Carly groaned in frustration. How was she supposed to pay the rent, buy food, and replace the spark plugs on her car? She pulled the crumpled bills from her apron and thumbed through them. $20 in tips from a ten hour shift. She threw the rent bill towards her bed, only to watch it flutter underneath. Looks like she was going to be cleaning out from underneath there...
She stared in a mixed sense of horror and fascination as a scaly green human-like hand with long black claws shoved the rent bill and a stack of cash out from underneath her bed. She hesitantly approached the cash. She bent and picked up the rent bill and cash, whispering 'Thank you' as she stood up.
Momma had always taught her to have good manners. She didn't think Momma had meant with whatever was living underneath her bed but it was better to be safe than sorry. She was sleeping right above his... her... it's living quarters.
She headed for the door, excited to actually be paying the rent on time and not hearing her landlady scream about being evicted through the door. She stopped as she placed her hand on the door handle and turned back to the bed. "You live here too. You don't have to stay hidden under the bed anymore." She smiled before turning the handle and opening the door. Strangely, it felt like she was stepping into a better future as she stepped through the doorway.
When she returned there was no sign of anyone there. She was disappointed but knew she would eventually meet her strange but new roommate. She tucked the receipt for the rent in her lock box. She refused to just toss them anywhere willy-nilly, that's how she lost her last apartment. Now she kept every single receipt and scrap piece of paper she received from the landlady that way she couldn't be swindled again.
She tucked the lock box back underneath the cabinet and sat down at her kitchen table. There was enough extra money to buy groceries, replace the spark plugs on her car, maybe even buy a new kitchen table or a futon for her roommate.
She glanced at the bed. "You going to introduce yourself or am I going to have to assume that I have gone insane and am sitting in a padded cell having delusions?"
She heard a deep, raspy chuckle come from beneath the bed.
"I will come out when the sun has set."
She looked over to the window. It was dark out but the light from all the signs and buildings made it seem earlier than it was. She grabbed a heavy blanket from the closet and hung it up the best she could, muttering about her next purchase being blackout curtains. She turned back towards the bed, hands on her hips. "This is as dark as it's going to get. It's after midnight and being in the city means it's going to bright out even at night."
She heard a aggravated sigh before two hands came out from beneath her bead. The hands were quickly followed by lean, muscular arms, a head of long black hair, broad shoulders, a wide chest, lean hips and long muscular legs, then a set of thin masculine feet. He had to stand of 6 feet tall.
She looked from him to the bed and then back to him. "How the hell did you fit under there?"
He shrugged. "I can change shape." He lifted his arm. "My color not so much."
She finally stopped puzzling about how he had fit under her bed to really look at him. And look at him she did. He was the kind of guy that every woman dreamed of having in her bed. Or at least close enough to drool over. If they didn't mind someone that looked like he had been dipped in green ink and hadn't ever known what fingernail clippers were.
She couldn't help looking at him. He was a piece of perfection. Green perfection but still. Her eyes kept drifting lower until they stopped at his hips and she realized he was completely naked.
She whirled around, her face growing hot. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have been looking at you like that!"
"Like what?" he asked, puzzled.
"Like you're some sex figure. Momma always taught me that people are people not sex figures, be it man or woman," she said. And if Momma had seen how she had been staring at that poor man she would have smacked her upside the head before reprimanding her.
She had only ever seen a male physique as wonderful as his in magazines she had found it hard not to stare at him. Oh how Momma would paddle her behind for staring at him as if he was a sex figure.
She heard him start chuckling before all out laughing. He coughed and cleared his throat. "I guess it's a good thing that I'm not a sex figure then."
"You sure look like one," she said, keeping her eyes on the curtain in front of her.
"So I'm guessing that I'm going to have to change back into my other form or find a set of clothes?"
She quickly nodded her head. As long as she could keep her hands off of him then things would work out. If she touched him then it would be sexual harassment and Momma would come up out of her grave and tan the ever-living hide off of her.
She heard him groan and sigh in relief. "You can turn around now."
She turned back towards him and looked down at him. "You're a gremlin?"
He snarled in irritation. "If you are comparing me to the gawd awful movie then please do me a favor and don't."
She knelt down and looked him over. "But you look just like them."
"Because the director knew me and thought it would be funny to have the monsters of his film look like me," he growled. "That's what I get for going and getting drunk."
"Ok, so no gremlin jokes. By the way, my name's Carly," she said holding out her hand.
He looked from her hand to her face. He placed his small scaly hand in hers and slowly shook it. "My name's Billy."
"Why are you living under my bed?" she asked.
"Because that idiot landlady rented out my apartment while I was still living here," he snorted. He turned towards her bed and hopped up on it. "I guess we'll be entering the honeymoon phase now."
"Huh?" she asked, curiously.
He waved his hand around. "You know. That phase where we get to know each other."
"Oh. I do have a few questions. Am I the only one that knows you are here?"
"No, the landlady knows along with several other tenants but until another apartment opens up I can't move out."
"Why can't you move to another apartment complex?"
"Don't you know?" He looked at her suspiciously. "This complex only rents out to monsters."
"But I'm human," she said.
He looked at her in horror. "You're human? But your kind isn't supposed to be allowed to live here."
She shrugged. "No one asked if I was a monster."
His eyes narrowed and he looked her over, inquisitively. "You're taking this awfully well for a human."
She smiled. "Momma taught me that not everything in this world is black and white. Sometimes there are things that we can't explain and that just because we can't explain it doesn't mean we should be scared of it."
He laughed. "You are one strange human. Do you think you can handle living with someone like me until another apartment comes open?"
She shrugged. "I think I could I just have a couple more questions. Are you allowed to get wet? And can you eat after midnight?"
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