Something's Gotta Give

Chapter 7

Penny had taken the rest of the night to calm down. She was still upset after a cup of tea and a bowl of her ice cream, both of which usually did the trick of making a bad day better, so she had decided to take a nice long soothing bubble bath, something she rarely did.

Sure, she had been a little upset at Carla's innuendos and Mary's questions, but what had upset her most was Jason's carless comment at the end. Was that why Linda was no longer in the study group?  She finally decided that couldn't be it, because if anyone had known how to handle any unwanted advances it had been Linda. At least to hear her tell it, she had been a master at the flirting game.

Penny was headed out of the bathroom in her new silk robe, after having pampered herself with lotion and a hot oil hair treatment, the robe was another of her little splurges. She had always wanted something nice and soft to wrap herself in after a bath, but before her job she had never had the chance or the money to buy something for herself.

She had just pulled out a fresh pair of underwear and a nightgown when she saw it out of the corner of her eye. Not believing what she was seeing, she froze and turned to look behind her, sitting on the middle of the rag rug next to her bed was a little white mouse with beady little eyes. They both stood there, frozen, staring at each other, and Penny felt a scream rising in her throat.

She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself.  She had always promised that she would never be one of those women, who when they saw a mouse or a rat would scream, but then the little monster decided it had enough of their staring game and made a little squeaking noise. It had called reinforcements.

Appearing from under her bed came a little grey mouse who joined its friend in the staring game. It was two pairs of eyes against one and Penny had no chance of winning, sensing her increasing fright, the mice decided it was time to make their move and broke away from each other.  The white one headed straight for her while the grey one darted behind her and under her dresser.

The scream she had been trying to hold back let loose and she jumped on her bed. Her towel head turban barely stayed in place, but that was the least of her worries as the grey mouse slunk out from under the dresser. She got the distinct feeling that it was the ring leader. Her eyes darted around the room looking for the white one but she couldn't find it.

The door to her room flew open making her scream again, but when her eyes landed on Sam standing in the doorway with a fire poker, she realized he wasn't a threat, but the mice still were. "Shhhh!" Penny hushed him even though he wasn't saying a thing. "Listen."

Penny was unaware of the sight she made standing in the middle of the bed with her hair wrapped in a towel and her short blue robe hugging her curves. She was also unaware of the fact that Sam was standing in her doorway wearing only a pair of pajama bottoms which were riding low on his hips.

"Penny," he warned, not in the mood for games.

Just then she heard another squeak and she jumped causing her towel to fall off her head. "Did you hear them?"

"Hear who Penny!" Sam said sharply. His tone brought her back to the present and out of her fear, and she couldn't help the bright red that stole up her cheeks when she noticed that he was, standing bare chested, in her doorway.

"T-t-the mice."

"What mice Penny?" He lowered his fire poker looking around the floor of her room.

"There is a white one and a grey one, and they're stalking me."

"You realize you sound a little crazy, right?"

Her gaze dropped to his toes where it stuck. "Probably," she shut her mouth realizing that if she mentioned their planned attack she would sound even crazier, "but I really don't like mice."