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“We need a PR manager.”
Noodle looked up from her phone. She never paid attention to what Murdoc was saying, but if it had to do with the band, then she was all ears. Despite hating every essence of the man, Noodle was helpless when it came to the ins and outs of running a band, so she was left to rely on Murdoc’s knowledge. Even still, she would not let him know this, as she rolled his eyes.
“We’ll just put out an ad like we did to fill the drummer role.”
“Anybody can be a drummer. It takes a person with know-how and patience to be a PR manager,” Murdoc sat down on the couch far away from Noodle, “Besides now that we’re signed we have a limited window on how long we have to fill that spot.”
“Whatever.”
Giggling could be heard as Stu walked towards them, but that’s not what Murdoc focused on. What caught his attention was the owner of the hand that Stu held. The woman with black buzz-cut hair was also giggling along with Stu. Murdoc should be used to him bringing back random people.
Stu took a breath before speaking, “Guys, guys, you should hear the joke that… What’d you say your name was?”
“It’s Nina, but Stu, I don’t think they wanna hear a joke.”
“Oh come on! I’m sure they’ll love it. Wouldn’t you?”
As Stu waited for a reply Lavenza walked out. Nina let go of Stu’s hand to kneel in front of the cat and held out her hand. Noodle looked over and watched as Lavenza sniffed the woman’s hand and then rubbed her head along the side of Nina’s hand. Nina smiled fondly as she gently petted Lavenza.
“Hello there. What’s your name?”
“Lavenza,” Noodle muttered.
Nina looked up at Noodle and smiled, “You have a cute cat.”
Noodle looked off to the side and shifted in her seat at the sudden uncomfortableness that overcame her, “Thank you,” she spoke quietly.
Stu tapped Nina on the shoulder, “Come on, I’ll show you my room.” Nina stood up, took Stu’s hand, and followed him as they walked to the room. Nina was never one to judge somebody’s room as a room was a person’s kingdom but if she had to call Stu's (and Murdoc’s) room a kingdom it was one of filth as old newspapers, dirty clothes, and fast food remnants littered the floor.
“You can’t be serious,” Nina said under her breath.
“What was that?”
Nina looked up at Stu with a frown, “We both know why I came back with you, and yet your room looks like this? No. We’re cleaning it. Now go get some trash bags.”
As Stu left Nina sighed. Cleaning up a slob’s room was not on her agenda for the night yet here she was as she gathered up newspaper into piles. When Stu came back with the trash bags she took one, opened it, and started shoveling the newspaper into it. She pointed around to all the fast food trash.
“Work on putting those into another trash bag.”
Stu did as he was told and started gathering the trash into the trash bag. He didn’t think that the room was in bad shape but as he continued to pick up old wrappers and fry containers it seemed as if it was never-ending. Maybe it was worse than he thought. As they continued to work on their respective job Stu started humming. It was a pleasant tune that caught Nina’s attention for she paused. As she continued to listen to Stu hum she picked up on what song it was and started to sing along.
“You taste it all the time. It’s like that when you’re over.”
Stu stopped humming and looked up at Nina with a wide smile, “You know Airiel?”
“Yeah! ‘Kiss me Sadly’ happens to be one of my favorite songs from them.”
Stu set the trash bag down, went over to kneel beside Nina, and quickly kissed her on the lips, “You’re a woman with good taste.”
Nina chuckled and gave him a quick kiss of her own, “Flattery won’t get you out of picking up the trash.”
Stu sighed as he stood back up and went back to the task at hand. No wonder his and Murdoc’s room ended up in this state. He knew Murdoc didn’t like to clean after himself and Stu was just as bad. Mix those two together and it was a surprise that their bed was trash-free. He looked back at Nina and watched her as she gathered the newspaper into the bag, She looks so focused. I wonder if she’s used to taking control.
Stu and Nina flopped back onto the air mattress and gave each other a high five.
“We finally finished, Nina.”
“Yep. Now you have a decent room to sleep in. Don’t let it get that way again.”
Stu grabbed her hand and kissed the top of it, “No promises.”
Nina rolled her eyes. She expected Stu to have a no care attitude and he was proving her right. As she moved her hand out of Stu’s grip and into massaging the top of his head she had to remember that this was just a one-off chance. She would be with him for one night and it was a luxury if she was to stay here overnight (though if she did stay overnight she was taking back a shirt of his as a souvenir. She needed to dig through his clothes to see which one to take). She turned her head to look at Stu and his eyes were closed with a calm smile plastered on his face.
She had to admit he was pretty cute.
