Previously on The Saga of Office Boy: The Dance Lesson.
I sat on the floor pillow, once again engrossed in the world of The Hunger Games. My phone buzzed next to me and I looked down to see that Office Boy was calling.
"Hi!" I said.
"What happened?"
"What do you mean?"
"You didn't text me last night when you got home. Or at all today."
"I forgot to last night. And I did text you earlier, but you didn't respond."
"I didn't get it."
"Oh, well, I texted you," I said. "Are you leaving your parents now?"
"Mmhmm. What are you doing? I thought maybe I could come over."
"I'm watching The Hunger Games with Patches and Matt, but you can still come."
"I don't want to see The Hunger Games."
"Why not?"
"I haven't read the books yet, and I might."
"So you don't want to see the movie unless you've read the books first?"
"Yea."
"Oh, well, we can pause it. You should still come over."
"Okay. I'll see you in a little bit."
"Okay. Bye!" I said and hung up the phone. I turned to Matt and Patches and said, "Office Boy will be joining us shortly."
I promptly returned my attention to the movie until a little while later, when I heard a knock at the door. I got up and opened it to reveal Office Boy, slightly damp from the rain, carrying a Panera bag.
"Hi," I said and greeted him with a quick kiss.
"I thought you might be hungry, so I brought you foods," he said, holding out the Panera bag.
"Aww. Thank you, babe."
We paused the movie and the four of us sat down to chat, as I ate my Panera.
"I asked for whole grain bread, but they didn't have any," he said.
"Aww, that's okay. Thanks for thinking of it," I said, smiling.
The conversation covered various topics for a bit and eventually Office Boy prepared to leave.
"Hey babe, actually, before you go could you put up that bathroom shelf for me?"
"Sure."
Brief tangent...I used to have a bathroom storage thing similar to this, but Office Boy accidentally broke it during the move. So he replaced it with a shelf sort of like this, but instead of two towel racks and one shelf, it's the opposite. Anyway...back to the story...
I walked into the bathroom, grabbed the box and brought it back out to the living room. Office Boy proceeded to pull some tools out of a backpack he had left and assemble the shelf.
"Do you have a stud finder?" asked Office Boy.
"Yes," I said. I walked into my roommate's room to grab it, brought it back out and handed it to him. A moment later I heard it beep.
"It works," he said. I turned to see him holding the stud finder up to his shoulder with a huge grin on his face.
"I think it's a requirement of all men to do that when they come across a stud finder," said Matt.
I just rolled my eyes.
Once the shelf was complete, the four of us headed to my room, drill and shelf in hand, to mount the shelf on the wall.
Office Boy held the stud finder up to the wall, and after a few moments looked a bit discouraged.
"This might not be a weight bearing wall," he said. "I can't find a stud."
"So you can't hang the shelf there?"
"Maybe. I don't know. Hold on."
A few minutes later, Patches and Office Boy had collectively determined that the wall could, in fact, bear the weight of the proposed bathroom shelf.
Oh jeez, I thought. This is not gonna end well.
"Is this about where you want it?" Patches asked, as he and Office Boy held the shelf up against the wall.
"Yea," I said. "That's fine."
As the boys began the preparations to drill the holes in the wall, I turned my attention to Nigel, my black kitty who was very curious about what was going on. Office Boy also happens to be quite allergic to him. I repeatedly shooed him away from the bathroom door and into the bedroom.
"Oh, crap!"
"Whaaaat happened?" I said, rushing to the bathroom.
"Nothing," Office Boy said. "Nothing. We're fine."
"Okay..." I said, a bit more wary of the situation than I was previously.
I returned my attention to Nigel, who was once again making his way toward the bathroom.
"So you're not gonna help?" I asked Matt.
"Nope," he said. "I find it far more entertaining to watch these sorts of things."
A few minutes went by, and I heard another 'oh crap.'
"What happened this time?"
"We dropped the thing in the litter box."
"What thing?"
"The plastic thing that goes up against the wall," said Patches. "You need to disinfect it."
I looked down into the litter box and saw a little plastic piece that puts a barrier between the actual shelf and the wall. I laughed and shook my head as I reached for a tissue to pull it out of the litter box. I proceeded to rinse it off, Purell it (at Office Boy's insistence) and returned it to them.
Matt and I continued our conversation until the third 'oh crap' moment.
"What happened now?" I said, walking into the bathroom.
"We dropped it again," said Office Boy, looking down at the cat's water bowl directly below where they were hanging the shelf.
Sure enough, sitting in the water bowl, was the very same plastic piece I'd fished out of the litter box shortly before. I shook my head as I grabbed it from the bowl.
"You guys are ridiculous."
Without too many more mishaps, Office Boy and Patches successfully finished hanging the bathroom shelf a short while later.
As Office Boy prepared to leave, he hugged me.
"I really don't think that thing's gonna stay up."
"Glad to see you have so much confidence in your construction abilities."
"It's not that. I just don't think it's gonna stay up."
"Don't tell me that. Just tell me that it's great and it'll be fine."
"Okay," he said.
"I'll call you when we finish the movie," I said. "And thanks for putting it up."
"You're welcome."
He kissed me and headed out the door.
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