Two Fish

fifty four || elver

Elver’s heart rattled around in his chest.

“Are you sure you’ll be ok with this? I never thought you’d like, you know, want to share a bed,” he said, though he knew the answer.

“I’ll be fine.” Alaska blushed. “I like you, Elver. I love you. We’re together. And I’ve got to grow out of these habits anyway.”

Elver nodded to show his understanding and tugged at the duvet still scrunched up in the back of his car.

“You know, I actually quite enjoyed sleeping in the car,” Alaska mused, gazing out over the horizon.

“Yeah, it was good. Apart from, you know, being choked in a bucket of icy water,” Elver joked. Alaska blinked and snapped out of her world.

“Oh God, Elver. You know I’m sorry.”

“Are you? Well ,erm, yeah, ok. I guess you might be.”Alaska nudged him hard in the ribs. “Stop making me feel bad,” she said, narrowing her eyes at him.

“Hey, that hurt,” he said, returning the action. “You would only feel bad if you knew you were wrong.”

But Alaska was stronger than she thought because as she dug her elbow into his ribs again, he toppled over, the duvet floating into a fresh, brown puddle of water on the side of the road. She gasped.

“Seriously? I think you’re cursed, Elver. Are you ok?” Alaska gripped him arm and pulled him up. He took his jacket off and brushed off some grains of dirt.

“I’ll live. I think. But the duvet won’t.” The water had already soaked right through the outside of the duvet and had smothered it in a deep chocolate stain.  Alaska picked it up and made the mistake of shaking it out. Droplets of dirty water showered themselves over her designer coat and scarf.

Elver snorted. “Serves you right.”

“Hey. That’s mean,” she replied, looking down at her sodden clothes in a state of horror.

“You’re meaner.”

Alaska picked up on the joke. “Er, I’m afraid that’s you,” she answered.

“You’re meanest,” Elver retorted. Then he pulled her into a messy hug. But neither minded. The action was followed with a gentle kiss from Elver before they plodded back into the house.

“What will we sleep on?” Alaska asked, hanging her coat up near the aga to dry.

“Erm, a bed?” Elver replied, pulling of his t shirt and slipping into a clean one, wincing as he twisted his hand to get it through the arm hole.

“Don’t be facetious. You know what I mean.”

“We’ll have to make do with blankets. There’s no way that duvet’s gonna dry in time.”

“Ok. How many have we got?” she asked, scouring the room as if expecting to find a bundle of them in the kitchen.

"Er, one. Um, I dunno what we’ll do. We could nip to the home store, it’s only a ten minute walk,” Elver offered.

"No thanks. I want to stay in now. Surely your aunt’s got some in a cupboard somewhere?” Elver frowned in thought.

“Oh yeah. In the attic. She said there was spare stuff in the attic. Let’s go.”

Alaska stayed put.

“Come on. Do you want to freeze under a thin blanket that I’ll probably hog?”

“Er, Elver. I don’t like the dark,” Alaska admitted. Elver couldn’t supress a smile.

“You’ll have me. We won’t be up there for long. I promise,” he reassured.

“Ok. But I’m not staying up there for more than five minutes.” Alaska scowled. Elver took her hand and led her upstairs. He scanned the ceiling for some sort of entrance to the attic. In the corner of the landing upstairs, they found a loop of string. Elver tugged. In a swift movement the door flew open and a wooden ladder unfolded until it reached the floor; a perfect length. Alaska glanced up at the black segment of darkness and shuddered.

“Elver, I really don’t like this,” she said, clamping her eyes shut.

“Calm down. You'll be fine,” Elver said, tightening his grip on her fingers; he felt that at any moment she would run back downstairs.

“You go first,” Alaska said, gently pushing him forward.  He nodded and stepped onto the first rung of the polished ladder. He scampered up and was at the top in no time, looking down at Alaska and beckoning her to join him. She gulped and, very slowly, climbed to the top. Immediately, she grabbed his arm with such force that he had to grip the side of the hole to stop himself from toppling out onto the landing.

“Jeez, Alaska, calm it. You're dangerous,” he said, only half joking. With shaking legs, she stood up. A rustle disturbed the silence. She jumped.

"What the heck was that?” she asked, glancing around and half expecting a lion to jump out and eat her. Elver shrugged.

"Dunno. Probably just the rats.”

Alaska squeaked. “You have rats?”

“Wow. You’re really in a gullible mood, aren’t you?” Elver furkled around in various boxes. Another squeak. He frowned and moved a box. Nestled amongst a few old clothes and the torn pages of an old book were a family of mice.

“Right, well, there’s nothing to see there,” he said, quickly replacing the box.

“What? What is it?” Alaska stepped over a roll of wrapping paper and whisked the box off the pile of rags. Pause. Elver braced himself, but there was no need to. Alaska’s reaction was quite contrary to the one he had expected.

“Aw, they’re so cute. Elver, we have to get them some food and water,” she said, leaning closer to the wide eyed creatures. They squealed in fright. Elver sighed.

“Alaska, they’re fine. They’ve survived this long.” But she wasn’t listening.

“Elver, go downstairs and get some water and, er, I don’t know, what do mice like to eat?”

Elver returned a few minutes later with a carrot and a shallow dish and set it down by Alaska’s foot. “Will that do?” he asked. She nodded, crouching down to inch the carrot closer. “They’ll never leave if we feed them.”

“Why should they leave?” She watched the mice until Elver found a box of blankets and dragged her away from her new friends.

Later that evening, when there was nothing left to do and Alaska wouldn’t shush about the mice, they went to bed, marking out half of the mattress each as though, when they were eventually unconscious, they would stick to those rules. It was barely ten minutes before Alaska, ready to drop off, had her arms wrapped around Elver and he didn’t dare move, though his hand was in an uncomfortable position. He dropped off half an hour after her, comforted by her warm, steady breathing on his neck.