Page 9

“Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. PAUSE!” Dewey shouted.

Paige tapped the pause button. “What is it?”

Dewey flitted over for more food before he settled back onto the couch. “Okay, so you said this Blade character is a day-walking vampire.”

Paige nodded as she munched on her breadstick. “Yep.”

“But he’s killing vampires,” Dewey said with a mouthful of pizza.

“Yep.”

“It makes no sense at all. Wouldn’t happen.”

Paige waved her breadstick at the screen as she swallowed a bite of pizza. “Well, see, Blade is tasked with saving the humans from the vampires.”

“False,” Dewey shouted. “Day-walking vampires are an extreme threat to humans. As we well know from your negative experience with one.”

“I’m pretty sure Blade didn’t do this to me. He’s a good guy.”

“Okay, so these movies aren’t going to help because Blade is a complete fake.”

Paige slouched down in her seat and aimed the remote at the television. “Oh, well, then we’ll just enjoy them.”

They polished off the pizza and breadsticks halfway through the first movie. Dewey swiped the hot cheese curls, munching on them as Blade continued to battle against the bad vampires. Paige dug into a package of peanut butter cups and then licked her fingers clean of the gooey peanut butter and melted chocolate.

“Oh, come on!” Dewey shouted at an incredulous on-screen move by Wesley Snipes.

Paige chuckled at his reaction. “Just wait. It gets better and better.”

They finished the first movie as the apartment plunged into darkness with the setting of the sun. Paige flicked on the light as Dewey groaned, squinting against it.

“I’ll make some popcorn for the second movie.” After tapping the pause button, she hurried to the kitchen and tossed the microwavable bucket into her microwave.

She ran back to the kitchen as the popping sounds echoed in her apartment and queued up the second movie. With the popping sounds dwindling, she darted back and brought the steaming bucket out, peeling back the plastic and delivering it to the middle couch cushion. She plopped down on the other side of it, switching seats to share the snack.

“This is nice, Paige. Thanks.”

Paige grinned at him as she tossed a piece of popcorn into her mouth. “You’re welcome.”

She pressed play, and the second movie began. A few minutes in, a scraping noise sounded above them.

Paige’s shoulders slumped as she flicked her gaze toward the ceiling.

Dewey’s ears wiggled as he glanced up. “What is that?”

“Devon,” Paige grumbled as another scrape sounded. “I don’t know what he does up there, but this is constant.”

“Sounds like he’s moving furniture.”

“He’s been moving it since he moved in last week.” Paige leaned forward and swiped the remote off the coffee table, aiming it at the television and ratcheting up the volume.

“Wait, wait, he moved in last week?”

“Yeah,” Paige said as she munched on another kernel.

Dewey squashed his teal lips together, rubbing them back and forth.

Paige glanced over at him. “What?”