"I'll clean up," Clo offered as I came back to the table.
Izaak shook his head. "We'll all clean up." He stood and went to the cabinet, reaching up to get a small glass storage container, scraping the remaining food inside. He snapped the lid on top, then handed it to me, along with the picture of juice, so I could put them both in the fridge. Clo took the dirty dishes to the sink, pushing on the water and waiting for it to heat up as she squeezed dish soap onto a sponge. Izaak wiped off the table with a washcloth, then moved to clean the counters. There wasn't actually much for me to do.
"Bro, where did you put my smokes? Now's a great time for a cigarette."
He just kept up with his cleaning, ignoring my question.
So I started looking for my pack of cigarettes. Where could he have put them? I first checked the bookcase, even standing on my tip toes to see if he'd put them higher than I could see, but nope. I opened the closet, checking all of the shelves, even under the towels, still nothing. When I shut the door, Izaak was standing behind it, hands on his hips. "What are you doing?"
"What's it look like? Tryin' to find my cigarettes. I need one after dinner slash before bed."
"You're not smoking this weekend."
"Bro, what? C'mon, I need them. Where they at?"
"Locked up in the safe. You'll get them back Sunday evening. And as I've told you before, it's a nasty habit that you need to break. So there will be zero cigarettes this evening."
I rolled my eyes. "What about my medicine?"
He furrowed his brows in confusion.
"...That Molly prescribed."
Now it was his turn to roll his eyes! Which made this whole exchange worth it. "Yeah, right, 'medicine.' You're also not getting that. Do I need to go over every single rule with you?"
"Pssh, as if I'll remember them all, you probably have like a billion."
Izaak sighed. "Running group tomorrow at 7am, we'll leave here by 6:30, so I'll wake you both up at 6:15."
"What the fuck, that's way too early bro."
"The soap is right there," he said, pointing towards the bathroom.
"Are you really gonna wash my mouth out everytime I drop an f-bomb?"
"If that's what it takes."
I grumbled something under my breath that he chose to ignore.
"You two will sleep in my room this weekend, and no, that doesn't mean you can snoop through my things."
A giggle escaped. "You know me too well."
"It's later than I'd like for you to stay up, but since we just ate, you can have thirty minutes to watch tv or scroll on your phone, then lights out. Your phone will stay with me overnight."
"Jeez this is like fu...reakin' jail."
"No, this is what it's like to be disciplined."
I rolled my eyes.
"Anything else you want to complain about before I leave you to your devices?"
"You should really let me have a cigarette."
His eyebrows raised. "Ask me one more time."
I debated if I should do that, but already knew he wasn't going to budge on this. So I let him be.
We were sitting on the couch, scrolling through our phones, when Izaak went to the bathroom. This was my chance. "Where actually is the safe? Do you know the combo?"
"Don't do it," Clo said. "He will literally murder you."
"Ahh come on, it's all in good fun!" I stood, making my way to the wall between the front door and bedroom door, where a large framed photo of a black and white NYC skyline hung. "This doesn't look like him at all." I peeked behind it, seeing exactly what I was looking for. I eased the frame off the hook, wishing I actually knew how to crack a safe. "When's his birthday? Nah, that's probably too generic, he'd never use that. When did he move to NYC?"
Clo chewed on her lower lip, unsure if she wanted to divulge the info.
"C'mon, hurry! He's gonna come out any second now."
"Do you really think you'll get away with this?"
"I'll just snatch the smokes and pocket them."
She sighed, but finally said, "He moved in 2013, but I don't know the exact date." She kept talking, trying to figure out an exact date, but the year rang through my head. 2013... the year Winters had met Pattie Cake. Was Izaak moving the thing that triggered Clo to become a con artist?
Before I had the chance to even type any numbers into the keypad, Izaak emerged from the bathroom. "You're really asking for a bedtime spanking." Then, without another word, or even letting me put the picture frame back up, he grabbed my upper arm and pulled me towards the couch.
"Wait! You don't understand... I really need that cigarette!"
He didn't grace me with a response, instead dragging me across the floor, despite my attempts to dig my heels into the wooden floor.
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