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Caravan park.
“Pancakes, your favourite.”
“Is this supposed to make up for the fact you left without saying goodbye?”
“Pancakes with chocolate chips.”
“I woke up and you were gone.”
“Chocolate chips, which I shall arrange into smiley faces like when you were five?”
“You disappeared for four months, Sean! I was really fucking worried.”
“Look, I know I’m a bastard, all right? I got into some trouble. I was selling this guy’s merchandise.”
“I knew it.”
“No, no, no, not drugs! I don’t do that shit anymore. Long story short, it was about a grand’s worth of rip-off Nikes, combined with a very ill-informed drunken night out, resulting in a lot of lost goods and a very angry and actually quite aggressive supplier. Basically, I had to disappear. And… I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah, you always are. Why are you back? Do you need money?”
“Do you know what? I… I’m just gonna go. This is ridiculous.”
“Go. Where are you gonna go? Texas?”
“They have space training in Russia as well, you know, Maeve? I mean, it is a shame about the weather, and the human rights issues, but… actually, very good rockets.”
“Those pancakes better have whipped cream on them.”
“What do you take me for? An amateur?”
“Also, it wouldn’t hurt if you were to pick up the clothes and not leave them on the table.”
“Sorry, I’m not the most organised guy, you know.”
Maeve started to remove the clothes from the table until she found the last one at the bottom of the pile.
It was a blue and black jumper with Nutella on it that a dickhead with freakishly long arms had lent her a few days back. She smiled as she saw the nametag.
She took it with much delicacy, carefully folding it, before putting it in her face and sniffing that soothing smell that Otis had.
Suddenly, she felt the need to see Otis. She couldn’t explain it, she just wanted to be close to him at that moment.
“Sean?” Maeve asked to her brother as he was cooking the pancakes.
“Yes, sis?”
“I need to go somewhere.”
“Ok.”
A while later. 43 Ashford Street.
“Flamingo!” Otis exclaimed.
A dumbfounded Lily looked at the panicking Otis, not understanding anything.
“Get my mum.” He asked. “Get my mum!” He insisted.
“Your mum?”
The doorbell rang as Jean and Jakob were about to follow Lily upstairs.
“Jakob, can you open the door, please?” Jean asked, too worried about her son’ situation to care about whoever could be behind the door.
“Sure.” The Swedish handyman replied.
Maeve hoped that Otis was going to be the one opening the door, wouldn’t have been surprised to have his mum do so, but seeing that tall man was something she wasn’t expecting.
“Oh! I’m sorry, I must have got the address wrong. I was looking for Otis Milburn.”
“Don’t worry, you’re at the right place. I’m just the plumber.”
“Great. Is he here?” She asked as she fidgeted with his jumper on her hands.
“Yes. Although it seems something bad happened to him.”
“What?” She could feel how her heart started to pump faster.
“I’m not sure.”
“I need to see him.” The worry so incredibly obvious in her face.
“His room is upstairs.” Jakob said as he stepped aside to let Maeve come in, not even trying to stop the girl after seeing how worried she got once she learnt that something bad had happened to Otis.
Once the path was opened, she rushed upstairs, quickly finding his room.
Although Jean and Lily were already there, standing around Otis, Maeve acted as if she was the only one with the right to take care of Otis at that moment, pushing them aside in a not-so-gentle way. In some other moment she would have worried about giving a bad impression to Otis’ mum, but she didn’t care about that at that moment.
Maeve took a moment to look at the sweaty unconscious Otis lying on the ground. Saying that she got very worried would be a massive understatement.
She tossed the jumper onto his bed before kneeling down to his side. Meanwhile Jean and Lily looked at each other with surprise, as finally Jakob reached the room too.
She carefully put her hands on his cheeks, before softly starting to call his name.
“Otis? Dickhead? Muppet?” She asked in the softest voice she had.
“Maeve?” He asked as he unexpectedly saw her.
“That’s me.” Maeve replied, relaxing a bit after seeing him regain his consciousness.
“What are you doing here? Why are you all staring at me?” He asked realising Maeve wasn’t the only person looking at him.
“You scared the shit out of us, dickhead.”
“What happened, exactly?” Jean asked to Lily.
