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“Could I borrow a spare blanket, please? I know it’s late …”
Eskel blinked. The moon’s pale light fell through his window and lit the little spot of the hallway, were Juka was standing in front of him.
“I-I didn’t mean to wake you”, the young woman shifted her weight from one foot to the other, as she put a lose strand of hair behind her ear. Her gaze darted across his naked chest. “But … Dyvvelsjyt barfed all over my bed. I already washed it out and searched for a blanket downstairs, but there isn’t a single one left, and it’s too cold to sleep without, even if I’m bundled up in all of my clothes and…”
Eskel blinked again. “Well …” He turned his head and scanned his room: The chest under the window, the three-legged stool on which he had laid his knife and propped his boots against, the table with the chair where he had hung his jacket and trousers, and, finally, the bed, his bed, from which he had gotten up a minute ago, because he had heard something outside his room. He stretched himself and gave a hearty yawn.
“I don’t have any spare blankets, Juka, I’m sorry. Lambert took them all last winter … He’s the one who’s always freezing his arse off …” He scratched his neck, “Tell you what. I’ll come and we’ll wake up Lambert. His fault you can’t sleep now anyway - I knew he was up to something when he decided to give that cat a treat.” He grimaced.
“Oh, I think that Dyvvelsjyt already took care of that.” Juka’s smile was all teeth. “He ALSO barfed all over Lamberts spare jacket, the one he’s been fussing about so much … pissed on it, too, as far as the smell goes …”
Eskel chuckled. “In that case, better you’re not in his reach when he gets up tomorrow. He’ll blame it all on you.” A whiff of her smell caught him as she looked him up and down again; he inhaled, flared his nostrils and stepped aside. “You can have my bed, if you like.”
Juka bowed her head, a grin spreading across her face. “And the blanket?”, she asked, taking a step closer to him and sliding her forefinger over his chest down to his belly.
Eskel’s eyes gleamed. “I’m sure we can find a solution.”
As she entered the room, Eskel turned his head, his gaze following her for a moment before he closed the door as softly as possible. Bless that tom. A pain in the arse he might be, but at least he was gonna have a proper lie-in tomorrow.