Rollercoaster

Chapter 2

Cristina shepherded Christian into his apartment. He tripped on a pile of shoes in the doorway and ended up lying face-down on the cold, tile floor. He immediately recovered and jumped to his feet.

"Gosh, you're bleeding," Cristina said, casting about for something to wipe his face with. But he had already moved on.

"I'm hungry. Are you hungry? I'm just so freaking hungry," he repeated. With that, he began to rummage through his kitchen cabinets, tossing items behind his back as he looked for what he wanted to eat. "Peanuts, coffee, shrimp crackers," he said, throwing each item onto the floor behind him as he went.

"Ah-ha!" he said finally in triumph. "Ramen!" He grabbed a pot and began filling it with water, splashing water all around the sink as he went. He put the pot on the burner and turned it on.

Cristina had seen enough. "Okay, I'm going to be in charge of the ramen. You go sit down or something," she suggested.

But he didn't sit. Instead, he danced in circled around her, singing little snippets of songs. When the ramen was ready, Christian dug in without waiting for it to cool.

"Whoa, hot!" he declared even as he continued to slurp the ramen. In the time it took Cristina to eat two bites of ramen, he had already finished an entire bowl. He looked at Cristina picking idly at her food.

"Are you gonna eat that?" he asked.

"It's freaking 3:00 AM! I don't eat at this time of night," she answered.

"Well, I wouldn't want to waste it," he declared, grabbing her bowl and downing its contents in record time.

"Hey, come here!" he yelled as he ran to a large glass door. "Look at this!" he declared proudly as Cristina looked outside at a pile of building materials. Everything was mixed together, and several nails lay out in the cold rain, accumulating rust menacingly, as if waiting to be stepped on.

"What am I looking at here?" Cristina asked dryly.

"I'm building a deck!" Christian announced with pride.

Cristina frowned. "What in the name of all that is good and holy gave you the idea that you could build a deck with no carpentry experience?!" she exclaimed. "This is a hot mess! What you have here is an accident waiting to happen." She looked at the little portion he had "finished" already and saw that it had serious structural issues.

"Christian, there is no way this monstrosity is up to code," she informed him.

"Oh, like you know so much about building a deck," Christian replied defensively.

"Actually, I do," she replied. "I'm a carpenter."

"No shit?!" Christian exclaimed. "Well, then I guess I will let you help me, but just know that I had it in hand. I was on top of it, for sure!" he concluded.

Cristina just rolled her eyes. "Okay, so, I want to go home. Why don't you go to bed so I can leave you and know you won't hurt yourself --- further," she added as she saw the blood from his cut lip had dried into a crimson streak on his chin.

"I gotta take a shower!" Christian declared.

"Can't you just do that tomorrow?" Cristina attempted to reason with him. "Doesn't alcohol make most people sleepy?" she wondered aloud.

"Not me!" Christian cried as he began to strip off his shirt.

"Do that in the bathroom, would ya?" Cristina admonished, pushing him toward the bathroom door as his shirt was covering his face. When she had successfully gotten him into the bathroom, she left him, praying he wouldn't hurt himself in the shower with all of his erratic movements.

Cristina calmed a bit as she heard the water from the shower. She sat down on the couch and flipped on the TV. It was on CNN which was playing non-stop news about the pandemic. Cristina wasn't sure how much to believe about the dire warnings. Hadn't the government said just a few weeks earlier that there was nothing to worry about? And now, all she saw was reporting about lockdowns all over the globe. She wondered why the bar had been open last night while many others had closed their doors.

"Well, it was kind of a dive bar," she reasoned. "Health and safety precautions probably weren't top of mind," she admitted to herself.

Just then, she got a text from Ha-Rin.

"What the actual hell?!" Cristina said.

"What's up?" Christian asked from behind her. Cristina jumped out of her skin.

"Holy shit! Don't sneak up on people like that!" she yelled. "You scared the shit out of me!"

"Sorry," Christian said in a sing-songy voice.

"My friend just found out she has Covid," Cristina replied. "We were with her tonight at the bar. I probably should have taken those warnings more seriously," she lamented.

"Ah, it will be fine," Christian assured her. "I've been going around without a mask for weeks now and nothing has happened to me," he reasoned.

Cristina wasn't listening to Christian. She had already grabbed her phone and was frantically Googling what to do if you are exposed to Covid.

"Oh, shit," she whispered.

"What?" Christian asked as he slid onto the couch beside her.

"It says here that I have to quarantine for 14 days! How the hell am I going to do that?" she fretted.

"Well, just stay here," Christian said. "I was exposed too. So, we'll have our own quarantine party for two weeks. It's gonna be lit!" he screamed.

"I can't stay here!" Cristina protested. "I barely know you!"

"Well, I don't see what else you can do. Your roommates won't take you back since you've been exposed. It is what it is, baby. I'm your only option," he said, opening his arms wide. "Aren't you lucky that I'm here and ready to take you in?" he asked with a wide grin.

"I'm glad you can see the humor in this. We've been exposed to a deadly virus and we're two perfect strangers who are now stuck together in the same house."

"Hey, look at it this way. At least you'll have time to fix my deck for me," Christian replied, still grinning.

"This is a nightmare!" Cristina said as she began to feel like she couldn't breathe. "I'm panicking," she said through desperate gasps of air. "I need my anti-anxiety med." She got up off the couch. "I have to go home. I can't stay here without my meds," she added.

Christian caught her by the arm. "Wait, you can't leave. You're not supposed to be in a cab or going back to your apartment where you could infect your roommates. We'll just have to find a pharmacy that will deliver it for you," he concluded.

"But it's the week hours of a Sunday morning. Plus, a lot of places have closed because of Covid. What am I --- gonna --- do?" she said between pants. Christian got up and went to his room and emerged holding a black and brown dog.

"This is Lori," he said. "She always helps me when I'm stressed out."

Cristina reached out to pet Lori. Lori's presence was enough of a distraction to calm her anxiety attack, but she'd still have to see what could be done about getting her medicine. She looked over at Christian, who had his mouth next to Lori's.

"Give Daddy a kiss," he coaxed. Lori covered his face with kisses.

"Well, they say dogs and children are good judges of character," Cristina though. She figured her only choice was to make the best of the situation and to be grateful for Christian's hospitality. When she thought about it, that dog seemed pretty lucky, getting to kiss Christian's handsome face. Cristina scolded herself for her errant thoughts. The only way this would work is if she focused on the carpentry work and not on the man beside her giggling with his dog.