“We were trying to have sex, but I think it was a bit much for him.” Maeve couldn’t stop throwing a mean look at Lily. She didn’t even know if she was the one to blame for whatever happened to Otis, but she couldn’t stop herself.
“Okay. I’m fine. I’m fine, guys. I just… I got overheat… I got overheated.” Otis tried to reassure as he sat up on the ground.
Maeve was still kneeling next to him, tenderly moving a hand up and down his arm, hoping it would help him calm down.
“Can you give me a moment alone, so I can dress up?” Otis asked.
“Sure, darling, we will wait for you at the balcony.”
Maeve stood in the balcony, absentmindedly looking upon the valley, her brain constantly replaying the moment in which she opened the door of Otis’ room only to find him unconscious. Her whole body shivered every time that image crossed her mind. She wished he never had to find himself in a similar position ever again because the sole idea of Otis getting hurt was making her feel incredibly miserable. She hoped that he was going to let her be there for him. She wasn’t the one to keep people close just like that, but at that moment that was everything she wanted when it came to him.
Maeve was so deep in her thoughts that she didn’t hear the repeated calls for attention from Jean.
“Darling?”
“Oh! Sorry, Mrs. Milburn. I was deep in my thoughts.”
“Are you ok?”
“Yeah, just worried about Otis.”
“I don’t think I met you before.”
“I’m Maeve Wiley. I’m an Otis’ friend from school.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“The pleasure is mine.” She politely replied, trying to cause a good impression for once. “Mrs. Milburn, can I ask you something?”
“Of course my dear.”
“Otis is going to be ok, right?”
“I think he will. Also, I’m sure having such a caring friend here for him is going to make him feel better.”
“I hope so.”
And it was at that moment when Otis walked into the balcony.
Maeve rushed to be the first one talking with him.
She gently grabbed his cheeks before asking. “Are you ok?”
“Yeah, sure.”
“That’s great to hear.” She smiled brightly at him before hugging him.
Otis took a second to react, but he gladly hugged her back.
After hearing Lily talk about her space sex-filled stories for a while, Maeve’s patience had reached its limit, she wanted to speak with Otis in private, and she didn’t want to wait any longer.
“If you all excuse us, Otis and I need to talk.” Maeve said, standing up, offering her hand to Otis, who after a second finally caught up with Maeve’s intentions.
In silence, they went to his room. Maeve closed the door and put the lock to avoid being interrupted.
“Thank you for liberating me from Lily’ stories. Very original, but not up to my alley.” Otis told as he tried to light up the mood.
“And you had me thinking a sex therapist like you would love all those stories filled with non-stop sex.”
“I guess I’m more a romcom kind of guy.”
“Of course you are.” Maeve teased him.
“So… what happened?” Maeve asked once they were sitting next to each other on his bed.
“I got overheated. It happens sometimes.” He replied with a shrug.
“But why? I know Lily said you were trying to have sex. What were the two of you… you know, doing?”
“Nothing.”
Maeve looked at him with confusion, as if asking him to elaborate further.
“We weren’t having sex yet. She just touched my… my penis, and I had a panic attack, that’s it.”
“Otis, do you realise that if it wasn’t because it ended up with you being unconscious, I would never stop making fun of you for that, right?” She asked in a teasing tone.
“Oh, yes! The Maeve Wiley speciality.”
“Dickhead!”
“So, why are you here?”
“Oh! I completely forgot about that.” She replied before reaching for the jumper that she had thrown over the bed earlier before. “I wanted to return this to you.” She added, handing him over the piece of clothing.
She could see how his face fell as he saw the jumper.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothi…” He saw in her expression how she wasn’t buying that. “It just doesn’t bring the best memories.”
“Ok.” She shortly murmured, not knowing how to reply to that.
After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence, Maeve thought it was moment to leave, seeing how Otis wasn’t exactly in the best mood to be in her presence.
“Now that you have the jumper back, I’m just going to go. Sorry for bothering you.” She said as he got up from the bed.
But before she could even step away from him, Otis gently grabbed her hand to stop her.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. It’s not your fault.”
“Ok.”
“You don’t need to go. Unless you want to do that, of course.”
“I would rather stay if you don’t mind.” She said as she sat down next to him once again.
“Sure. Is there anything you want to do while you’re here?”
“I don’t know, I have some videogames we can play together. Maybe watch a movie. Listen to some music.”
