Justin couldn't seem to make his legs work fast enough. He pushed them with all his might, but no matter how hard he pushed, they wouldn't move quickly enough for his liking.
In what seemed like an eternity to him, he had crossed the room in only a matter of seconds, finding his way to the bathroom door.
He found himself inside in even less time, not even sure if he had actually turned the doorknob.
His eyes were wide, looking around the room quickly before settling on the figure in the bathtub.
Erins eyes were as wide as Justins, as they stayed fixed tightly on something in the far corner of the room. She was standing in the tub, a towel hanging in front of her, hardly covering her naked body from view.
"What's wrong?" Justin said quickly, his voice echoing in the room as if not his own. "What happened?"
Erin pointed frantically to the corner where her eyes stayed fixed. "There!" she shouted, the fear evident in her voice. "Over there!"
"Where?" Justin said, turning his eyes to the corner where she looked. "What?"
Erin only pointed, her finger shaking. "Its over there!"
Justin entered the room cautiously, making his way slowly to the corner that held so much attention from the two of them.
The corner was on the far side of the room, a small area between the wall and the end of the counter. A laundry hamper sat peacefully in its spot, the lid closed. Justin made his way over, unsure of what he was looking for.
Knowing Erin, it was a spider. She hated spiders. Once, she had even climbed up onto his back in a matter of seconds when a tiny baby spider came scurrying out from beneath the stove one day.
Justin found himself grinning, now convinced that was what it was.
Stepping up in front of the hamper, Justin placed his hand on either side as he spoke "Erin, for God sake, if this is another baby spider, I'm going to tease you forever."
Almost laughing as he spoke, Justin removed the hamper from its place, pulling it towards him and moving it to the side.
In a quick flash, the intruder moved, sliding quickly along the floor.
Justin screamed louder than Erin had, his voice breaking in a girlish squeal.
That was no fucking spider.
In less than one second, Justin was across the room, his voice still shrieking, as he jumped into the bathtub with Erin. Reaching over, he instinctively tried to grab the towel from her, desperate to find anything to separate him and the thing on the floor.
"Justin!" Erin screamed as she pulled on her towel. "What the fuck are you doing!?"
"AAAHHHH!!" was his response.
Suddenly, the intruder moved across the floor again, sliding over towards the edge of the counter. Stopping beneath a tiny ledge at the bottom, its stretched itself out in plain view.
A snake.
Justin fought another girlish scream as he moved to the farthest possible corner of the bathtub. His grasp still tight on the towel, Justin succeeded in dragging Erin with him.
He hated snakes. He had always been terrified of them, and usually got shit from the guys and Landon over it. But he didn't care. If Chris could be scared of heights, then he could be scared of snakes. At least he was man enough to admit he was scared, and not say it was a phobia and that didn't mean he was chicken. He was damn well chicken! Chicken and fucking proud of it!
The snake lay coiled on the floor, convinced that it was out of sight, although they could see it perfectly.
It was just a little garden snake. Maybe only a foot long. But that didn't matter. Justin was almost sure he was going to pee his pants. Thank God he was in the bathtub.
For a long while, no one moved. Not Erin. Not Justin. Not the snake. Everyone stayed still, convinced that as long as they did that, that each wouldn't notice their existence in the room.
"Justin," Erin whispered, her eyes never leaving the thing on the floor. "Do something!"
"Like what?" he shrieked quietly. "If you haven't noticed, I'm about three seconds away from pissing myself, so if you don't mind, Ill just stay in the fucking bathtub."
"Well you have to get rid of it! We cant stay in here forever."
"I'm perfectly happy staying right where I am, thankyouverymuch!"
"Go!" she said, pushing his shoulder. The movement almost made Justin fall over, the socks still on his feet sliding on the slick bottom of the tub.
"Girl, what the fuck are you doing!" he yelled at a whisper. "I don't care if that fucking thing is gold plated and holds season tickets to the Lakers! I'm not moving!"
Again, they found themselves in silence. No one willing to move.
For a long while, no one said a word, and no one moved. They both knew they had to do something, because life in a bathtub, although interesting, wasn't exactly appealing.
"Okay, listen," Erin said, her voice still a dull whisper. "We cant stay in the fucking tub forever, so we have to do something."
"What do you suggest? We sweet talk the fucking thing into leaving?"
Erin pinched his arm. "Stop fucking swearing!" she scolded. "We need to do something."
Looking around the room, Erin noticed a pillow case on the floor where the hamper once stood. It must have fallen behind the hamper when thrown there. Probably by Justin.
"Okay, I have a plan." she said. Prying her towel out of Justins grasp, Erin wrapped it around herself. Looking at the snake, which still had not moved, Erin made her way slowly to the edge of the tub.
"What are you doing?" Justin asked frantically.
"I'm going to get that pillow case." she said, motioning with her eyes towards the case in the corner. "I am going to give it to you. You go over there near the door, and open it up. Hold it down, and Ill scare the snake over to you. You just make sure the pillowcase is in front of it, and it will slide right on it. Then you close it up." Glancing over her shoulder at her terrified boyfriend, Erin grinned. "Think you can handle that?"
