Four Paws and One Last Tale

Chapter 18:

"Sorry that took so long. I'm finally ready to go," Tim announced as he approached Pixie, Jacob and Arceus. "All set?"

"Yeah, let's go," Jacob replied.

They walked from the building to the carpark outside the police station. "You've got my address. I'll meet you there?"

"Um." Jacob chuckled nervously as he rubbed his neck. "Actually, could we get a lift with you? Pixie and Arceus don't have a license and driving with one hand is less than ideal. I had my hazard lights on the whole way here and I was just slowly putting along. People weren't too happy with me."

Tim gave Jacob a dumbfounded look and began leading the way to his car. "You do know that in Australia you legally must have two hands on the wheel at all times, right?"

One thought went through Jacob's head; 'deny'.

"I had no idea," said Jacob.

Tim sighed at the obvious lie. "For that you can sit in the back seat. Arceus too. Pixie, you're in front."

The four piled into the car and Tim began driving towards home. A comfortable silence filled the car but the quiet drove Pixie crazy.

"So, Tim, how's Rosie?" Tim looked curiously at Pixie. "Oh, sorry. Jacob told me about her. He talks about the two of you all the time."

"Right, yeah Rosie's good. She's studying Philosophy."

Pixie didn't understand what that meant but pretended she did. "That's great."

"Yeah it is. Anyways, how did you and Jacob meet?"

"Oh, that's a funny story," Pixie lied as she tried to think of something. She spotted a random building, it looked harmless enough. "We actually met at that building there," she said, pointing.

"A strip-club?!"

Pixie blushed, she could guess what happened at a strip-club. "Um, dot dot dot."

"What?"

"That's what authors do when they don't know what to write!" (Correction, it's '...')

"Pixie, are you feeling okay?" Jacob asked from the backseat.

Pixie just sunk into her chair and didn't speak for the rest of the drive.

******

"Wow Rosie, this looks awesome," Jacob said as he hungrily eyed the meal sitting before him.

Rosie laughed as she sat down at the table. "Thank you."

"Hey I cooked it," Tim grumbled.

"And who taught you how to cook?" Rosie teased.

Tim rolled his eyes. "Let's just eat."

Rosie, Tim, Pixie, Jacob and Arceus dug into the meal. Swallowing a healthy mouthful Jacob spoke. "So, you two moved in together?"

Tim nodded. "That's right. We graduated. I joined the force. She started studying, I'm not even sure how it happened but next thing I knew we were renting an apartment together."

"Oh please, likely you just enjoy sleeping with her," Arceus interjected.

Tim choked on his drink and pounded his chest as he tried to swallow the liquid. Rosie's face went redder than a... rose. (Rosie was rosy)

"Arceus! Be polite!" Pixie scolded. "I'm so sorry," she apologized.

Rosie wiped her mouth with a napkin and cleared her throat. "It's okay. We actually have separate rooms. We're taking things slowly."