“Can I check your music collection?”
“Sure.”
She checked his vinyls and she was impressed.
“I knew you had a good taste for music, but not this good. I like so many of these groups.”
“You can play any of them if you want.”
“Really?”
“Of course.”
“Thanks.”
After spending a few minutes deciding what to play, Maeve ended up choosing a Nirvana vinyl.
Once the music was already filling the room, Maeve walked back to his bed, sitting once again next to him.
“Would you prefer to lie down on the bed?”
“Oh! Are you trying to get me into your bed, Milburn? I have a boyfriend, but you’re cute, so…”
His face turned red. “No! I didn’t mean like that!”
“So, that means you don’t find me attractive? I’m so disappointed.” She said, pretending to be sad at his rejection.
“That’s not true either!” He exclaimed.
“So, you find me attractive. Well, well, well, what’s going to be, Milburn?”
“Maeve, please…” He begged for her mercy.
She couldn’t step herself from laughing at how flushed he looked. Maeve always enjoyed spending time with Otis, and moments like that one in which they could just have fun just being themselves were among her favourites.
For Otis, although sometimes it meant being the target of her jokes, he genuinely enjoyed having these moments with Maeve. Seeing someone as fearless and strong like Maeve giving him all her attention made him feel like he wasn’t the guy in the corner anymore, and he loved that change.
As the laughs ended, Maeve couldn’t stop looking at Otis. And a matter of seconds later, she engulfed him a hug once again.
“I’m so happy you’re ok, Muppet.” Maeve softly murmured as the hug ended and they started to look at each other’s eyes.
“Thanks.”
“You can’t imagine how bad I felt when I found you there, unconscious….” Remembering how she had found Otis gave her goosebumps.
“I’m sorry if I scared you.”
“You scared the shit out of me, dickhead!”
“I’m fine now that you’re here with me.” She smiled at that statement.
“Please, never put yourself through something like that ever again. I can’t lose you, Otis.” She didn’t like it, but she was getting emotional.
“I… I didn’t think you care so much about me.” He shyly replied.
“Of course I care a lot about you, Muppet. You're really important to me.”
“You’re really important to me too, Maeve.”
She just hugged him again out of pure happiness.
Eventually they found themselves lying on the bed, with Maeve cuddling Otis into her as much as she could.
If anyone had asked Otis how he was expecting to his business with Lily to end up, cuddling into Maeve would have never been his answer, but he didn’t mind the change of plans in the slightest, despite everything Maeve was still his favourite person.
“This is nice.” Otis said a few minutes after, with Maeve still embracing him tightly.
“Yes, it is.” Maeve told him back as she was finally relaxing after knowing Otis was safe in her presence.
“I’m sorry for worrying you.”
“It’s ok, you’re fine now and that’s what matters.”
“Thanks.”
“Can I ask what happened? Lily mentioned you were trying to have sex.”
“That’s pretty much everything. I fainted before we got anywhere.”
“I didn’t know you and Lily…”
“What? Oh, no, we’re not. It was just a one-time thing.”
“That’s fine. Please, just be careful next time, ok? If I can ever do anything to help you, just let me know.”
“Thanks, I will.”
As Maeve was still cuddling him, remorse was starting to eat Otis away. He felt so guilty for having Maeve so worried for him after he had been such a bad friend.
“I don't deserve you, Maeve.”
“Why?” She asked, untightening her embrace enough to let them look at each other’s faces.
He took a deep breathe before explaining what happened with Jackson, insisting over and over again how it wasn't intentional, that he made a mistake.
“Why didn't you tell me before?”
“Because by the time I knew I had to, it was too late, and I didn't want to cause problems between you and Jackson since you looked happy.”
“Don't worry, we will talk about some other day. Now it's not important.” Was she mad at him? Yes. But that was completely overshadowed by her concern regarding his well-being and by her urge to protect him from everyone and everything that may hurt him.
“Thanks for being so understanding.” He said, being massively relieved after seeing Maeve react in such a calm way after his revelation.
“Just don’t think you won’t pay for this, ok? Because you will, just some other day in which you’re feeling better.”
“That’s fair.” He replied before chuckling, making Maeve laugh.
Maeve was going home so happy after Otis had recognised and praised her essay. For Maeve meant a lot to have someone supporting her in that way.
