Page 48 of As Long As You Kiss Me

“No it isn’t. Very funny.”

“That’s because it’s crawling inside your shirt right now.” Her face was pale. She was really taking this prank a little to far.

But then he felt the tickle of tiny hairy legs against his shoulder. Now it was his turn to yelp. “Ahh! Get it off of me.”

She grabbed the bottom of his shirt and pulled it over his head. Hey. He could get used to that. He yanked it the rest of the way over his head and tossed it onto the stairs.

“It’s still on you,” Sully squealed, dancing a jig. She must have jostled the remote in her pocket because a strange moaning sound came from the tree outside.

“Get the box and hold it under the spider,” Jackson suggested.

“No. It might crawl onto me.” Sully held her arms around herself like that would protect her from the innocent little spider. “I don’t trust that guy.”

Jackson wriggled his shoulders, hoping that might knock the spider off. Finally, he manned up and swept the spider off with his hand. The little furry guy landed on the stairs.

Jackson let out a huge breath he’d been holding. “Good. Let’s leave him there.”

“Let’s hurry and release this mouse before we get caught. We haven’t exactly been very quiet,” Sully said.

They’d been the opposite of quiet. Especially Sully.

He opened the second box and freed the little mouse. It scurried away from them and started heading up the stairs.

The top door swung open. Mason stood in the doorway barefooted, wearing a pair of snowman pajama bottoms and nothing covering his bushy chest. He was framed by the kitchen light behind him. He rubbed his eyes and peered down at them. “What are you guys doing here in the middle of the night?”

“I, uh,” Jackson stammered. They should have come up with a plan in case this happened. He wasn’t expecting the spider to get loose. They should have bought more spiders. Would one spider be enough to scare him off? It was too late to think about that. Mason had already found them. But he didn’t know they were releasing and mouse and a spider, and Jackson wanted to keep it that way.

“Mason? What are you doing here?”

He looked down on them in momentary confusion. “Me? This is where I live. You’re the one who’s trespassing.”

“What a coincidence,” Sully said in a wobbly voice. “We must be at the wrong house.”

“I don’t buy it.” Mason’s voice was hard. That wasn’t a good sign. “How did you figure out where I live?”

“I had no idea you lived here,” Sully lied. “There must be some sort of mix up.”

“What are you doing anyway?”

“Dropping off some food for a friend of mine,” Jackson said, thinking fast. “He’s not feeling so well, and I thought he might want some chicken noodle soup.” Maybe the brown paper bag could pass as a sack of food. He just needed to make sure Mason didn’t figure out that they’d released the critters, or all their hard work would be in vain.

Mason eyed them suspiciously. Jackson wasn’t sure if he believed their story or not.

Something moved at Mason’s feet. A tiny brown furry body was sniffing Mason’s bare feet, but he didn’t seem to notice.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Mason asked.

“Like what?” Jackson said.

“Is there something on my leg?”

“I was just admiring your nice jammies.”

“Very funny.” But he didn’t look amused.

He probably had no sense of humor anyway. He didn’t seem like the type of guy who could take a joke.

The mouse stopped sniffing around and began his ascent up Mason’s leg.

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