Me and the young ones

5. House meeting

I don't know why I stayed with the gang in the house the whole day. I guess I had grown kind of fond of them in some way, and even though it was utterly terrible there, I felt a strange feeling that I didn't wanna leave. They needed someone like me taking care of everything. But I couldn't just stay, right? Well, I was gonna make the most of my time anyway, even if it meant attending their house meeting.

"Why in here.. will we even fit?"

"Yeeees! We always have the house meetings in here!"

Rick was leaning out of some sort of closet. He had told me the the house meeting was gonna be in there and that non-attendance at house meetings was punishable by death. His demanding tone persuaded me. I stepped in and he closed the door on us. The limited space meant we had to stand only a few centimeters apart.

"Okay, where are the others?"

"Probably late."

It was a stupid question, because there was barely room for just the two of us. That gave me a chance to take a good look at him, I had never really looked at him this close. My length reached up to about his chin, which had some spots on it. I wandered higher over his sweaty face and met his eyes for a trembling moment. An awkward silence followed. I tried to look around at something else but it was almost unpossible - we practically stood on top of each other.

"Oh so it's here you keep all the cleaning stuff? Good to know."

"Yes, apparently we do.. anyway, that's not the point Marie!"

"So what is the point Rick?"

"Uhmm.. yeah right right.. let's see.."

He began flipping through a little red book.

"Just you and me here. Guess we'll have to kill the others then?" I joked.

He smiled and looked up at me.

"Yes, that's right Marie! Good point, I'm writing that down!" he said without any hint of humour.

As I stood wondering why I was still here when I could just leave, Rick dropped his book. He bent down to pick it up, but quickly realized that would mean putting his face in my breasts. I don't know what stopped him, probably the little bit of shame he apparently had.

I heard some mantra form silently on his lips.

"Neil's cousin, Neil's cousin, Neil's cousin."

I sighed and bent down, my head brushing against Rick as I picked up the book.

"So what's all the important stuff in this.."

Rick yanked it out of my hands before I could open it.

"Nothing!"

"Nothing? Why can't I look in it then?"

We were interrupted by the closet door swung open by Vyvyan.

"What in the bloody hell is happening here?"

"House meeting" I said with a a smile.

"What? In here? Why didn't anyone tell me!" Vyvyan squeezed into the already cramped space, pushing me and Rick even closer together.

"Vyvyan, what are you doing?" Rick asked, his voice tinged with frustration.

"Well, I don't want to be punished by death like last time, remember?"

The three of us stood there for a moment, crowded together. Rick, annoyed and completely off track, sandwiched between me and Vyvyan.

"So, what did I miss?" Vyvyan said.