Nina sat up a bit and leaned over to kiss his forehead, then the tip of his nose, and then a kiss to his lips. She let her lips linger, her hand moving from the top of his head to cupping the side of Stu’s face. Stu’s lips parted as his tongue sought to deepen the kiss, which she allowed. When Nina broke the kiss she and Stu sat up and started taking their clothes off, but as Nina got up to place their clothes on the floor something spotted her eye as she let out a surprised gasp.
“I’ve been wanting to see Dawn of the Dead but haven’t been able to find it anywhere!”
Stu brightened up, “Oh yeah! I made sure to get a copy of it as soon as it was available. If you want we can watch it afterwards.”
Nina nodded enthusiastically as she placed their clothes into separate piles on the floor before going over and sitting in Stu’s lap, “That sounds perfect, “she brought her hand up to twirl a strand of blue hair around her finger as she stared at Stu with a lustful gaze, “Just you, me, and the zombies.”
Stu felt himself shiver while a smile spread across his face.
Nina slowly woke up, letting the edges of sleep linger as long as they could but they were very quickly pulled away as she heard loud snores. She tried to sit up but found she couldn’t as a heavy weight was on top of her. When she opened her eyes and lifted her head she saw that Stu was lying on top of her, using her chest as a pillow. She chuckled and brought a hand up to run it through his hair, earning her a snort and sleepy, incoherent mumbling.
God, he was so cute.
She lay there and stared up at the ceiling, idly running her fingers through his hair. Nobody would believe she bagged a member of Strayz if she told them, but then again she was not one to kiss and tell. At least he didn’t have to worry about her spreading gossip. She was still getting that shirt to take back with her. She spotted a tie-dye tee with a sunny-side-up egg on it and that was going to be the shirt she took. Suddenly she heard a loud meow and when she looked over she saw Lavenza standing next to the bed. Nina switched what she was doing to pet Lavenza.
“Good morning, Lavenza. How did you sleep?”
Lavenza let out a meow that was mixed with a purr as she walked along Nina’s hand and back around. Nina petted the cat a few more times before finally deciding it was time to get up. She shook Stu’s shoulders.
“Hey, I need to leave.”
Stu lifted his head, eyes barely open, leaned forward to quickly kiss her before rolling off her. “You want some coffee?” he mumbled out.
“That’d be good. You want me to make you a cup?”
“Nah, but I’ll take a cup of tea. Make it a surprise. I’ll get up in a few.”
Nina got out of bed and worked on dressing herself, but paused when it came to putting her shirt on. She looked at the drawer that contained the tie-dye sunny-side-up egg shirt. There would be no other chance to grab the shirt. She went over to the drawer, opened it, and put the shirt on. It felt oversized on her but she loved that. Hello, new sleep shirt.
Lavenza walked around her and Nina had to chuckle, “Okay baby girl, hold on.” Nina picked up Lavenza and then walked out of the room to the kitchen. She spotted Murdoc sprawled out on the couch asleep and Noodle in the kitchen. As she walked into the kitchen she placed Lavenza down, stroked her back, and then worked on making coffee. Noodle watched her as she petted Lavenza.
“Do you like cats?”
“Yes! I have cats of my own.”
Noodle looked between her and Lavenza and then at the coffee pot, “I saw Stu come get some trash bags. What were you two doing?”
“His room was a mess so he and I cleaned it up. You can see he has a floor now.”
Noodle raised an eyebrow, “You got him to clean his and Murdoc’s room? That sounds unbelievable.”
Nina smirked as she grabbed a cup and poured herself a cup of coffee, “It’s believable. I helped him.”
Murdoc came into the kitchen and went to where the cereal was kept, “Can you two talk any louder?”
Noodle stared at Nina and then smirked, “Murdoc, she’s our PR manager.”
“What?! Stu’s one-night stand is the new PR manager? You’re shitting me.”
“I’m not. I like her. Lavenza likes her. She got Stu to clean your’s and his horrible room. She’s perfect.”
“Un-fucking-believable!”
Nina watched as Murdoc stormed out of the kitchen and then turned back to Noodle, “You’re not serious, right?”
“I don’t joke.”
“Wow,” Nina nervously chuckled, “Thank you so much. I have no idea what being a PR manager entails but I’ll be sure to look it up and not let you down.”
“You better not. If you make me regret picking you I’ll put a hex on you.”
Nina finished making her cup of coffee and then worked on making Stu’s tea. She never expected to get offered a job to work with Strayz. No longer is she just a fan.
She now had more to talk about with Stu over their morning drinks.