Excerpt:

I wanted to take the camera from him and throw it onto the floor for it to shatter and then just have him come over here and let me hang around his neck instead. I just looked up though and forced a smile onto my face.

“Yeah. Just thinking about things.”

“Don’t do that. Thinking is overrated. Imagine instead.”

And that was the part where I was supposed to smile but two bowls of Fruit Loops and way too many corny game shows weren’t enough to rouse a smile. Or maybe they’d been the things to kill it. “Stop trying to be inspirational. Save it for a coffee table book.”

Jesse sighed and sat down on the couch beside me. “If you’re upset about your job –”

“I’m not.”

“But you’re upset.”

Well, yeah. It was going to be really hard to deny that, so I just snorted and shook my head hoping that would cover it.

No such luck.

“Okay. I’m not going to sit here and guess what your problem is, but I’m not going to leave you to sulk either. Get your ass up.” He stood from the couch and lifted a leg to nudge me with his stocking clad toes. There was a grin on his face as he lifted his hands and cupped them around his mouth. “Ground control to Major Tom. Ground control to Major Tom. Take your?”

Jesus Christ.

“Protein pills…” I grudgingly muttered.

“And?”

I continued with the lyrics while he counted backwards from ten in the background. I really just wanted to deck him but I could feel myself smiling as he marched around me like Joshua marching around the city of Jericho with the patient faith that the walls would come down..

“You’re a freak,” I finally told him and he stopped walking mid-step with a nod.

“Yeah. Yeah, I think you’re right.”

And whatever. So what if he was? I’d stuck around with him this long so I guessed it kind of made me a freak too. And I was fine with that.