Enclosed part 12 (short story)

"What should we do now?" Mitch asked as I came over and sat, once again, on one of the

couches. I shrugged, "Parcheesi?"

"What is that, anyway?" I paused and thought about it for a minute, "You know, I don't really

know." Mitch got up and walked over to the computer, then groaned when he remembered the

power-outage. He turned to me, "Do you have internet connection on your phone?"

"Yea." He came over and I took my phone from my pocket. He took it from me and pressed

buttons for a while before looking up at me, saying, "Parcheesi- a four-person Indian board

game in which cowrie shells are thrown to determine the movements of pieces around the board." I laughed, "Well there you have it. Now I won't spend my whole life wondering." He smiled, putting his hand to his chest, "Thanks to me!" I laughed again, "Thanks to you. And to internet phone connection."

"Phone internet connection."

"Yea, whatever." He laughed and sat down next to me. I yawned and leaned my head back on the couch, closing my eyes. "Tired?" he asked. I opened my eyes again and smiled, "Course not. I was just resting my eyes." Mitch laughed, "Oh, wow. Never heard that one before." I smiled, "Of course you haven't. I just made it up. He rolled his eyes and put his arm around the pillow I was leaning against, making me freeze up. I tired to relax my body. Geez, he hadn't even put his arm around me and I was straightening. "But seriously," he said, picking at a string on the couch, "What should we do?"

"I don't know, what do you want to do?"

"Don't you dare." I laughed, "Seriously, I don't know what there is to do. It's your house, not mine." He took his arm away from the couch, spreading both his arms to display the room, "What's mine is yours," he sang. "Don't you dare," I replied. He laughed. He jumped up, "I have just had an epiphany!" I jumped up next to him, "Oh, do share!" He turned to me, "We shall make those stupid collages my sister bought all the stuff for!" I frowned at him, "That is the saddest epiphany ever known to man." He shrugged, "Hey, it's not like you suggested anything." My eyes widened, "I just had an epiphany!" I yelled. "Shhh!!!" he hissed. "What?"

"You're a dork," I said, taking his baseball cap off his head and smacking him with it. He tackled me, wrapping one of his arms around my waste and holding me in a headlock with the other. I laughed long and hard until he finally released me, and then we went into the kitchen to get the collage supplies. He pulled out a magazine and opened it, reading the headline of a glossy purple page, "Who Wore it Best- See Who's Rocking the Look, and Who Can't Get the Hook". He looked up at me, "'Can't get the hook'? What does the even mean?" I shrugged, "Don't ask me." He rose an eyebrow, "You're a girl. Aren't you supposed to know what all this stuff means? Love it, even?" I rolled my eyes, "Stereotypical."

"Stereotype," he said with a grin, and I fell silent. Because I knew he was right.

© 2010