Impractical Assistant

Chapter 18: The Woman who Ruined the Moment

 Lilly woke up the next morning, groggy and confused. She was lying in a large bed, smothered under blankets that smelled like Joe. She heard a noise behind her and shot up in the bed. Joe was standing, frozen at this dresser, eyes wide as he stared at her.

"Hey," he whispered.

"Why are you whispering?" she said, her voice cracking from sleep. She rubbed her eyes and shifted in her seat.

"Sorry," Joe said, standing up straight. "Hey. How'd you sleep?"

"Good. Quick question," she said, shifting to face him. "Am I in your bed?"

"Yeah," Joe nodded. "Didn't want to put you on the couch. You looked so peaceful last night."

"When did we get out of there?"

"Like 11 o'clock," Joe said, pulling stuff out of the drawers and tossing them on the chair by the door.

"Jesus. That late?"

"Yeah. Q carried you up the stairs."

"Wait, what?" Lilly laughed. "Brian carried me?"

"What's so surprising about that?"

"Well no offense to any of you, but it doesn't look like you could make it up the stairs, let alone carry me." Joe burst into laughter and stuck his head out the door.

"Hey Q! Lil doesn't believe that you carried her up the stairs last night!" Joe's husky chortle was broken by Q's footsteps from down the hall.

"Why don't you believe that?" Q stuck his head into the room.

"You guys got tired trying to find us yesterday," Lilly smirked, tossing the covers off. "Sorry I don't exactly believe that you can carry me up stairs." Q just blinked, looking over to Joe who stood their smirking at him. Joe shrugged at him before grabbing his clothes.

"I gotta shower. You prove it to her."

"Prove it to me?" Lilly laughed, swinging her legs off of the bed. "How exactly do you plan on doing that?"

"Well alright then," Q said with a nod. He stormed into the room, striding with a purpose.

"What are you doing?" Lilly said, eyes widening. "What are you-Brian!" She squealed as Brian wrapped his arms around her legs and hauled her up onto his shoulder. "Brian! Put me down! Joe!! Help me!"

"You got yourself into this mess," Joe laughed, following the pair out. "You can get yourself out of it." Lilly giggled uncontrollably as Brian kept one arm tucked around her legs, grip firm on the back of her thighs. Tilting her head upwards, she could see Joe's legs veer off into a side room but she was brought forward away from him. "Joe! Help!" she laughed, but Joe said nothing as sunlight beamed onto the carpet.

"What's going on?" Murray's sleepy voice grumbled from the other side of Q.

"James!" Lilly peaked around Q's legs and saw an upside down version of Murray standing there in athletic shorts and an old t-shirt.

"Morning Lilly," James scratched his head, somewhat confused. "What's up?"

"She didn't believe that I carried her last night."

"You do know that he was a firefighter, right?" Murray arched his eyebrows.

"Wait, what?!" Lilly said, trying to peer up at Q.

"Not so sure now, huh?" Q chuckled as he turned around.

"Where are we going?" Lilly asked him.