He even helped her to find the courage to accept Ms. Sands’ proposal to join the Aptitude Scheme. She wasn’t sure it was the right thing for her, but it seemed like a good opportunity, and she knew Otis would tell her to give it a chance.
However, her mood worsened when she found out the person that was officially still her boyfriend having a chat with Sean in front of her caravan.
“Sean was just telling me how fat you were as a baby.” Jackson told Maeve.
“Remember? Mum used to call you the Michelin Man.” Sean added.
“Ha-ha. Yeah, that’s funny.” Maeve replied sarcastically. “Don’t you have training?” She asked in a not friendly tone to Jackson.
“Yeah, but I skived off. I thought, you know, we could hang out. Is that cool?”
“Can you leave us alone, Sean?” Maeve asked to her brother.
“Sure.” Sean quickly replied, not wanting to do anything with whatever was going to happen. He knew his sister enough to realise she wasn’t pleased.
As they door closed, Maeve asked Jackson.
“Was coming here to hang out with me your idea or did Otis tell you to do that?”
“Why would Otis tell me anything? Of course it was my idea!”
“Exactly! Next time you want to find a plan to spend time with me, ask Otis, he knows me better than you.”
“What?”
“Otis told me everything about what you did. And to think I thought you had taken genuine interest in what I liked.”
“I did.”
“If you had, you wouldn’t have had to pay Otis a single penny for that.”
“You weren’t offering me any chance.”
“You should have taken the clue then.”
“But I love you!”
“Good luck finding someone that loves you back then, because we’re done.” She said before opening the door and getting into the caravan, leaving a dumbfounded Jackson outside.
The morning of the ball day.
“Hey.” Maeve greeted an approaching Otis.
“Hey.”
“How are you?”
“I’m fine. Why?”
“What do you mean, why? I’m asking how you are. That’s not weird, that’s normal.”
“You’ve never asked me how I am before.”
“Bloody hell! I won’t do it again, then. Sorry for asking.”
“That’s more like it.”
Annoyed, Maeve decided to put out her cigarette against the poster announcing the happily ever after ball.
“Aww! Don’t you want to live happily ever after?”
“Please. Do I look like I have a Cinderella complex?”
“Are you going?”
“It’s an appropriated American tradition that celebrates sexism and peddles an unrealistic portrayal of romantic love. So, no.”
“Agreed. Ritualised teenage fun sucks.”
“Aww! I’m sure that Prince Jackson will be heartbroken when he can’t take her Princess Maeve to the ball.”
“First of all, if you ever again refer me as Princess Maeve, I’m going to cut your ball sack, understood?”
Otis did a surrender gesture. “Message received… Duchess Maeve.” Maeve gave him the middle finger.
“And second, we’re not a thing anymore.”
“Have you two broken up?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s unexpected.”
“You look surprised.”
“I didn’t see it coming.”
“After you told me what he did, I just couldn't be with him anymore. And I don’t think we ever made much sense together anyway.”
“Are you sure about that? I think you actually were the poster couple of this school.”
“Do you want me to go back with him?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.
“No, it’s just that it was easy to see. Moordale’s Golden Boy and Moordale’s Golden Girl being together, being this amazing power couple that everyone looks up to.”
“Moordale's Golden Girl? Me? Come on, be serious.” She scoffed at the idea.
“I am.”
“I don't think anyone thinks that of me other than you.”
“It's ok, they will realise the day you with the Nobel or something like that.”
“The Nobel?” She asked with surprise.
“Yeah, you're a beautiful writer, so why not? Just be sure not to write that one for someone else.”
“Dickhead.”
Why all of a sudden Otis’ lips seemed so kissable? And why did she just want to jump on him and let them get carried away wherever they ended up going?
She needed something to get those thoughts out of her mind if she didn’t want to do something potentially very stupid.
“Since you’re not going to the ball either, do you want to hang out tonight?”
“I would love that! I mean, yes, it could be nice.” Otis quickly corrected himself trying to downplay his enthusiasm much to Maeve’s amusement.
“Any ideas?”
“You’re the one proposing this.”
“Maybe we can hang out at yours? Watch a movie or something?”
“Sounds great.”
“Well, your 8:30 awaits.”
“Thanks. See you later.”
