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| Imagine finding one of these under your mattress. |
"Look like we've got a guest for the weekend."
Blake still wasn't sure how he felt about renting out their extra room occasionally, but it always seemed to go well. "Who is it?"
"Her name is Tiffany and she's just here for the weekend." Blake's mom showed him a picture of their guest on her phone.
"She's pretty cute," Blake said without thinking.
"Really?" his mom asked, looking at the picture again. She smiled and put her phone down.
"Mom. Don't do the mattress thing again."
"It's not a big deal," his mom replied. "Don't you want to know what kind of person she is?"
"That's why some people get to know each other before they actually start dating."
But she wasn't listening. She was already heading upstairs to move some mattresses around.
Blake rolled his eyes and picked up his mom's phone. Tiffany was pretty cute. Hopefully she would be a good guest. Blake checked the time and put his mom's phone back down. "Mom! I'm headed to work!" he yelled up the stairs.
"See you tonight, sweetie," she yelled back down.
It wasn't the best job, but it was just for the summer. And Blake had decided he would rather work retail than in fast food. So, he set out for work, wondering where they would put him today.
*
Friday came sooner than Blake thought it would. He noticed his mom grabbing a pea and sneaking upstairs with it. Blake rolled his eyes. Why she thought that it was important for his potential girlfriend to feel a pea through a stack of mattresses, he wasn't sure.
His mom had just come back downstairs, when there was a knock at the door. Blake's mom answered it and sure enough, Tiffany was walking into their house.
"Hi, I'm Tiffany. You must be Mrs. Burrows," she said, shaking Blake's mom's hand.
"You can call me Trish," she replied with a smile.
"And you must be Blake," Tiffany said, turning to him.
"That's me," Blake said, shaking her hand. She had nice hands.
"So, is the room upstairs?"
"Yes. Blake can show you the way."
Trying not to be annoyed with his mom playing matchmaker, Blake nodded and smiled. "Right this way. Up the stairs."
Tiffany chuckled and followed him up. When they got into the room, Tiffany set down her bag and stared at the bed. "How many mattresses is that?"
Blake winced. "Too many. They're all clean. We just...have a lot around."
"Huh." Tiffany shrugged. "Is there a bathroom up here too?"
Blake showed her to the bathroom and headed back downstairs. "Mom, really? I've never seen you use that many mattresses before. How did you even get them stacked up that high?"
His mom just smiled. "I have my ways."
Blake rolled his eyes and, eventually, Tiffany came back down the stairs. "Well, I've got to head over to my friend's place, but it was nice meeting the two of you."
"Have fun!" Trish said with a wave.
"See ya," Blake said as Tiffany left. He endured a little more teasing from his mom before it was time for Blake to go to work. He was working closing tonight, and he prayed no one would make a huge mess. Or wander in drunk.
Most of his night was pretty low-key. There were the usual girls headed to the bars, who always came in in giggling packs. Then the dudes headed to bars, who came in louder packs. Blake was facing the shelves after one of the packs of dudes had just cleared out, when he heard something from the next aisle over.
"Back off, creep. She said no."
Blake grimaced. Sometimes these things resolved themselves, but he listened to see if he needed to get involved.
"Sure, that's what she said, but did she mean it?"
Blake guessed the guy speaking was a hold-over from the pack of dudes who had left. He made his way over to the next aisle.
"Can I help you find anything?" Blake asked the guy. He gave the girls a quick look to see if they were okay and, with a start, recognized Tiffany. She looked great, although Blake had to guess the two girls were staying in tonight.
"Yeah," the guy said, guffawing. "This girl's number." He pointed to Tiffany.
Tiffany's friend edged in front of her.
Blake had to think quickly. "Did you come in here with some friends? They all just left."
"They left without me?" The guy looked annoyed. He turned to Tiffany. "Maybe I'll see you later."
Tiffany rolled her eyes and Blake quietly followed the guy to make sure he left. Then he mosied back over to Tiffany and her friend.
"Are you two all right?" Blake asked.
"Yeah. Thanks, Blake," Tiffany replied with a small smile.
"You know him?" Tiffany's friend asked.
"Kind of," Tiffany replied.
Blake smiled back at her. "If you need anything, let me know. That guy left, but I'll make sure he doesn't come back in."
As he was walking away, he heard Tiffany's friend say, "You've been in town for five minutes and you already met a cute guy? And didn't tell me?"
Blake couldn't help but smile as he headed to a different aisle.
As he hoped, no one made a huge mess in the store that night, so closing didn't take as long as it could have. Once they finally counted all of the money from the registers, they were all free to go home.
Blake headed back home and went straight to his room and shut the door. If his mom was trying to sleep, he didn't want to wake her up.
The next day, Blake stumbled into the kitchen just in time to hear his mom say, "And how did you sleep last night?"
Blake almost answered when he heard Tiffany reply. "To be honest, I was a little afraid of falling off of those mattresses, so I moved the top one to the floor and slept on that one. Once I did that, I slept fine."
"Really?"
Blake could tell his mom was pleased. It was time to make an entrance before she did anything else weird.
"Good morning," Blake said, walking into the dining room.
"Good morning," Tiffany replied with a smile. "So, you work at the corner store?"
Blake shrugged. "Just for the summer. Once school starts, I'm headed back to Boston."
"Really? That's where I live."
Blake noticed his mom unobtrusivly leaving the room. "That's cool. It's a great city."
"Yeah. I mean, I live in the suburbs, but I work in the city, so I'm there all the time." Tiffany had a thought. "Hey, let me give you my phone number. It might be nice to have another friend in Boston."
"Totally," Blake replied with a smile. He saved her as a contact and texted her his name.
"Thanks," Tiffany replied. "Are you working tonight?"
"No, it's my day off."
"My friend and I are planning on having a movie night and inviting a few people. Do you want to come?"
"Sure," Blake replied, trying not to get too excited.
"Great. I'll text you the address." Tiffany got up and put her empty bowl in the sink. "I've got to help her get ready, but I'll see you tonight."
"See you tonight," Blake echoed as Tiffany headed out the door.
"See?" Trish asked, once Tiffany was gone.
"What?"
"The mattresses."
"She didn't feel the pea. Did you really put a vegetable under a mattress?"
Trish waved away his question. "It was about how she would react. She was smart and fixed the problem before it became one. And you two hit it off so well. I told you it works."
Blake opened his mouth to explain to his mom, but he decided against it. "Sure, mom," he replied instead.
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