookie from the tray.

"Well, Kimmy... maybe it won't bother you or she's learned to dump that boyfriend of hers. Never mind. If you ever need anything, just knock on my door. Anyway, hate to drop off food and run, but I don't get to see Tonya very often. I'll drop by sometime tomorrow for the dish. Enjoy!"

"Thank you again," mother and son called out as Amanda left the room.

"That was nice, hey, these are pretty good," Dan commented as the rich chocolate melted in his mouth.

"She seems nice," Laura said with a smile. "Don't eat all the cookies," she warned.

"Have some too."

"I shouldn't."

"You absolutely should. They are amazing and stop worrying about how you think you look. Like you told, Amanda, you could eat three plates of those and not see a roll," Dan shot back with a grin.

"Hush you," Laura laughed as she took a cookie. "Oh, these are good."

"Play you for the cookies," Dan challenged.

"I'd be too tempted to beat you. Then I'd have to eat them all," Laura complained.

"It'll be fun, come on."

"Fine, you win. Quarter cookie buy-in."

They played for a little longer, the music of an unknown long-dead composer quietly playing from the kitchen. Dan won his fair share of the pile, but his mother seemed to be eating her way through her dwindling cookies.

"...don't...listen...you!" a muffled feminine voice broke in over the music.

"Did you say something?" Laura asked.

"No, I think that must be, Timmy, Kimmy? Whoever Amanda said was next to us."

"Oh... we listened to enough domestic issues at the house from Ron and Lenny."

"No kidding," Dan grumbled. "At least we won't have to hear them honking their horns at each other in the middle of the night."

"Hey, don't steal a cookie from my pile!" Laura scolded with a laugh.

"You weren't eating it."

"That's my profit you're biting into!"

Dan grinned and continued to eat the cookie. "We should really think about laying down. You work tomorrow?" Laura asked.

"Ugh, yeah. Mondays. Can I say I went and don't? Mondays suck."

Laura just smiled at him and cleaned the few cookies off the table that had survived the card game. "We can have these for dessert tomorrow. I'm going to do hotdogs that aren't in the microwave," she promised when she saw his face.

"Phew, thank you," he laughed. "I'll get the cards."

It took a little bit until the mother and son finished their last tasks for the night and crawled onto the air mattress. Dan tried to get comfortable as Laura snuggled in on her side.

"You... ...nt... dare!" a feminine yell came through the now quiet room.

"Are you kidding me?" Dan sighed as he put his face in the pillow.

"I can get back up to turn on the radio," Laura offered.

"No, it'll be fine."

A, muffled, throaty moan answered his words from the vent on the far wall. "Please, no," Laura whispered.

"Great... make-up sex," Dan reported as a masculine grunt followed a moment later.

It was going to be a long night.