She was making attempts to lighten the mood, he was making attempts to lighten the mood- somehow, that thought had Charlie smiling a bit more naturally than before. She looked over at Royce, smiled, and nudged him again. "Score one for nature then. Come on, if we work together, we can get these cages cleaned and ready for new tenants with just enough time left over to run to the gas station and grab some sodas before Doc gets back."
Charlie rolled back onto her heels, tucked another stray strand behind her ear, and smiled wider. "And if it's all the same to you, I happen to like Royce a tad better than Roy, so Royce you shall forever be. Now, let's get cracking!"
~*~
When Morgan learned of the "Non-date Date" taking place the following evening- which she learned immediately, by way of Charlie calling her as soon as she got home from work to spill the beans-she promptly began to take charge of the situation by offering her friend her best, sound advice.
Rule #1: Keep the apartment tidily casual. If the apartment's too clean, then that'll either mean you're a germaphobe or you're prepping this as a date. Both will scare your potential man off. But, of course, if you leave the place as a pigsty, well... same effect, different degree of leeriness.
Saturday afternoon was mostly spent walking around town, lugging various bags of things from various affordable grocery stores and department outlets around before Charlie determined she had enough and could return home. She had honestly paused at a pair of discounted scented candles, to hopefully mask any lingering cat odors that might be lurking around, but finally voted against it. Morgan had also mention that candles also spoke a little too strongly of date, despite their obvious odor-blocking usefullness. Instead, she bought the cheapest, knock-off brand plug-in scent diffuser she could find.
At home, she had to go down the hall to Mr. McRobbie's apartment to ask to borrow his vacuum cleaner and a bottle of Febreeze which left her own apartment smelling very faintly of trademarked Fresh Rain. But, keeping in mind Morgan's other comment, she also made sure to toss a few garage-sale pillows on the ground, crumble her one throw blanket in a messy ball on the couch, and leave assorted receipts and grocery lists around the coffee table and kitchen counter.
Rule #2: Food cannot be finished before guests get there. Makes you look like you were trying to hard especially for there- read, his- sake. If they say they're coming at six, then start boiling water at 5:55, but make sure you're chopping or grating or doing some sort of preparation work right as they come, so you don't look rushed at all.
Spaghetti and meatballs really weren't the best of foods to require a whole lot of preparation work, for, but it WAS fairly maintainence-free, and a lot less elaborate than OTHER things she could have prepared, so at least it wouldn't look like she was trying too hard. Nonetheless, she added garlic toast (on clearance-rack hamburger buns) and macaroni and cheese to the mix, so by the time she was ready to start "preparations", she had two pots of water ready to start boiling, fresh cheese to grate for both the spaghetti AND macaroni, buns to butter, and tomatoes to chop up (and add to the thin spaghetti sauce she bought earlier).