R. Mathewson - Perfection

Jason snorted. "Haley will kick your ass if she hears you talking about her friend," he pointed out as he doubled checked the empty potato chip bags.

That kind of surprised Trevor, not that Haley would try and kick someone's ass since he'd heard plenty of amusing stories about her fighting skills, but that Haley considered Zoe a friend. Then again there was still a lot about Zoe that he didn't know about. Something that shouldn't bother him since she was really just a tenant and an employee of sorts, but it did.

"Why don't one of us order?" Zack said, pulling his cell phone out of his pocket.

"Won't work," Mitch said absently, never looking up from his phone.

"Why not?"

"Because they won't deliver here if a guy calls up," Brad said, leaning further back so Jason could reach past him to check the empty bowls on the end tables. "It has to be a woman."

"Look, you either go ask Zoe to order food or I'm going to start getting cranky," Jason snapped.

"Getting?" Brad repeated, chuckling.

"Shut up, damn it! I need food!"

"Anything to get you to stop whining," Trevor said, getting to his feet. Truth be told he was getting a little cranky. Zoe knew he was having the guys over and should have already ordered them food a couple of hours ago. She was usually on top of these things. He knew she hadn't forgotten that he was having the guys over since she'd filled his counters with junk food and his fridge with beer and soda.

Speaking of junk food....

After she ordered them food she was going to have to run out and grab some more junk food and maybe after that he'd have her run out and hit the barbeque place over on Fourth Street and get them a couple buckets of ribs. His stomach growled at the idea even as he gave himself another pat on the back. Hiring Zoe really was the best thing he'd ever done.

Too bad she didn't cook, otherwise he'd have her cook him breakfast in bed. That would have made this arrangement perfect, but he'd settle for her running out tomorrow morning and picking him up a fresh coffee cake from Mary Lou's. Of course she'd have to head over there before seven otherwise they'd sell out quickly. He hadn't had Mary Lou's coffee cake in three years since they started making it only on Saturday morning and he was usually too damn exhausted and lazy to get his ass out of bed and go get it, but he no longer had to worry about that problem thanks to his little tenant.

He walked out into the hallway, not bothering to close his door and rapt once on her door before opening it only to find his entrance suddenly blocked.

"Hi, Trevor," Zoe said brightly as she tried to close the door another inch.

"What's going on?" he asked, curious since she never denied him entrance. Since they set up their little arrangement neither one of them bothered locking their doors. Leaving the doors unlocked made it easier for him when he needed a favor or grab his lunch and for her to clean his apartment and run his errands.

"Nothing," Zoe said even as she tried to close the door a little more. With a tired sigh he reached out and placed his hand on her door, easily stopping her. "Is there something I can help you with?" she asked with a nervous smile, he noted. She shifted to block his view into her apartment, well she tried, but since he towered over her she kind of failed.

"Well," he said, looking past her into her tidy apartment, "I was wondering if you could order us some food."

She suddenly looked over her shoulder and noticeably started.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, frowning as he leaned in to see what was going on only to find himself shoved back as Zoe swiftly stepped out of her apartment and closed the door before he could see what the hell was going on.

"No, no, nothing is wrong," she said brightly, a little too brightly for his comfort, but he was willing to let it go as long as the house wasn't burning down and she got his damn food.

"Can you order some food for us?" He sighed, gesturing towards his apartment. "And make sure you double the amount, because-"

"Triple it! I'm starving," Jason piped in from the apartment.

"I already ordered the food," she said and rushed to add, "and Haley already called me to let me know Jason was coming over so I tripled the order," before Jason could bitch.

"That's because my wife adores me," Jason said, sounding smug.

"No, that's because you're a pig," Brad pointed out.

"Shut up, you bastard!"

"The order should be here soon," Zoe said, ignoring Jason's rant. "So, if there's nothing else I'm going to-" she started only to be cut by a loud crash in her apartment.

"What the hell was that?" Trevor asked, moving to check it out only to have Zoe jump in front of him.

"Nothing?" she said quickly.

"Nothing?"

"Well, um," she said, nibbling her bottom lip as she shot her closed door a nervous look. "That is, you see, um, I um, have company," she said, wringing her hands together.

He threw her a disbelieving look as he looked pointedly at her light teal baby top that showed an incredible amount of cleavage that his eyes may have lingered on for a second or two before moving down to her dark blue plaid pajama pants that he knew from prior experience would give him a really good view of her ass if she turned around.

"Company?" he asked in clear disbelief as his eyes returned to her face to find her blushing rather adorably.

"Yes?"

His lips twitched. "You're not sure if you have company or not?"

"No, I mean yes. I, um, that is I-"

"She probably has a date," Jason suggested from the living room, cutting Zoe off.

"Yes, that's it. I have a date?" she quickly agreed, but really didn't sound all that sure.

"A date?" Trevor asked hesitantly, wondering if she mentioned it this morning and he simply forgot. Then he frowned, wondering what kind of asshole couldn't fork over a few dollars to take his date out. He didn't like the idea of anyone taking advantage of Zoe, well, besides him of course.

"Yeah, so I should probably return to him," she said, moving towards her apartment door only to come to a halt when the doorbell rang. With an exasperated sigh she reached around him and snagged his wallet out of his back pocket and promptly shoved him into his apartment and closed the door in his face, leaving him stunned.