“Good luck.”
6:30PM.
Maeve was on her way to Otis’ house when she found herself in front of Browns.
She had an idea.
A few minutes after 7PM. Milburn’s residence.
The doorbell rang.
An already awaiting Otis opened the door to find his guest for the night.
“Hi Maeve!” He couldn’t hide his excitement.
“Hello Muppet.”
“You look great!”
She looked down to check herself. “I’m just wearing the same clothes I wore this morning.”
“You already looked great this morning.” He argued with his usual honesty.
That was it again, those stupid thoughts about jumping on top of Otis, kissing him silly.
“I bought your favourite gummy bears.” She said showing him one of the items she had bought at Browns as a way to dissipate those potentially inadequate thoughts.
“Great, thank you so much. Come in.”
“Thanks.”
Once Maeve went inside, she was able to take a proper look at the place this time, immediately falling in love with it.
“Your house is awesome. I’m a bit jealous, dickhead.”
“You’re always welcome here, so feel free to drop in whenever you want.”
“Thanks.”
“Although I need to warn you of something first.”
“What?”
“As you can imagine my mum is around, so you will probably meet her.”
“It’s ok, don’t worry, I won’t run away this time.” She teased him.
“The thing is that my mum may not be alone since sometimes she has some guy here. If you know what I mean.”
“Oh! Ok. No problem.”
“We will see about that when you meet some naked guy just wearing one of my mum’s bathrobes.”
“Let’s hope we don’t get to that.” Maeve replied, grimacing a bit at the idea.
They spent the next few hours in his room, either watching a movie, talking about whatever, playing some of the many vinyl Otis had or doing something else when hunger struck.
They ordered some take away pizzas, so as the doorbell rang again, they both come out of his room and went downstairs.
And as Otis predicted, they found one of the guys her mum had a casual relationship with.
As he was gone, Otis spoke.
“See? Exactly as I was telling you.”
“The idea of living in a shitty caravan without needing to see this became much more appealing all of a sudden.”
“I hope you don’t mind if I ever need to find refuge at yours. You have already heard how loud my mum is, and the guy running around semi-naked don’t help either.”
“You’re always welcome at mine.”
“Thanks. I hope you don’t regret that offer when I’m there every other day.”
“It’s fine. I’m sure I can make you clean the caravan while you’re there, so it won’t be as bad for me.” She teased him.
They started to set the table to have their dinner when Otis saw something on the opened laptop of his mum.
As he started to read it, his face went from shock and disbelief to anger and sadness.
Maeve, who had seen his reaction started to wonder what was happening.
“Otis, what’s wrong?”
“This… My mum wrote this.” He said as he handed the laptop to her.
Maeve just needed to read the first few lines to understand why Otis had reacted like that.
As Maeve was focused on the laptop, Otis went to pick up the copy he had printed.
At Otis’ request, they went back to his room so he could read that in private without his mum potentially interrupting him.
Otis sat on his bed, with Maeve sitting in front of him.
He started to read the book loud to Maeve, as he kept making commentaries about the many parts with which he disagreed.
As Maeve heard what Jean had to explain about her son and what Otis had to say about all those incidents, she learnt so much about why Otis was like he was.
She wasn’t sure she was doing the right thing being part of something so private, but she didn’t believe leaving Otis alone to deal with that was a better alternative.
As the reading progressed, Otis felt gloomier and gloomier by the second. The more events about his life he read, the worse he felt about himself.
Maeve could see in his face how bad he was feeling, but she was unsure how to make him feel better. She just hoped there was some way because she couldn’t deal with seeing him so sad.
“Why can't I be normal, Maeve?”
“Why do you say that?”
“What in this book makes you think I’m not a freak?”
“There’s nothing in this book or elsewhere that would make me think you’re a freak.”
“If I’m not a freak, why did I freak out when I tried to have sex with Lily?”
“Otis, you just have problems with intimacy, that doesn’t make you a freak, trust me.”
By the way he was looking at her he didn’t seem to be buying that.
“I have problems trusting people. Would you say I’m a freak?”
“I would never say that about you.”
“Why can’t you think the same about yourself?”
“I wish I knew.”
“And no, Otis, you’re probably not normal, and you know why?”
“No.”
