The following morning Marisa felt the sun on her eyes as it shone through the blinds in their bedroom. It had been an eventful weekend without a doubt. She turned to the other side of the bed to see that Stephen was still fast asleep. He had been distant since the other day and Marisa frowned. She wondered if Jerome was right last night.
In times like these, when she couldn't tell how to read her husband, Marisa defaulted to a safety plan. She crept out of bed very slowly and pulled her robe that hung from their bedroom door. She looked back once more to see that Stephen did not stir one bit.
A few hours later, among the clanks and the clinks of the pots and pans coming from the kitchen, Stephen rubbed his eyes in half-sleep. He almost found comfort in the sounds, they had drowned out the sounds he had heard the evening before. The commotion from the kitchen had piqued his interest, but when he began to brush his teeth, Stephen remembered the pipes in the reflection behind him.
After a few moments of contemplation, he didn't hesitate a minute longer. Stephen threw on his lazy sweatpants and an old t-shirt. When descended down the stairs , the scent of bananas lingered in the hallway. He barely made a noise and grabbed his car keys, making his way out the door.
Next door, Jerome was rudely awakened by the slam of a car door outside. When he peeked through his blinds, he saw Stephen begin to pull out of the drive way. He wondered what the rush was. He worried that the situation had been more dire than he thought the even prior. Pulling at the bulge at his briefs, Jerome considered smoothing things out with Stephen, but decided to get back into bed and drifted back to sleep.
It was nearly noon when Jerome's door-bell woke him again. At first he ignored it, but the visitor was persistent, as just when he thought they were gone, it rung again. Jerome willed himself out of bed, still contained in his briefs and nothing else, grasping for the maroon silk robe that hung on a trophy. It no longer felt like he was shaking off the rust when getting out of bed.
The bell was rung once more and Stephen noticed the sound of the lock being turned. When Jerome opened the door, Stephen had been accustomed to looking up to the towering neighbor. What he was not accustomed to was seeing said neighbor very scantily covered. It made Stephen clutch the bag he held a little tighter.
"Sup Stephen." Jerome obliged a welcome.
"Oh hey... sorry if I woke you Jerry." Stephen averted his eyes.
"It's alright." Jerome waved him off and waited for a response that took longer than normal. "You need something?"
"Oh yeah!" Stephen blurted, feeling the weight of the bag. "I had to run out to the hardware store for that part you told me I needed. The old lady started to give me some backtal-"
"Yeah I know what you mean."
"Yeah, well... I figured I would go ahead and try to fix it." Stephen took note of Jerome's curt replies and felt ashamed. His gaze kept wandering and a small part of him couldn't believe the indecency Jerome had to be out with his robe open. That's when Stephen caught view of the bulge that wrapped along one side of Jerome's briefs. "Wonder if you could help me with that pipe." He said mindlessly.
"Let me see what you got there." Jerome peeked in the bag and saw the part he had recommended. "Alright, I'll be over there in a minute." He didn't wait for Stephen's response and sent him off.
Back in the Sanders home, Stephen peeked in the kitchen to find Marisa still at work. The silky chemise nightie glided over her smooth skin as she whipped up peaks in the bowl. Had he been able to see any closer, Stephen would have noticed the slight goosebumps she had from the chill of being so scantily clad. He made a note to grab the accompanying robe from the bedroom.
Just as Stephen fixed the bed and tidied up the room, he noticed Jerome cross their drive-way. Not wanting to spoil the surprise from his wife, Stephen rushed down the stairs and quietly made for the front door. He opened it with stealth just as Jerome reached for the door bell.
Without a sound, Jerome held his tool belt a little tighter as Stephen only motioned him to come inside. As he closed the door, Stephen waved them both to the stairs. Jerome couldn't believe the goofy spectacle on display. Stephen tiptoed up and Jerome reluctantly followed.
"Really appreciate you helping out with this." Stephen whispered back to him. "It's right in here." He showed Jerome into the room.
"It ain't no thing Stephen." Jerome surveyed the room. "This is where all the magic happens huh?" He chuckled and recounted some fond memories of the bedroom as he patted Stephen on the back.
"Uh... oh yeah. Definitely." Stephen joined in on the chuckle.
"You got sparkles and everything up in here." Jerome pointed to the wall splayed with gold flecks.
"Sparkles?" Stephen looked at the wall, examining it and attempting to confirm to himself that he had never seen that before. He tried to touch the gold and quickly found it to be a refraction. "Oh that's weird, looks like something is casting this on the wall."
They looked around the room for the culprit for a good moment until Jerome pointed to the window. Their line of sight drew their view across the small space between the houses, into Jerome's house. The light had shined on to a mantle holding his various trophies. "There you go." Jerome pointed it out to him.
"Wow, that's amazing!" Stephen's eyes lit up. "What a collection!" He peered closer. "Is that an MVP award? From your second season in the length? No way."