Justins eyes were bigger than dinner plates at this point, and he shook his head feverishly. "Fuck no!" he said.
"Fuck yes." she responded. "There is no other option, Justin, so just fucking do it!"
Raising a foot out of the tub, Erin watched the snake carefully. The gentle sound of water droplets falling from her foot back to the water below was the only sound in the room as Erin carefully stepped out and onto the floor.
Her eyes never left the creature, as she slid silently towards the pillowcase. Straining to get to her final destination, Erin reached down cautiously and plucked the pillow case from the floor. Sliding back towards the tub, she handed the case to Justin, her eyes still on the snake.
"Here."
Justin shook his head frantically. "No!"
"Just fucking do it, Justin! For fuck sake, we cant sit in here forever." she scolded, allowing her eyes to leave the snake only long enough to shoot Justin a look of warning and determination.
Justin opened his mouth to protest, but Erins face scrunched into a more unhappy expression, and Justin closed his mouth. They stared each other down for a moment, before Justin frowned deeper. Reaching out, he took the case from Erins hand.
"Fine." he said, returning his eyes to the snake, which seemed oblivious to their attention.
Sliding in the water, Justin made his way to the corner of the tub, closest to the door. He was now at an angle in front of the little terrorist, and he wasn't sure if he could make himself leave the safety of the bathtub. Glancing in Erins direction, Justin found that she was now behind the snake, her eyes darting between it and Justin. When he stopped moving, she mouth the word 'Go!' to urge him on.
Sighing deeply, Justin raised a foot, stepping out onto the cool tile of the floor. His other foot joined him just as slowly, before he was standing motionless.
His eyes were locked hard on the snake as he slid along the floor, his feet never rising, simply gliding along the smooth surface.
Making his way in front of the intruder, Justin pulled the pillowcase open. Allowing the opening to hang open, he slowly bent over, the edge of the case meeting the floor.
His eyes raised to Erin, and she nodded in approval. "Okay," she whispered. "I'm going to scare him towards you. Now don't freak out and run, just catch him."
Justin shot her a look, but didn't respond.
Leaning over, Justin prepared himself for the mission at hand.
He could do this. He was a grown man. He could handle this no problem at all.
Just then, Erin clapped her hands loudly, a solid echo filling the quiet room.
"Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!" she yelled, clapping in unison with her chant.
In a flash of black and green, the snake shot forward, heading straight for Justin.
The moment he realized it was headed for him, Justin screamed loudly. His voice breaking into a girlish squeak, as he dropped the pillowcase. Turning quickly, he began to run from the room, his voice bouncing loudly from the walls of the bathroom, his hands flailing in the air around his head.
His wet feet slid along the tile floor, and he almost fell. His left leg shot out from under him, as he skidded towards the door. Luckily, his foot hit the edge of the carpet leading towards the safety of his bedroom, and he regained his balance. In less than a millisecond, Justin was gone, his screams still sounding in the bathroom.
Jumping on the bed, Justin spun around to face the bathroom door, waiting to see the snake emerge, jump up onto the bed and strangle him with its super snake strength.
He was met with nothing.
He heard nothing.
He saw nothing.
A moment passed, and Justin could hear his heart beat in his ears.
Opening his mouth, Justin was about to call out to Erin, when she emerged from the bathroom.
"What happened?" he asked, his eyes wide.
"Well, my fearless protector," she said sarcasically. "You screamed like a girl and ran away."
"I know that part, I was there!" he said stupidly. "Where is the snake?"
Erin held out her arm, the pillowcase in her grasp. Looking towards the bottom of the case, Justin noticed movement.
"Lucky for you," Erin said with a grin. "You're little outburst occurred after the snake entered the case."
"So you got it?"
"Yeah, I got it."
Justins head dropped in relief, and he took a deep breath. He hadn't even realized he had been holding his breath until now.
Erin laughed. "God, remind me never to take you camping."
"No problem." Justin said as he flopped back onto the bed, breathing deeply as if he had just run a marathon.
Erin left the room, jogging downstairs to release the snake outside in the back yard.
Returning moments later, she tossed the pillowcase on the floor with Justins earlier discarded clothing.
"Dude, don't do that!" he whined. "That has snake stuff on it! I don't want it mixin' with my clothes!"
Erin rolled her eyes as she climbed onto the bed beside Justin. Sitting back on her heels, she placed her hands in her lap.
"God, you scared the hell out of me when you screamed like that." Justin said, rising from the bed to a sitting position.
"You're one to talk about screaming, Timberlake." she teased. "I swear, I thought a group of girl guides were in the room with me."
Justin shot her a stern look, but didn't respond.
"How the hell did that thing get in the bathroom?" Erin finally asked.
"I don't know." Justin said.
"I mean, shit, how did it get upstairs?" Erin asked again.
"I don't know." Justin repeated.
"What are the chances of that?" she asked yet again, as if only to herself.
Turning to look at her, Justin shrugged. "I don't know." he lied.
He knew damn well how the snake got into the bathroom. How it got upstairs, and just how good the chances were that it was not a coincidence.
If there was one thing he had learned, it was that nothing was coincidence.