“Because normal people don’t care about others as much as you do, normal people aren’t able to help others as much as you do. So, why would you want to be normal when you’re already amazing? Extraordinary even.”
“You don't need to lie, Maeve.” He scoffed at that idea.
“Why would I lie?”
“Because I'm not those things.”
“Why wouldn't you?”
“You know me.”
“And that's exactly why I know you're all those things and more. You're amazing, Muppet. Trust me.”
A timid smile appearing in his face. “Thanks.”
“Never doubt yourself, dickhead. All the lucky ones that are close to you we know how great you are.”
“I’m lucky to have you close too.”
And as it was almost tradition, they hugged only to end up cuddling once again.
“Why can’t my mum think that of me too?” Otis asked Maeve as he was in Maeve’s embrace.
“Otis, what your mum did is wrong, but you have to know she cares about you, otherwise she wouldn't go so far as writing a book about your life.”
“I know. It's just that sometimes I wished I was the child she expected me to be.”
“I'm sure she's more than happy with the young man she has raised.”
“Thanks. And Maeve?”
“I know you wanted to have a fun night hanging out with me tonight, but can we stay like this? It's nice.”
“Of course we can. It's very nice.”
“I’m sorry for running the night.”
“You haven’t ruined anything. You’re my friend and I’m always happy to be there for you.”
“I admire you so much, Maeve.”
“Why?”
“You're the strongest, yet kindest, most generous person I know. You could be anywhere, and yet you're here, helping me go through my problems.”
“I always take care of my people.”
“I like being one of your people. You’re one of my people too.”
She cuddled him even harder, gently running her hand up and down his back to help him relax.
In fact, they got so relaxed that with such a soothing atmosphere around them, they ended up falling asleep.
The day after.
Otis stirred as he woke up, with Maeve still embracing him as he embraced her back.
That movement woke up Maeve too.
“Good morning, Maeve.”
“Good morning, Muppet. Did you sleep well?” She asked hoping he felt better than during the previous night.
“Yeah, I haven’t slept this well in a while.”
“Same.”
“Thanks for staying with me last night, Maeve. It meant a lot.”
“Always.”
Not long after they were telling each other goodbye until the next Monday, with Maeve insisting Otis to have an honest conversation with his mum about the book.
He promised he was going to do his best.
Monday.
“Hi Muppet.”
“Hello, Maeve.”
“How did the conversation with your mum go?”
“Great actually. We both talked about everything, and I think we’re now better than ever.”
“I’m very happy to hear that.”
“I couldn’t have done this without you, Maeve. Thank you so much.”
“I’m always happy to help.”
“I really enjoyed hanging out with you.”
“I did too.”
“I know it wasn’t the funniest night ever, but I hope we can keep hanging out.”
“If you want, we can.”
“I’m happy to hear that. I had a great time.”
“Me too.
“But I’m not surprised, everything had always felt better when I’m with you.”
“Wh… what?”
“I mean… spending time with you is cool.” He tried to sound more casual than his previous statement, feeling he had said too much.
There they were again, all those feelings and cravings that made her want to jump on him. But as third time is the charm, she didn’t want to repress them anymore.
She moved her hands to cup his jaw.
“Maeve?”
“Will you do me a favour, Otis?”
“Ye... yes.”
“Just don't panic this time.”
“O… Ok.”
She smiled at him before closing the distance between their lips.
She couldn’t believe how happy she was feeling at the moment. She would have never expected a simple kiss like that to make her feel like she had swallowed a swarm of butterflies, but that’s how she felt, and with Otis by her side she knew she didn’t need to fight her feelings anymore, for once in her life she could just enjoy them.
As their lips parted, they looked at each other with smiles in their faces, but in a matter of seconds, Otis’ face become one of panic.
“Maeve, I need to go.”
“Why?” She didn’t understand why he wanted to run away. Hadn’t the kiss felt as good for him as it had felt for her? Had she read the moment wrong?
He looked downwards, making her look too.
She chuckled after realising what he meant. “You absolute Muppet.” She whispered before giving him a quick peck. “Find me when you have solved your big problem.” She put some emphasis on the word big, making him blush at the teasing.
As she saw him rushing away to the nearest bathroom, she couldn't stop from laughing amusedly to herself. He was truly a Muppet, and that’s exactly what she wanted in her life.