Enclosed part 11 (short story)

Mitch held out his arms and I ran into them, shivering insanely. He laughed, "What'd you take from grammy?"

"The owner of that house was about twenty-two," I replied with a smile. Mitch blinked, "What? Really?"

"Mhm."

"Wow," he shook his head, "weird. So, what'd you take from twenty-two-year-old-grandma?" I rolled my eyes and took out the piece of toilet paper. Mitch looked at it, then back at me, and shook his head. "That's your grand finale?" I pouted, "She was so sweet! And she recently lost her husband in the war, right before her baby was born. I couldn't take anything of value from her." Mitch frowned, "Hm." He was quiet, and he shoved his hands into his pockets. I walked quietly next to him towards his house before he said, "That's a young age to go." I almost stopped walking, and I closed my eyes. "Mitch-" I whispered. He kept walking. "Forget I said it," he said. He adjusted his baseball cap on his head, and tears instantly sprung up in my eyes. Why had Mitch and I broken up, you ask? Mitch didn't want to be in a relationship after he... found out. I walked faster to catch up to him and grabbed his hand, connecting mine with his. He looked me in the eyes, so strong, so brave, so sincere. He amazed me every day with is bravery. He immediately looked away and we continued the walk to his house in silence.

He threw the front door open and flopped down on the couch. "Man it is cold out there!" he hollered. "Be quiemph!" Violet yelled from upstairs. I laughed. "Ok, let's see the good," Mitch said, rubbing his hands together. I chuckled and poured the contents of the backpack we had used onto the coffee table, carefully placing the piece of toilet paper next to the pile. Mitch laughed and pulled a tiny rubber ducky out of the pile. He sighed and shook his head, "Surely this will be missed."

"No!" I protested, "there were like a billion ducks in that tub!" Mitch pointed at me with the duck and lectured, "Aw, but what if this one were a one-of-a-kind or something?" I rolled my eyes, "There were like a billion others of that duck in the tub." Mitch laughed, "Well what if this one were a family novelty?" I eyed him as I sat down across from him. "Mitch," I said. "Hmmm?"

"No." He laughed yet again and put the duck back in the pile, looking through the other little things. I got up and walked into the kitchen, pulling a piece of cold pizza out of the box. Mitch looked up, "More pizza? Don't you think you've had enough?" I gaped, "I only had two pieces!" Mitch looked at me with a smile and his eyes softened. I froze for a minute and tried to keep my eyes from widening. Then he shook his head and looked away, snapping me out of my trance. I sat down at the kitchen table and took a bite of the pizza, smiling at the floor.

© 2010