Shayne and Olivia move in together, leading to a discussion about furniture
Olivia:
“You’re acting like a man-child. That hideous thing has to go” I said.
I stamped my foot, the act was far less intimidating in these soft zebra slippers than I’d intended, but my point still stood. There was no way that monstrosity was going to reside in the same apartment as me.
“But Olivia I love that recliner" Shayne whined.
He leaned over to pull at the lever and the chair gave a creaking moan. Half the footrest sprung forward, while the other half refused to budge. It was a sight that should have brought tears to my eyes in laughter at just how ridiculous it looked, and one day it would. But now, confronted with the idea of this Frankenstein of furniture it was all I could do to not shudder.
“I can fix this!” Shayne said.
He pulled hard at the leaver, the muscles in his arms straining, and threw his weight back. Still the footrest refused to budge. I sighed and rubbed my forehead. We’d gone round and round about the stupid chair for almost thirty minutes now when, according to my timetable, we should have started unpacking the kitchen. I knew I should have hired a moving service.
"Olivia, it’ll be fun to do this together!"
"It’d be a waste of money to have some stranger rifle through our things. We’d just have to move them all again when we get there"
"It’s an opportunity we can’t pass up. Like Marie Kando said, we have a chance to ‘keep only those things that speak to our hearts"
If I had known that this hideous, vaguely maroon colored chair with it’s questionable stains all over it was what Shayne had meant when he talked about his heart, I would have questioned both my sanity and my reasoning when I’d agreed to marry him.
"Why do you even want that nauseating thing? It left a trail of something in its wake when you dragged it up here. It smells of old milk and what even is that thing on the back of it?” I said.
Shayne leaned over the armest to look at the back of the chair and shrugged.
"We never figured it out, Damien and I just tried not to look at it too closely" He said.
“Please Shayne, just take it away, for me? I’ll buy you a new chair, a better chair, ten chairs! As many chairs as it will take you to throw that, that Babadook of a chair out” I said.
Shayne jumped out of the chair and reached for me. He gently tugged me towards the chair.
“If you just give it a chance, It’s -,” He trailed off as he thought about it.
"- a unique experience, once you sit in it, no other chair will ever be the same" He said.
I wrinkled my nose and stared at Shayne in disbelief. His big, gentle, pleading blue eyes were begging me to trust him. How could I say no to one simple request when he insisted on unpacking shirtless?
“I knew I should have hired a mover, at least they can be bribed" I muttered as I gingerly sat down in the recliner.
When I sat down, the footrest finally kicked out and I was all but swallowed up by the chair. The cushion was depressed on one side and the smell of old milk was intensified ten fold with a tinge of must and Axe body spray. Odd, considering Shayne never wore anything of the sort. As I shifted to a more comfortable position, a spring dug into my hip. I closed my eyes and did my best to find something nice to say about the chair. It certainly was a chair. It took up space. It - Something scuttled across the underside of the cushion and I screeched as I threw myself into Shayne’s arms.
"No absolutely not! I forbid it, That thing is a nightmare come to life, If you value our relationship, if you value me you will burn it to the ground right now!” I said.
“But Olivia-” Shayne said.
I groaned and leaned my head against his strong shoulders. I wrapped my arms around his neck and breathed in his scent to clear my nostrils. To my horror he’d absorbed some of it’s smell when he sat on it.
“Why is it so important to you? Did you grandfather leave it to you in his will? Is it the world’s Most Comfortable Chair? Did it somehow save your life by eating a rampaging maniac bent on destroying you?” I said.
"I just really like it and I think it pulls the room together” Shayne said shrugging.
Exasperated, I did the only thing I could do to distract herself. I pulled Shayne’s head towards me for a long over-due kiss.
"I love you darling, but that recliner is not a rug and you are not the Dude and I absolutely loathe that chair, it's got to go and that's final" I said.
"............ fine" Shayne said sighing.
"Good talk" I said smiling.
I gave him a peck on the cheek and headed towards the kitchen.
