Though you annoy me, I'll take your hand in mine any day

Knock it down

DAY 22.

One more day until the party, and OJ was pacing around his office. He had a lot on his mind-- more specifically, the party. Surely it was going to be like any other party at the hotel, and sure it wasn't uncommon for things to get a bit crazy, or someone to get too into it, but that, for once, was not what was on OJ's mind.

What WAS on his mind was how he was going to confess to MePhone. The nervous, fluttery feeling twisted in his gut as he paced, thinking about how he could do it, what he would say, how he would say it, what would even be the right time-- It's a party, it's always the right time-- or, what if it went wrong entirely, or he didn't want to go after all, then what? He couldn't stifle a groan as he started thinking of all the negatives. He needed some fresh air.

He had been 'advised' to take it slow regarding his hotel work, so he had been divvying out certain tasks to others to help him out with, so the complete workload was on him. He thankfully got the paperwork for this month's bills dealt with last night, so he had none of that to worry about, leaving most of the work to be done in the cleaning today-- which Soap happily volunteered to do, which for once, left him with free time. So fresh air it was.

He made his way out of the hotel, maybe for some time away from it all-- no, well, not maybe, definitely. This would surely clear his head a bit. He walked down the sidewalk that led up to the hotel, taking in the fall breeze, and the cooler air. Thankfully, summer was ending, so it wouldn't be horribly warm all the time, but that also meant it was going to start snowing eventually. But he shook off the thought. There's still plenty of time before winter, anyways. His mind wandered back to MePhone. Really, this was weird. Like, really weird. Never had he seen the host like this before, sure he always had a certain charm to it that OJ could never place, but that wasn't the point! He really doesn't understand these feelings, or where they've come from, but he supposes that's just how love works. It still feels incredibly embarrassing though, and he couldn't help but think specifically about what Pepper had said to him yesterday. How MePhone admitted to caring about OJ, with him not even being present in the situation. He couldn't help but wonder what else MePhone has said about him, or if-- No, surely not. Well... Possibly, right? Surely it wasn't... impossible... No, he was getting his hopes up.

OJ sighed. That was enough thinking for now. He needed to head back to the hotel to help out with party preparation.

...

Salt and Pepper had most of it covered, getting everyone to stay out of the main lobby so the decorations and such wouldn't be tampered with or ruined, leaving getting all the snacks prepared as a task for Paper and OJ.

Usually, this was a tedious task, but OJ wasn't complaining, this being a good distraction from his thoughts, though Paper could still tell something was up as the two of them checked the cupboards and cabinets to check off a list Salt had handed over.

Thankfully, everything seemed to be in check. Hopefully nothing would go wrong between now and then,-- or at the party.

OJ returned to his office after checking off the list, now back to thinking about what he was going to do.

Tomorrow was only getting closer, after all.

Day 23.

The hours leading up to the party filled MePhone with dread. He didn't know why he was so nervous about this-- or, well, scratch that, he knows exactly why he's so nervous, but he refuses to admit it to himself. The party is set to start at seven, and just before that, TestTube is supposed to come by for an evaluation, and progress update. He just hoped she was getting somewhere with it.

He didn't bother eating dinner that night, opting to snack at the party if he absolutely wanted to, but otherwise, he decided against it. Right now, he was sitting on the stool in the infirmary, not wanting to have been laying in that bed all day, just idly waiting by the time.