"I like her," Brad said, chuckling.

"For a Red Sox tee shirt wearing woman I guess she's okay," Jason grumbled.

"Does no one care that she just manhandled me?" Trevor demanded, facing the men who should be properly outraged on his behalf.

Jason snorted. "As long as she brings me food she can bitch slap you and call you spanky."

Trevor narrowed his eyes on the men who dared laugh at his pain.

Betraying bastards.

"All set!" Zoe yelled.

After throwing one last menacing glare at the bastards who either laughed at him or ignored him, Trevor opened his door just as Zoe's was practically slammed shut. Seconds later he heard the telltale sounds of the lock clicking.

He quickly moved out of the way as Jason shoved past him to get to the large piles of takeout bags and boxes Zoe left on the floor and couldn't help but wonder what Zoe was hiding.

"Wouldn't you rather have this old tennis ball?" Zoe asked, holding up the ball and nearly crying in frustration as Toby licked Mr. Cuddles' face and laid his muzzle across her poor defenseless bear's stomach.

"This is so much more fun," she said, tossing the tennis ball in the air and catching it. "See?" she said, giving him a hopeful look that he simply ignored.

"Hey! Don't lick that!" she pleaded as he licked poor Mr. Cuddle's eyes.

"Zoe?" Trevor said through the wall. "Is everything okay?"

Damn it.

"Um, yeah, Everything is fine?" she said loudly, shifting nervously as she wondered not for the first time what the hell she was going to do with a dog.

Sooner or later Trevor was going to find out about Toby and send them both packing since there was no way she was going to be able to keep a dog a secret for very long. She thought she was going to have a heart attack a few hours ago when Toby knocked over her stack of books while she was talking to Trevor in the hallway. Her quick thinking certainly hadn't saved her ass, she thought dryly.

Toby chose that moment to bark while his tail thumped happily against her bed.

"Shhhh," Zoe hissed quietly. Oh god, the dog was about to sell her ass down the river.

"What the hell was that?" Trevor demanded.

"Um, my date?" she said, feeling like an idiot.

"Your date?"

"Yeah, we're um, you know, um having sex?" she said, wondering when this hell would end as she dropped her face into her hands, feeling like a moron.

"If you're having sex then why are you talking to me?" Trevor demanded, sounding oddly suspicious. She could have sex if she damn well wanted to. Okay, granted she did want to, but she lacked a willing partner since she really didn't know any available guys. Something she planned on fixing soon, but not the problem at the moment.

"Intermission?" she said, wondering why the hell everything out of her mouth was coming out as a question. Oh that's right, because she just plain sucked at lying.

"Well," she heard him clear his throat, "I'll just leave you to it then." A minute later she heard his bedroom door shut and she dropped back on the bed in relief. If Trevor didn't kill her when he found out what she was hiding then all this stress damn well would.

"I hate this," she grumbled.

Toby let out a little whimper.

With a little sigh she looked over to find Toby pouting with his muzzle once again resting on Mr. Cuddle's stomach. "Not you, buddy. None of this is your fault," she said, reaching over to give him a little scratch behind his ears.

"Oh that's good to know," Trevor drawled from her doorway, scaring the living hell out of her.

* * *

"This isn't what it looks like!" Zoe managed to say as she gasped for air and tried to hide the large puppy on her bed by stepping in front of it.

"It's not?" he asked in a bored tone and nearly rolled his eyes when she tried to discretely toss a throw blanket over the poor dog.

"No?"

She was such a horrible little liar, he thought, but appreciated it all the more since it meant that she would never be able to pull anything over his head.

He leaned back against the door frame, crossed his arms over his chest and nodded towards the bed. "Then what's that?"

"A blanket?"

"Uh huh, did you know that your blanket is moving?" he asked, watching as the puppy began playfully wrestling with the blanket.

Zoe nibbled on her bottom lip, drawing his attention. He had to admit that he liked her lips. A cute little top with just the right amount of curve and a pouty little bottom lip that made him wonder if they were as soft as they looked.

Holy hell he needed to get laid if he was checking her out, which he was. It was happening more frequently than he'd like to admit and truly frightening him since she was in no way his type. If he didn't think lack of sex was responsible he'd be worried about all those late night fantasies he'd been having about her.

"The house is infested?" she said, sounding like a question again. He idly wondered if she realized she was doing it.

"I see," he murmured, looking around the obscenely clean and tidy bedroom. There wasn't a dust ball to be found, a crumb of food or a single thing out of place much like his place. He had to admit that she did great work even if she was a horrible little liar.

"So, that thing on your bed beneath the blanket is......," he prompted.

She noticeably swallowed as she dared a glance over her shoulder. "A huge rat?"

"Then why didn't you tell me the house was infested?" he asked, trying not to laugh at the expression of pure panic on her face while she tried to come up with a suitable lie.

"I didn't want to scare you?"

"That was really nice of you," he said, pushing away from the door. He walked over to the bed and reached past her to tug the blanket off the playful pup. "Oh, look at that. It seems we're also infested by puppies," he mused, folding his arms over his chest while he stared down at her, cocking a brow as he silently dared to her to try and bullshit her way out of this one.